• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2016

Objectives : The objective of this study is to review external approaches using acupuncture and related treatments of hyperpigmentation disorders and their classification in traditional medicine. Methods and Results : Hyperpigmentation was recorded for the first time in Treatise on the Pathogenesis and Manifestations of All Diseases published in 610 A.D. This suggests that the symptom has already been recognized as an independent disease in East Asia for more than 1,400 years. Over the course of several centuries, there has been a significant evolution in the traditional treatments for hyperpigmentation. There are many different types of therapy, including body acupuncture, intradermal acupuncture, ear acupuncture, ear acupressure, blood-letting treatment, pharmacopuncture, plum-blossom needle therapy, burning acupuncture therapy, moxibustion, and guasha. In addition, the traditional classification of hyperpigmentation has been changing shape. However, no attempts have been made to establish the academic linkage between the modern classification of hyperpigmentation disorders and the traditional one, on account of different concepts and names of the ailment. This study was designed in an attempt to identify the linkage of the categorization of the Korean Standard Classification of Disease (KCD) and the traditional classification. Conclusions : Through this literature review, we found that there has been a significant evolution in the treatment of hyperpigmentation disorders in East Asia. Traditional medical treatment for skin disease, including hyperpigmentation, is expected to be further developed with the advancement of science and technology.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2015

Objective : Subjective tinnitus is defined as an acoustic sensation perceived without any external source. Patients with tinnitus have often experienced psychological distress and low quality of life. However, the connection between psychiatric characteristics and tinnitus has not yet been established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of psychiatric characteristics with tinnitus severity. Method : A total of 124 patients with tinnitus were included in the study. Demographic and clinical characteristics were retrospectively collected in the otolaryngology clinic. The self-reported scales including the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Anxiety Sensitivity Index were used in this study. Results : The Pearson product moment correlation revealed significant correlations between tinnitus severity and psychiatric characteristics including depression (r=0.26, p<0.01), anxiety (r=0.38, p<0.01), anxiety sensitivity (r=0.27, p<0.01). After controlling for age, sex and awareness of tinnitus, tinnitus severity was positively correlated with anxiety (partial r=0.39, p<0.01) and anxiety sensitivity (partial r=0.28, p<0.01). These correlations remained significant in male but not in female patients. Conclusion : Results of the present study indicated that not only anxiety symptoms but also anxiety sensitivity could relate to tinnitus severity. Our findings have implications for the understanding of the psychiatric characteristics in patients with tinnitus.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2012

Otitis externa (OE) is a frequent disease in the ear canals of dogs. To identify the pathogens causing OE in dogs and to determine their antimicrobial resistances, specimens were collected from animal hospitals in Daejeon. The isolates were examined by morphological and biochemical tests, 16S rRNA analysis and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. We analyzed correlation between the isolated pathogens and external factors of dogs such as breed, age, gender, ear mite, hair in ears and experience with antibiotic therapy. Thirty three strains of bacteria were isolated from 26 of the 68 heads of dogs with OE. The most isolated bacteria were Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (Sta. aureus), Sta. pseudointermedius, E. faecium, E. avium and Streptococcus canis (Strep. canis) in order of frequency of occurrence. Isolation frequency of Enterococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. were 51.5% and 45.5%, respectively. E. faecalis and E. faecium isolates showed VanB phenotype, which is resistant to vancomycin but sensitive to teicoplanin were 58% and 25%, respectively. Nine isolates among total twelve isolates of E. faecalis were isolated from the dogs treated with antibiotics. There was no methicillin-resistant Sta. aureus (MRSA), but were MR-Sta. pseudointermedius (MRSP) (57.1%) and vancomycin-resistant (VR)-Sta. pseudointermedius (14.3%) (VRSP) showing VanB phenotype. However, vanA, vanB and vanC genes were not detected in VR isolates from the dogs. Taken together, VR-Enterococcus spp. (VRE) is one of the major pathogens in domestic animals, as well as community-and hospital-acquired infection.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.186-191
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• 2022

The use of earphones has recently been widely used around the world. In currently, students wear earphones a lot in a daily life. The types of earphones are open-earphones, Canalphones, and headphones. Many students don't periodically to sterilization their earphones. Therefore, it can be an incubator that can induced ear infections. The objective of this study was to detect the pathogenic bacteria from the earphones used by the students. A total of 3 type earphones swabs were collected by sterile cotton swabs. The swabs were inoculated onto BHI agar and incubated aerobically 48 hour at 37℃. 16s rRNA PCR, electrophoresis and sequencing were performed to confirm the identification of all the bacterial isolates. As a result, 24 pathogens were identified in sequencing. Three types of earphones were sterilized in three ways: ultraviolet (UV), 70% ethyl alcohol, and antibacterial wet tissue. If you use earphones for a long time without disinfecting them for a long time, it causes various diseases such as external ear infections. The findings of this study the users periodically to sterilization their respective earphones.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2023

Background: When performing reduction of zygomatic arch fractures, locating the inward portion of the fracture can be difficult. Therefore, this study investigated the discrepancy between the locations of the depression on the soft tissue and bone and sought to identify how to determine the inward portion of the fracture on the patient's face. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of chart with isolated zygomatic arch fractures of type V in the Nam and Jung classification from March 2013 to February 2022. For consistent measurements, a reference point (RP), at the intersection between a vertical line passing through the end point of the root of the ear helix in the patient's side-view photograph and a transverse line passing through the longest horizontal axis of the external meatus opening, was established. We then measured the distance between the RP and the soft tissue depression in a portrait and the bone depression on a computed tomography (CT) scan. The discrepancy between these distances was quantified. Results: Among the patients with isolated zygomatic arch fractures, only those with a fully visible ear on a side-view photograph were included. Twenty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. There were four types of discrepancies in the location of the soft tissue depression compared to the bone depression: type I, forward and upward discrepancy (7.45 and 3.28 mm), type II, backward and upward (4.29 and 4.21 mm), type III, forward and downward (10.06 and 5.15 mm), and type IV, backward and downward (2.61 and 3.27 mm). Conclusion: This study showed that discrepancy between the locations of the depressions on the soft tissue and bone exists in various directions. Therefore, applying the transverse and vertical distances measured from a bone image of the CT scan onto the patient's face at the indicated RP will be helpful for predicting the reduction location.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1248-1254
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• 2000

Multiple external carotid artery aneurysms with neurofibromatosis are rare. Trauma is the primary cause in the development of aneurysms of the external carotid artery. A 39-year-old female patient was referred to the emergency room because of a headache and a huge lump over the left temporo-parieto-occipital region. The physical examination revealed a huge round mass, $5{\times}15{\times}18cm$, in the left temporo-parieto-occipital region and low set left ear and multiple caf au lait spots in trunk and extremities. The external carotid artery angiography demonstrated multiple aneurysms arising from the superficial temporal artery and occipital artery. A MRI showed a huge hematoma on temporo-parieto-occipital region and postauricular mass suggested of subcutaneous neurofibroma. Embolization followed by surgical resections of those aneurysms and neighboring mass were performed and good result was obtained. We report our case with review of literature.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.20 no.2 s.33
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• pp.47-67
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• 2007

Objective : As a result of increasing amount of ultraviolet ray, skin problems including sunburn, rapid skin aging, melanoma, and even skin cancer continue to rise. In the present study, the effect of oriental herbal extract, Daehwanggo(大黃膏,DH) and Daehwanggogasnagbakpi(大黃膏加桑白皮,DS), as external application, on the skin damage, was investigated. Methods : 30 mice were equally distributed into 3 groups : control, UVB-control and UVB-irradiated and DS-treated group. Also mouse melanoma cell lines were cultured. Tyrosinase inhibition was measured to analyze the UN-protection effect. Melanogenesis in the UV-irradiated melanoma cell lines was compared in DS-treated cell line and control cell line. Sample skin from the ear tissue of the 3 groups were analyzed to observe the inflammatory response, T cell differentiation, apoptosis of keratinocytes. Results : The tyrosinase was more significantly inhibited in the DS group compared to DH group. Antioxidative effects was more prominent in DS group when superoxide dismutase was measured. Both the DS- and DH-treated cell lines showed significantly reduced melanogenesis. The reduction of external skin damage including erythematous papule, eczema, keratinocyte, pyopoiesis was observed in the DS- and DH-treated sample cells. In terms of the effect on the skin damage, sunburn cell, activated skin mast cells, secretion of IL-12, manifestation of HSP70, hyperplasia of epithelial cells, MMP-9 and destruction of the collagen were all significantly improved in the DS-treated sample cells. Melanin cells and the apoptosis in the melanoma cell line were decreased. Conclusion : DH and DS were traditionally applied externally for the scald in the oriental medicine. The present study elucidated the possibility of herbal extracts to be used as ultraviolet protectives. Further investigations are needed to assure the clinical application.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.178-184
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• 2014

Key components of implantable hearing aids are consist of an acoustic sensor that collect external sound by suppressing the body noise, a signal processor module for compensation algorithm of hearing loss, and a output transducer which has tiny size but have high efficiency, respectively. In the partial implantable hearing aids, technologies of transducer and signal processor are so matured that can be applied not too much difficulty. However, due to the difficulties in implantable acoustic sensor technology, such as minimization of masticatory sound and damage of sensor's membrane from external impact, practical use of fully implantable hearing aids have not successful so far. In this paper, we have proposed a novel implantable acoustic sensor which has trans-tympanic structure, and is verified that the proposed method can be very useful for fully implantable hearing aids by cadaveric experiments.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.39-42
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• 2009

Wide excision for curative treatment of malignant tumor on periauricular area often leads to loss of the external ear. But the auricle has rich vascular supply, Conservation of auricular contour is possible through salvage and engineering of remained auricular tissue. We experienced two cases of auricular salvage after wide excision of malignant tumor. In the first case, we performed two-staged technique. In first step, we covered soft tissue defect on periauricualr area with the anterolateral thigh free flap and remained auricle was floating over the flap after split-thickness skin graft was applied on it's posterior raw surface because it's survival was not confirmed. Second step was reposition of remained auricule on the anterolateral thigh flap. In the second case, we packed in periauricular dead space and external auditory canal with temoporalis muscle and temporoparietal fascial flap and then covered the flap with split thickness skin graft. In these two cases, there were no recurrence of tumors and we obtained cosmetically & functionally satisfactory results.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.161-164
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• 2021

The foramen of Huschke (FH) or foramen tympanicum is a persistent bony defect connecting the external auditory canal (EAC) to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). It arises from an incomplete ossification of the tympanic part of the temporal bone that persists after the age of 5. If a herniation exists in the TMJ, otological symptoms may occur. An 80-year-old female patient complained of noise in her left TMJ and otorrhea in her left ear. On her cone beam computed tomography images, there were only degenerative joint disease signs on her left mandibular condyle. However, her computed tomography images revealed that the soft tissue of the TMJ herniate into the EAC. Additional examination was planned for the further evaluation. But the patient no longer visited the hospital due to her systemic health status, and symptoms disappeared spontaneously without any treatments. Usually this type of herniation is very rare, but years of mechanical stress from mastication may result in weakening and widening of the foramen with age. Therefore, although FH is usually congenital, sometimes it may be acquired in the elderly. The treatment plan should be determined in consideration of the patient's symptom level and the patient's general health status. If the clinical symptoms are not severe, no treatment is required.