• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.174-180
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• 2018

Objective: Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI) is one of the common nosocomial infections. As elderly population increases, the proper treatment has been emphasized. We investigated the risk factors associated with CDI unimprovement in elderly patients. Furthermore, we performed drug use evaluation of old CDI patients and oldest-old CDI patients. Methods: It was a retrospective study using electronic medical record at Kangbuk Samsung Medical Center (KBSMC) from January 2016 to December 2017. Seventy three patients aged 65 years or older, diagnosed with CDI by Clostridium difficile Toxin B Gene [Xpert] were screened and they were assessed for risk factors regarding unimprovement status. We also evaluated drug use evaluation in old patients ($65{\leq}age$<80) and oldest-old patients ($80{\leq}age$) by assessing the use of initial therapy, severity, dose, route, treatment course, days of use, total days of use and treatment outcome of initial therapy. Results: Out of 73 patients aged over 65 years, four patients were excluded because they did not receive any treatment. There were 31 improved patients and 38 unimproved patients after initial therapy. We were able to find out patients with surgical comorbidity or endocrine comorbidity (especially, diabetes mellitus) had 2.885 more risk of becoming unimproved than those patients without surgical comorbidity or endocrine comorbidity. Drug use evaluation for CDI was generally fair, but vancomycin as initial therapy is more recommended than metronidazole. Conclusion: Although age, antibiotics exposure, use of antacids are all important risk factors for CDI, our result did not show statistical significance for these risk factors. However, the study is meaningful because the number of elderly population keeps increasing and recently updated guideline suggests the use of vancomycin as drug of choice for CDI.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.153-159
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• 2002

Gene therapy is fundamentally a sophisticated drug delivery technology to cure a disease by the transfer of genetic material to modify living cells. In other words, the gene is used as a therapeutic drug much like a chemical compound is employed in chemotherapy. Currently almost 600 clinical trials are underway worldwide since the first clinical trials carried out in 1990 to treat adenosine deaminase deficiency using retroviral vectors. Despite the great progress still is there no gene therapy product being approved as a new drug. This is partly due to a lack of an ideal gene delivery system that is safe and can provide stable, optimal level production of the therapeutic proteins in the cell. This review covers the current status of several different biological and physico-chemical agents that are being developed as gene delivery vehicles. Although gene therapy promises great hopes toward the cure of a broad spectrum of genetic and acquired diseases, the success of gene therapy heavily asks for the development of vector systems for safe and efficient application in humans.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8067-8073
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• 2016

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key players in gene expression that govern cell developmental processes, and thus contributing to diseases, especially cancers. Many studies have suggested that aberrant expression of lncRNAs is responsible for drug resistance, a substantial obstacle for cancer therapy. Drug resistance not only results from individual variations in patients, but also from genetic and epigenetic differences in tumors. It is reported that drug resistance is tightly modulated by lncRNAs which change the stability and translation of mRNAs encoding factors involved in cell survival, proliferation, and drug metabolism. In this review, we summarize recent advances in research on lncRNAs associated with drug resistance and underlying molecular or cellular mechanisms, which may contribute helpful approaches for the development of new therapeutic strategies to overcome treatment failure.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2023

Dyspnea is a common symptom among patients with gastrointestinal cancer, and a comprehensive evaluation of their respiratory function is essential. Self-reporting aids in the assessment of the degree of dyspnea, while objective examination methods are performed to identify the potential underlying causes when subjective symptoms are present. Standard treatment protocols should be followed for potentially reversible and common causes of dyspnea, such as pleural effusion, pneumonia, airway obstruction, anemia, asthma, exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary thromboembolism, or drug-induced interstitial lung disease. Careful and close monitoring is required due to the high frequency of pulmonary thromboembolism and the risk of cardiovascular accidents, drug-induced interstitial lung disease, or other complications from some anticancer drugs. In case of hypoxemia with an oxygen saturation of 90% or less, palliative treatment should comprise standard oxygen therapy such as nasal cannula, mask, or high-flow nasal cannula. If non-pharmacological oxygen therapy is not effective, pain control through systemic narcotic analgesics and anti-anxiety therapy with benzodiazepines may be helpful.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.86 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2023

Lung cancer ranks first in cancer mortality in Korea and cancer incidence in Korean men. More than half of Korean lung cancer patients undergo chemotherapy, including adjuvant therapy. Cytotoxic agents, targeted therapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitors are used in chemotherapy according to the biopsy and genetic test results. Among chemotherapy, the one that has developed rapidly is targeted therapy. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines have been updated recently for targeted therapy of multiple gene mutations, and targeted therapy is used not only for chemotherapy but also for adjuvant therapy. While previously targeted therapies have been developed for common genetic mutations, recently targeted therapies have been developed to overcome uncommon mutations or drug resistance that have occurred since previous targeted therapy. Therefore, this study describes recent, rapidly developing targeted therapies.

• Journal of Advanced Information Technology and Convergence
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2019

Treatment for hypertension is basically done through drug administration, which is likely to suffer a number of side effects. Various non-drug treatments are presented to solve this problem. In this paper, we proposed a treatment method through breathing induction known as an effective method during non-drug treatment. This treatment encourages patients to reduce the number of breaths. By reducing the number of breaths, it can lower the patient's sympathetic nerves and relax the muscles, thereby lowering blood pressure. We presented these breathing algorithms that could reduce the number of breaths on the patient's own without expert help, and we enabled patients to train their own breathing techniques through a device that implements these breathing induction algorithms.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.226-235
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• 1991

Therapeutic use of antibiotics in the pulpal disease should reduce the clinical symptoms and pathogenic microflora in the pulp. The purpose of this study was focused on local drug delivery into the root canal in endodontic therapy. Monolithic films from polycaprolactone and polyethylene glycol preparations with minocycline were prepared, and then the antimicrobial effect of these films on necrotic canal was tested. A total 17 necrotized pulp teeth were sampled before and 1 week after insertion of film into the pulp. Bacterial culture were performed with anaerobical condition and seeded in the 5 selective and non - selective media for 7 days in $37^{\circ}C$ of anaerobic chamber. Bacterial identification were performed with Gram staining, biochemical test, and API kit There was significantly decreased of anaerobic and aerobic microflora of 13 among 17 patients after therapy. Among the identified microflora, Streptococcus species, black - pigmented species and Fusobacterium species were significantly reduced 1 week after treatment with local delivery antibiotics. Furthermore, clinical symptoms included in pain and local swelling were continuousely reduced after therapy. These results suggest that local drug delivery with minocycline is effeicient to treat the endodontic involved teeth for releasing clinical symptoms and microbiological shifting.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.20 no.1 s.32
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• pp.256-264
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• 2007

Objective : This study describes a case of urticarial drug eruption assumed to be caused by non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) treated with oriental medicine and acupuncture. Methods : We studied the case of 20-years-old drug eruption patient. The patient complained of urticaria, angioedema, itching and burning sensation after taking NSAIDs. The indications for NSAIDs prescribed were common cold symptom and sore throat. For diagnosis, blood test and urinalysis were done. For treatment, acupuncture and herbal-medicine treatment were applied. Results : The patient of this report were examined for 13 days. The radiological finding was within normal limits. The WBC, neutrophil, lymphocyte and eosinophil level normalized during admission. After 3 days, itching and wheal reaction of whole body disappeared except facial symptom. The angioedema, itching and wheal reaction in the face was almost improved in the 4th day after discharge. Conclusions : We may expect that the oriental medical therapy improves the urticarial drug eruption caused by NSAIDs.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.31-38
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• 2023

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of taping techniques on menstrual pain, body temperature, and menstrual symptoms in women of reproductive age. Methods: This study targeted 40 female students enrolled at G university with menstrual pain rated above 5 on the visual analog scale (VAS). The participants were randomly assigned to four groups: the Kinesio taping, spiral taping, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, and control groups. The intervention was applied one day after the onset of menstruation, and menstrual pain, menstrual symptoms, and body temperature were measured before the intervention and 24 hours after the intervention application. We measured menstrual pain using the VAS. Additionally, we evaluated menstrual symptoms using the menstruation symptom scale and measured body temperature of the abdomen and feet using digital infrared thermal imaging. Results: After the intervention, all three experimental groups showed significant improvement in menstrual pain and menstrual symptoms compared to the control group, and there was no significant difference among the three groups. After applying Kinesio taping, there was a slight decrease in the temperature difference between the abdomen and feet, but no statistically significant difference was observed. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that kisesio and spiral taping have similar effects as with anti-inflammatory medication in relieving menstrual pain and menstrual symptoms. Taping can be considered as an effective method to replace medications in order to alleviate menstrual pain.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.155-168
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• 2012

Therapeutic cancer is a long lasting and turbulent history accompany with the milestones in surgical intervention, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In the past decade, however, metastatic cancer still obstinately exists challenging the professional scientist. Beside the major forms of cancer treatment, Diphtheria toxin (DT) which is produced by a pathogenic strain of bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheria to shield themselves against the other dangerous organism, have been researched as a potential candidate to overcome the drawback such as non-specific, non-effect to drug resistant cancer cell and side effects when using chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In the context of suicide gene therapy, the DT expression under controlling of tissue-specific promoter will be targeted in cancer cell but defect in normal cell. The molecular mechanism, characteristic of DT-bases therapy and prominent achievements of preclinical and clinical studies for the past decade are summarized and discussed in this review.