• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.104-114
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to review the effectiveness of fire needling treatment for knee osteoarthritis in comparison with manual acupuncture treatment. Methods : Through four foreign online databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, EMBASE, and CNKI) and five domestic online databases (NDSL, RISS, KISS, OASIS, and KTKP), we searched for clinical studies that performed fire needling treatment for knee osteoarthritis until May 10, 2019. Only randomized controlled trials were selected and we assessed the risk of bias according to the Cochrane RoB criteria. This review examined the selected studies into first author, publication year, sample size, outcome measurements, results, acupoints, treatment time & period and so on. Results : A total of 7 RCTs were selected in this review and all were conducted in China. Treatment period of more than 4 weeks and treatment visits of 10 to 20 times were the most common. EX-LE4 and ST35 (=EX-LE5) acupoints were most frequently selected in treatment. Among the evaluation indexes, a total efficacy rate was used the most. Most of fire needling groups showed more significant results compared with the manual acupuncture groups statistically. Conclusions : All studies showed that fire needling treatments for knee osteoarthritis were more effective than manual acupuncture treatments statistically. Therefore, the results of this study could be utilized as a preliminary data for another clinical research on fire needling treatment for knee osteoarthritis. However, further well-designed randomized controlled trials will be needed to develop sufficient evidence about the effectiveness and safety of fire needling treatment for knee osteoarthritis in the future.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.117-133
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• 2021

Objectives : Pityriasis rosea is an acute and subacute papular scaly disease, and is a disease that mainly resolves spontaneously. However, since the outbreak of COVID-19, the possibility that the disease may occur as a sequelae of the disease and side effects of vaccination has been announced. Methods : We searched articles related to oriental treatment of pityriasis rosea at organized in domestic and foreign DBs. Articles were searched for RCT. The results were summarized in tables and graphs, and meta-analysis was performed. Also, we assessed the risk or bias. Results : As a result of setting the herbal medicine alone treatment as an intervention for pityriasis rosea and Western medicine alone as the control group, total 9 articles were searched. We analyzed them and got the results. The efficient rate of the treatment group was statistically significantly higher than that of the control group. In addition, adverse events were significantly less in the treatment group than in the control group. Conclusions : Herbal medicine treatment can be more effective than Western therapy(mainly anti-histamines and glycyrrhizin injection) for pityriasis rosea. In addition, herbal medicine treatment can be superior to Western treatment for safety. However, the limitations of this study include the small number of articles, no other evaluation indicators other than the efficient rate, and insufficient data such as pathological examination.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.778-785
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• 2020

Wireless mesh networks consist of mesh clients, mesh routers and mesh access points. The mesh router connects wireless network services to the mesh client, and the mesh access point connects to the backbone network using a wired link and provides Internet access to the mesh client. In this paper, a limited number of mesh routers and mesh access points are used to propose optimization algorithms for network design for wireless mesh networks. The optimization algorithm in this paper has been applied with a sub-subscription algorithm, which is one of the meta-heuristic methods, and is designed to minimize the transmission delay for the placement of mesh routers and mesh access points, and produce optimal results within a reasonable time. The proposed algorithm was evaluated in terms of transmission delay and time to perform the algorithm for the placement of mesh routers and mesh access points, and the performance evaluation results showed superior performance compared to the previous meta-heuristic methods.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.20-31
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• 2021

The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for patients with rotator cuff diseases. There were 12 electronic databases and 3 trial registries searched up to November 30th, 2019. All randomized trials were eligible, regardless of language, date of publication, or settings. The primary outcomes were pain, shoulder function, and proportion of improved participants assessed within 12 weeks of randomization of the trial. The Cochrane risk of bias for the studies was assessed. Effects sizes were presented as a risk ratio, mean difference, or standardized mean difference with a 95% confidence intervals. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach was adopted to rate certainty of evidence. Of the 3,686 records screened, 28 randomized trials (2,216 participants) were included in this review. The types of acupuncture included manual acupuncture, dry needling, electroacupuncture, acupotomy, warm needle acupuncture, and fire needle acupuncture. All of the studies had an unclear or high risk of bias related to more than 1 domain. Significant benefits of acupuncture in terms of pain and shoulder function were observed in all comparisons, however, the proportion of improved participants was not described in 2 comparisons. There was substantial heterogeneity among meta-analyzed trials. No serious harm was observed. For primary outcomes, the overall certainty of evidence was very low. There was very low certainty of evidence for the benefits of acupuncture for patients with rotator cuff diseases. The safety of acupuncture remains unclear due to the incompleteness of reporting. Future well-designed randomized trials with transparent reporting are required.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.343-350
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• 2021

3D printing technology is an additive manufacturing technology produced through 3D scanning or modeling method. This technology can be produced in a short time without mold, which has recently been applied in earnest in various fields. In the medical field, 3D printing technology is used in various fields of radiology and radiation therapy, but related research is insufficient in the field of nuclear medicine. In this study, we compare the characteristics of traditional nuclear medicine phantom with 3D printing technology and evaluate its applicability in clinical trials. We manufactured the same size phantom of poly methyl meta acrylate(PMMA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene(ABS) based on the aluminum step wedge. We used BrightView XCT(Philips Health Care, Cleveland, USA) SPECT/CT. We acquired 60 min list mode for Aluminum, PMMA and ABS phantoms using Rectangular Flood Phantom (Biodex, New York, USA) ^99mTcO₄ 3 mCi(111 MBq), 6 mCi (222MBq) and ⁵⁷Co Flood phantom(adq, New Hampshire, USA). For the analysis of acquired images, the region of interest(ROI) were drawn and evaluated step by step for each phantom. Depending on the type of radioisotope and radiation dose, the counts of the ABS phantom was similar to that of the PMMA phantom. And as the step thickness increased, the counts decreased linearly. When comparing the linear attenuation coefficient of Aluminum, PMMA and ABS phantom, the linear attenuation coefficient of the aluminium phantom was higher than that of the others, and the PMMA and ABS phantom had similar the linear attenuation coefficient. Based on ABS phantom manufactured by 3D printing technology, as the thickness of the PMMA phantom increased, the counts and linear attenuation coefficient decreased linearly. It has been confirmed that ABS phantom is applicable in the clinical field of nuclear medicine. If the calibration factor is applied through further research, it is believed that practical application will be possible.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.105-121
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• 2022

Objectives This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of electro-acupuncture for sciatica. Methods We searched 13 online databases (Kmbase, Research Information Sharing Service [RISS], National Digital Science Library [NDSL], Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System [OASIS], Koreanstudies, Koreantk, DBpia, PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, Medline, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], J-stage) to find randomized-controlled clinical trials (RCTs) that used electro-acupuncture for sciatica. Efficacy rate and visual analogue scale (VAS) were mainly analyzed as a main evaluation criteria. Results Among 583 articles that were searched, 24 RCTs were finally selected and 18 RCTs were statistically analyzed. Electro-acupuncture was more effective than acupuncture in terms of efficacy rate (p<0.00001) and VAS (p<0.00001). Also, Electro-acupuncture was more effective than western medication in terms of efficacy rate (p=0.0005). However, the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture was not identified compared to physical therapy (p=0.42). Electro-acupuncture significantly improved efficacy rate when combined with physical therapy than physical therapy alone (p<0.0001). In addition, electro-acupuncture plus Chuna manual therapy compared to Chuna manual therapy alone showed positive results for efficacy rate (p=0.05) and VAS (p<0.0001). Conclusions Based on results, the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture for sciatica was identified. However, this study has limitations because the RCTs included in this study were small in number and published in a particular region. Although this study could be a groundwork for well designed research for sciatica.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.61-82
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• 2022

Metaverse is a combination of Meta and Universe, which refers to a world in which users or avatars engage in social, economic, and cultural activities. This study attempted to compare the four worldviews proposed by the Acceleration Studies Foundation (ASF) based on the five evaluation factors of SPICE, which are factors for promoting customer experience. 227 samples were used in the analysis, and as a result, seamlessness was the highest in augmented reality, interoperability in lifelogging, presence in the mirror world, and concurrence in virtual reality. This study is meaningful in that it presents a model design plan according to the classification of the metaverse platform and the worldview, and presents detailed strategic directions to existing metaverse platform operators or new entrants.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.55-68
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of Guibi-tang that are used for postpartum depression. Methods: We searched on five databases [Korean studies Information Service (KISS), Oriental medicine advanced searching integrated system (OASIS), The Cochrane Library, PubMed, and China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI)] with keywords for Postpartum depression (English, Korean, and Chinese) and evaluated the risk of bias. Meta-analysis was performed on the selected studies. Results: 8 potentially relevant articles were retrieved for further evaluation. There was evidence that Guibi-tang compared with Western medicine was significantly higher rate in total effect rate (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04, 1.39, p=0.01). Also, the combined therapeutic effects of Guibi-tang and Psychological intervention compared with Psychological intervention were statistically significant in total effect rate (RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05, 1.24, p=0.002). And they showed improvement on scores of HAMD (Hamilton depression scale, HAMD) and SF-36 (36-Item short form health survey, SF-36). Conclusion: Guibi-tang appears to be more effective compared to Western medicine in the treatment of postpartum depression. The combination Guibi-tang and Psychological intervention was more effective than psychological intervention alone treated for postpartum depression. However, since unclear risk of bias, the result of this study should be considered carefully. Further clinical trials should be carried out in order to academical clinical progress regarding treatment of Postpartum Depression.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.74-98
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• 2023

Objectives : This study aims to evaluate the add-on effect of herbal bath combined with acitretin in patients with psoriasis. Methods : We searched randomized controlled trials(RCTs) reporting the effect of herbal bath and acitretin combined treatment for psoriasis in 10 electronic databases from their inception to January 2023. Study collection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were performed by two independent researchers. Data synthesis and risk of bias evaluation was conducted using Revman 5.4. Results : Ten RCTs with 1,008 subjects were included. Herbal bath and acitretin combined treatment group showed higher average total effective rate than acitretin alone group(RR 1.39; 95% CI: 1.15-1.68, P=0.0006, I² =0%). Herbal bath and additional treatments such as phototherapy(NB-UVB) and oral herbal medicine, combined with acitretin group also showed higher average total effective rate than acitretin alone group(RR 1.81; 95% CI: 1.47-2.22, P<0.00001, I² =43%). Herbal bath and phototherapy(NB-UVB) combined with acitretin group also showed higher average total effective rate than acitretin alone group(RR 1.51; 95% CI: 1.18-1.93, P=0.0009, I² =0%). The overall risk of bias of the included studies was unclear or of high risks. Conclusions : This review showed that the add-on of herbal bath combined with acitretin treatment could be more effective than acitretin alone treatment in patients with psoriasis. However, because of few included studies, heterogeneity between studies, and insufficient quality of included studies, further well-designed RCTs are needed to confirm the add-on effect of herbal bath on psoriasis.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.879-890
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the use of Megasphaera elsdenii (M. elsdenii) as a probiotic on rumen fermentation, production performance, carcass traits and health of ruminants by integrating data from various related studies using meta-analysis. Methods: A total of 32 studies (consisted of 136 data points) were obtained and integrated into a database. The parameters integrated were fermentation products, rumen microbes, production performance, carcass quality, animal health, blood and urine metabolites. Statistical analysis of the compiled database used a mixed model methodology. Different studies were considered random effects, while M. elsdenii supplementation doses were considered fixed effects. p-values and the Akaike information criterion were employed as model statistics. The model was deemed significant at p<0.05 or had a tendency to be significant when p-value between 0.05<p<0.10. Results: Supplementation with M. elsdenii increased (p<0.05) some proportion of fermented rumen products such as propionate, butyrate, isobutyrate, and valerate, and significantly reduced (p<0.05) lactic acid concentration, acetate proportion, total bacterial population and methane emission. Furthermore, the probiotic supplementation enhanced (p<0.05) livestock production performance, especially in the average daily gain and body condition score. Regarding the carcass quality, hot carcass weight and carcass gain were elevated (p< 0.05) due to the M. elsdenii supplementation. Animal health also showed improvement as indicated by the lower (p<0.05) diarrhoea and bloat incidences as well as the liver abscess. However, M. elsdenii supplementation had negligible effects on blood and urine metabolites of ruminants. Conclusion: Supplementation of M. elsdenii is capable of decreasing ruminal lactic acid concentration, enhancing rumen health, elevating some favourable rumen fermentation products, and in turn, increasing production performance of ruminants.