• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.117-127
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• 2016

Objectives : This study was performed to observe the effect of complex therapy, including electro-acupuncture and magnetic-acupuncture, on peripheral facial nerve palsy. Methods : Nine patients with peripheral facial nerve palsy were treated with acupuncture using electrical and magnetic stimulation. Acupoints in the face were stimulated with an electromagnetic field, as widely and as evenly as possible. To evaluate the effects before and after treatment we used Yanagihara's unweighted grading system, House-Brackmann scale, and Sunnybrook facial grading system and image once a week. Results : After treatment, the scores of Yanagihara's unweighted grading system, House-Brackmann scale and Sunnybrook facial grading system each improved (p-value < 0.05). Conclusion : Complex therapy using electro-acupuncture and magnetic-acupuncture might be an effective treatment to improve symptoms of peripheral facial nerve palsy. Further randomized-controlled trials are required to verify the efficacy and results of this study.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.141-147
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• 2016

Staphylococcus aureus cultures exposed to rotating magnetic field (RMF) were studied in order to analyse the possible induced changes in staphylococcal enterotoxin genes (se) expression. Liquid cultures of S. aureus strains carrying different se were exposed to the RMF of magnetic frequency 50 Hz and magnetic induction 34 mT for 10 h at $37^{\circ}C$. Three time points of bacterial growth cycle were considered for RNA extractions. Gene expression analyses were evaluated using real-time quantitative PCR method. The present study confirmed, that the RMF can stimulate the growth rate of S. aureus cultures in comparison to the unexposed controls, while the stimulation is not strain dependent. The studies have also shown, that the RMF, depending on the exposure time but regardless the bacterial strain, can influence on the expression of various se. In general, except for sea, as a result of bacterial exposure to the RMF through subsequent growth phases, the expression of se decreased, reaching the values below results recorded for unexposed controls. In the case of sea expression remained at a lower level as compared to the control, regardless the time of exposition.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2002.07c
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• pp.1776-1779
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• 2002

In this paper, we measured the heating time on the key measuring point of the meridian of the human body's left and right by using heating machine. Then, based on the fuzzy theory, this study diagnosed the each meridian's strength and weakness, After that, both the strengthening and weakening stimulus of magnetic field was applied to the dominant direction to find out how the degree of strength and weakness of the meridian changed. Ultimately, the magnetic therapy that can stimulate the magnetic field at the time of diagnosis and thereby balancing the interactive of a five system has been materialized. For the stimulation of magnetic field, a stimulating device which can change the direction and time on a specific part of the key measuring points has been developed and used. The therapeutic method is as follows. first, the strength and weakness of the meridian has been determined. Second, both the extremely weak meridian of Yin(Shade) and Yang(Shine), and the extremely strong meridian of Yin and Yang were adjusted by applying appropriate ascending and descending stimuli respectively.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.395-405
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• 2014

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate 1) somatotopic arrangement of the second and third fingers in SI area 2) difference of neural activation in the SI area produced by stimulation with different frequencies 3) correlation between the intensity of tactile perception by different stimulus intensity and the level of brain activation measurable by means of fMRI. Background: Somatosensory cortex can obtain the information of environmental stimuli about "where" (e.g., on the left palm), "what" (e.g., a book or a dog), and "how" (e.g., scrub gently or scrub roughly) to organism. However, compared to visual sense, the neural mechanism underlying the processing of specific electrotactile stimulus is still unknown. Method: 10 right-handed subjects participated in this study. Non-painful electrotactile stimuli were delivered to two different finger tips of right hand. Functional brain images were collected from 3.0T MRI using the single-shot EPI method. The scanning parameters were as follows: TR and TE were 3000, 35ms, respectively, flip angle 60, FOV $24{\times}24cm$, matrix size $64{\times}64$, slice thickness 4mm (no gap). SPM5 was used to analyze the fMRI data. Results: Significant activations produced by the stimulation were found in the SI, SII, the subcentral gyrus, the precentral gyrus, and the insula. In all participants, statistically significant activation was observed in the contralateral SI area and the bilateral SII areas by the stimulation on the fingers but ipsilaterally dominant. The SI area representing the second finger generally located in the more lateral and inferior side than that of the third finger across all the subjects. But no difference in brain area was found for the stimulation of the fingers by different frequencies. And two typical patterns were observed on the relationship between the perceived psychological intensity and the amount of voxels in the primary sensory cortex during the stimulation. Conclusion: It was possible to discriminate the representation sites in the SI by electrotactile stimulation of digit2 and digit3. But we could not find the differences of the brain areas according to different stimulation frequencies from 3 to 300Hz. Application: The results of the study can provide a deeper understanding of somatosensory cortex and offer the information for tactile display for blinds.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.113-126
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• 2011

Objectives : We have examined and analyzed patents regarding acupuncture point stimulating methods in order to understand the stimulation technology and research trends of acupuncture points. Methods : We searched and analyzed the total of 135 on-line DB based patents under time limit of Dec, 2010. Results : According to the analyzed results, non-invasive method is used more than invasive method. Electric stimulation is used more than any other method, such as magnetic, ionic, laser, light, ultrasonic, water, Far IR and thermal stimulation. There are numbers of cases such as rejected during screening procedure, waived before the screening, of failed to renew its registrational status which outnumber those patents registered and maintained. Conclusions : These data suggest that we need to move away from using one side method such as non-invasive and electrical method. Thus follow-up service is recommended.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.101-101
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• 2002

PURPOSE： To separate activations from other physiological and artifactual component that contribute to functional MRI(fMRI) recordings and detect one consistently task-related component activated during the acupuncture stimulation, we try to take the ICA(Independent Component Analysis) method.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.270-276
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• 2013

We have been unwittingly exposed to magnetic field. Biological effects due to electromagnetic field exposure has been studied over the past several decades. There has been epidemiological studies and laboratory studies. In the case of laboratory studies, the effect has been observed through the cell stimulation of an artificial magnetic field. The used frequency and waveform are various in the cell experiment, but the intensity of the magnetic field is usually around 10G. Intensity of Earth's magnetic field is about 300-400mG. Although this intensity is not much higher than artificial magnetic field as 3-4% amplitude, we can't ignore the effect because every living thing on earth has already adapted for long time ago. In this study, we have designed and implemented the 3-axis magnetic field generation system in oder to remove the static magnetic field in the real-time and kept its intensity less than ${\pm}5mG({\pm}0.5uT)$ using 3-axis helmholtz coil.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.78-87
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• 2021

Objective : Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) has been widely used during spine surgery to reduce or prevent neurologic deficits, however, its application to the surgical management for cervical myelopathy remains controversial. This study aimed to assess the success rate of IONM in patients with cervical myelopathy and to investigate the factors associated with successful baseline monitoring and the effect of increasing the stimulation intensity by focusing on motor evoked potentials (MEPs). Methods : The data of 88 patients who underwent surgery for cervical myelopathy with IONM between January 2016 and June 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The success rate of baseline MEP monitoring at the initial stimulation of 400 V was investigated. In unmonitorable cases, the stimulation intensity was increased to 999 V, and the success rate final MEP monitoring was reinvestigated. In addition, factors related to the success rate of baseline MEP monitoring were investigated using independent t-test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, chi-squared test, and Fisher's exact probability test for statistical analysis. The factors included age, sex, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, smoking history, symptom duration, Torg-Pavlov ratio, space available for the cord (SAC), cord compression ratio (CCR), intramedullary increased signal intensity (SI) on magnetic resonance imaging, SI length, SI ratio, the Medical Research Council (MRC) grade, the preoperative modified Nurick grade and Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score. Results : The overall success rate for reliable MEP response was 52.3% after increasing the stimulation intensity. No complications were observed to be associated with increased intensity. The factors related to the success rate of final MEP monitoring were found to be SAC (p<0.001), CCR (p<0.001), MRC grade (p<0.001), preoperative modified Nurick grade (p<0.001), and JOA score (p<0.001). The cut-off score for successful MEP monitoring was 5.67 mm for SAC, 47.33% for the CCR, 3 points for MRC grade, 2 points for the modified Nurick grade, and 12 points for the JOA score. Conclusion : Increasing the stimulation intensity could significantly improve the success rate of baseline MEP monitoring for unmonitorable cases at the initial stimulation in cervical myelopathy. In particular, the SAC, CCR, MRC grade, preoperative Nurick grade and JOA score may be considered as the more important related factors associated with the success rate of MEP monitoring. Therefore, the degree of preoperative neurological functional deficits and the presence of spinal cord compression on imaging could be used as new detailed criteria for the application of IONM in patients with cervical myelopathy.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.119-139
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• 2022

Brain stimulation technology that administers electrical and magnetic stimulation to a brain has shown a significant level of possibility for treating a wide range of various neurological and psychiatric disorders. Depending on its nature, the technology is defined either as invasive or non-invasive, and deep brain stimulation (DBS) is one of the most well-known invasive brain stimulation technologies. Currently categorized as grade 4 medical device in accordance with Guideline On Medical Devices And Their Grades, a Notification of Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), the DBS has been used as a stable treatment for several diseases. At the same time, the DBS technology has recently achieved substantial advancement, encouraging active discussions for its use from various perspectives. On the contrary, debates over legal regulation related to the use of DBS has relatively been smaller in numbers. In this context, this article aims to 1) introduce the DBS technology and its safety in setting out the tone; 2) touch upon major legal issues that would potentially rise from its use for four different purposes of treatment, clinical study, areas of non-standard treatment where no other methods are available, and enhancement; and finally 3) highlight disputes concerning common emerging issues observed in the aforementioned four purposes from the viewpoint of legal responsibility and liability of using the DBS, which are benefit-risk assessment, physicians' duty of information, patients' capacity to consent, control for device, and insurance coverage.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.52-56
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• 2015

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in conjunction with mirror therapy on the balance function of patients with sub-acute stroke hemiparesis. This study was conducted with 36 subjects who were diagnosed with a hemiparesis due to stroke. Participants in the experimental (19 members) and control groups (17 members) received rTMS and sham rTMS during 10 minute sessions each, which were carried out five days per week for four weeks. This was followed by the mirror therapy over 30 minute sessions, which were carried out five days per week for four weeks. Motor recovery was assessed by balance index, dynamic limits of stability, Berg balance scale, and time up go test. The change values of the balance index ($-2.06{\pm}1.99$ versus $-0.41{\pm}1.11$), dynamic limits of stability ($3.68{\pm}2.71$ versus $1.17{\pm}2.38$), and time up go test ($-7.05{\pm}5.64$ score versus $-3.35{\pm}5.30$ score) were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05). At post-test, balance index ($4.08{\pm}1.14$ versus $5.09{\pm}1.04$), dynamic limits of stability ($13.75{\pm}0.60$ versus $11.73{\pm}3.53$), and time up go test ($23.89{\pm}4.51$ versus $28.82{\pm}3.07$) were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05). In the experimental group, significant differences were found in the pre- and post-test scores for the balance index, dynamic limits of stability, Berg balance scale, and time up go test (p < 0.01). In the control group, a significant difference was observed between the pre- and post-test only for the Berg balance scale and time up go test (p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that the application of 1Hz rTMS in conjunction with mirror therapy can be helpful in improving the balance function of patients with sub-acute stroke hemiparesis, and this may be used as a practical adjunct to routine rehabilitation therapy.