• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.217-227
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• 2015

Objectives : This study is an evaluation of the effectiveness of treatments combined with Korean medical methods, such as relaxative Chuna and Gangchuk herbal medicines, for patients with failed back surgery syndrome. Methods : In this study, medical records of ten patients who experienced failed back surgery syndrome and participated in intensive Korean medical treatment were reviewed. All patients received relaxative Chuna and acupuncture along with Gangchuk herbal medicines during hospitalization. Numeric rating scale(NRS) in the degree of 0 to 10, pain-free walking distance(PFWD) and oswestry disability index(ODI) were measured before and after treatments. Results : The patients were hospitalized for an average of 22 days. The average NRS of lumbar pain in all patients decreased from $7.7{\pm}1.6$ to $3.2{\pm}2.2$ and the average NRS decline of leg pain was from $7.7{\pm}1.7$ to $3.2{\pm}2.2$, both of which indicate statistical significance(p < 0.05). PFWD in all patients increased from 113.3 m to 798.1 m on average. The average ODI in all patients significantly improved from $63.9{\pm}7.0$ to $43.9{\pm}6.9$(p < 0.05). Conclusions : The treatments combined with Korean medical methods for failed back surgery syndrome patients are clinically effective and viable.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.571-582
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effects of a 12-week metabolic syndrome BeHaS (Be Happy and Strong) program in elderly people with metabolic syndrome living alone, based on a community-based participatory research (CBPR). Methods: A nonequivalent control group pre-posttest design was used, and the participants were 43 elderly people living alone (experimental group 24, control group 19). The experimental group received a one-hour program per week and two individual health consultations during 12 weeks. The control group received two sessions about the metabolic syndrome and two individual health consultations. The effects of health behavior, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, abdominal circumference, triglycerides, and self-esteem were evaluated. The data were analyzed using the independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The health behavior with respect to the metabolic syndrome in the experimental group increased significantly (t = - 3.19, p = .002). Both diastolic blood pressure and abdominal circumference decreased in the experimental group (t = 2.00, p = .028 and t = 3.91, p < .001). No significant differences were observed between the groups in systolic blood pressure, fasting blood sugar levels, triglycerides, and self-esteem. Conclusion: The 12-week metabolic syndrome BeHaS program using community resources improves the health of elderly people with metabolic syndrome living alone. Based on these findings, further studies on the effectiveness of the metabolic syndrome BeHaS program and the experiences of those who participated in the CBPR are warranted.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.547-555
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• 2020

To investigate the effects of self-management programs for chronic low back pain (LBP), 63 subjects were assigned to three groups; self-exercise group (SEG), hot pack and low-frequency electrical stimulation group (HEG), and thermo-massage group (TMG). Parameters were the pain numeric rating scale (PNRS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and Relapse frequency (RF). PNRS, ODI and RMDQ of SEG and TMG sustained effectiveness, however, PNRS, which improved after treatment in HEG, worsened in 6 month. Between the groups, all parameters were better in SEG and TMG compare to HEG. Exercise and thermo-massage can be considered as useful self-management performed at home to prevent the relapse of chronic LBP.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of electroacupuncture for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: A randomized, controlled pilot trial was conducted. Twenty-two participants were randomized into one of the two groups: an acupuncture group (n=11) and wait-list group (n=11). The treatment group received 8 sessions of electroacupuncture over 8 weeks. Twenty points (CV4, CV12, both LR14, GB26, ST25, ST34, ST40, ST36, SP4, SP6, LR3) were selected for needling. The control group did not receive acupuncture treatment during study period and followup were done in the 4th and 8th weeks after randomization in both groups. The primary outcome was body fat computed tomography and the secondary outcomes included blood test (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transferase, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high density lipoproteincholesterol, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol, blood sugar test, ${\gamma}$-guanosine triphosphate) and body composition test (body mass index, weight, body fat mass, body fat rate, waist hip ratio). Safety was assessed at every visit. Results: There was no significant differences in between the experimental group and control group. There were no adverse events. Conclusions: The results suggest that In patients with NAFLD, electroacupuncture treatment did not induce worsening of liver disease and liver function, but it was no improvement symptoms of fatty liver. Study of herb medicine treatments and other acupuncture therapy of NAFLD are required later.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.45-68
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• 2020

Objectives : This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of manual and electroacupuncture on glaucoma. Method : We searched 11 electronic databases using index words to identify randomized clinical trials. Meta-analysis of weighted mean difference (WMD) or standardized mean difference (SMD) were used to evaluate the outcomes. Cochrane bias risk assessment tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each clinical study. The collected data was analyzed using RevMan software (ver. 5.3). Results : At the initial stage of data retrieval, 549 papers were searched. After reviewing 37 full texts, a total of 10 RCT studies (426patients, 715 eyes) were selected and 8 RCT studies (357 people, 617 eyes) were involved in meta-analysis. Meta-analysis of 8 RCTs showed that acupuncture alone was more effective in reducing intraocular pressure(IOP) than conventional treatment (WMD = -5.73, 95% CI: [-12.30, 0.83], P = 0.09, I² = 97%) The combination of acupuncture or electroacupuncture with conventional treatment was also effective in lowering IOP (WMD = -1.84, 95% CI: [-2.31, -1.37], P <0.00001, I² = 45%). It was estimated that the combination of acupuncture with conventional treatment was also effective for improving visual field (VF) (WMD = -2.17, 95% CI: [-4.32, -0.02], P = 0.05, I² = 89%) but improvement in visual acuity (VA) was not significant (MD = 0.06, 95% CI: [-0.03, 0.15], P = 0.23, I² = 0%). Subgroup analyzes were performed only for the studies that used open glaucoma as the study's disease and combination of acupuncture or electroacupuncture with conventional therapy would have an effect on lowering intraocular pressure (WMD = -1.68)., 95% CI: [-2.46, -0.90], P <0.0001, I² = 29%). Conclusion : This study suggests that acupuncture treatment for glaucoma may be effective in reducing intraocular pressure and helpful in improving visual field defects. However, due to the small sample size, high risk of bias and high heterogeneity in the methodology, it is expected that further studies will be needed to verify the results. Further studies in large-scale samples based on a minimized biased methodology would be necessary.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.267-273
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• 2004

Objectives : This study was aimed at investigating the medical service utilization pattern of patients who use public medical aid compared to those who have health insurance. Methods : We selected every patient between the age of 18 and 69 who used public medical aid from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2001, in Gwangju metropolitan city, South Korea. For comparison, a list of patients with health insurance was gathered for same period. Then the medical records of those who had been hospitalized for acute appendicitis were selected among both groups. Of those records, we compared the number of cases of ruptured appendicitis to cases of whole acute appendicitis in both groups. Regarding coding for ruptured appendicitis, International Classification of Diseases - 10 (ICD-10) was used. Multiple logistic regression was used as a statistical tool to determine the effectiveness of risk factors. Results : Even after adjusting for risk factors, such as age and sex, the proportion of perforation of acute appendicitis among public medical aid patients was found to be significantly higher than among insured patients. Conclusions : This comparative study on ruptured appendicitis among public medical aid patients and insured patients, indicates that the proportion of perforation of acute appendicitis could be an index showing that these types of patients utilize medical services differently than insured patients. We know that when abdominal pain is not properly treated at the outset, it easily develops into ruptured appendicitis complicated with peritonitis. Considering this data analysis, we guess the public medical aid system to have significant problem with medical accessibility. So additional and systematic research on the pattern of utilization of medical services of public medical aid patients is needed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.87-96
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the convergence effectiveness of treadmill training in patients with chronic stroke through a meta-analysis. After searching the literature based on the patients, intervention, comparison, outcome criteria, and study desigan, a total of 22 studies related to "stroke" and "treadmill" were eligible for inclusion. Effect size was calculated using the comprehensive meta-analysis program for the meta-analysis. Based on the forest plot results, the overall effect size of treadmill training was 0.661 (95% confidence interval: 0.456-0.865), which was statistically significant with a medium effect size (p < 0.05). The effects of treadmill training on patients with stroke were separated by dependent variables of interest-plantar pressure (1.147), lower limb muscle function (0.875), and balance (0.664). The effect sizes were evaluated for the subdomains of timed up and go test (0.553), Berg Balance Scale (0.760), and static balance index (0.654) for balance. Therefore, treadmill training can be expected to have a positive impact on improving the quality of life of patients with chronic stroke. This meta-analysis of treadmill training may the lead to an industry paradigm shift toward healthcare convergence of information, communication, and medical technology.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.21-31
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• 2011

The Ministry of Land, Transport & Maritime Affairs(former-The Ministry of Construction and Transportation)establish & promulgated the guide line of The Law of Post Evaluation on May 10, 2001(Article 58824-318) to public construction project under the Operation Law of Construction Engineering Management the 18 clause of Article 38 in order to induce & collect useful data about construction project when plan new similar project in the future about the initial planning phase, former and past accomplished businesses to construction works, results, efficiency, effectiveness. Ever since The Ministry revised 5 times, the former contents are composed for SOC, big volume civil project, and revised contents Article 2010-14(Jan 15, 2010) included some architectural project, but that was not definite the evaluation contents, direction & objective standard. So evaluation index implements are ambiguous about accomplished project. This research arranged the correctness evaluation indicators, criterions for decide the grades in order to helpful informations for similar architectural project in the future.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.63-77
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• 2010

Objectives : It is known that abdominal obesity increases the possibility of cardiovascular diseases, early death, and metabolic syndrome including dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. Clinical trials have been under way to verify the effectiveness of treatment for abdominal obesity. The objective of this study is to set criteria about how effective oriental medicine and acupuncture are in abdominal obesity. Methods : I manually search "www.clinicaltrial.gov", 4 Korean medical databases and 4 Korean medical journals of abdominal obesity. Search terms used were "abdominal obesity" or "visceral obesity". In order to see detail review, searching was performed from 01, 01, 2005 to 11, 31, 2009. And I classified all the searched studies into design, intervention, purpose, end point, diseases, condition and etc. Results : 1. I could search total 67 trials in "www.clinicaltrial.gov". I found 9, 10, 13, 8, 6 clinical trial from 2005 to 2009 every year. 2. Test on both gender and adult or adult and senior have been most frequent. 3. Randomization clinical trial is 51 cases that occupied 96.2%. 38 cases use control group. 4. Body mass index(BMI) and waist circunference(WC) are major criteria of abdominal obesity clincal trial. WC, BMI, abdominal fat mass, body weight are measured at end point of abdominal obesity clincal trial. 5. I could search total 86 cases in domestic study. I found 15, 23, 23, 20, 5 cases from 2005 to 2009 every year. 6. Test on female and adult have been most frequent in domestic study. 7. Randomization clincal trial is only 2 cases that occupied 2.3%. 62 cases use control group in domestic study. 8. BMI, body fat percent, WC, visceral-subcutaneous fat ratio(VSR), waist-hip ratio(WHR) are criteria of abdominal obesity clincal trial in domestic study. WC, BMI, abdominal fat mass, body weight are measured at end point of abdominal obesity clincal trial in domestic study. Conclusions : To improve abdominal obesity study in traditional korean medicine, it is need to activate clinical trial, meta analysis, develope of clinical practice guidelines, co-works with conventional medicine and etc.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.533-546
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• 2006

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of self-efficacy promoting pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: thirty six patients, with clinically stable COPD were randomly assigned: 18 to a rehabilitation group and another 18 as a control group, The subjects participated in a the self-efficacy promoting pulmonary rehabilitation program for 8 weeks. This program consisted of education, breathing retraining, exercise training, relaxation and counseling. The control group received education only. The outcome variables were self-efficacy, dyspnea, exercise endurance, pulmonary function, and quality of life. Dyspnea was measured using the modified Borg scale. Exercise endurance was measured by the six minute walking distance. The quality of life was measured by the quality of life index for pulmonary disease patients. Results: In the rehabilitation group after performing the self-efficacy promoting pulmonary rehabilitation program, the self-efficacy score, exercise endurance, and quality of life score were higher than the control group (p=0.007, p=0.038, and p=0.039, respectively). and the exertional dyspnea score was significantly lower than controls(p=0.045). However, the dyspnea score and FEV1 were similar after performing the self-efficacy promoting pulmonary rehabilitation program. Conclusion: The self-efficacy promoting pulmonary rehabilitation program is effective to in improve self-efficacy, exertional dyspnea, exercise endurance and quality of life in patients with COPD.