• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2022

Mugwort (Artemisia montana), which is a perennial plant mainly distributed throughout Northeast Asian regions, has been used as a preferred source of various foods and traditional medicines in Korea. In particular, as essential oils extracted from mugwort were reported to be biologically active, its steam distillate has been widely used to treat various conditions, such as itching, hemorrhoids, and gynecological inflammation. Therefore, efforts have been devoted to develop effective methods for the collection of bioactive essential oils from mugwort. In this study, five mugwort extracts were obtained using different extraction conditions, namely, 6 % ethanol at room temperature and at 80 ℃, pure ethanol, n-hexane, and an adsorbent resin. To evaluate the five extracts of mugwort, area-under-the-curve values (AUCs), chemical profiles, and major bioactive essential oil contents were investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). An overall assessment of the volatile components, including essential oils, in the five extracts was conducted using AUCs, and the individual essential oil in each extract was identified. Furthermore, the four major essential oils (1,8-cineole, camphor, borneol, and α-terpineol), which are known to possess anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activities, were quantified using authentic chemical standards. Based on the evaluation results, pure ethanol was the best extractant out of the five used in this study. This study provides evaluation results for the five different mugwort extracts and would be helpful for developing extraction methods to efficiently collect the bioactive oil components for medical purposes using chemical profiles of the extracts.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2007

Objectives : The aim of this study is to find the therapeutic meaning of the Portulacea in herbal medication. Methods : About the origin, the component, the processing the drug, the properties and tastes of drugs, the meridian tropism, the effects, the treating disease, the contraindication and the method of administration, I have researched thirty literatures to mention the Portulacea in time sequence. Results : 1. The Portulacea belongs to the Portulacaceae herbs and it consists of noradrenaline, potassium sometimes containing small amounts of dopamine, dopa, malic acid, citric acid, glutamine acid, asparagin acid, alanine, cane sugar, grape sugar, fruit sugar. 2. The processing of drug is wash of water clealy, and remove the foreign substance. Then the drug is cutting to use. The method of burnt to ashes is used, too. 3. The properties and tastes of drugs is acid, cold, nontoxic. The meridian tropism is mainly liver and the large intestine meridian. 4. From old times, Portulacea has come into general use to treat eczema, the rose erysipelas, an acne, hemorrhoids, discharge from the womb etc. because it is effective on neutralizing poison, reduce a swelling, a tumor, an abscess and stopping of bleeding 5. Portulacea must be stoped When person have a weak digestive organ becase it is cold herba. And don't take use with Fish and shellfish. 6. Portulacea is useful method to external care. To use the herba, pulverize amount of property and then apply to the the affected part Conclusions : This study showed that the Portulacea is useful herb to treat of skin disease and useful method to external care.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7657-7661
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• 2013

Background: This study concerns uptake and results of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening of government servant as part of the Health Screening Program that was conducted in Brunei Darussalam in 2009. Materials and Methods: Government servants above the age of 40 or with family history of CRC were screened with a single fecal occult blood test (FIT, immunohistochemistry). Among 11,576 eligible subjects, 7,360 (66.9%) returned their specimen. Subjects with positive family history of CRC (n=329) or polyps (n=135) were advised to attend clinics to arrange screening. All the subjects with positive FIT (n=142, 1.9%) were referred to the endoscopy unit for counselling for screening colonoscopy. Results: Overall only 17.7% of eligible subjects attended for screening; 54.9% (n=79/142) of positive FIT, 8.8% (n=29/329) of positive family history of CRC and none with history of polyps (n=0/135). Of these, only 54 patients (50.5%) agreed for colonoscopy, 52 (48.6%) declined as they were asymptomatic, and one was not offered (0.9%) due to his very young age. On screening colonoscopy, 12.9% (n=7) had advanced lesions including a sigmoid carcinoma in situ and six advanced polyps. The other findings included non advanced polyps (n=21), diverticular (n=11) and hemorrhoids (n=26). One patient who missed his screening colonoscopy appointment re-presented two years later and was diagnosed with advanced right sided CRC. All the advanced lesions were detected in patients with positive FIT, giving a yield of 20.5% for advanced lesions including cancers in the 5.1% FIT positive subjects. Conclusions: Our study showed screening for CRC even with a single FIT was effective. However, the uptake rate was poor with just over half of the patients agreeing to screening colonoscopy. Measures to increase public awareness are important. Since one limitation of our study was the relatively small sample size, larger studies should be conduced in future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.888-894
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• 2012

Salvia plebeia R. Br. (Labiatae), distributed in many countries such as Korea, China, India, Iran, and Australia, is used as a folk remedy for a variety of inflammatory diseases including hepatitis, cough, diarrhea, gonorrhea, menorrhagia, tumors, and hemorrhoids. This study focused on determining the involvement of anti-inflammatory heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the inhibitory activity of an extract of Salvia plebeia R. Br. leaves (SPL) on nitric oxide (NO) production and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. SPL extract at the highest concentration (500 ${\mu}g/mL$) significantly inhibited NO production by approximately 85% and suppressed iNOS protein expression by approximately 90% compared to LPS-stimulated cells. The SPL extract induced the expression of HO-1 in a dose-dependent manner, and blocking HO-1 activity abolished the inhibitory effects of the SPL extract on NO production. These results suggest that an SPL extract has potent anti-inflammatory activity through HO-1 induction in RAW264.7 macrophages.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2017

Ficus carica L. (common fig), one of the first plants cultivated by humans, originated in the Mediterranean basin and currently grows worldwide, including southwest Asia and South Korea. It has been used as a traditional medicine for treatment of metabolic, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases as well as hemorrhoids and skin infections. Its pharmacological properties have recently been studied in detail, but research on the anti-cancer effect of its latex has been only been studied on a limited basis on several cell lines, such prostate cancer, breast cancer, and leukemia. In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer activity of the latex of Ficus carica L.and its underlying mechanism in FaDu human hypopharynx squamous carcinoma cells. (See Ed. note above) We confirmed through SDS-PAGE analysis and gelatinolytic activity analysis that the latex of Ficus carica contains cysteine protease ficin. Our data showed that the latex inhibited cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the latex treatment markedly induced apoptosis in FaDu cells as determined by FACS analysis, elevated expression level of cleaved caspase-9, -3 and PARP (poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase), and. increased the expression of Bax (pro-apoptotic factor) while decreasing the expression of Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic factor). Taken together, these results suggested that latex containing the ficin inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis by caspase and the Bcl-2 family signaling pathway in FaDu human hypopharynx squamous carcinoma cells. These findings point to the potential of latex of Ficus carica to provide a novel chemotherapeutic drug due to its growth inhibition effects and induction of apoptosis in human oral cancer cells.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.31 no.2 s.51
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• pp.189-196
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• 2005

Motherwort (Leonurus sibiricus L), a hemp nettle (Labiatae) plant, grows about 1.5${\~}$2 m high spontaneously to wildness in Korea, China, Japan, and other Asian place. Its medical applications includes women's uterine disease, urination, bloody stool, bloody urine, and hemorrhoids. It's also effective for high blood pressure, heart stimulation, and anti-cancer activity. We first prepared chlroform and methanol extracts of motherwort and then they were fractionated using water, $30\%$ methanol, $60\%$ methanol, and $100\%$ methanol, respectively. Each fractionates is assayed for free radical scavenging activities against DPPH and anti-oxidant activity by TBARS assay measuring lipid peroxidation using LDL. The $30\%$ and $60\%$ methanol fractionates of methanol extracts showed strong anti-oxidant activity compared to vitamin C. They also had more Potent SOD activity using pyrogallol at 250 ppm than that of vitamin C. These results suggest that anti-oxidant activities of motherwort may be applicable to development of natural anti-oxidant cosmetics. Possibility of nature anti-oxidation ability cosmetics is seen possibility low official.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2021

Hemistepta lyrata Bunge (HL) has been used as a folk remedy to treat cancer, inflammation, bleeding, hemorrhoids and fever, and leaves and young shoots have been used as famine food. Nevertheless, the biological activities and underlying mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory effects remain unclear. In this study, it was undertaken to explore the functions of the aerial part of HL as a suppressor of inflammation by using RAW 264.7 cells. As immune response parameters, the productions of as nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), cytokines such tumor necrotic factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 were evaluated. Although the release of TNF-α remained unchanged in HL-treated RAW 264.7 cells, the productions of NO, PGE2 and IL-6 were significantly increased at concentrations with no cytotoxicity. Furthermore, HL significantly attenuated the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathway including decreasing the phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases. Collectively, this study provides evidence that HL inhibits the production of major pro-inflammatory molecules in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells via suppression of ERK and P38 MAPK signaling pathways. These findings suggest that the beneficial therapeutic effects of HL may be attributed partly to its ability to modulate immune functions in macrophages.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.13-33
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• 1999

The aim of this study was to investigate fatigue scores, physical complaints, farmer's syndrome and to find out its risk factors among farmers. The questionnaire survey was conducted to 177 vinyl house workers and 213 farmers who lived in Chongyang gun of Chungnam province from February 24 to March 15, 1998. The obtained main results were followings; 1. The fatigue scores were not significantly different between vinyl house workers and farmers. The fatigue scores were higher in female group, lower education group, shorter sleep hours group(under 8 hours), nonsmoker, nondrinker group than otherwise groups. There was not statistically significant difference between the mean fatigue scores and age, eating habit and body mass index. Duration of farming years in vinyl house and farming area and number of farming workers in farmers family showed a slight relationship with the fatigue score. 2. Health scores were not different between vinyl house workers and farmers. The health states was poorer in female group, lower education group, shorter sleep hours group(under 8 hours), nonsmoker group, and nondrinker group than otherwise groups by health scores. Health scores were not related with age, eating habit and body mass index. 3. The proportion of farmer's syndrome was 49.1% in vinyl house workers and 52.1% in farmers. That was higher in female than in male and the higher proportion was found in the lower education group of vinyl house workers and farmers. The proportion of farmer's syndrome was higher in the group of smoker, alcohol drinkers and over or under weight in vinyl house workers, but did not differ in those of farmers. 4. By multiple logistic regression, sex and sleep hours were risk factors affecting to farmer's syndrome. Odds ration for female group was 2.53 (reference group was male) and that for over 8 sleep hours group was 0.74 (reference group was under 8 sleep hours group). 5. The chief complaints by CMI were "I am difficult to work due to aching the back and the limbs", "I feel prickle pain in the limbs", "I sometimes have a twinge in the limbs", "I am not quite well as having a pain in the limbs", "I feel weaker grasping power than before" in both of vinyl house workers and farmers. Vinyl house workers more frequently pointed out skin darkening, skin disease and hemorrhoids than farmers. 6. According to correspondence analysis, skin disease of vinyl house workers was related to vinyl house farmers and digestive and general symptom was associated with male and endocrinological and muscular symptom was associated with female in vinyl house workers. And it revealed that farmer's syndrome was highly related with female and farmers relatively. By the above results, the fatigue scores, perceive health and farmer's syndrome did not much differ in two groups, but aged female farmers should be considered as female farmers represented higher fatigue score, farmers syndrome and poorer perceive health than male farmers in addition to farmer's syndrome was increased with ageing process. Also feeble but distinguished symptoms which might be due to working environment were observed especially in vinyl house workers and that should be considered and investigated continuously.