• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.615-623
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of the Koryo Hand Acupuncture Therapy on middle-age women s obesity index. Methods: A total of 38 middle-age women were assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The intervention group received Koryo Hand Acupuncture Therapy three times a week for ten weeks. The two sample t-test was used to compare the body mass index, fat mass, and waist-to-hip ratio between the intervention (n=18) and the control group (n=20). Results: In both groups, body mass index did not change significantly following the intervention. The intervention group lost $1.00{\pm}1.10kg$ of fat mass (p=.00) and the decrease was significant between the intervention and control group (p=.00). Both groups had increase in waist-to-hip ratio, however, the increase was only significant for the control group (p=.00). Conclusion: The application of Koryo Hand Acupuncture Therapy influenced the change of fat mass, but not clinically significant. It may be useful to repeat the study and to examine other factors that may have interfered with the effectiveness of the intervention. The use of Koryo hand acupuncture therapy should be further studied.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.1108-1118
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of hand acupuncture therapy on sleep quality by means of a sleep questionnaire, polysomnography and a cerebral blood flow test in $30{\sim}59$ year old adults. Methods: The study was a sham controlled design. Twenty-two adults were assigned to the pellet stimulating group (11) or sham group (11). The pellet stimulating group received hand acupuncture therapy using New Seoam Press Pellets number 1 for 4 weeks. On the other hand, the sham group used the same Adhesive tape in terms of shape, size and quality as New Seoam Press Pellets number 1 for 4 weeks. A Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography and Carotid Duplex Ultrasonography examination were used for evaluating cerebral blood flow. Data was analyzed using the SPSS 12.0 version program with $X^2-test$, Fisher's exact test and Mann Whitney U-test. Results: In the pellet stimulating group, subjective sleep quality significantly improved more than that of the sham group. Among the sleep indices of the polysomnography, total sleep time and sleep latency of the sham group significantly improved. The cerebral blood flow test didn't show any differences. Conclusion: These results suggest that hand acupuncture therapy is effective for subjective sleep improvement only, not polysomnographical sleep indices and cerebral blood flow.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.195-206
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• 2006

Purpose: As Koryo Hand Therapy is generally referenced by a manual, we made a database system to ease. Method: Using the basic theory of Koryo Hand Therapy with the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), we tested, analyzed, designed and implemented the system and constructed a database system with MS Access according to the symptoms. Results: We constructed the database system of Handing and the symptoms of Koryo Hand Therapy in 3 parts (Basic Data Management, Disorder Therapy Management, Report) for easy management. This database system will be useful for general users to protect, promote and measure their health. The structured database system was valued on the basis of the students basic knowledge of Koryo Hand Therapy. As a result, 80% of the respondents answered that the "system is well structured", 78% that "it's convenient to search", and 87% that "it's helpful for self health management". Conclusion: These study results provides people with information on the basic treatment of symptoms for the self health protection and promotion with Koryo Hand Therapy by constructing a database.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.35 no.11B
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• pp.1651-1658
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• 2010

As indicators of life quality have recently shown great improvement, early stage medical examination and health care patterns are usually preformed before diseases occur. Thus, hand acupuncture, as an alternative medicine to reflect these movements of preventative work and health care, is widely used these days. Therefore, in this paper, we measured the change of voice signals elements associated with heart by stimulating the heart A16 acupuncture point, and then we investigated possible improvements of cardiac function through analysis of cross-comparisons between measurements of cardiac changes. With this in mind, we collected voice samples associated with heart before and after stimulating the corresponding A16 acupuncture point, and we performed an experiment by applying the second formant bandwidth and Jitter. As result, stimulating the A16 acupuncture point results to lowering the second formant bandwidth and Jitter. The result has proven that using voice signal processing technology can help improvement of heart function.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.1103-1108
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• 2009

Purpose: Recently, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been increasingly used in children. Studies have shown that 34% of adults and 11% of children use CAM in the USA and Canada. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and patterns of CAM use in elementary children in Korea. Methods:From July to August 2007, parents of elementary children completed a questionnaire survey at Gwang-ju. In all, 794 questionnaires were analyzed. Results:Of the 794 respondents, 278 answered that their pupils (35%) had experienced CAM. The following types of CAM therapy were used: herbal medicine, 62.5% dietary supplements, 31.2% vitamins, 30.2% and acupuncture, 11.1%. CAM therapies were used for the following diseases: nutritional deficiency, 33.3% atopic dermatitis, 31.3% arthralgia, 31.3% allergic rhinitis, 28.8% obesity, 26.3% and asthma. The following were the motives to use CAM: prevention of diseases (33.5%), dissatisfaction with modern medicine (21.2%), and complementary therapy to modern medicine (20.5%). People gained information about CAM through neighbors (65%) and mass media (21%). Moreover, 83 parents (30%) were satisfied with CAM because of its effectiveness. Conclusion:Many parents have advocated the use of CAM in their children. However, most of them used CAM without any prescription or adequate knowledge. Further studies are required to determine the efficacy of CAM.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.37-53
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• 2007

This study is carried in the goal to investigate the individual awareness rate about alternative therapy among the unspecified persons and their experience of using it, and to promote the diffusion of alternative therapy. The questionnaire research for this study has been conducted among 300 unspecified persons who live in some areas. The following is figured out in this study: 1. To the question of knowledge grade about alternative therapies, 44.4% of respondents answer they 'know a little.' 2. Regarding the experience of using alternative therapies, 22.6% of respondents answer 'Yes.' This rate is very low, the reason of it can be perceived that the names of categories in alternative therapies has not been showed to them and they don't have pre-knowledge about it. 3. The 166 persons of 248 reply that they use alternative therapies. This rate indicate their recognition of categories of alternative therapies, and the gap of the question of experience and using nowadays is interpreted to result from the gap of the pre-knowledge. 4. Regarding the field of the alternative therapies that the respondents want to learn, the first field the male respondents choose is acupuncture(41 persons, Res in needle, bloodletting, etc.), and the female respondents choose acupuncture firstly(20 persons). Therefore the learning courses of alternative therapies are more effective when the preference of men and women is considered. Consequently, both the research about the given kinds of alternative therapies with demonstration of their medical effect and the systematic promotion and education about alternative therapy is considered to be needed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.271-280
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• 2024

This study examines the European Union (EU)'s policies on managing nitrate contamination in groundwater and provides implications for the future groundwater management in South Korea. Initiated by the 1991 Nitrate Directive, the EU has pursued a multifaceted approach to reduce agricultural nitrate pollution through sustainable ('good') farming practices, regular nitrate level monitoring, and designating Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. Further policy integrations, like the Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive, have established comprehensive protection strategies, including the use of pollutant threshold values. Recently, the 2019 Green Deal escalated efforts against nitrates, aligning with broader environmental and climate objectives. This review aims to explore these developments, highlighting key mitigation strategies against nitrate pollution, and providing valuable insights for the future sustainable groundwater nitrate management in South Korea, emphasizing the importance of preventive measures and collaborative efforts to restore and improve groundwater quality.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.107-122
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• 2003

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the use rate and some aspect of complementary therapies used by patients with chronic illness(hypertension, diabetic mellitus and chronic arthritis). Methods: 600 patients visiting the health center for one month(Jan. 2001) were interviewed on their complementary therapies used by the subjects for the previous year. Results: About fourteen-eight percent of the respondents used therapies; 35% of patients with hypertension, 44.6% of patients with diabetic mellitus and 62.9% of patients with chronic arthritis, which shows the highest rate among patients with three chronic disease. The use rate of complementary therapies indicates few meaningful differences according to the general characteristics of the interviewees. Hypertension patients used herb medication(31.0%) acupuncture(29.6%) and most of all the other therapies. Diabetic patients used dietary therapy(57.5%) and herb medication(35.1%). Chronic arthritis patients used acupuncture(85%) and herb medication(34.7%). 36.8% of all the patients who used complementary therapies tried more than two therapies. 18.3% of hypertension patients, 24.1% of diabetic patients and 55.9% of chronic arthritis patients used more than two therapies. Acupuncture(47%) was used most frequently, followed by herb medications(26.3%), health assistance utensils(21.8%). oriental therapy(21.8%), physical therapy(9.5%), health assistance food(8.4%), herb(7.7%), Korea hand acupuncture(3.2%), abdomen respiration(1.1%), and pore therapy(0.7%) Oriental clinic was visited most frequently(42.8%), which was used to cure diseases(61.8%), and to relieve symptoms(26.0%). (p<0.001) The cost spent on complementary therapies last year was 90,000 won(40.3%) and there are some cases of more than 500,000 won(31.2%). Most of the patients(56.1%) were satisfied with the complementary therapies, with 6% of them having side effects. 74% of the patients used complementary therapies answered that they would continue them and 56.1% of them also answered that they would continue them and 56.1% of them also answered that they would advise other patients to do them. Advantages(compared with those of orthodox medical treatment) are psychological comfort(28.1%), body protection(26.0%), effectiveness(20.0%). 34% of the patients using complementary therapies wanted to have informational orientation on complementary therapies. These findings reveal that a considerable number of patients with chronic illness(47.5%) tried a variety of complementary therapies. Though 6% of the patients using therapies had side effects, most of the subjects seemed satisfied with them and they are supposed to continue them. Conclusions: In conclusion, health center personnels and medical doctors should pay more attention to the complementary therapies used by patients with chronic illness. They also have to try their best to advise more scientific and informative complementary programs with less side effects and more help to improve their conditions.