• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 1999

The authors surveyed the inhabitants of a rural area to assess the patterns of medical utilization on dermatoses. Seven hundred and sixty new outpatients of dermatoses were examined and surveyed with formed questionnaire from March 1997 to February 1999. The results are as follows; 1. Among 760 new outpatients, the number of male patients was 283(37.2%) and that of female patients was 477(67.3%). 2. The most common dermatoses was Tinea pedis(34.9%), and follows senile pruritus, contact dermatitis, housewife eczema, seborrheic dermatitis, numular dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, Tinea corporis, Tinea ungium, acne vulgaris, impetigo, keratolysis exfoliativa, chronic urticaria, Tinea cruris and Molluscum contagiosum in orders. 3. Drug store was the most frequent places where patients initially visited for their skin diseases(39.6%) and followed by non dermatologic clinic, dermatologic clinic and general hospital in orders. 4. One hundred and twenty one(15.9%) patients have been experienced folk treatment. It was founded that the topical vinegar application or soaking was the most common method. Many patients felt no symptom improvement after the folk treatment(48.8%). Seventeen point four percent of patient felt symptom worsened. The results of this study suggest that many of the rural inhabitants are lack of understanding on their dermatoses. So many physician who are in charge of the primary care in rural area have to pay attention to the common dermatoses and educate patients on their medical utilization.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.361-366
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• 2014

In this study, Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Glycyrrhiza glabra extracts, with their countries of origin as Korea (Jecheon), Uzbekistan and China, were prepared under various extraction conditions. There were 8 extraction conditions which the licorice were subjected to, and all conditions had different extraction solvents, temperatures and times. Antimicrobial activity on skin flora was evaluated comparatively by a disc diffusion assay, broth macrodilution assay, and kill time curve assay. Based on the antimicrobial activity of their extract confirmed by disc diffusion assay, we established optimal extraction conditions. The Korean licorice extract (85% ethanol, $40^{\circ}C$, 12 h) showed the best activity amongst the samples examined. In particular, its antimicrobial activity against Propionibacterium acnes was the highest. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) of the licorice extracts revealed that the Korean licorice ($156{\mu}g/ml$ and $1,250{\mu}g/ml$) had better antimicrobial activity than that of the Uzbekistani licorice ($625{\mu}g/ml$ and $2,500{\mu}g/ml$) and the Chinese licorice ($625{\mu}g/ml$ and $5,000{\mu}g/ml$). Taken together, it was shown that Korean licorice extracted in group F (85% ethanol, $40^{\circ}C$, 12 h) had the highest antimicrobial activity amongst the licorices from the other countries of origin. These results also suggest that the optimal extraction conditions are 85% ethanol, $40^{\circ}C$, 12 h, and that licorice has a potential application as a natural preservative in cosmetics products, thereby replacing synthetic preservatives.