• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.111-130
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• 2020

This qualitative study aims to understand family members' caregiving experience for middle-aged and elderly breast cancer survivors at early stages. A total of four families of breast cancer survivors were given focus group interviews(FGI), and an additional family was interviewed individually. The thematic analyses of the FGI and individual in-depth interview discussions revealed the following four themes: first, day-to-day feelings like walking on thin ice (entangled emotions with each treatment stage, regret of watching a survivor's pain, fear of recurrence and death, concerns of changes in family relationships, and various feelings experienced as a daughter), second, caregiving has become a mainstay in my life (unfamiliar and unskilled care, losing my life), third, beginning to recover and different experiences between a survivor and a family caregiver (not understanding a survivor's pain from the abyss, forgetting that the survivor is still a cancer patient and that treating him or her casually), and fourth, moving forward (hope that things will be better, taking care of myself to prevent exhaustion). Based on the results of this study, we proposed social welfare services and policy measures to reflect the psychosocial needs of family caregivers of breast cancer survivors and support family caregivers during the care process.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.876-886
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• 2023

In some cases of head and neck cancers (HNC), surgical interventions may result in the loss of organs and/or changes to their functions, thereby significantly affecting the patient's quality of life. As a result, the surgical treatment of HNC patients is often limited to specific cases, and alternative treatment modalities, such as chemotherapy, are considered. However, serious adverse effects caused by chemotherapy, such as severe nausea and vomiting, necessitate the need for the development of adjunctive methods to minimize patient suffering. Chuanxiong, Ligusticum chuanxiong (L. chuanxiong), is a natural herb used in Eastern medicine to treat cerebrovascular disorders and headaches. This study aimed to predict the effect and potential of L. chuanxiong as an auxiliary anticancer drug through network-based pharmacology and molecular docking analysis. The study results showed that 40 out of 41 genes of L. chuanxiong shared common targets of HNC and their proteins could be used to target HNC cells to prevent cancer progression. The results of the functional enrichment analysis confirmed that L. chuanxiong is associated with the neuroactive-ligand metabolism and neurotransmitter pathways, indicating its potential medicinal value as an adjuvant in HNC treatment. Lastly, our findings demonstrated that the active ingredient of L. chuanxiong, (Z)-Ligustilide, has the ATP binding site of heat shock protein 90, a protein known to promote the activation of cancer cells. These results suggest that L. chuanxiong is a promising candidate for developing auxiliary anticancer drugs, and further research could potentially lead to the discovery of newer and safer anti-cancer agents.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.545-554
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• 2019

The phytochemical compounds of Pueraria, a medicinally important leguminous plant, include various isoflavones that have weak estrogenic activity and a potential role in preventing chronic disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and postmenopausal syndrome. However, the major isoflavones are derivatives of puerarin and occur mainly as unabsorbable and biologically inactive glycosides. The bioavailability of the glucosides can be increased by hydrolysis of the sugar moiety using ${\beta}$-glucosidase. In this study, we investigated the antioxidant effects of a Pueraria extract after fermentation by Lactobacillus rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76. The L. rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76 strain was inoculated into Pueraria powder and fermented at $37^{\circ}C$ for 72 hr. The total polyphenol content of the Pueraria extract increased by about 134% and the total flavonoid content increased around 110% after fermentation with L. rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76 when compared to a non-fermented Pueraria extract. Superoxide dismutase-like activities, DPPH radical scavenging, and ABTS radical scavenging increased by approximately 213%, 190%, and 107%, respectively, in the fermented Pueraria extract compared to the non-fermented Pueraria extract. Fermentation of Pueraria extracts with L. rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76 is therefore possible and can effectively increase the antioxidant effects. These results can be applied to the development of improved foods and cosmetic materials.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1208-1217
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• 2019

Saposhnikovia has been used as a traditional medicinal herb in Asia because of the reported anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic rhinitis, pro-whitening, anti-atopy, anti-allergy, and anti-dermatopathy effects of the phytochemical compounds it contains. In this study, we investigated the antioxidant effects of a Saposhnikovia extract after fermentation by Lactobacillus plantarum BHN-LAB 33. Saposhnikovia powder was inoculated with L. plantarum BHN-LAB 33 and fermented at $37^{\circ}C$ for 72 hr. After fermentation, the total polyphenol content of the Saposhnikovia extract increased by about 14%, and the total flavonoid content increased by about 9%. The superoxide dismutase-like activities, DPPH radical scavenging, ABTS radical scavenging, reducing power activity, and tyrosinase inhibition activity also increased after fermentation by approximately 70%, 80%, 45%, 39%, and 44%, respectively. The results confirmed that fermentation of a Saposhnikovia extract by L. plantarum BHN-LAB 33 is an effective way to increase the antioxidant effects of the extract. The bioconversion process investigated in this study may have the potential to produce phytochemical-enriched natural antioxidant agents with high added value from Saposhnikovia matrices. These results can also be applied to the development of improved foods and cosmetic materials.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.28
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• pp.363-386
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between theory of Confucian moral cultivation and meditation. Recently our community is more interested in 'a disease of mind'. A view of world, life, values which derived from the distorted perception of 'a disease of mind' can not be treated by psychiatric methods. In this sense, 'a disease of mind' is different from psychiatric illness. In this reason, alternative therapies applying philosophy, literature, arts, and humanities are attracting attention. Meditation is also one of them. In general, Meditation has been developed in Buddhism, but its method is closely related with Confucianism. Buddhist meditation has a pessimistic view of the reality in human life, but that of Confucian philosophy has laid stress on the reality and ego in human life. At this point, the Confucian meditation could provide a clue of solution for us in treatment of a disease of human mind. So Confucian moral cultivation and meditation have a great significance for the treatment of this disease as a methodology. In general, mental healing or psychotherapy has been proceeded by way of dialogue. 'Talking Cure' was conceived to let clients themselves recognize their current situation and find out the problem: "what happened and what's wrong" in their minds. But it does not have a high possibility of successful cure for subjects who are in the state of frustration, confusion, and lost of value. And also it is very difficult to apply to special institutions such as correctional institutions and military soldier who are targeted by current application of Humanities therapy. On this sense, it seems to be valuable to apply Confucian cultivation of mind and meditation which have emphasized the importance of mind-control for this. This study tries to examine theoretically how to relate the Confucian cultivation of mind with meditation, and to suggest a model of Humanities therapy that could be applied by Toe-gye's 『The Method on Preservation of Human mind(活人心方)』. Although Confucian cultivation of mind could present a meaningful theory for curing the disease of mind, it is very difficult to put the theory into practice. It is because Confucian cultivation of mind in itself is a kind of instruction that you need to do in all of your life, and essentially it is difficult to expect a temporary effect by performance or practice. So a cure model of Confucian cultivation of mind will be suggested on this assumption and limitations. This model is attempted on the main purpose of Humanities therapy in accordance with the development of a Korean model.