• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2018

Inflammasomes are intracellular multiprotein complexes that coordinate anti-pathogenic host defense during inflammatory responses in myeloid cells, especially macrophages. Inflammasome activation leads to activation of caspase-1, resulting in the induction of pyroptosis and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}$ and IL-18. Although the inflammatory response is an innate host defense mechanism, chronic inflammation is the main cause of rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and $Sj{\ddot{o}}gren^{\prime}s$ syndrome (SS). Since rheumatic diseases are inflammatory/autoimmune disorders, it is reasonable to hypothesize that inflammasomes activated during the inflammatory response play a pivotal role in development and progression of these diseases. Indeed, previous studies have provided important observations that inflammasomes are actively involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory/autoimmune rheumatic diseases. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on several types of inflammasomes during macrophage-mediated inflammatory responses and discuss recent research regarding the role of inflammasomes in the pathogenesis of inflammatory/autoimmune rheumatic diseases. This avenue of research could provide new insights for the development of promising therapeutics to treat inflammatory/autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.129-134
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• 2023

In this review, we searched for clinical and experimental studies related to acupuncture-related therapy (ART) on the microbiome in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) through the electronic databases of MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, and Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System up to May 2023, without language restriction, and after the selection/exclusion process, the study design, target disease, intervention details, treatment period, outcomes, and study results were extracted. A total of 8 articles were selected. Two randomized controlled trials and 6 animal studies evaluated knee osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal cord injury, ankylosing spondylitis, and osteoporosis. ART, including electroacupuncture, thread-embedding acupuncture, and moxibustion, affected microbiome modulation in MSDs. The results reveal that ART could be a potential treatment for regulating the microbiome in MSDs. However, further high-quality studies are needed.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.121-132
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• 2009

Objectives : To evaluate the current status of East-West combination treatment in joint disorders. Methods : The medical records of patients who visited the Joints & Rheumatism Center at the Kyung Hee East-West Neo Medical Center from April 2006 to June 2009 were evaluated. The general characteristics of patients who underwent combination treatment, trend in number of cross-system referrals, and disorders and involved body regions of patients referred to the Eastern medical hospital from the Western medical hospital were initially assessed. 6 major disorders were found from the initial scanning. The trend in number of cross-hospital referrals, number of visits to the Eastern medical hospital, current status of combination treatment, treatment modality, and reason for cross-system referral was evaluated. Results : 1. 1510 patients were referred from the Eastern medical hospital to the Western medical hospital, and 1065 patients were referred from the Western medical hospital to the Eastern medical hospital. First visit patients reached a peak at the second quarter of 2007 and fourth quarter of 2006 respectively, and have steadily decreased from then on. Referrals of female patients were twice as common as male patient referrals. Patients in their sixth or seventh decade of life were most commonly referred, and more outpatients were referred compared to inpatients. 2. Patients with knee joint disorders were most commonly referred from the Western medical hospital to the Eastern medical hospital, followed by hip, shoulder, ankle, wrist, and elbow joint disorders. The most common disorders for each of the above regions in referred patients were knee osteoarthritis, avascular necrosis of the hip, adhesive capsulitis, and ankle strain and sprain. The generalized disorders rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis followed. 3. Patients referred to the Eastern hospital received approximately 3 to 10 Eastern medical treatment sessions. 45 percent remained on constant combination treatment, and 98 percent of referred patients received acupuncture treatment. Conclusions : In regard to the number of patients and duration of combination treatment, combination treatment was successfully performed for knee osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, while it was not so for avascular necrosis of the hip, adhesive capsulitis, and ankle strain and sprain. Further research on this subject is required.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.105-112
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• 1995

This study was designed to investigate the efficiency of subjective assessment that exams the subjective symptom of patients with back pain at the department of physical therapy. To assess the subjective symptom, we used the pain questionnaire using visual analogue scale (VAS) that was developed by Wang on 1995. Questionnaires were administered to 31 adult patients(male : 11, female : 20) with herniated lumbar disk(13), low back pain(8), myofascial pain syndrom(5), lumbar strain(4), ankylosing spondylitis(1). Mean age was 36.3 ranged from 20 to 65. The results of this study were as follows : 1) In each of 15 subjects, there was a significant decrease in VAS between pre- and post-treatment(p<0.05). 2) Mean VAS of total subjects was $6.26{\pm}2.55$ in pre-treatment, $4.50{\pm}2.47$ in post-treatment (p<0.001). Result of this study was shown efficiency of pain management by subjective assessment. The continuous study is needed for many interesting illue of pain management using VAS.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.679-689
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• 1995

This study was designed to investigate the efficiency of subjective assessment that exams the subjective symptom of patients with back pain at the department of physical therapy. To assess the subjective symptom, we used the pain questionnaire using visual analogue scale(VAS) that was developed by Wang on 1995. Questionnaires were administered to 31 adult patients(male : 11, female: 20) with herniated lumbar disk(13), low back pain(8), myofascial pain syndrom(5), lumbar strain(4), ankylosing spondylitis(1). Mean age was 36.3 ranged from 28 to 65. The results of this study were as follows: 1) In each of 15 subjects, there was a significant decrease in VAS between pre-and post-treatment(p < 0.05 -p<0.001). 2) Mean VAS of total subjects was $6.26{\pm}2.55$ in pre-treatment, $4.50{\pm}2.47$ in post-treatment(p < 0.001). The result of this study was shown efficiency of pain management by subjective assessment. The continuous study is needed for many interesting issue of pain management using VAS.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.40-52
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• 2000

Recently with the development in computer technology and its communication system, many changes in medical informatics enable us to use various medical information regardless of time or place. There are many home pages on the web, which provide medical counseling and hospital information. On May 11th 1999, Korean Rheumatology Health Professions Society began its new service as a home page on the web with various rheumatologic health information, questioning/ answering, and so on. This study was undertaken to examine the content and the purpose of health counseling on the web. The data was collected from 173 questioners who visited questioning/ answering site in the KRHPS home page for May 11th, 1999 through November 10th, 1999. Most of the questioners consulted the health problems of their or their families. Over two thirds of them were already diagnosed medically. Rheumatoid arthritis was the most frequent one. Other diseases, such as, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Still's disease were also on the list. Most of the questioners wanted to know treatment strategies, to consult about their symptoms, and to make diagnosis. And many questioners wanted detailed explanations about their diseases or the informations regarding the hospital. These findings suggest that the health counseling on the web may be used to supplement the lack of direct medical interviews with doctors. It also is expected to guide the patients to the right direction.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.137-146
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• 2003

Rheumatic diseases can be categorized by pathology into several specific types of musculoskeletal problems, including synovitis (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis), enthesopathy (e.g. ankylosing spondylitis) and cartilage degeneration (e.g. osteoarthritis). Skeletal radiographs have contributed to the diagnosis of these articular diseases, and some disease entities need typical radiographic changes as a factor of the diagnostic criteria. However, they sometimes show normal radiographic findings in the early stage of disease, when there is demineralization of less than 30-50 %. Bone scans have also been used in arthritis, but not widely because the findings are nonspecific and it is thought that bone scans do not add significant information to routine radiography. Bone scans do however play a different role than simple radiography, and it is a complementary imaging method in the course of management of arthritis. The Image quality of bone scans can be improved by obtaining regional views and images under a pin-hole collimator, and through a variety of scintigraphic techniques including the three phase bone scan and bone SPECT. Therefore, bone scans could improve the diagnostic value, and answer multiple clinical questions, based on the pathophysiology of various forms of arthritis.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.83-85
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• 2014

Dural ectasia refers to the widening or ballooning of the dural sac surrounding the spinal cord. It can affect any plane of the spinal canal, but occurs primarily in the lumbosacral region. Dural ectasia is present in 63-92% patients who have Marfan syndrome, and is related to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, neurofibromatosis type I, and ankylosing spondylitis. The most common symptoms are low back pain, headache, weakness, numbness above and below the affected limb, and occasional rectal and genital pain. However, in most patients, dural ectasia is usually asymptomatic. We report the case of a 5-year-old boy who presented with a severe headache who had been diagnosed with Marfan syndrome. During the evaluation, magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar and sacral spine revealed dural ectasia. To our knowledge, this is the first report on Marfan syndrome with symptomatic dural ectasia in Korea. We concluded that dural ectasia should be suspected in patients diagnosed with Marfan syndrome who have a severe headache.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.114-123
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• 2021

Background: Evaluation of the effectiveness of caudal epidural injection on pain, spine mobility, disease activity, and activity of daily living in axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients. Methods: A total sample of 47 patients were registered in this study. They were randomly assigned into 2 groups; Group I received caudal epidural injections, ultrasound-guided, with 1% lidocaine hydrochloride mixed with triamcinolone, whereas Group II did not receive any injections. All participants fulfilled the ASAS criteria for axial SpA. Outcome measures were as follows: visual analogue scale, Oswestry disability index (ODI), modified Schober test, lateral lumbar flexion, and Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) with assessment at baseline, 2 weeks, and 8 weeks post-treatment. This clinical trial was registered on clinicaltrials.gov under the number NCT04143165. Results: There was a significant difference between both groups regarding pain, ODI, spine mobility and ASDAS scores in favor of group I. This effect was at its maximum after 2 weeks. Despite the decline of this effect after 2 months, the difference between the groups remained significant. Higher disease activity, younger age, and shorter disease duration were associated with better outcomes. Conclusions: Epidural injection of lidocaine and triamcinolone is a cost effective and a practical technique for controlling pain, as well as improving the function of the spine and disease activity scores in axial SpA patients with acceptable complications and relatively sustained effect.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.156-160
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• 2022

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ankylosis is a condition in which condylar movement is restricted because of fibrous or bony union between the mandibular condyle and temporal bone. TMJ ankylosis is most often caused by trauma, followed by systemic or local infection, and secondary to unknown causes. Diagnostic imaging plays a vital role in diagnosing TMJ ankylosis and establishing a treatment plan. Computed tomography (CT) or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is currently the imaging technique of choice to accurately demonstrate preoperative ankylosing masses and other surgically important findings, such as the shape of the mandibular condyle and the pathological changes in the joint. The osseous changes in the mandibular condyle are easily identified in the coronal and sagittal sections of CT or CBCT images. This report describes the case of a middle-aged woman who developed TMJ ankylosis of the left TMJ while undergoing repeated treatment for TMJ disease. We report the findings observed on radiographic and CBCT images through continuous observation.