• Development and Reproduction
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.141-153
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• 2007

The Wnt signaling pathway regulates cell proliferation and differentiation during development of multicellular organisms and plays pivotal roles in the maintenance of homeostasis in adult tissues. Therefore misregulation of Wnt signaling could be a pathogenesis of diverse human diseases such as cancers. Recently, the list of diseases that may be linked to the misregulation of Wnt signaling has exploded and more people are getting interested in the way of controlling Wnt signaling. There are a lot of review papers, however, since most of them have focused on specific issues for experts in Wnt signaling it may be difficult for new comers to understand the overall background and current status of Wnt signaling. In this review, we present data and interpretations for the overall processes of Wnt signal transduction to understand the past and current status of Wnt signaling.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.97-108
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• 2011

Cancer stem cells have stem cell-like features, such as the ability for self-renewal and differentiation but show unlimited growth because they have the lost normal regulation of cell growth. Cancer stem cells and normal stem cells have similar features. They show high motility, diversity of progeny, robust proliferative potential, association with blood vessels, immature expression profiles, nestin expression, epidermal growth factor (EGF)-receptor expression, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression, hedgehog pathway activity, telomerase activity, and Wnt pathway activity. On the other hand, with cancer cells, some of these signaling pathways are abnormally modified. In 1875, Cohnheim suggested the concept of cancer stem cells. Recently, evidence for the existence of cancer stem cells was identified. In 1994, the cancer stem cells' specific cell surface marker for leukemia was identified. Since then, other specific cell surface markers for cancer stem cells in solid tumors (e.g. breast and colon cancer) have been identified. In oral cancer, studies on cancer stem cells have been performed mainly with squamous cell carcinomas. Oral cancer specific cell surface markers, which are genes strongly expressed in oral cancer and cancer stem cell specific side populations, have been identified. Cancer stem cells are resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Therefore, to eliminate malignant tumors efficiently and reduce the recurrence rate, therapy targeting cancer stem cells needs to be performed. Currently, studies targeting the cancer stem cells' specific signaling pathways, telomerase and tumor vasculatures are being done.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.376-382
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• 2011

The results from eight clinical studies demonstrate that citalopram and escitalopram could be an effective option in the treatment of hot flashes with tolerable adverse effects. However, there are limitations in the above studies. The inclusion criteria of 2 studies reviewed in this paper was breast cancer patients, so it's hard to apply the results to the general population in clinical practice. Also 4 studies had less than 50 subjects included, and the duration of study was 8 weeks or less in 7 studies reviewed in this paper. Moreover, only 4 studies were randomized, placebo-controlled trials (3 for citalopram and 1 for escitalopram). Therefore, further randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies with the general population should be needed to use citalopram and escitalopram for the treatment of hot flashes in clinical practice.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.456-463
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• 2002

Distraction osteogenesis is a well-established clinical treatment for limb length discrepancy and skeletal deformities. Appropriate mechanical tension-stress is believed not to break the callus but rather to stimulate osteogenesis. In contrast to fracture healing, the mode of bone formation in distraction osteogenesis is primarily intramembranous ossification. Although the biomechanical, histological, and ultrastructural changes associated with distraction osteogenesis have been widely described, the basic biology of the process is still not well known. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms in distraction osteogenesis remain largely unclear. Recent studies have implicated the growth factor cascade is likely to play an important role in distraction. And current reserch suggested that mechanical tension-stress modulates cell shape and phenotype, and stimulates the expression of the mRNA for bone matrix proteins. This article presents the hypotheses and current research that have furthered knowledge of the molecular biology that govern distraction osteogenesis. The gene regulation of growth factors and extracellular matrix proteins during distraction osteogenesis are discussed in this article. It is believed that understanding the biomolecular mechanisms that mediate distraction osteogenesis may guide the development of targeted strategies designed to improve distraction osteogenesis and accelerate bone healing.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2016

30% of patients with panic disorder (PD) show treatment-resistant and chronic waxing and waning course. Therefore, adequate treatment strategies for PD by evidence based pharmacotherapy and combined cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are recommended. Regarding how and why CBT for PD works, three hypotheses include the cognitive theory, anxiety control theory, and behavioral theory were discussed. The recent findings that the altered activation in frontal lobe is normalized after CBT, suggest a reduction of an altered top-down fear processing in the neural correlates of CBT in PD. In order to improve accessibility to CBT, brief CBT and internet based CBT for PD were suggested. Despite limitations of sample sizes and study design, most of studies suggest that brief CBT is more effective than control conditions, and even as equally effective as standard CBT. The evidences suggest that internet based CBT may not be significantly different from face-to-face CBT in reducing anxiety. Several advances within the field of third-wave CBT for PD have led to the development of new techniques based on mindfulness, such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. Based on Korean algorithm project for panic disorder, especially the psychological education and cognitive reconstruction components were recommended in CBT with PD.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2009

Objectives : If patients notice a symptom indicating inveterate dyspepsia but they don't have any problem around gastroscope, they get diagnosed as a functional dyspepsia or an imaginary stomach disease, but to overcome the limitations of these diagnoses, we are analyzing them for the common feature and are looking for a new diagnostics for them. Methods : Based on our survey with 122 patients with inveterate dyspepsia, we analyzed the period of onset, eating habits, the main symptoms, and observations on the gastroscope. We also analyzed the function of the stomach and intestines by EAV examinations, and the outer walls of the stomach and intestines by subdividing the level of coagulation into six with abdominal palpation. Results : We figured out that people who appeals about inveterate dyspepsia have had long period of onset, and that they had bad eating habits, shoulder stiffness, neck stiffness, headache, dizziness, etc. These are all the similar symptoms beside dyspepsia, which indicates that it is a syndrome. From about 70%, they didn't had particular problem in gastroscope, and as to be seen from the result of EAV examination, their stomachs and intestines had become functionless. Also, we were able to feel a stiffened tissue through abdominal palpation. Conclusion : Through this investigation, we found out that what the gastroscope can not find so that gets diagnosed as a functional dyspepsia or an imaginary stomach disease can be diagnosed as a syndrome called damjeok by overcoming the limitation utilizing the survey, EAV examinations, and abdominal palpation. We can find a mighty significance from the fact that it can be diagnosed as a syndrome.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.215-225
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• 2006

Precocious puberty is defined as the appearance of secondary sex characteristics before age 8 years in girls (or menarche before age 9 years) and before 9 years in boys. The age of onset of puberty is progressing to younger age. The pubertal activation of gonadotrophin releasing hormone(GnRH) release requires coordinated changes in excitatory or inhibitory amino acids, growth factors, and a group of transcriptional regulators. A number of factors affecting precocious puberty were explored, including the role of genetic factors, nutrition(body fat) and exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. In addition to the psychosocial disturbances associated with precocious puberty, the premature pubertal growth spurt and the accelerated bone maturation result in reduced adult height. Precocious puberty may be gonadotrophin-dependent premature activation of the GnRH pulse generator or gonadotrophin-independent. In rapidly progressing central precocious puberty, GnRH agonists appear to increase final height. However more data on the effect and long-term safety of GnRHa are needed.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.189-203
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• 2007

Objectives The prognosis, recurrence rate and treatment of febrile seizure were studied through the research of recent western medicine and Chinese oriental medicine paper. Methods Recent western medicine paper of internal and external and chinese oriental medicine paper from 1999 to 2007 were investigated. Results and Conclusions The prognosis of febrile seizure was good in most cases, but children with febrile seizure who developed epilepsy range between 2 and 10%. The risk factors developed epilepsy including complex febrile seizure, focal and prolonged seizure, pre-existing neurodevelopmental abnormalities and recurrent febrile seizure. Recurrence rate of febrile seizure ranges between 30 and 50% was high. The risk factors can be predicted by their age at first febrile seizure happened, family medical history of febrile seizure and epilepsy, complex febrile seizure, and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, the most important factor of those is the age when they have first febrile seizure. Diazepam or Lorazepam was administrated for a child with prolonged seizure but only Diazepam was used for reducing recurrence of febrile seizurein febrile illness. However, there were some side effects such as lethargy, ataxia, and irritability. The study of chinese oriental medicine demonstrates that the acupuncture and venesection were used for seizure attack and reduced of recurrences and second attack. To reduce recurrence of febrile seizure, herbal medicine was also used for febrile illness or after seizure attack within a certain period of time, so reduce the recurrence, frequency of seizure and febrile illness. The most of herbs in prescription were used for removing heat and toxic meterials(淸熱解毒), extinguishing wind and to stopping the convulsion(熄風止痙)

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2018

It has been suggested that aberrant self-referential processing (SRP) is one of the important components of the explanatory models of social anxiety disorder (SAD). The default mode network (DMN), which reflects intrinsic brain functions, is known to play a critical role in SRP. Recently, resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research on the functional connectivity in the brain network has gained greater attention as a tool to elucidate the neurobiological basis of various psychiatric disorders. We reviewed resting state fMRI studies that investigated the resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the DMN in SAD. Despite of the heterogeneity of the analytic methods and occasional negative findings, most studies consistently reported abnormalities of RSFC within the DMN, suggesting that the DMN may be significant neural correlates of aberrant SRP in SAD. Also, changes in RSFC of the DMN are associated with clinical improvements of therapeutic interventions. Moreover, emerging findings provide the basis for potential use of RSFC as a complementary method in diagnosis of SAD. Ongoing and future research to investigate RSFC of the DMN could broaden our understanding regarding the neurobiological basis of SAD, and contribute to the development of novel treatments for SAD.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.101-109
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• 2014

Objective : The purpose of this study is to summarize the differential diagnosis between allergic and nonallergic rhinitis and suggest management. Methods : We reviewed the current update of medical history and physical examination for allergic and nonallergic rhinitis. Then we analyzed clinical characteristics according to onset age, gender incidence and state of nasal symptoms, etc. Results : 1. Patients with nonallergic rhinitis tend to develop symptoms at a later age(>35 years of age), and there is a female-to-male incidence ratio for nonallergic rhinitis of 2:1 to 3:1. 2. Patients with nonallergic rhinitis report nasal congestion, nasal rhinorrhea and more often report postnasal drip rather than sneezing and itching, which are predominant symptoms of allergic rhinitis. And the nasal mucosa in nonallergic rhinitis usually looks normal. 3. Patients with nonallergic rhinitis have few complaints of concomitant symptoms of allergic symptoms and the absence of other atopic diseases in the patient or in the family supports the diagnosis of nonallergic rhinitis. 4. Common triggers of nonallergic rhinitis are nonspecific irritant exposures and many patients with nonallergic rhinitis find that antihistamines have no benefit. Conclusions : The differential diagnosis between allergic and nonallergic rhinitis is clinical and relies on a detailed medical history and physical examination.