• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.37-49
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• 2022

Objectives The purpose of this study is to present evidence by analyzing the research trends in acupuncture treatment in the last 10 years for thromboangiitis obliterans. Methods Randomized controlled trials about acupuncture on thromboangiitis obliterans were searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS), ScienceON, Koreanstudies Information Service System (KISS) and Research Information Sharing Service (RISS) from January 1, 2011 to November 13, 2021. Only randomized controlled trials were selected and we assessed the risk of bias (RoB) according to the revised Cochrane RoB2 criteria. Results A total of 5 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were selected in this review and all were conducted in China. A total of 326 participants were in 5 RCTs. SP10, ST36, GB34 was the most commonly used treatment point. There were four types of acupuncture used: manual acupuncture, embedding acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, electroacupuncture. The most commonly used indicator for evaluation was the total efficacy rate, and all five studies were significantly higher. Conclusions All selected studies showed the group treated with acupuncture treatments on thromboangiitis obliterans were statistically more effective than the control group. However, the number of studies is too small and the interpretation of the results is limited due to the inclusion of subjective evaluation. So more objective and systematic studies should be conducted continuously.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1197-1211
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• 2023

Objectives: This study presents evidence by analyzing the research trends in acupuncture treatment for cluster headache in the last 10 years. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about acupuncture for cluster headache were searched from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, ScienceON, Korean Studies Information Service System, and Research Information Sharing Service. The search terms were the combinations of "cluster headache", "acupuncture", and "needle therapy", and the articles were restricted to those published between 2013 and 2023. Only RCTs were selected. The risk of bias (RoB) was assessed according to the revised Cochrane RoB2 criteria. Results: Six RCTs were selected and analyzed in this review. All selected studies were conducted in China. All RCTs comprised 628 participants. Manual acupuncture was used in all studies. Acupuncture targeting the sphenopalatine ganglion was performed in two papers published after 2020. ST8, Ex-HIN3, and GB14 were the most frequently used acupoints in acupuncture treatment. The most commonly used indicators for evaluation were headache attack frequency, clinical efficacy, and the visual analog scale. In each study, adding acupuncture treatment to conventional therapy had significant effects in relieving the symptoms of cluster headaches. Conclusion: The results suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for cluster headache. To ensure objective evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment in cluster headache, it is important to continue large-scale case reports and RCTs.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.291-301
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• 2018

Supply chain in service sector has been established on the premise that firms need to manage their process uncertainties to satisfy customers in an efficient manner. Information sharing and synchronization play key roles in minimize uncertainties from their involved supply chain. The duality of customers being inputs providers as well as consumers, differentiates service supply chains from manufacturing and is a challenging issue to traditional supply chain management. The service supply chain is a structured network which should be managed with supply chain theory and principles. Various key operations need to be carried out through a highly integrated and collaborated service supply chain and supporting information hub. The purpose of this paper is to present the issues and key components in the service supply chain, where the repetitive service is provided along the value chain, such as tourism, restaurant, mega-sized hospital supply chain.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.42-55
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• 2017

Objectives: This study were investigated clinical studies published in international and Korea's journals to assess the effect of Korean Medicine for infertility. Methods: PubMed and Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS) were searched for this review up to Nov 2016.: using terms of 'infertility' and 'subfertile'. Results: Fifty clinical studies were finally selected. All studies were assessed as the noncomparative studies, and mainly case reports. The year of publication of literatures was the highest at from 2011 to 2015, accounted for 44%. Among 50 studies, there were 5 studies on males, 43 studies on females and 2 studies on both male and female. The number of subjects varies from 1 to 1277. The number of studies with subjects less than 10 was the greatest. Of all the studies, only three were institutional review board (IRB) approved. There were 9 studies that indicated whether the grant was supported. The duration of treatment was between 30 and 360 days, and most cases were within 180 days. Intervention methods were 100% for herb medicine, 40% added on acupuncture, and 29% added on moxibustion. Conclusions: Further clinical trials of well designed is needed to accumulate enough information to establish the evidence for Korean Medicine for infertility.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5487-5492
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• 2014

Ultrasonography is non-invasive and can give useful clues in the diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy, However, differential diagnosis is difficult in some situations even combined with color Doppler imaging. The present study was conducted to evaluate the clinical value of real time elastography in patients with unexplained cervical lymphadenopathy using a quantitative method. From May 2011 to February 2012, 39 enlarged lymph nodes from 39 patients with unexplained cervical lymphadenopathy were assessed. All the patients were examined by both B-mode ultrasound, color Doppler flow imaging and elastography. The method of analyzing elasto-graphic data was the calculation of the 10 parametres ("mean", "sd", "area%", "com", "kur", "ske", "con", "ent", "idm", "asm") offered by the software integrated into the Hitachi system. The findings were then correlated with the definitive tissue diagnosis obtained by lymph node dissection or biopsy. Final histology revealed 10 cases of metastatic lymph nodes, 11 cases of lymphoma, 12 cases of tuberculosis and 6 cases of nonspecific lymphadenitis. The significant distinguishing features for conventional ultrasound were the maximum short diameter (p=0.007) and absent of echogenic hilum (p=0.0293). The diagnostic accuracy was 43.6% (17/39 cases) and there were 17 patients with equivocal diagnosis. For elastography, "mean" (p=0.003), "area%" (p=0.009), "kurt" (p=0.0291), "skew" (p=0.014) and "cont" (p=0.012) demonstrated significant differences between groups. With 9 of the 17 patients with previous equivocal diagnoses (52.9%) definite and correct diagnoses could be obtained. The diagnostic accuracy for conventional ultrasound combined elastography was 69.2% (27/39 cases). There were differences in the diagnostic sensitivity of the two methods (p=0.0224). Ultrasound combined with elastography demonstrated higher rates of conclusive and accurate diagnoses in patients with unexplained cervical lymphadenopathy than conventional ultrasound. The quantitative program showed good correlation with the pathology of different lymph node diseases.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.50-63
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• 1997

Background : A pressure sore was defined as any skin lesion caused by unrelieved pressure and resulting in damage to underlying tissue. The health care institutions in the United States were reported the incident rate of pressure sores ranging from 6 to 14 %. Intensive Care Unit needed highest quality of care has been found over 40% incidence rate of pressure sore. Also, Annual expenditures for the care of pressure sores in patients in the United States have been estimated to be $7.5 billion; furthermore, 50 percent more nursing time is required to care for patients with pressure sore in comparison to the time needed to implement preventive measures against pressure sore formation. However, In Korea, there were little reliable reports, or researches, about incidence rates of pressure sore in health care institution including intensive care unit and about the integrated approach like CQI action team for risk assessment, prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. Therefore, this study was to develop pressure sore risk assessment tool and the protocol for prevention of pressure sore formation through CQI action team activities, to monitor incident rate of pressure sore and the length of sore formation for patients at high risk, and to approximately estimate nursing time for sore dressing during research period as the effect of CQI action team. Method : CQI action team in intensive care unit, launched since early 1996, reviewed the literature for the standardized risk assessment tool, developed the pressure sore assessment tool based on the Braden Scale, tested its validity, compared on statistics including incidence rate of pressure sore for patients at high risk. Throughout these activities, CQI action team was developed the protocol, called as St. Marys hospital Intensive Care Unit Pressure Sore Protocol, shifted the emphasis from wound treatment to wound prevention. After applied the protocol to patients at high risk, the incident rate and the period of prevention against pressure development were tested with those for patients who received care before implementation of protocol by Chi-square and Kaplan-Meier Method of Survival Analysis. Result : The CQI action team found that these was significant difference of in incidence rate of pressure sores between patients at high risk (control group) who received care before implementation of protocol and those (experimental group) who received it after implementation of protocol (p<.05). 25% possibility of pressure sore formation was shown for the patients with 6th hospital day in ICU in control group. In experimental group, the patients with 10th hospital day had 10% possibility of pressure sore. Therefore, there was significant difference(p<.05) in survival rate between two groups. Also, nursing time for dressing on pressure sore in experimental group was decreased as much as 50% of it in control group. Conclusion : The collaborative team effort led to reduced incidence, increased the length of prevention against pressure sore, and declined nursing care times for sore dressing. However, there have had several suggestions for future study. The preventive care system for pressure sore should be applied to patients at moderate, or low risk throughout continuous CQI team activities based on Bed Sore Indicator Fact Sheet. Hospital-wide supports, such as incentives, would be offered to participants for keeping strong commitment to CQI team. Also, Quality Information System monitoring incidents and estimating cost of poor quality, like workload (full time equivalence) or financial loss, regularly in a hospital has to be developed first for supporting CQI team activities as well as empowering hospital-wide QI implementation. Being several limitations, this study would be one of the report cards for the CQI team activities in intensive care unit of an acute hospital and a trial of quality improvement of health care in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Three-dimensional microscopic approaches in histopathology display multiplex properties that present puzzling questions for specimens as related to their comprehensive volumetric information. This information includes spatial distribution of molecules, three-dimensional co-localization, structural formation and whole data set that cannot be determined by two-dimensional section slides due to the inevitable loss of spatial information. Advancement of optical instruments such as two-photon microscopy and high performance objectives with motorized correction collars have narrowed the gap between optical theories and the actual reality of deep tissue imaging. However, the benefits gained by a prolonged working distance, two-photon laser and optimized beam alignment are inevitably diminished because of the light scattering phenomenon that is deeply related to the refractive index mismatch between each cellular component and the surrounding medium. From the first approaches with simple crude refractive index matching techniques to the recent cutting-edge integrated tissue clearing methods, an achievement of transparency without morphological denaturation and eradication of natural and fixation-induced nonspecific autofluorescence out of real signal are key factors to determine the perfection of tissue clearing and the immunofluorescent staining for high contrast images. When performing integrated laboratory workflow of tissue for processing frozen and formalin-fixed tissues, clear lipid-exchanged acrylamide-hybridized rigid imaging/immunostaining/in situ hybridization-compatible tissue hydrogel (CLARITY), an equipment-based tissue clearing method, is compatible with routine procedures in a histopathology laboratory.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.147-156
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• 2015

Objectives : This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Korean medicine for a thoracolumbar compression fracture. Methods : We searched six Korean databases (DBPIA, Korean Studies Information Service System, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, National Digital Science Library, Research Information Sharing Service, KoreaMed) (up to June 2015) and the Journal of Korean Acupuncture and Moxibustion Society. Unpublished studies were also searched. Clinical research, other than case reports involving less than 10 patients, were eligible. The effectiveness and safety of Korean Medicine was analyzed. The 'Risk of Bias' was assessed using the 'Risk of Bias' assessment tool for non-randomized studies as well as the Cochrane Collaboration's 'Risk of Bias' tool. Results : We found 12 before-after studies (374 patients). There was no randomized trial. All studies combined at least three different types of Korean medicine treatments. The period of treatment varied between less a week and 154 days. All the included studies reported improvements in pain, functional disability related to lower back pain, global assessment, and benefits in the compression ratio of a fractured vertebrae and skin temperature measured by digital infrared thermal imaging in comparison with the baseline. However, all studies had a high risk of bias and three studies reported mild adverse events. Conclusions : There is no randomized trial for the role of Korean medicine for patients with a thoracolumbar compression fracture. The effectiveness and safety of Korean medicine for this population remains unclear. Findings in this review are seriously biased due to observational design and a high risk of bias included in the studies. Future high-quality randomized trials are warranted.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.107-124
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• 2022

Objectives This study aimed to identify optimal combinations of acupoints used to treat chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Methods We searched four international databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Databases [AMED], and China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI]) and five Korean databases (DBpia, Research Information Sharing Service [RISS], Korean Studies Information Service System [KISS], Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System [OASIS], and KoreaMed) to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used acupuncture to treat CIPN. Network analysis was performed on the acupoints used in more than three included articles. We constructed a network by calculating the Jaccard similarity coefficient between acupoints and applied minimum spanning tree. Then, modularity analysis, degree centrality (Cd), and betweenness centrality (Cb) were used to analyze properties of the acupoints. Results A total of 25 articles were included. 24 acupoints were extracted from 25 articles. The combinations of acupoints having the highest Jaccard similarity coefficient were {EX-UE9, EX-LE10} and {ST36, SP6}. In the modularity analysis, acupoints were classified to six modules. ST40, EX-UE11, and KI6 had the highest Cd value while ST40, GB34 had the highest Cb value. Conclusions This study found the systematic framework of acupoint combinations used in CIPN studies. This study is expected to provide new perspectives of CIPN treatment to therapists. A RCT is in progress of using the network of this study as a guideline. If significant results are derived from the RCT, it will be possible to lay the groundwork to consider acupuncture for CIPN treatment.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.25-34
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• 2021

Objectives This study was conducted to evaluate the therapeutic effect of acupuncture after rotator cuff surgery. Methods Key words such as rotator cuff surgery and acupuncture were searched in 10 databases (Ovid-Medline, Ovid-EMBASE, Ovid-AMED, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], National Digital Science Library [NDSL], Koreanstudies Information Service System [KISS], Oriental medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System [OASIS], KoreaMed, KMBASE), and only suitable randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were selected. Results 6 RCTs were finally selected, and acupuncture showed positive results for pain relief and functional recovery after rotator cuff surgery. However, the analyzed 6 RCTs showed a high overall risk of bias. Conclusions In the future, RCTs with a higher level of evidence on the effect of acupuncture after rotator cuff surgery need to be continuously conducted.