• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 2007

Objective: A quality management system of international standardization organization (ISO) 9001:2000 has been proposed to properly evaluate and improve the quality of productions and services. The purpose of this article was to describe on successful introduction and application of the ISO system to human assisted reproductive technology (ART) center. Methods: Center for reproductive medicine and infertility of Cheil General Hospital started the action for ISO 9001:2000 certification at January-2004. The ISO system of our center was monitored by measuring the customer satisfaction index and periodical internal and external audit. Reports of non-conformity described corrective and preventive actions for problems and occurrences that were not consistent with the standard process and operation of our center. Continuous management and improvement were performed on the project of customer dissatisfaction. Results: Our center has got the certification of ISO 9001:2000 for "Research and development of IVF-ET program for infertility treatment" from Korean Foundation for Quality at June-2004. The policy of ISO was "To establish the best center of reproductive medicine and infertility" and "To establish the best quality management system". We found 140 cases and 7 cases of non-conformity in internal and external audit for three years, respectively, and performed corrective action. Conclusion: Improvement of customer satisfaction, systemic documentation and transparency and efficacy of working procedure were achieved by application and operation of the ISO system to our center. This ISO system could be used as a basic institutional management system for the national guideline to the human ART center.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.95-106
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• 2012

It has been revealed that multiple cohorts of tertiary follicles develop during some animal estrous cycle and the human menstrual cycle. To reach developmental competence, oocytes need the support of somatic cells. During embryogenesis, the primordial germ cells appear, travel to the gonadal rudiments, and form follicles. The female germ cells develop within the somatic cells of the ovary, granulosa cells, and theca cells. How the oocyte and follicle cells support each other has been seriously studied. The latest technologies in genes and proteins and genetic engineering have allowed us to collect a great deal of information about folliculogenesis. For example, a few web pages (http://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov; http://mrg.genetics.washington.edu) provide access to databases of genomes, sequences of transcriptomes, and various tools for analyzing and discovering genes important in ovarian development. Formation of the antrum (tertiary follicle) is the final phase of folliculogenesis and the transition from intraovarian to extraovian regulation. This final step coordinates with the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. On the other hand, currently, follicle physiology is under intense investigation, as little is known about how to overcome women's ovarian problems or how to develop competent oocytes from in vitro follicle culture or transplantation. In this review, some of the known roles of hormones and some of the genes involved in tertiary follicle growth and the general characteristics of tertiary follicles are summarized. In addition, in vitro culture of tertiary follicles is also discussed as a study model and an assisted reproductive technology model.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.630-637
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• 2013

To determine the effects of dry period (DP) length on milk yield, milk composition, some blood metabolites, complete blood count (CBC), body weight and score and follicular status, twenty five primiparous and multiparous Holstein cows were assigned to a completely randomized design with DP-60 (n = 13) and DP-20 (n = 12) dry period lengths. Cows in the DP-60 produced more milk, protein, SNF, serum non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and beta hydroxyl butyrate acid (BHBA) compared with cows in DP-20 ($p{\leq}0.05$). Serum glucose, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urea, and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) were all similar among the treatments. Body Condition Score (BCS), body weight (BW), complete blood count (CBC) and health problems were similar between the treatments. Diameter of the first dominant follicle and diameter of the dominant follicle on d 14 were different among the treatments. Thus, results of this study showed that reducing the dry period length to DP-20 had a negative effect on milk production, milk composition and reproductive performance in Holstein dairy cows.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2013

For more than two decades, the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique has been used as a valuable tool to provide opportunities for studying fertilization, treating human infertility, and producing transgenic animals. Not only in facilitating fertilization but also in propagating mammalian species, ICSI has enhanced the potential of assisted reproductive technologies in human. Polyspermic fertilization has been one of major problems in pig reproduction, but the ICSI helped to solve the problem, and used widely to generate transgenic piglets. Although the ICSI technique is considered to be a very useful tool in assisted reproductive technologies, including generation of transgenic animals, there are some disadvantages using the technique. In this review, we describe the ICSI technique and its application in animal production and human infertility, and discuss advantage and disadvantage of the technique in mammals.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.85-93
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• 2020

The implantation process is highly complex and difficult to mimic in vitro, and a reliable experimental model of implantation has yet to be established. Many researchers have used embryo transfer (ET) to assess implantation potential; however, ET with pseudopregnant mice requires expert surgical skills and numerous sacrificial animals. To overcome those economic and ethical problems, several researchers have tried to use outgrowth models to evaluate the implantation potential of embryos. Many previous studies, as well as our experiments, have found significant correlations between blastocyst outgrowth in vitro and implantation in utero by ET. This review proposes the blastocyst outgrowth model as a possible alternative to animal experimentation involving ET in utero. In particular, the outgrowth model might be a cost- and time-effective alternative method to ET for evaluating the effectiveness of culture conditions or treatments. An advanced outgrowth model and further culture of outgrowth embryos could provide a subtle research model of peri- and postimplantation development, excluding maternal effects, and thereby could facilitate progress in assisted reproductive technologies. Recently, we found that outgrowth embryos secreted extracellular vesicles containing specific microRNAs. The function of microRNAs from outgrowth embryos should be elucidated in further researches.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2023

In reproduction, mitochondria produce bioenergy, help to synthesize biomolecules, and support the ovaries, oogenesis, and preimplantation embryos, thereby facilitating healthy live births. However, the regulatory mechanism of mitochondria in oocytes and embryos during oogenesis and embryo development has not been clearly elucidated. The functional activity of mitochondria is crucial for determining the quality of oocytes and embryos; therefore, the underlying mechanism must be better understood. In this review, we summarize the specific role of mitochondria in reproduction in oocytes and embryos. We also briefly discuss the recovery of mitochondrial function in gametes and zygotes. First, we introduce the general characteristics of mitochondria in cells, including their roles in adenosine triphosphate and reactive oxygen species production, calcium homeostasis, and programmed cell death. Second, we present the unique characteristics of mitochondria in female reproduction, covering the bottleneck theory, mitochondrial shape, and mitochondrial metabolic pathways during oogenesis and preimplantation embryo development. Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with ovarian aging, a diminished ovarian reserve, a poor ovarian response, and several reproduction problems in gametes and zygotes, such as aneuploidy and genetic disorders. Finally, we briefly describe which factors are involved in mitochondrial dysfunction and how mitochondrial function can be recovered in reproduction. We hope to provide a new viewpoint regarding factors that can overcome mitochondrial dysfunction in the field of reproductive medicine.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1990.06a
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• pp.20-24
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• 1990

The climacteric is that phase in the aging process during which a woman passes from the reproductive to the non-reproductive stage. The signals, such as hot flashes, vaso-motoric disturbances, perspiration, stiff shoulders, emotional symptoms, are refereed to as climacteric disturbances. Treatment of climacteric symptoms centers on estrogen replacement and transquilizers, but there are many problems to be solved to use these hormones/drugs as far as dosage, duration and complications are concerned. The care of women during the climacteric years should provide relief of distressing symptoms with as high a degree of safety as possible. From this viewpoint, we used red ginseng powder to those patients with high menopausal index successfully. We studied its mechanism of action and proved that red ginseng improved the micro-circulation system via improvement of erythrocyte deferability which enhanced sex steroidgenesis consequently

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 1988

In these past 2 decades, dramatic improvement in technology have greatly expanded the scope of female and male surgical sterilization in Korea. Female and male surgical sterilization are readily accepted because those are simple, in expensive, effective and apparently without serious postoperative complications and the failure rates are very low. In 1986, 92,000 cases of vassectoncy and 312,000 tubal sterilization were taken by the financial support of government in Korea. In this important appraisal the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs provided the guideline for the physicians on the medicoethical problems of surgical sterilization for men and women. The various medicoethical consideration that may give arise to the physicians as well as family planning workers in connection with surgical sterilization are also reviewed and discussed.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 1982

Recently in Korea, integration of F.P. & MCH programs for effective and efficient implementation of the health programs has been discussed actively. In fact, categorical health workers in fields have been trained and changed as an integrated health workers by government. But one of the most important problems that had to be solved for successful integration of F.P. and MCH programs, is that there must be a common indicator for the evaluation of the two health services (integrated indicator). We regarded reproductive efficiency (=R.E.) that had been proposed by Charlotter M$\ddot{u}$ller et al, as the good integrated indicator. The object of this brief article is to introduce the meaning of reproductive efficiency and to illustrate the usefulnesses of R.E. as the integrated health indicator by applying this indicator to the data from preliminary survey of Seosan demonstration project for integration of F.P. & MCH service supported by WHO. The results and conclusions are as follows 1) Definition of R.E. is the percentage of pregnancies that succeed in production normal, surving children after taking into account the frequency of all measurable types of adverse outcomes (End point for evaluation of survival is one year of age). 2) On the basis of the past pregnant history, reproductive efficiency of the 2,484 eligible women (15-44 years) was roughly 75% (But, in the concept of good births, it is not regarded whether the survived infant is normal health or not). 3) Compared with the results of the other two surveys of the rural area in Korea, reproductive efficiency has been slightly decreased than before, in spite of family planning and MCH services for past 20 years. Because the quantity of increased abortion rate overwhelmed that of the decreased infant mortality rate. 4) Reproductive efficiency has the object for measure many events during the period from the conception (Wanted pregnancy) to an normal surviving children as an 1 year of age. So these heterogenous adversities, ie, induced abortion, still births, spontaneous abortion, neonate & infant death, are aggregated as R.E. However, if the information of these important events and reproductive efficiency were given, R.E. is used as the comprehensive evaluation indicator for F.P. and M.C.H. after meticulous analysis the various components of R.E. 5) Economic loss for adverse outcomes of preg were pregnancy were calculated applying the medical cost at the relatively small sized hospital of small city. Economic loss for 100 cases of adverse outcome is 10,420,000 won, and economic loss for infant death is 46.1% of the total loss. So, it is rational to invest much more effort and than before to MCH programs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1922-1929
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• 2020

Objective: The present study aimed to survey seasonal changes in reproductive performance of local cows receiving artificial insemination (AI) in the Pursat province of Cambodia, a tropical country, to investigate if ambient conditions affect the reproductive performance of cows as to better understand the major problems regarding cattle production. Methods: The number of cows receiving AI, resultant number of calving, and calving rate were analyzed for those receiving the first AI from 2016 to 2017. The year was divided into three seasons: cool/dry (from November to February), hot/dry (from March to June), and wet (from July to October), based on the maximal temperature and rainfall in Pursat, to analyze the relationship between ambient conditions and the reproductive performance of cows. Body condition scores (BCS) and feeding schemes were also analyzed in these seasons. Results: The number of cows receiving AI was significantly higher in the cool/dry season than the wet season. The number of calving and calving rate were significantly higher in cows receiving AI in the cool/dry season compared with the hot/dry and wet seasons. The cows showed higher BCSs in the cool/dry season compared to the hot/dry and wet seasons probably due to the seasonal changes in the feeding schemes: these cows grazed on wild grasses in the cool/dry season but fed with a limited amount of grasses and straw in the hot/dry and wet seasons. Conclusion: The present study suggests that the low number of cows receiving AI, low number of calving, and low calving rate could be mainly due to poor body condition as a result of the poor feeding schemes during the hot/dry and wet seasons. The improvement of body condition by the refinement of feeding schemes may contribute to an increase in the reproductive performance in cows during the hot/dry and wet seasons in Cambodia.