• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1118-1138
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• 2023

Objectives: Sarcopenia is an age-associated skeletal muscle disorder that can profoundly impact the health of elderly people. However, the efficacy of herbal medicine in sarcopenia is uncertain. This review aims to investigate evidence of the effect of herbal medicine on sarcopenia. Methods: We systematically searched 12 electronic databases for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Only trials that met the inclusion criteria were selected, and the characteristics of the included studies were extracted and synthesized in a narrative manner. The quality of the included studies was assessed using Cochrane's Risk of Bias (RoB) 2.0 tool. Results: 7 RCTs involving 672 participants with sarcopenia met the inclusion criteria. The intervention combining herbal medicine and conventional treatment (i.e., exercise, nutritional support) had a significant therapeutic effect compared with the conventional treatment, showing improvement in muscle strength (i.e., grip strength), muscle mass (i.e., appendicular skeletal muscle mass index), and physical function (i.e., gait speed, short physical performance battery, and timed up and go test). However, the methodological quality of the included RCTs was relatively low due to their high RoB, making it difficult to evaluate the efficacy of herbal medicine in sarcopenia. In terms of safety, several adverse events were reported. Conclusion: This review suggests that herbal medicine has a positive effect on muscle strength, muscle mass, and physical performance in elderly patients with sarcopenia, but there is a clear need for further research in this area.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.23-35
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• 2007

With the development of semantic web technologies in information retrieval area, the necessity for thesaurus is recently increasing along with internet lexicons. A thesaurus is the combination of classification and a lexicon, and is the topic map of knowledge structure expressing relations among concepts(terms) subject to human knowledge activities such as learning and research using formally organized and controlled index terms for clarifying the context of superordinate and subordinate concepts. However, although thesaurus are regarded as essential tools for controlling and standardizing terms and searching and processing information efficiently, we do not have a Korean thesaurus for geology. To build a thesaurus, we need standardized and well-defined guidelines. The standardized guidelines enable efficient information management and help information users use correct information easily and conveniently. The present study purposed to build a thesaurus system with terms used in geology. For this, First, we surveyed related works for standardizing geological terms in Korea and other countries. Second, we defined geological topics in 15 areas and prepared a classification system(draft) for each topic. Third, based on the geological thesaurus classification system, we created the specification of geological thesaurus. Lastly, we designed and implemented an internet-based geological thesaurus system using the specification.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.72-83
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and risk factors in elderly people (old vs oldest-old) with arthritis. Methods: The Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) was used with a sample of 1,084 elderly people with arthritis aged 65 or above. Results: We found that the prevalence of depressive symptom was greater for oldest-old people (66.7%) compared to old people (56%). Significant differences between old people and oldest-old people were found for education, living with spouse, number of generation, regular exercise, body mass index (BMI), ADL limitation, self-rated health, and depression. Significant differences existed between depression and non-depression in terms of all variables except region and BMI among old people. But, among the oldest people, ADL limitation and self-rated health showed differences. The Logistic regression analysis revealed that religion, medical comorbidity, ADL limitation, self-rated health were significantly associated with depressive symptoms in old people. But, in oldest-old people, none of the variables were associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The findings show that there are age differences in depression and related factors in elderly people with arthritis. Longitudinal studies, which covered depressive symptom severity and which are controlled for a large number of potential confounders, will need to complement the results of this study in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.242-252
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• 2023

Background: Neck pain is a common problem in the general population and second only to low back pain in musculoskeletal problems. The aim of this study is to compare three different types of exercise training in patients with chronic neck pain. Methods: This study was conducted on 45 patients with neck pain. Patients were divided into 3 groups: Group 1 (conventional treatment), Group 2 (conventional treatment plus deep cervical flexor training), and Group 3 (conventional treatment plus stabilization of the neck and core region). The exercise programs were applied for four weeks, three days a week. The demographic data, pain intensity (verbal numeric pain scale), posture (Reedco's posture scale), cervical range of motion ([ROM] goniometer), and disability (Neck Disability Index [NDI]) were evaluated. Results: In all groups, a significant improvement was found in terms of pain, posture, ROM, and NDI values in all groups (P < 0.001). Between the groups, analyses showed that the pain and posture improved more in Group 3, while the ROM and NDI improved more in Group 2. Conclusions: In addition to conventional treatment, applying core stabilization exercises or deep cervical flexor muscle training to patients with neck pain may be more effective in reducing pain and disability and increasing ROM than conventional treatment alone.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.47-60
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• 1996

Home health care is one of the important components of health care services. Today, the need and demand for the home health care is increasing. To assess the effects of home visit health services by public health nurses in health center on the stat of health, use of medical services and quality of life by elderly people living at home, a randomized controlled trial was implemented for 65 years or more old people randomly allocated to intervention(93) and control(118) group. Intervention group received 2 visits a month over 6 months. Control group received no home visits. The data was collected in a one-year follow-up survey conducted at Kyongju before and after the intervention which composed of health risk assessment, risk factor education and health related behavior counseling. The prevalence rate of chronic illness was more decreased in intervention group than control group after intervention. The intervention group visited medical facilities less frequently than control group. And the home visit health services encouraged the elderly to practice regular exercise. After the intervention, the score of ADL(activities of daily living), LSI(life satisfaction index) and SSI(social support index) in intervention group were more increased than control group. And the increase of scores was more prominent in 70 years or more old people, female, non-smoker and non-chronic illed elderly rather than others. In conclusion, the regular home visit health services provided by public health nurses were beneficial for the elderly in terms of health promotion and quality of life.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.407-414
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• 1997

The resistance of a non-transgenic poplar clone, 'Ogy' and three transgenic poplar lines to the cottonwood leaf beetle, Chrysomela scripta F., was evaluated by in vitro feeding. The lines were transformed with neomycin phosphotransferase II(NPT II) as a selectable marker, proteinase inhibitor II(pin2) as a resistance gene, and CaMV 35S as a promoter. An efficient method of sterilizing the beetle eggs and introducing them into plant tissue cultures was developed. The resistance of the transgenic lines was investigated in terms of effects tin leaf area consumed, insect weight, insect developmental stages, and plantlet root dry weight after feeding. Also, leaf area consumed was examined by leaf age as measured through leaf plastochron index(LPI). The leaf area consumed and insect weight were highly significant between transformants and control, and insect development in vitro was significant among the transgenic lines. Larval infestation was the most severe around LPI 4 to 5 which were young leaves. The system provided a quick, highly controlled method to screen developing transgenic plantlets directly.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.44-58
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to apply a health partnership program using commercially available mobile health apps to improve cardiovascular risk factors in male employees and verify its effectiveness. Methods: Using a randomized control group pretest-posttest design, male employees with cardiovascular risk factors from five small and medium-sized workplaces were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 31). The experimental group was encouraged to use three mobile health apps for 12 weeks to acquire the necessary cardiovascular disease-related information and practice strengthening training, walking, and diet management appropriate to their level. They also received feedback on their weekly activities and motivational text messages from health partners. Hypotheses were tested using the SPSS WIN 22.0. Results: The experimental group showed a significant difference compared to the control group in terms of their perception of mobile health app (p < .05), self-efficacy for exercise and diet, self-management partnership, and cardiovascular disease prevention health behavior (p < .001). In particular, there were significant decreases in the body mass index, ratio, serum fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, and triglyceride in the experimental group (p < .001); however, there was no significant difference in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. Conclusion: Intervention using mobile apps based on partnership with health managers is effective in improving the objective cardiovascular risk index in male employees; therefore, such intervention should be continuously used as a useful lifestyle modification strategy in the workplace.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.2253-2260
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• 2020

Background: Patients with low back pain (LBP) experience misalignments in the center of pressure (COP) and muscle imbalances due to frequent onesided posture adjustments to avoid pain. Objectives: To identify the effects of Squat Exercises with Vertical Whole-Body Vibration on the Center of Pressure and Trunk Muscle Activity. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: Thirty LBP patients with an imbalance in the COP were sampled and randomly assigned to an experimental group of 15 patients who under went an intervention involving squat exercises with vertical WBV and a control group of 15 patients who were treated via a walking intervention. As pretests before the interventions, the subjects' COP was identified by measuring their stability index (ST), and erector spinae, rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, gluteus medius muscle activity was analyzed by determining the % reference voluntary contraction (%RVC) value using surface electromyography while sit to stand. After four weeks, a post test was conducted to remeasure the same variables using the same methods. Results: Statistically significant differences were found in the ST (P<.01) and trunk muscle (P<.05, P<.001) in the experimental group before and after the intervention. In terms of the differences between the left- and right-side (RL) muscle activity, only the transverse abdominis (TrA) and gluteus medius (GM) exhibited statistically significant increase (P<.05). A comparison of the groups showed statistically significant differences in the TrA with respect to muscle activity (P<.05) and in the RLTrA and RLGM in terms ofthe difference between left- and right-side muscle activity (P<.01). Conclusion: Squat exercises with vertical WBV produced effective changes in the COP of patients with LBP by reducing muscle imbalances through the delivery of a uniform force. In particular, strengthening the TrA and reducing an imbalance in the GM were determined to be important factors in improving the COP.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.6033-6038
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• 2015

Background: Experience of lung cancer includes negative impacts on both physical and psychological health. Pain is one of the negative experiences of lung cancer. Cognitive behavioral therapy techniques are often recommended as treatments for lung cancer pain. The objective of this review was to synthesize the evidence on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy techniques in treating lung cancer pain. This review considered studies that included lung cancer patients who were required to 1) be at least 18 years old; 2) speak and read English or Thai; 3) have a life expectancy of at least two months; 4) experience daily cancer pain requiring an opioid medication; 5) have a positive response to opioid medication; 6) have "average or usual" pain between 4 and 7 on a scale of 0-10 for the day before the clinic visit or for a typical day; and 7) able to participate in a pain evaluation and treatment program. This review considered studies to examine interventions for use in treatment of pain in lung cancer patients, including: biofeedback, cognitive/attentional distraction, imagery, hypnosis, and meditation. Any randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for pain specifically in lung cancer patients were included. In the absence of RCTs, quasi-experimental designs were reviewed for possible conclusion in a narrative summary. Outcome measures were pain intensity before and after cognitive behavioural therapy techniques. The search strategy aimed to find both published and unpublished literature. A three-step search was utilised by using identified keywords and text term. An initial limited search of MEDLINE and CINAHL was undertaken followed by analysis of the text words contained in the title and abstract, and of the index terms used to describe the article. A second search using all the identified keywords and index terms was then undertaken across all included databases. Thirdly, the reference list of all identified reports and articles were searched for additional studies. Searches were conducted during January 1991- March 2014 limited to English and Thai languages with no date restriction. Materials and Methods: All studies that met the inclusion criteria were assessed for methodological quality by three reviewers using a standardized critical appraisal tool from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Three reviewers extracted data independently, using a standardized data extraction tool from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Ideally for quantitative data meta-analysis was to be conducted where all results were subject to double data entry. Odds ratios (for categorical data) and weighted mean differences (for continuous data) and their 95% confidence intervals were to be calculated for analysis and heterogeneity was to be assessed using the standard Chi-square. Where statistical pooling was not possible the finding were be presented in narrative form. Results: There were no studies located that met the inclusion requirements of this review. There were also no text and opinion pieces that were specific to cognitive behavioral therapy techniques pain and lung cancer patients.Conclusions: There is currently no evidence available to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy techniques for pain in lung cancer patients.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2014

Objectives : The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a topical herbal gel application for the treatment of chronic shoulder pain. Methods : We compared the effects of Dapureo gel, which contains several herbal medicines known to improve shoulder pain, with those of placebo gel by double-blind method. 30 participants were randomized - 15 were assigned to treatment group and the other 15 were assigned to control group. Either Dapureo gel(treatment group) or placebo gel(control group) was applied topically by themselves, once a day for 2 weeks. Primary outcome was daily visual analogue scale(VAS) changes for shoulder pain which was self-reported for 2 weeks. Secondary outcome was the difference in the total shoulder pain and disability index(SPADI) which was measured at a baseline and 2 weeks after the treatment. Results : Primary outcome: Subjects of treatment group showed statistically significant improvement in VAS compared to control subjects continuously from the second day(p <0.05) to the fifteenth day(p <0.001). The treatment group showed 31% of pain reduction on the fifteenth day, while the control group showed only 7%. Secondary outcome: In terms of SPADI changes, the treatment group showed improvement compared to the control group(p <0.01). Conclusions : These results suggest that the topical herbal gel treatment used in this study is effective in improving chronic shoulder pain.