• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.259-277
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate two subjects: the diagnostic value of bilateral lowering of electrical activity at point H4,5,6 of Ryodoraku and the mechanism for Ryodoraku phenomena. Methods : Electrical activities of Ryodoraku test and electrogastrography recorded simultaneously and monitored continuously from 16 cases of functional dyspeptic patients were collected and their variations were grouped by the topics of discussion which were peculiarity, stability, lagging, alterability, and anomaly. Ryodoraku recordings obtained from 6 patients with different gastrointestinal diseases and 1 normal healthy person were used as control. The results are discussed with Nakatani's suggestion, theory of sympathetic nerve and Meridian Principle, respectively. Finely, coincidence of stomach arrangement between anatomy and meridian system in Ryodoraku was also evaluated. Results : Time-course variation showed a regular relationship between the typical pattern of Ryodoraku at point H4,5,6 and gastric myoelectrical activity. However, an irregular relationship and atypical pattern of Ryodoraku occasionally appeared. A literature search suggested that electrical response at the Ryodoraku point H4,5,6 may be dependent on an afferent sympathetic spinal reflex transmitted from the stomach. However, there was no evidence for making clear whether bilateral lowering of electrical activity at this point was induced by hypofunction of local sympathetic nerve in the skin itself or of signals transmitted from the gastric sympathetic nerve or not. The coincidence of 19% could not provide a visceral arrangement of the stomach between anatomy and meridian systems. Conclusions : Bilateral lowering of electrical activity at Ryodoraku point H4,5,6 has value as a diagnostic index for gastric dysmotility of functional dyspepsia. This phenomenon is associated with spinal reflex transmitted from the afferent sympathetic nerve in the stomach but not that of meridian function.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.352-360
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• 2004

Tuberculosis, one of the oldest diseases known to affect humans, is caused by bacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium luberculosis complex. The diseases usually affects the lungs, although in up to one-third of cases other organs are affected. If properly treated, tuberculosis caused by drug-susceptible strains is curable in virtually all cases. If untreated, the disease may be fatal within 5 years in more than half of cases. Transmission usually takes place through the airborne spread of droplets of nuclei produced by patients with infectious pulmonary tuberculosis. Two patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis and one with Tuberculous Meningitis were recently examined. The changes in these patient's symptoms through both western medical treatment and oriental medical treatment are reported.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.265-274
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• 2005

Diabetic gastroparesis is a disorder in a diabetic of delayed gastric emptying in the absence of mechanical obstruction. It is estimated that about 20%-50% of diabetics suffer from gastroparesis. Clinical Sympoms include early satiety, bloating, nausea, anorexia, vomiting, abdominal pain, and weight loss. Severe gastroparesis might result in recurrent hospitalization, malnutrition, and even death, but, no exact treatment has yet been established. Electrogastrography has been known to be a simple, non-invasive, and effective method in assessing gastric motility and EGG has been used to diagnosis diabetic gastroparesis and to estimate its prognosis. Recently, two cases of diabetic gastroparesis were observed. For this cases, manual acupucture, electroacupucture, lumbar skin warming and herb medicine were applied. After application of these therapies, gastrointestinal symptoms improved and these therapeutic effects were confirmed in EGG. Moreover, blood glucose control improved, so patients were able to discontinue insulin injection and change to p.o.medication. In light of this encouraging application of oriental medicine, this is reported along with investigation of the literature.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2020

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are known as the pacemaker cells of gastrointestinal tract, and it has been reported that acute gastroenteritis induces intestinal dysmotility through antibody to vinculin, a cytoskeletal protein in gut, resulting in small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, so that anti-vinculin antibody can be used as a biomarker for irritable bowel syndrome. This study aimed to determine correlation between serum anti-vinculin antibody and ICC density in human stomach. Gastric specimens from 45 patients with gastric cancer who received gastric surgery at Kangwon National University Hospital from 2013 to 2017 were used. ICC in inner circular muscle, and myenteric plexus were counted. Corresponding patient's blood samples were used to determine the amount of anti-vinculin antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Analysis was done to determine correlation between anti-vinculin antibody and ICC numbers. Patients with elevated anti-vinculin antibody titer (above median value) had significantly lower number of ICC in inner circular muscle (71.0 vs. 240.5, p = 0.047), and myenteric plexus (12.0 vs. 68.5, p < 0.01) compared to patients with lower anti-vinculin antibody titer. Level of serum anti-vinculin antibody correlated significantly with density of ICC in myenteric plexus (r = -0.379, p = 0.01; Spearman correlation). Increased level of circulating anti-vinculin antibody was significantly correlated with decreased density of ICC in myenteric plexus of human stomach.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.429-441
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• 2020

Objectives : Systemic sclerosis(SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis of the skin and internal organs and vasculopathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the trend in the research on SSc using herbal medicine. Methods : We searched for papers which had both systemic sclerosis and herbal medicine from Pubmed, KCI and NDSL. After searching papers, we classified according to the study design and analyzed selected studies. Results : 18 studies were searched. The types and numbers of study were as follows: 11 were in vitro or in vivo studies using herbal medicine or active components, and 7 were clinical research including case reports. 1. Herbal medicines include the therapeutic effects of "tonifying qi(補氣)" or "active blood(活血)" improved systemic sclerosis in vivo and in vitro studies. 2. Active components isolated from Herbal Medicine such as Astragalus membranaceus(黃芪), Zhizi(梔子), Salvia miltiorrhiza(丹蔘) have anti-fibrotic effects. 3. Clinical trials showed that herbal medicine can improve the symptom of systemic sclerosis including skin fibrosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, pain and gastric dysmotility. Conclusions : This study showed that herbal medicine can be effective for treating SSc. However, further studies are needed to develop novel medicine for SSc.