• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.226-238
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• 2021

Purpose: Although several reports have described the relationship between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease, information about the association between periodontal disease and the progression of degenerative aortic stenosis (AS) is lacking. Therefore, we performed a retrospective, single-center, pilot study to provide insight into this potential association. Methods: Data from 45 consecutive patients (19 men; median age, 83 years) with mild or moderate degenerative aortic stenosis were analyzed for a mean observation period of 3.3±1.9 years. The total amount of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis and titers of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) against periodontal bacteria and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were evaluated. Aortic valve area (AVA), maximal velocity (Vmax), mean pressure gradient (mean PG), and the Doppler velocity index (DVI) were evaluated. The change in each parameter per year ([Parameter_LATEST-Parameter_BASELINE]/Follow-up Years) was calculated from the retrospective follow-up echocardiographic data (baseline vs. the most recently collected data [latest]). Results: No correlation was found between the concentration of periodontopathic bacteria in the saliva and AS status/progression. The anti-P. gingivalis antibody titer in the serum showed a significant positive correlation with AVA and DVI. Additionally, there was a negative correlation between the anti-P. gingivalis IgG antibody titer and mean PG. The hs-CRP concentration showed positive correlations with Vmax and mean PG. Meanwhile, a negative correlation was observed between the anti-P. gingivalis IgG antibody titer and ΔAVA/year and Δmean PG/year. The hs-CRP concentration showed positive correlations with Vmax and mean PG, and it was significantly higher in patients with rapid aortic stenosis progression (ΔAVA/year <-0.1) than in their counterparts. Conclusions: Our results suggest that periodontopathic bacteria such as A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis are not directly related to the status/progression of degenerative AS. However, inflammation and a lower immune response may be associated with disease progression.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-30
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• 2009

Purpose: In this rapidly aging society, the research and development of traditional oriental medicine treatment is one of the critical factors to protect the increasing neuro-degenerative disorders. In this study, we wanted to verify the effect of Yukul-tang (YUT) on neuro-degenerative disease model by assessing the antioxidant and anti-inflammation effects. Methods: To assess the antioxidant effects of YUT, we carried out DPPH radical and ABTS radical scavenging assays and determined the total polyphenolic contents in YUT. To evaluate the neuro-protective effects of YUT, we performed the MTT and ROS assays and TH immunohistochemistry, NO and TNF-${\alpha}$ assays in SH-SY5Y or mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons damaged by 6-OHDA. Results: The treatment of YUT showed eliminating effects on DPPH radical and ABTS radical. it showed deterring effects on ROS, NO and TNF-${\alpha}$ and protecting effects on TH-positive cell in SH-SY5Y cells or mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons. Especially in the case of the treatment of YUT with 0.2ug/mL + 6-OHDA 10uM, the protective effect on dopaminergic neurons was most outstanding. Conclusion: In this study, we have demonstrated that YUT has an antioxidant effect and a neuro-protective effect on neuro-degenerative disease model caused by neurotoxin such as 6-OHDA. The results of our present study suggest that YUT can be useful agent to prevent and to treat neuro-degenerative diseases.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.130-139
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• 2003

This study was conducted in order to determine the effect of Paraffin Therapy on release of pain, skin temperature and range of motion with joint diseases. This study was performed on 42 patients with general joint diseases and 21 patients with degenerative joint diseases. All the subjects were randomly assigned to three groups with 21 each. The experiment had been done from June, 1. 2002 to September, 30. 2002, in two general hospitals and a social welfare center using Digital Thermometer Kane-May KM330 and VAS(visual analogue scale). Each pint was measured in terms of skin temperature, pain scale and ROM(range of motion). The results of the experiment are as follows : 1. In application of three different heat modalities (Paraffin bath, Infra red, Hydro pack) on the Knee, Ankle, Elbow pints of the subjects for 30 minutes, the elevation of skin temperature and the reduction of pain scale were found to be significantly different. When checked right after the 30 minutes' application, the Infra red resulted in a higher degree elevation of skin temperature than two other modalities, while Paraffin bath resulted in the highest degree of the elevation of skin temperature when it was checked one hour after the application was over. It means that Paraffin bath lasted longer than the other two modalities(F=14.691, p<.000). 2. With Paraffin bath application, pint pain was reduced significantly both in 30 minutes and one hour checks(F=20.675, p<.001). 3. In terms of ROM(range of motion) increase, didn't seem to have any significant differences in 30 minutes and one hour. The results suggest that Paraffin therapy be helpful in maximizing th effects on pint diseases. I strongly suggest that further studies be done on other pints and muscle diseases using Paraffin bath in different methods of applying the therapy.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.112-129
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• 1996

Background : A small number of high cost patients usually spend a larger proportion of scarce health resources. Aged, long-term care and readmitted patients usually belong to these high cost patient group. Among others, long length of stay and readmission can be reduced by checking its cause, and these are the areas needed most of quality improvement activity. Characteristics of high cost medical users between health insurance program and medical assistance program were reviewed. Methods : The inpatient claims of health insurance and medical assistance program were analyzed. Patients were divided by 6 groups; long-term, mid-term, short-term, readmitted, cancer and aged. We defined high cost patients as those who had spent one and half million won and over per 6 months. Characteristics of high cost patients for each group were reviewed. Results : medical assistance patients used much more resources than the insured members in the average hospital cost per case but less in daily hospital cost. The former had a longer length of stay and had much heavier diseases. Major diseases of both group were cancer, diseases of circulatory system and chronic degenerative diseases. Gallstone and schizophrenia were more in the insured program. However, pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma were more common among the medical assistance patients. Early readmission before 2 weeks were 28-30% of the total readmission. Readmission rate in the malignat neoplasm and renal failure were 80% and more. Q.A program should be installed to prevent unnecessary readmissions. Conclusion : Almost 30% of early readmissions and admissions due to complications and long length of stay should be reviewed carefully to keep cost down and to enhance the quality of hospital care.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.493-509
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• 1998

Osteoarthritis(degenerative joint disease), the most common arthropathy affecting the aged people, is characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage with proliferation and remodeling of subchondral bone. Osteoarthritis of the knee, which probably has greater social cost and more associated disability than osteoarthritis of any other joint, prevalence is known to increase with age, and females have higher rates than males; radiographic abnormalities are present in more than 30% of persons more than 65 years old, with approximately 40% of these persons symptomatic. Though the etiology of osteoarthritis is not entirely understood, much information is available regarding risk factors for the development of knee osteoarthritis that permit some reasonable guideline for preventive strategies. Traumatic damage or occupational or recreational overuse of knee joint may result in osteoarthritis, and obesity also is related to osteoarthritis of the knee. A variety of other possible risk factors for the development of knee osteoarthritis have been proposed, including increased bone mass, smoking, diseases such as diabetes or elevated serum uric acid, and some metabolic factors, but the contribustions of these and other factors such as smoking or race and diseases such as diabetes are as yet undetermined. The usual clinical manifestations include pain, stiffnesss, crepitus and loss of function. In oriental medicine, osteoarthritis of the knee is very similar to diseases such as Bijung(痺症), Haksulpung(鶴膝風), Youkjeolpung(歷節風) in symptoms. The diseases such as Bijung(痺症), Haksuipung(鶴膝風), Youkjeolpung(歷節風) is related to the of function liver(肝) and kidney(腎) and risk factors are regarded as Pung(風), Han(寒), sub(濕). The diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the knee has often been based on radiographic appearance and clinical manifestations. The acupuncture therapy of osteoarthritis of the knee has often been based on Stomach meridian(ST), Spleen meridian(SP), Kidney meridian(KI), Liver meridian(LR).

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.5-11
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• 2000

Populations both in the US and worldwide are aging. It is projected that by the year 2030 the population of Americans over 65 will increase to 70 million, more than twice their number in 1998. About one-third of elderly over the age of 65 have debilitating chronic health conditions that greatly impede their activities. Age-associated chronic diseases are believed to be associated with free radicals and the imbalance in antioxidant and oxidative stress contributes to development of several chronic health conditions. Diet and nutrients can have great impact in the health status of elderly. Several factors may contributor to the inadequate consumption of nutrients in elderly, including an inability to chew food adequately, polypharmacy, living along and limited income. Low intake of energy and several micronutrients are common among the elderly. Although overt deficiency of nutrients among the elderly is not common. a recent study showed that while elderly consume more fat, the total energy intake is low among the elderly. Inadequate intake of antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin E in elderly may contribute to the development of chronic health problems. Intake of higher than normal RDA levels of vitamin E for long periods of time has been shown to reduce the risk of many degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases(CVD) and cancer, and improve immune response in elderly. High intake of other antioxidants is also associated with reduced risk chronic diseases. Dietary antioxidants are abundant in fruits and vegetables. However, due to variety of factors, the elderly may not be able to receive these and other micronutrients through diet. Therefore, supplemental intake of micronutrients in the form of multi vitamins/minerals and/or specific micronutrients is a more practical approach to the maintenance of health status in the elderly.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.164-170
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• 2006

Asian Branches of International Life Science Institute (ILSI), i.e. China, India, Japan, Korea and South East Asian Region, identified five key public health issue priorities of each region and compared the results. In case of China, India and South East Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand etc. ASEAN countries), communicable diseases were the first priority issue, while elderly issue and food safety were prime issues for Japan and Korea, respectively. Malnutrition was the second priority issue for India and ASEAN countries, whereas non-communicable disease like cancer and degenerative diseases was for Korea and China, and obesity far Japan. Typical issues were smoking for China, nutrition education for China and Japan, biotechnology aiming GMO for India, and functional food causing health claim problem for Korea and Japan. Although the priority varied with the socioeconomic situation of each county, food and water safety recorded the highest priority of all the countries. The key public health issues of Korea were discussed in detail.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.67-75
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• 2010

Objectives : Recently, the number of elderly people has been rapidly increasing in Korea, and it led to increase demands of Korean traditional medical services. However, there is a lack of information on Korean traditional service utilization. Thus, this study was intended to identify Korean traditional service utilization patterns such as acupuncture, moxibustion and cupping, since Korean traditional services were specially used in treating chronic diseases for elderly people. It is important to understand health services utilization for quality improvement of healthcare systems. Methods:We used data of 'Survey in Daegu' in 2008 and analyzed characteristics of disease structure and utilization patterns of health care service of 1,097 cases of participated citizens. Results : The proportion of the elderly people (>50 age) in total participators is 52.4%. Male to female ratio is 1:1.65 and most common age group was between 50 and 59 years old. 84.2% of participators were admitted at oriental health care facilities. In addition, the results showed that female were more used the service than man. The most common treated disease is musculoskeletal disorders in both male and female. Conclusions : Acupuncture, moxa and cupping are widely used to treat chronic degenerative diseases such as musculoskeletal disorders at oriental health care facilities. Elders and female prefer to be admitted at oriental health care facilities.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.92-96
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• 2010

The National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) was performed population health checkup survey program with especially two target ages, 40 years and 66 years old that were called as "life transition period" for national collective prophylaxis of cardiovascular diseases in Korea. We were investigated and compared between two age groups with the serum levels of cholesterol and triglyceride from data of the survey in Daegu province, Korea at April, 2007. Data of one hundred persons per each age (40 years and 66 years old) were collected and investigated for risk factors for chronic degenerative diseases including serum lipid concentration, health habits of drinking, smoking, exercise etc. In spite of the definite difference of life transition of the each age, the transition from adolescence to adulthood at 40 years old, and from adulthood to senescence at 66 years old, there were no significant difference of total cholesterol and triglyceride between two age groups.

• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2002

Neural cell survival is an essential concern in the aging brain and many diseases of the central nervous system. Neural transplantation of the stem cells are already applied to clinical trials for many degenerative neurological diseases, including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and strokes. A critical problem of the neural transplantation is how to reduce their apoptosis and improve cell survival. Neurotrophic factors generally contribute as extrinsic cues to promote cell survival of specific neurons in the developing mammalian brains, but the survival factor for neural stem cell is poorly defined. To understand the mechanism controlling stem cell death and improve cell survival of the transplanted stem cells, we investigated the effect of plausible neurotrophic factors on stem cell survival. The neural stem cell, HiB5, when treated with PDGF prior to transplantation, survived better than cells without PDGF. The resulting survival rate was two fold for four weeks and up to three fold for twelve weeks. When transplanted into dorsal hippocampus, they migrated along hippocampal alveus and integrated into pyramidal cell layers and dentate granule cell layers in an inside out sequence, which is perhaps the endogenous pathway that is similar to that in embryonic neurogenesis. Promotion of the long term-survival and differentiation of the transplanted neural precursors by PDGF may facilitate regeneration in the aging adult brain and probably in the injury sites of the brain.