• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.933-937
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to develop a diagnostic screening tool for the early detection of osteoporosis in persons with a predisposition for this condition and to facilitate effective management of the disease. Data are collected using questionnaires. The subjects are 120 women in a small city OB-GY clinic in South Korea, who are 6 months or more post menopausal and who have been examined for BMD. Two items in general syndrome of kidney vacuity(Shin Hur) : hears noises like streaming water or the sound of shrill chirrups of a cicada (OR=3.34, p<0.1), feels twinges in the back and knee(OR=4.10, p<0.05), one item in kidney yin vacuity: feels thirst and gets sore throat(OR=8.5, p<0.01) were proven as statistically significant risk factors in the identification of osteoporosis (Odds Ratio). The predictability score was 86.36%, and ROC curve was 0.84. This study attempted to identify risk factors in female osteoporosis so as to develop a screening tool for the purposes of early diagnosis, the effective management of osteoporosis patients and to modify the progress of their disease. Further studies are needed to elaborate this tool's ability to identify contributing factors in osteoporosis as defined by diagnostic evidence predicted by Oriental Medicine Theory.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

Objectives: Cold Hypersensitivity of Hands and Feet (CHHF) has been diagnosed objectively by Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) and has been known to be associated with autonomic nervous system (ANS), which can be assessed by Heart Rate Variability (HRV). This study evaluated the correlation between severity of CHHF and HRV variables.Methods: We studied 155 non-menopausal women with CHHF who visited Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong from 01 October 2013 to 30 April 2016. We measured DITI and HRV of each patient. We used DITI to calculate the severity of CHHF with thermal difference between upper arm (L4, 俠白穴) and palm (P8, 勞宮穴) of both hands and anterior thigh (ST32, 伏兎穴) and dorsum of foot (LI3, 太衝穴) of both feet. The correlation between severity of CHHF and HRV variables were analyzed.Results: In time domain analysis, there was significantly positive correlation between the severity of CHHF and both SDNN and RMSSD. In frequency domain analysis, there was significantly positive correlation between the severity of CHHF and TP, HF and HF Norm while there was significantly negative correlation between the severity of CHHF and LF Norm as well as between the severity of cold hypersensitivity of both hands and LF/HF ratio.Conclusions: The more severe CHHF is, the more increased the function of parasympathetic nerve system (PNS) and relatively decreased the function of sympathetic nerve system (SNS) is. Also, it has known that cold hypersensitivity could be caused by deficiency syndrome and qi deficiency has the same ANS tendency as CHHF. Therefore, in practical fields, this result can be helpful in planning treatment and deciding prognosis in respect of deficiency syndrome.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.249-254
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• 2008

This study was performed to investigate the effects of sea tangle (ST) extracts on serum lipid concentration in ovariectomized rats. Weight-matched female Sprague-Dawley strain rats were assigned to four groups. Three groups were surgically ovariectomized (OVX). The fourth group was sham operated. Rats were randomly assigned to the following groups: sham-operated rats (Sham), ovariectomized control rats (OVX-control), ovariectomized rats supplemented with ST at 50 mg/kg body wt (OVX-ST50) and ovariectomized rats supplemented with ST at 200 mg/kg body wt (OVX-ST200). The activities of serum GOT and GPT were increased by ovariectomized. The serum GOT levels in OVX-ST50 and OVX-ST200 groups were decreased than OVX-control group. But GPT level was only decreased in the serum of OVX-ST200 group. Serum total cholesterol and triglyceride contents decreased in sham group compared with OVX-control group by ovariectomy. Six weeks feeding of ST extract resulted in a significant lowering of serum triglyceride and lowering tendency of total cholesterol Level. The serum HDL-cholesterol was higher in ST groups than OVX-control group. These results suggest that the beneficial effect of ST extract may be used to possibly improve on the lipid metabolic syndrome of menopausal women.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.215-230
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• 2006

Purpose : To evaluate the clinical use of the menopause-specific quality of life questionnaire(MENQOL) for scoring menopausal symptoms by comparison with the conventional Kupperman's index. Methods : A population sample of 66 women was randomly selected from the female patients(aged 45-55) who had visited two oriental medical clinic in Seoul or Woo-Shin-Hwang oriental hospital from 1st April to 15th May in 2006. They completed both the MENQOL and the Kupperman's index and were asked a few additional questions. Results : 1. A degree of the Climacteric symptoms were not significantly related to either an education level or an income level. 2. A comparison of the MENQOL with the Kupperman's index produced a high positive correlation. 3. 41 of subjects (62.1%) answered that the MENQOL was more efficient for explaining their symptoms than the Kupperman's index. 49 (74.2%) of subject thought that both questionnaires are equally not difficult to fill out and 44(66.7%) of subject found no difficult questions to answer in any of questionnaires. Conclusion : The MENQOL is a valuable modern tool for the assessment of climacteric symptoms in place of the Kupperman's index. The MENQOL was excellent in applicability. The MENQOL could serve as an adequate diagnostic instrument for climacteric symptoms.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1680-1687
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• 2012

Postmenopausal women are at an increased risk of developing coronary artery disease, primarily due to dyslipidemia that accompanies the loss of estrogen secretion. This study was performed to investigate the effects of Opuntia humifusa seed extracts on blood flow and serum lipid level in ovariectomized rats. Twenty-eight 9-week old female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to four groups as sham-operated rats (SHAM), ovariectomized rats (OVX-CON), and ovariectomized rats that were treated with Opuntia humifusa seed extracts (OVX-OHS 2% and OVX-OHS 6%). The diets were fed to the rats for 7 weeks after operation. Serum total cholesterol and triglyceride contents decreased in the SHAM group compared to the OVX-CON group. Seven weeks of feeding of Opuntia humifusa seed extracts resulted in significant (p<0.05) lowering of serum triglyceride and a decreasing tendency in total cholesterol levels. The level of HDL-cholesterol in serum increased significantly by feeding diets containing the 2% and 6% Opuntia humifusa seed hot-water extract (p<0.05). Blood passage times were shorter in the Opuntia humifusa seed extract-supplemented groups than in the untreated group (OVX-CON). The platelet aggregation ability was lower in groups treated with Opuntia humifusa seed extracts than in the OVX-CON group. These results suggest that Opuntia humifusa seed extracts may have benefits in improving metabolic syndrome in menopausal women.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2011

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is hormonal imbalance condition as the endocrine and metabolic disorder that induces the infertility and various complications in reproductive age women. Estradiol valerate (EV) is used hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women and is reported that excessive administration of EV induces the PCOS. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is the factor to regulate the survival and maturation of developing neuronal cell and is also synthesized in ovary. And NGF is overexpressed in EV-induced polycystic ovary (PCO) as previously reported. Therefore, this study examined the possibility of NGF as can be used the biological marker in diagnosis of PCOS, the hormonal imbalance condition, using PCO and CHO (chinese hamster ovarian) cell lines. The concentration of EV treatment is optimized a 1 mg as not influence on the proliferation of CHO cell but 2 mg and 3 mg of EV treatment have the inhibition effect at initial stage. The morphological change was not observed in CHO cell after dose dependent manner treatment of EV. Expression of NGF mRNA and protein is significantly increased at 30 min after EV treatment in CHO cells compared to that of control. And NGF protein expression is strongly increased in PCO tissue, which observed many follicular cysts compared to normal ovary tissue. Taken together, overexpression of NGF may be act as a molecule to induce an abnormal development of follicle, suggesting that NGF can be used as a biological marker in diagnosis of PCOS.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.1155-1162
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• 2013

Estrogen like activities were evaluated using ethanol and hot water extracts of gongjindan (GJD) and 3 types of brown algae by an in vitro detection system. Laminaria japonica and Undaria pinnatifida represented statistically significant (p<0.001) estrogen like activities, while GJD and Ecklonia stolonifera did not. Furthermore, activities of hot water extracts ($500{\mu}g/ml$) of Laminaria japonica and three mixture (Ecklonia stolonifera : Undaria pinnatifida : Laminaria japonica, 1: 1: 1) were stronger than that of $10^{-7}M$ $17{\beta}$-estradiol. These results suggest that Laminaria japonica contain estrogen like compounds. Based on these results, the prepared seaweed GJD were used for animal experiments about the effects on inhibition of platelet aggregation and serum lipid levels in ovariectomized rats. 9-week Old female SD-rats were randomly assigned to 3 groups as sham-operated rats, ovariectomized rats and ovariectomized rats that were treated with GJD. The rats were placed on prescribed diets for 5 weeks following ovariectomy. Total cholesterol and triglyceride contents on serum decreased in the SHAM group compared to the OVX-CON group. 5 weeks feeding of GJD resulted in significant lowering of triglyceride and a decreasing tendency of total cholesterol level. The level of HDL-cholesterol on serum increased significantly by feeding diets containing the GJD. The ability of platelet aggregation of group treated with GJD was less than that of the OVX-CON group. These results suggest that the beneficial effects of seaweed gongjindan may be used to improve menopausal syndrome.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1851-1858
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• 2010

Estrogen deficiency in peri- and postmenopausal women results in variety of neurovegetative, psychic and somatic symptoms, and may contribute to severe diseases within the aged female population. Ecklonia stolonifera (ES) is an edible brown algae traditionally used in fishery towns in Far East Asia. This study was performed to investigate the effects of ES extracts on blood flow and serum lipid concentration in ovariectomized rats. Weight-matched female Sprague-Dawley strain rats were assigned to four groups. Three groups were surgically ovariectomized (OVX). The fourth group was sham operated. Rats were randomly assigned to the following groups: sham-operated rats (Sham), ovariectomized control rats (OVX-CON), ovariectomized rats supplemented with ES extract at 50 mg/kg bw/day (OVX-ES50) and ovariectomized rats supplemented with ES extract at 200 mg/kg bw/day (OVX-ES200). Serum total cholesterol and triglyceride contents decreased in the sham group compared to the OVX-CON group. Six weeks feeding of ES extract resulted in a significant (p<0.05) lowering of serum triglyceride and a lowering tendency of total cholesterol level. The level of Hdl-cholesterol in serum increased by supplementation of ES extracts at 50 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg bw/day (p<0.05). Blood passage time of the ES extracts-supplemented group was higher than the OVX-CON group. The ability of platelet aggregation of groups treated with ES extracts was less than that of the OVX-CON group. These results suggest that the beneficial effects of ES extract may be used to possibly improve on the metabolic syndrome of menopausal women.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.710-716
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Makgeolli (MG) and Makgeolli GiGemi (MGG) on blood flow, serum lipid improvement in vivo, and inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in vitro. The activities of serum AST and ALT were increased by ovariectomy. Serum AST levels were decreased to $77.71{\pm}13.97$ and $74.57{\pm}14.90\;unit/ml$ in the OVX-MG50 and OVX-MGG50 groups compared to the OVX-control group ($91.14{\pm}12.02\;unit/ml$). Serum ALT levels were decreased to $34.00{\pm}8.41$ and $30.43{\pm}3.60\;unit/ml$ in OVX-MG50 and OVX-MGG50 groups compared to the OVX-control group ($37.14{\pm}5.40\;unit/ml$). Serum total cholesterol and triglyceride contents decreased in the sham group compared with OVX-control group by ovariectomy. Six weeks feeding of MG and MGG resulted in a decrease to $116.14{\pm}36.02$ and $109.14{\pm}11.55\;mg/dl$ compared to the OVX-control group ($120.43{\pm}8.36\;mg/dl$) in serum total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were decreased to $52.43{\pm}12.41$ and $47.29{\pm}12.08\;mg/dl$ in the OVX-MG50 and OVX-MGG50 groups compared to the OVX-control group ($58.57{\pm}5.47\;mg/dl$). The level of HDL-cholesterol in the OVX-control group was significantly reduced to $51.29{\pm}20.49\;mg/dl$ compared to the sham group ($72.29{\pm}10.29\;mg/dl$), but it was increased to $70.71{\pm}19.53$ and $62.00{\pm}20.20\;mg/dl$ with MG and MGG supplementation. Furthermore, the effect of the MG group was higher than the MGG group. Microscopic observation showed that whole blood passed smoothly through the micro channels in the MG and MGG supplemented groups. The platelet aggregation ability of the groups treated with MG and MGG was less than that of the OVX-control group. In vitro assay, the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity was significantly inhibited by MG and MGG (82.6% and 68.9% inhibition at 0.4 g/ml). These results suggest that the beneficial effects of MG and MGG may be used to improve on the lipid metabolic syndrome of menopausal women. In addition, MG and MGG might improve blood homeostasis mediated activities via antiplatelets and MG and MGG may be used as antihypertensive functional foods and nutraceuticals.