• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2 s.62
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• pp.95-104
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• 2005

Objectives: This was a double blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study for evaluation of safety and effective dose finding of Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ in patients with chest pain and discomfort. Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ are composed of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix (丹蔘), Notoginseng Radix (三七根) and Borneolum (龍腦). Major effects of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix and Notoginseng Radix are vasodilatation, sedation and analgesic action. Borneolum has an antibacterial effect, and can stimulate the central nervous system. All of these substances are oriental herbs that have been used for a long time in east Asia. Cardiotonic Pills fi received Investigational New Drug (IND) approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA and 40 million people in the world take this pill. We performed a phase IV clinical study to confirm its efficacy and safety in patients who have probable cardiogenic or psychogenic chest pain or chest stifling. Methods: This study was planned for a multi-center clinical trial including four university hospitals of oriental medicine in Korea. This was the first time to evaluate the 'planning treatment according to diagnosis (辨證施治)' of chest pain or chest discomfort according to oriental medical guidelines. The patients who were included in this trial were adult volunteers from 20 to 70 years old who had chest pain or chest discomfort more than twice during a recent month, and we received written consent to participate in this study from all of them. After administration of Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ for 8 weeks, number of occurrences, duration, appearance and degree of chest pain or chest discomfort was observed and degree of symptoms (severity of illness, global improvement) were measured using a patient's global assessment composite scale. Results: In the patient's global assessment scale, the severity of illness of the Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ group (n=25) was 14/25=0.56 but of the placebo group (n=25) was 7/25=0.28 (p-value=0.0449). This result indicates Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$have a positive effect on the symptoms of chest pain and discomfort. However, the global improvement of the Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$group was 23/25=0.92, and of the placebo group was 22/25=0.88 (p-value=0.6374). The total symptom score of the Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ group was $1.68\pm20.06$, and of the placebo group was $16.76\pm72.l4$(p-value=0.2285). The number of symptom events of the Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ group was $72\pm29.78$, and of the placebo group (n=25) was $10.80\pm38.42$ (p­value=0.3660). We could not find any effects on the other factors examined besides the severity of illness, beyond the difference of standard deviations. Conclusions: Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ significantly reduced chest pain and chest discomfort in patients. Therefore, we expect that Cardiotonic Pills$^{(R)}$ will be helpful for patients with chest pain and chest discomfort not only caused by heart disease but also by other diseases.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.150-164
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• 2009

1. Objectives This study was to designed investigate the relationship between hypertension and its risk factors and the prevalence of hypertension according to Sasang Constitution. 2. Methods Five hundred and twenty six people were subjects out of 666 people, over 40 years old, who participated in the community-based cohort in Wonju, South Korea from July 2nd to August 30th in 2006. Hypertensive group was 263 peoples and normal group was 263 people, selected randomly among non hypertensive people who had same age and sex with hypertensive groups. Sasang Constitutional Diagnosis was carried out using PSSC(Phonetic System of Sasang Constitution), face and tongue photos and a checkup list. Risk factors from blood samples, physical measurements and social indices were analyzed using SPSS. 3. Results The prevalence of hypertension in Taeeumin was 63.1%(N=166), that of Soeumin was 22.4%(N=59) and that of Soyangin was 14.4%(N= 38). Considering risk factors of hypertension, there weren't any differences between two groups in social support indices and Framingham type A score. But scores of Soeumin's and Soyangin's were significantly high compared with that of Taeeumin in female normal group. There were significantly high results in Adiponectin of Soeumin's and HDL-cholesterol of female Soyangin's and HOMA-IR of Taeeumin's than any other groups. Crude OR of Taeeumin was 2.18 as compared with that of Soeumin in terms of risk of hypertension, and OR of Taeeumin was 2.02 as compared with that of Soeumin after drinking, smoking, total cholesterol, fasting blood sugar and HOMA-IR were adjusted. But after BMI was adjusted there wasn't a significance between Soeumin and Taeeumin and the OR of more than 25 was 2.42 as compared with that of less than 23 in BMI. 4. Conclusions Sasang Constitution is thought to be the reasonable variable to control hypertension in terms of prevention, treatment and regimen. And constitution is needed as a good variable to make a cohort study concerning chronic diseases, especially hypertension.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.30 no.6C
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• pp.585-592
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• 2005

One of the most important things in the researches on diseases is to attach more importance to prevention of a disease and preservation of health than to treatment of a disease, also to foods rather than to medicines. In this context, the most significant concern in examining a patient is to find the presence of disease, and, if any, to diaguose the type of disease, after which a pharmacotherapy is followed. In this paper, various diagnosis methods of Oriental medicines are discussed. And ocular inspection, the most important method among the 4 disease diagnoses of Oriental medicines, is studied. Observing a person's shape and color has been the major method for ocular inspection, which usually has been dependent upon doctor's intuition as of these days. We are developing an automatic system which provides objective basic data for ocular inspection. As the first stage, we applied the signal processing techniques to automatic feature extraction of faces for ocular inspection. Firstly, facial regions are extracted from the point of frontal view, which was followed by extraction of their features. The experiment applied to 20 persons showed that frontal face regions are perfectly extracted, as well as their features, such as eyes, eyebrows, noses and mouths. Future work will seek to address the issues of morphological operation for a few unfinished extraction results, such as combined hair and eyebrows.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.129-143
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• 2021

Objectives This study was aimed to evaluate clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) of traffic injuries, which has already been developed at domestic or outside of country, and to explore the Korean medical treatments included in the CPGs. Methods Twelve electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI {Chinese Academic Journals, CAJ}], Research Information Sharing Service [RISS], Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System [OASIS], KoreaMed, Korean Medical Guideline Information [KoMGI), National Guideline Clearinghouse [AHRQ], Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials Initiative Website [COMET], Turning Research into Practice [TRIP], The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], and Medical Research Information Center [MedRIC]) up to July 2021 were searched. Only systematically developed CPGs for traffic injuries were selected and appraised. The appraisal was conducted by using Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) II tool. Results Six CPGs were included and evaluated. All CPGs were appraised as highly recommended because they exceeded 60% in more than 4 among 6 domains of AGREE II, including domain of 'rigor of development', and 30% in the rest. Recommendations related to Korean medicine treatments such as on manual therapy related to Chuna were given in 6 CPGs, 4 for acupuncture, 1 for Qigong and 1 for Taping. Conclusions The 6 CPGs were developed up to now through a systematic development methodology and there were many recommendations for Korean medical treatments related to manual (Chuna) treatment, acupuncture and Qigong. However, the evidence for the side effects and risk factors of Korean medical treatments was scantly reflected in CPGs. Therefore, it is considered that balanced CPG with benefits and risks should be developed, covering Korean medical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.31-41
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• 2018

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to establish the basis of the assessment tools that can be used for the diagnosis and assessment of skin diseases by reviewing the present status of the assessment tools used in domestic and overseas traditional medicine papers for the past five years. Methods : This study is based on analysis of papers on clinical trials about atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, acne, urticaria published from 1st July 2013 to 30th June 2018. The papers were searched from Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System(OASIS), Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal(KTKP), Pubmed, MEDLINE. Results : 40 articles on atopic dermatitis, 34 articles on psoriasis, 26 articles on acne and 10 articles on urticaria were selected. Among them, 38 articles(90%), 20 articles(85%), 22 articles(85%) and 5 articles(50%) used assessment tools in order. Conclusions : SCoring Atopic Dermatitis(SCORAD), objective SCORing of Atopic Dermatitis index(OSI), Eczema Area and Severity Index(EASI) were used in studies on atopic dermatitis. In the case of psoriasis, The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index(PASI) was used in most papers. In the study on acne, most of Korean papers used Korean Acne Grading System(KAGS), but in the overseas papers, various assessment tools were used. In the case of urticaria, the rate of use of the assessment tool was the lowest, but the assessment tool used was unified by Urticaria Activity Score(UAS). Since skin diseases can cause stress and a decrease in quality of life, the quality of life should be taken into account when evaluating treatment effects.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.89-101
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• 2001

The conventional pattern-methods for discrimination of acupoint, meridian line which is the basic object of diagnosis and medical treatment in oriental medicine is discriminated the conduction point by the stimulation in body skin with DC. But, it is not sufficient to truth in discrimination ratio, coincident ratio, body effect, reproductivity. Therefore, this paper is extracting the optimal parameter of frequency and waveform in order to improve the conventional pattern, and proposing the SPAC(Single Power Alternative Current) stimulus pattern applying that. Also, this algorithm proposes to be able to discriminate with low pressure of the electrode by displaying in the level meter both the absolution and relation value of the skin current. It is able to decrease pain and body effect by electrode pressure and discriminate acupoint regardless of skin current in difficult discrimination spot. It is compared the performance of system applying the extracted optimal parameter and algorithm, and it is confirmed that there is difference in discrimination parameter of acupoint reacted to the individual and the meridian. It is compared that discrimination, coincident ratio of the traditional acupoints as the acupoint stimulation pattern. It is confirmed truth of optimal parameter and discrimination algorithm. Keyword: Meridian, Discrimination, Coincident, Body effect, Reproductivity, SPAC, Optimal parameter.