• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.600-608
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• 2011

The ultimate goal of instruction is for learners to understand contents they have to learn in class. Therefore, shedding light is needed on the characteristics of understanding required by teachers and perceived by students when class is conducted for the purpose of understanding. To do this, 87 middle school teachers were requested to write down questions they asked to improve the understanding of learners in 'reproduction and genesis' unit. They were categorized according to Wiggins & McTighe's six aspects of understanding and a questionnaire was developed based on the data. A survey was conducted on 90 teachers and 370 ninth-grade students. The findings of this study were as follows: First, the teachers demanded explaining, interpreting and perspective a lot, but applying, empathy and self-knowledge were scarcely required. Second, the teachers demanded explaining the most, and the students as well. The next aspect of understanding in both groups was interpreting, followed by perspective, applying, empathy and self-knowledge. There were significant differences among the opinions of the students according to gender (p<0.05). Third, the students persevered explaining, applying and self-knowledge the same way as the teachers demanded, but not for interpreting, perspective and empathy. This study is expected to provide some information to achieve the instruction objectives of understanding successfully.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.267-273
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• 2004

Maturation of oocytes is maintained by complex procedures along with follicular genesis and is a critical step for embryonic development. Purine known as an oocyte maturation regulator is present in follicular fluid. In this study, the roles of guanosine as a strong inhibitor of GVBD and a modulator of cyclic GMP concentration in ooyctes were revealed. Denuded immature oocytes were treated with guanosine, and the maturation rates and cGMP concentration of oocytes were measured. GVBD was blocked in a concentration dependent manner by guanosine, but this effect was reversible. However, GVBD was lagged yet not significant by adenosine. Both guanosine and adenosine modified cGMP concentration in oocytes. The characteristic of the guanosine-treated oocyte was significantly higher cGMP compared with the adenosine-treated oocyes at initial time of the maturation. Based these results, guanosine may be a strong and reversible GVBD inhibitor. Although the precise mechanism of guanosine presently is unclear, the results suggest that guanosine may lead the accumulation of cGMP in oocyte cytoplasm, which in turn suppresses GVBD.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.221-226
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• 2023

A stem cell niche provides an environment that governs stem cell maintenance and division. Thus, the development of a proper niche is of prime importance to stem cell behaviors. Mechanisms of niche development are beginning to be revealed in the Drosophila male gonad. Niche cells are initially dispersed throughout the gonad, then assemble at its apical tip through the anterior migration of posteriorly located niche cells. The molecular mechanisms of this migration and assembly are still poorly understood. Here we show evidence suggesting that Lin28, an RNA-binding protein and regulator of let7 genesis, might be an intrinsic factor for the anterior migration of niche cells. We found that a dispersed, ectopic niche, a phenotype observed with anterior migration defects, occurs in lin28 mutant gonads. This phenotype is rescued by expression of lin28 in the niche cells. These findings suggest that Lin28 might be required for the anterior migration of niche cells.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.179-185
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• 2016

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway is a key signal transduction pathway involved in cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. In dairy cows, IGF family proteins and binding receptors, including their intracellular binding partners, regulate mammary gland development. IGFs and IGF receptor interactions in mammary glands influence the early stages of mammogenesis, i.e., mammary ductal genesis until puberty. The IGF pathway includes three major components, IGFs (such as IGF-I, IGF-II, and insulin), their specific receptors, and their high-affinity binding partners (IGF binding proteins [IGFBPs]; i.e., IGFBP1-6), including specific proteases for each IGFBP. Additionally, IGFs and IGFBP interactions are critical for the bioactivities of various intracellular mechanisms, including cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Notably, the interactions between IGFs and IGFBPs in the IGF pathway have been difficult to characterize during specific stages of bovine mammary gland development. In this review, we aim to describe the role of the interaction between IGFs and IGFBPs in overall mammary gland development in dairy cows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.609-624
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• 2003

The genesis of methods for defining the nutritional value of feeds and the nutrient requirements of animals, and their development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe and the USA are outlined. Current energy and protein feeding systems for ruminants are described. Particular reference is made to the Australian systems which are applicable to grazing animals as well as to those given prepared feeds, and enable the effective nutritional management of a imals at pasture by means of the decision support tool GrazFeed. The scheme for predicting intakes by cattle and sheep from pastures allows for the effects of selective grazing on the composition of the feed eaten, and for reduction in herbage intake when a supplementary feed is consumed. For herbage of any given concentration of metabolizable energy (ME) in the feed dry matter the changes with season of year in the net efficiency of use of the ME for growth and fattening and in the yield of microbial crude protein, g/MJ ME, which both vary with latitude, are defined. An equation to predict the energy requirements for maintenance (MEm) of both cattle and sheep includes predictions of the additional energy costs incurred by grazing compared with housed animals and the cost, if any, of cold stress. The equation allows for the change in MEm with feed intake. A flexible procedure predicts the composition of liveweight gain made by any given breed or sex of cattle and sheep at any stage of growth, and the variation with rate of gain. Protein requirements for maintenance, production including wool growth, and reproduction, are related to the quantities of microbial true protein and undegraded dietary protein truly digested in the small intestine.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.163-168
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and growth hormone (GH) in serum, the quantitation of spermato-genesis and the comparable relationships among these measurements during pubertal period in New Zealand White male rabbits. To investigate the age-related testicular changes in DNA contents of spermatogenic cells, the fine-needle testicular biopsies from males aged 10 to 28 wks were evaluated by flow cytometry(FCM). Body weight increased significantly between the ages of 12 and 20 wks (P<0.05) and reached 3.4 kg at 28 wks of age. The highest serum IGF-I level (451.3ng/mL) was observed at 20wks of age (P<0.05) and thereafter remained stable at low levels. Serum GH level at 18 wks of age was 183.3 pg/mL which was significantly higher compared to the other ages (P<0.05), and the rising time in serum GH tend to be somewhat earlier than that of IGF-I. The relative percentage of It-cells in testicular cell compartments was $48.2\%$ at the age of 18 wks which significantly increased than those of 16-wk-old (P<0.05) and thereafter increased with the advance of age to $68\%$. The percentage of 2C-cells in testis was $26.8\%$ at 18 wks of age which was significantly lower than $54.3\%$ at 16 wks old (P<0.05). The percentage of 4C-cells was constantly maintained $2\~6\%$ except the $9.9\%$ at 18 wks of age. In conclusion, the results suggest that the puberty onset occurred at about the 18 wks of age and that the IGF-I and GH in serum during the pubertal period showed the age/growth-specific changes and these changes might be related to the spermatogenesis. The DNA FCM combined with fine-needle testicular biopsy could offer a very sensitive method to monitor the quantitative spermatogenic events related to the puberty onset.