• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.1009-1019
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• 2021

Purpose: The aim of this study was to report the improvement of Guillain-Barre syndrome after long-term combination treatment with Korean medicine. Methods: A patient was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome and treated with herbal medicine, acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, moxibustion, and exercise, including quadruped walking after three hospital admissions. To evaluate muscle strength and weakness, we measured manual muscle function, gait pattern, and the speed of quadruped walking. Results: The patient's muscle weakness in the extremities and gait stance were improved. The speed of quadruped walking was increased. Conclusion: We consider that combined treatment with Korean medicine might be effective for the muscle weakness of Guillain-Barre syndrome with a poor prognostic factor. To verify the effectiveness of this treatment, further research is needed.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.891-900
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the improvement of a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after long-term combined Korean medical treatment. Methods: A patient diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was treated with herbal medicine, acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, moxibustion, and rehabilitation for four separate hospital stays. To evaluate their respiratory discomfort and limb weakness, we used Manual Muscle Testing, the Pulmonary Function Test, and the Korean Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised. Results: The weakness of the muscles of the lower extremities and respiratory function was improved. Conclusion: We consider that combined Korean medicine treatments might be an effective treatment for muscle weakness and respiratory discomfort of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. To verify the effectiveness of these treatments, further research is required.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.118-125
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the blood pressure reducing effect of Qi-Ju-Di-Huang-Wan (QJDHW) in adults with essential hypertension by using methods of systemic review and meta-analysis. Major search engines, such as PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science, CNKI, CiNii, J-STAGE, KISS, NDSL, RISS, OASIS, DBpia and so on, were used. The search period we used is from the start date of the search engine to October 30, 2016 and no language limits were placed. Randomized controlled trials using QJDHW in adults with essential hypertension were searched and extracted by two independent researchers. Meta-analysis was performed on outcome variables of the total effective rate (TER), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Risk of bias (RoB) of Cochrane was used to assess methodological quality. Thirteen studies were finally selected. We observed that the combined treatment of QJDHW and antihypertensive drug had 3.6 times the odds ratio of TER for blood pressure lowering than a single use of an antihypertensive drug. Additionally, mean differences of SBP and DBP were -8.88 mmHg (95% Confidential Interval (CI) -12.77 mmHg, -5.00 mmHg, P<0.00001), -7.09 mmHg (95% CI -9.93, -4.25, P <0.00001), respectively. Single use of QJDHW did not reduce blood pressure more than an antihypertensive drug. All items of RoB were unclear and the methodological quality was low. Our analysis suggests that the combination of QJDHW and antihypertensive drugs may be more effective in reducing blood pressure than a single antihypertensive drug. But due to low methodological quality, careful interpretation will be needed and systematic long-term clinical trials will be required.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.45-63
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• 2014

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics in children and adolescents with peripheral facial palsy that was treated with Korean medicine. Methods The study was conducted based on 284 cases that consisted of 261 children (less than 19 years old) who visited the hospital of Korean medicine from August 2010 to August 2014. Then, this study was analyzed by reviewing the patients' charts. Results The incidence of facial palsy in pediatric patients was more common in boys than in girls and the mean age was 11.2 years. The prevalence of facial palsy was more common in winter and most were diagnosed with Bell's palsy. Recurrence was identified in 12.6% of the patients. The average age of the first attack was 9.5 years. It took about 3.2 years for recurrence to occur from the first onset. It took about 5 days to visit the hospital of Korean medicine from the onset. 81% of the patients came within 1 week from the onset. 50.7% of the cases did not receive any treatment before and 49.3% were previously treated at other hospitals. More than half of the patients (65.1%) received Korean medicine first. 54.6% of the patients were hospitalized and 45.4% received outpatient treatments in the hospital of Korean medicine. Outpatient treatments were administered about 11.5 times while hospitalized patients were treated for an average of 16.6 days. In general, hospitalized patients were treated more often than the outpatient group. An overall average duration of treatment was 70.6 days from the onset of facial palsy until the last day of treatment, and 53.0 days from the first day of treatment until the last day of treatment. 41.5% of the cases were treated only with Korean medicine and 49.0% were treated with a combination of Korean and Western medicine. The types of Korean medicine treatment used for facial palsy in descending order of frequency were acupuncture, Infra red, herbal medicine, SSP therapy, electro-acupuncture, carbone, hot pack, cupping, and moxibustion. The treatments that were most frequently used from Western medicines were steroid as monotherapy (61.7%) and a combination of steroids and antiviral therapy (37.6%). Conclusions This result showed that the risk of facial palsy recurrence among children is relatively high and that facial palsy requires a long-term treatment. It's helpful to explain about prognosis, treatment duration, and recurrence potential in children. Facial palsy in children is treated in various ways but more studies about the therapeutic effects of Korean medicine, Western medicine, and combination of Korean-Western medicine in children are needed.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2002

Background : Nowadays asthma is considered to be an inflamatory disease characterized by airborne hyper-responsiveness and pulmonary eosinophilia. Objective : We aimed to identify the effects of Sochongryongtang on blood eosinophil, serum IgE and T lympocyte subpopulation in asthmatic patients. Material and Methods : The subjects consisted of fifteen patients with asthma who had been treated with Sochongryongtang for two weeks from February 2001 through June 2001. Sochongryongtang is herbal decoction which has been used for the traditional therapeutic agent of asthma. Results : The blood eosinophil and serum IgE in a normal controlled group. However, the T lympocyte subpopulation in asthmatic patients was not significantly different from the T lympocyte subpopulation in a normal group. The patients were treated with Sochongryongtang for two weeks. No significant difference in the blood eosinophil, serum IgE and T Iympocyte in the sub population. After treatment with Sochongryongtang for two weeks, FEV 1 increased significantly over 0.5 points out of total scores. Conclusion : This study shows that Sochongryongtang has effects on improvement of pulmonary function and quality of life in asthmatic patients. However, the patients who were treated with Sochongryongtang for two weeks showed no significant difference in the blood eosinophil, serum IgE and T lympocyte subpopulation. Further long-term studies must be made on a large number of asthmatic patients.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.550-566
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• 2022

Stroke is among the leading causes of death and long-term physical and cognitive disabilities worldwide, affecting an estimated 15 million people annually. The pathophysiological process of stroke is complicated by multiple and coordinated events. The breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in people with stroke can significantly contribute to the development of ischemic brain injury. Therefore, BBB disruption is recognized as a hallmark of stroke; thus, it is important to develop novel therapeutic strategies that can protect against BBB dysfunction in ischemic stroke. Traditional medicines are composed of natural products, which represent a promising source of new ingredients for the development of conventional medicines. Indeed, several studies have shown the effectiveness of Korean medicine on stroke, highlighting the value of Korean medicinal treatment for ischemic stroke. This review summarizes the current information and underlying mechanisms regarding the ameliorating effects of the formula, decoction, herbs, and active components of traditional Korean medicine on cerebral ischemia-induced BBB disruption. These traditional medicines were shown to have protective effects on the BBB in many cellular and animal ischemia models of stroke, and experiments in various animal species, such as mice and rats. In addition, they showed brain-protective effects by protecting the BBB through the regulation of tight junction proteins and matrix metalloproteinase-9, reducing edema, neuroinflammation, and neuronal cell death. We hope that this review will help promote further investigation into the neuroprotective effects of traditional Korean medicines and stimulate the performance of clinical trials on Korean herbal medicine-derived drugs in patients with stroke.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2002

Epimedium koreanum Nakai(EKN) has traditionally been well-known as a herbal medicine for the promotion of stamina and the improving sexual activity of human in oriental countries including Korea and China. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of EKN water-extract(0.025%,w/v) on age-related change of xenobiotic metabolizing system in rat liver. Long-term supply of the EKN extract to rats did not induce any discernible signs. However, the mass of liver and kidney were slightly increased by the dietary supplementation. Level of cytochrome P450, NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase, P450 dependent ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase benzphetamine N-demethylase and glutathione-S-transferase in liver were decreased with age, but, these activities in 24 months of age were declined more in rats supplied with EKN extract. Level of cytochrome b5 and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase were also decreased with age, however, there was no significant difference between with and without EKN extract. These results indicate that long-term supplementation of EKN extract to rats from weaning to 24 months may be a burden on the liver function in old age, and may aggregate the decline of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes activities in old age.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.92-101
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• 2011

Purpose: To evaluate the effects on vision care program including traditional Korean treatment for elementary school students. Methods: 172 eyes of eighty-six older elementary students underwent a vision care program, including traditional Korean treatment, for 3 months between March 2010 and June 2010. The vision care program included health education, such as lifestyle modification, vision strengthening exercises and a course of treatment with traditional Korean methods. Traditional Korean treatment covered periocular acupuncture point stimulation, periauricular acupuncture point stimulation and herbal drug therapy. All patients were examined for visual acuity and auto-refraction and filled out a satisfactory questionnaire about ocular discomforts and quality of life before and after treatments. Results: Patients with mild myopia (-0.75~-2.00) were 61 (35.5%), and 46 (26.7%) were emetropia (${\pm}0.50$ or less). After treatment, uncorrected visual acuity in both eyes was $0.77{\pm}0.46$, which was lower than that before treatment ($0.82{\pm}0.51$), but corrected visual acuity was $0.98{\pm}0.21$, which was higher than that before treatment ($0.93{\pm}0.28 $). About the refractive change, the emetropia group showed a slightly myopic shift while the mild myopia group intended to reduce the myopic error. However, this was not statistically significant. The scales of eyeball pain or discomfort decreased significantly from $17.59{\pm}22.5$ before treatment to $10.28{\pm}17.80$ after treatment, and the scales of the quality of life increased from $1.85{\pm}1.25$ before treatment to $2.25{\pm}1.30$ after treatment. Most patients (90.7%) were satisfied with their treatment results. Conclusions: The vision care program including traditional Korean treatment for elementary school students was effective to improve corrected visual acuity in both eyes and delay the progression of school myopia. In addition, it helped to reduce eyeball pain and discomfort and ultimately to enhance quality of life. Long-term follow-up studies will be needed.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2021

Parkinson's disease is one of the typical neurodegenerative disease and it is caused by the destruction of substantia nigra in brain leading to lack of dopamine secretion, and it presents 4 major motor symptoms such as tremor, bradykinesia, stiffness, postural instability. Furthermore, it causes many non-motor symptoms such as anosmia, REM sleep conduct disorder, orthostatic hypotension, dementia and autonomic ataxia such as lack of adjusting blood pressure, hyperhydrosis, constipation. Dopaminergic therapy is the most commonly used strategy, but long term treatment of levodopa induce various adverse effects. Thus, many people are focusing on new therapies other than established therapies, and there are many tries and approaches with paradigm shift. Our medical team was able to get 4 cases of PD patients who are hospitalized in our hospital, treated by Whole Body Gi-Hyeol Therapy consisting of acupuncture therapy, herbal therapy, and mental therapy, and their conditions improved in perspective of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale(UPDRS), Heart Rate Variability(HRV), and Quality of life. Among all 4 cases, UPDRS score and quality of life score is gotton better, and among 2 cases SDNN, RMS-SD, TP, LF, HF scores are finely increased. And PDQ-39 score which shows quality of life is also improved. However, in spite of these improvements and positive results, there were no meaningful improvement in a hurt from a fall which is important to the aged, muscular atrophy which causes bone fracture and SMI(Skeletal Muscle Mass Index) which is indicator of osteoporosis. Thus, supplementary treatment about Whole Body Gi-Hyeol Therapy such as more active nutrition intervention, safe and effective kinesitherapy is needed, and from now on continuous case reports and systematic clinical research which has control group must be carried out.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2008

Objective : Herb medicines are potential sources of useful edible and medicinal plants. They are used as a drug because of their various biological activities such as immunomodulatory, antiviral, and antitumor functions. Nelumbo nucifera have been applied in Chinese herbal prescriptions to improve tissue inflammation. However, it has not been elucidated on the effect of the flower of Nelumbo nucifera in cells. Method : In the present study, to examine the effect of that on glioma cells, U87, the essential oil was extracted from the flower of Nelumbo nucifera (NN essential oil). U87 cells were exposed to different concentrations of 2-40 ug/ml of NN essential oil in ethanol. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay at 24 h. To find out the intracellular target signal molecule(s) for this antiproliferative activity of NN essential oil, phosphorylation of Akt, ERM, MAPK or p38 proteins were examined by Western blot analysis. To study long term effect of NN essential oil in U87 cells, the image of cells treated with NN essential oil for 4 days were obtained. Results and Conclusion : NN essential oil was shown to exhibit antitumor activity in glioma cells, at a broad range of concentrations of 10-40 ug/ml. The phosphorylation of Akt and Endoplasmic Reticulum Matrix (ERM) proteins which known to be involved in the cell death, were gradually decreased to 2 hours after addition 20 ug/ml of NN essential oil. However, the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein (MAPK) and p38 was found to increase in NN essential oil treated cells. NN essential oil treated cells showed decreased glioma cell number. These results provide a possible NN essential oil-induced inhibitory signal for tumor cell proliferation that is initiated by the decrease in Akt activity. Moreover, it is likely that the activation of p38 is required for the NN essential oil-induced inhibition of tumor proliferation.