• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 2002

To investigate the skin toxicity of xylene, xylene (25 mg/$\textrm{cm}^2$) has been sequentially applied to the rat skin for four days. On the light microscopic examination, epithelium was left out with infiltration of inflammatory cells in border with dermis, and formation of new epithelial layer was shown under the inflammatory zone. Application of xylene to the rat skin showed the marked rise of cutaneous xanthine oxidase activity whereas, He activities of oxygen free radical scavenging enzymes, superoxide dismutase and glutathione S-transferase, were significantly declined. Furthermore, the content of cutaneous glutathione was more and less decreased in rat skin applied with xylene. In conclusion, these results suggest that a part of oxygen free radical may be responsible for morphological changes in skin by applying xylene to the rat skin.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.157-161
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• 2005

Medical infrared imaging is obtained by measuring the self-emitted infrared radiance from the human body. Infrared emission is related to surface temperature and temperature is one of the most important physiological parameters related to health. Though recent applications such as security identification and oriental medicine have provided new fields of biomedical applications, infrared thermography has had ups and downs in its usages in cancer detection. Some of the main difficulties include finding proper applications and efficient diagnostic algorithms. In this study, infrared thermal imaging was used to detect regional metastasis of breast cancer. Our measurements were done for 110 women. From 63 individuals of a Healthy Group and a Benign Breast Disease Group, we developed algorithms for differentiating malignant regional metastasis based on temperature difference and asymmetry of temperature distribution. Testing with 47 cancer patients, we achieved a positive predictive value of $87.5\%$ and a negative predictive value of $95.6\%$. The results were better than for mammogram examination. A proper analysis of infrared imaging proved to be a highly informative and sensitive method for differentiating regional cancer metastasis from normal regions.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.270-272
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• 2022

한의 복진은 복부를 검사하기 위해 수행되지만 정량화되지는 않았다. 이 연구의 목표는 소화불량의 주요 증상인 흉협고만이 있는 그룹과 아닌 그룹 사이에 유의하게 차이나는 복부 측정기기의 변수를 식별하는 것이다. 정량적인 진단을 위해 규칙에 따라 구획한 복부를 적외선 열화상 카메라, 디지털 압통기, 3D 카메라 및 디지털 청진기를 포함한 기기로 측정하였다. 연구방법으로 임상연구를 수행하여 한의사들이 진단한 복부 증상인 흉협고만과의 일치도를 조사하였다. 기기 측정 중 깊이, 압력, 깊이에 대한 압력의 비율은 흉협고만 그룹이 비 흉협고만 그룹보다 유의하게 작았다. 따라서 물리적 압통 특성이 감소하고, 복부 경직도가 감소하며, 민감도가 증가했다. 좌측과 우측 늑골 사이의 거리, 흉늑골 각도는 흉협고만 환자에서 유의하게 더 컸다. 또한, 깊이 차이, 표면 법선 벡터 및 깊이 값 사이의 각도 차이는 흉협고만 그룹에서 대부분 작았다. 복부 측정기기는 다양한 질환 및 증상에 사용될 것으로 기대한다.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.381-394
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• 1997

This study was conducted to investigate breast self examination ( = BSE) - related knowledge, attitudes and practice of junior nursing college students in Kwangju. Chonnam province. The subjects were 161 nursing students in 3 junior nursing colleges among 10 colleges in K city and Chonnam province. The data was collected from Nov. 16, 1997 to Dec. 16, 1997 and analyzed by an SAS program for t or F test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results were as follows: 1. The mean score of BSE - related knowledge was 18.2, that of BSE-related attitudes was 29.1 and that of BSE-related practice was 3.1. 2. The first advantage of BSE-related practice was the early detection of breast cancer. Reasons for not practicing BSE were difficulty in practicing(33%), and indifference to practicing(29%) in that order. 3. In the relationship between BSE-related characteristics and the scores of BSE-related knowledge, groups having breast cancer history in relatives or neighbors tended to have higher scores than groups not having them significantly(t=2.07, p=0.042). In the relationship between BSE-related characteristics and the scores of BSE-related attitudes, groups practicing BSE(t=1.67, p<0.10) and groups not receiving breast examinations from doctors(t=-1.83, p<0.10) tended to have significantly higher scores than those of others. In the relationship between BSE-related characterestics and the scores of BSE-related practice, the group having a breast cancer history in relatives or neighbors tended to have significantly higher scores than those of others(t=2.05, p=0.04). 4. In the correlation among the scores of BSE-related knowledge, attitude and practice, there was slight or little correlation between the score of BSE-related knowledge and that of BSE-related attitude(r=0.30) ; as well as between attitude and practice (r=0.18).

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.75-96
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the treatment trend for allergic rhinitis in Korean Medicine. Methods : We conducted an online survey for Korean Medicine Doctors who were registered in the association of Korean Medicine. The questionnaire was consisted of patient characteristics, diagnosis status, treatment status, and future research needs. Results : Data from total of 396 respondents were analyzed. More than 70% of the patient came to the Korean Medicine Clinic after visiting the Western Medicine Clinic in 43.9% of the respondents. 55.6% of the respondents performed combination therapy. History taking, nasal examination, x-ray, and Korean Medicine diagnostic test were used for diagnosis. The mean duration of treatment ranged from $4.9{\pm}2.91$ to $15.2{\pm}8.45$ for pediatric and early childhood patients and from $17.5{\pm}16.15$ to $5.3{\pm}3.85$ weeks for adolescents and adult patients. The mean number of treatment times was from $9.8{\pm}7.00$ to $33.5{\pm}24.45$ for pediatric and early childhood patients and from $10.8{\pm}11.55$ to $40.4{\pm}48.18$ times for adolescents and adult patients. 64.5%, 48.0%, and 91.2% of the respondents used herbal medication in national health insurance coverage, herbal medication uninsured in health insurance and herbal prescription filled at each medical institution, respectively for pediatric and early childhood patients and 67.6%, 42.8% and 86.1% for adolescents and adult patients. 36.9% and 36.4% of respondents answered that the study of acupuncture and herbal medicine are needed preferentially. Conclusions : The results of this survey will be used to develop clinical practice guideline that reflect actual clinical practice.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.185-198
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of Korean medicine treatment in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among a group of community dwelling elderly. Methods: Two-hundred and twenty-nine elderly living in a community and diagnosed with MCI were recruited. Participants were evaluated with various instruments such as the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination for Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS) and the Korean version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-K). Korean medicine treatment consisted of herbal medicine, acupuncture, and pharmacoacupuncture. The change in cognitive ability was assessed by using the MMSE-DS and the MoCA-K. Data were analyzed by SPSS/WIN 22.0 using the paired t-test, and the ANOVA. Results: The MMSE-DS and the MoCA-K score generally increased after six months of Korean medicine treatment and the differences in both instruments were statistically significant. Additionally, some consecutive participants maintained long-term cognitive improvement. When analyzed specifically by herbal medicine group based on syndrome differentiation and pharmacoacupuncture group, most showed improvement in the MMSE-DS and the MoCA-K but not all data were statistically significant. The satisfaction score was mostly high and most participants were willing to re-participate in the program. Conclusions: Korean medicine treatment may contribute to the improvement and prevention of cognitive decline in the elderly. However, further systematic research based on large scale sample data and standardized protocols is needed to uplift the welfare and mental health of the elderly.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.1050-1061
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• 2023

This study reported the case of a patient with quadriparesis due to cerebral aneurysm rupture, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) treated with Korean medicine. The patient was treated with acupuncture, herbal medicine (mainly Tonggyuhwalhyeol-tang-gagam), Western medicine, moxibustion, cupping, and rehabilitative therapy for 75 days, and improved after administration. After treatment, the Manual Muscle Test grade improved from 4/4-/3+/3 to 4+/4+/4+/4+, the Korean version of the modified Barthel Index score improved from 9 to 100, the National Institute of Health's Stroke Scale score improved from 2 to 0, the Global Deterioration Scale score improved from 3 to 2, and the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination score improved from 22 to 30. During administration, the patient did not show seizures, shock, or loss of consciousness, and the vital signs were stable in the normal range. We followed up the brain computed tomography findings for 2 times and found that there was no definite evidence of intracranial hemorrhage or IVH or re-rupture or rebleeding after Korean medicine treatment. This study suggests that Korean medicine treatment with blood-invigorating and stasis-removing herbs could be a safe and effective intervention option for improving quadriparesis due to cerebral aneurysm rupture and subarachnoid hemorrhage.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.246-258
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• 2024

This case report describes a patient diagnosed with central post-stroke pain (CPSP) and hemiparesis due to anterior cerebral artery and middle cerebral artery infarction. The patient was treated with Korean medicines, including moxibustion, acupuncture, electroacupuncture, herbal medicine, Western medicine, and rehabilitation therapy for 67 days. CPSP improved based on scores on the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) (from 8 to 0), paresthesia NRS (7 to 0), Manual Muscle Test (4/1 to 4+/4-),4+/4-), Korean version of the modified Barthel Index (24 to 73), National Institute of Health's Stroke Scale (7 to 0), Global Deterioration Scale (1 to 1), and Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (27 to 29). No seizures, shocks, recurrent ischemic stroke, and liver dysfunction were recorded during the treatment. A moxibustion-induced burn healed within 7 days. This case suggests that moxibustion, combined with other treatments, has the potential to improve CPSP, without severe side effects.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.123-131
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• 2008

In Oriental medicine, the status of a tongue is the important indicator to diagnose the condition of one's health like the physiological and the clinicopathological changes of internal organs in a body. A tongue diagnosis is not only convenient but also non-invasive, and therefore widely used in Oriental medicine. However, the tongue diagnosis is affected by examination circumstances like a light source, patient's posture, and doctor's condition a lot. To develop an automatic tongue diagnosis system for an objective and standardized diagnosis, segmenting a tongue region from a facial image captured and classifying tongue coating are inevitable but difficult since the colors of a tongue, lips, and skin in a mouth are similar. The proposed method includes preprocessing, over-segmenting, detecting the edge with a local minimum over a shading area from the structure of a tongue, correcting local minima or detecting the edge with the greatest color difference, selecting one edge to correspond to a tongue shape, and smoothing edges, where preprocessing consists of down-sampling to reduce computation time, histogram equalization, and edge enhancement, which produces the region of a segmented tongue. Finally, the systematic procedure separated only a tongue region from a face image with a tongue, which was obtained from a digital tongue diagnosis system. Oriental medical doctors' evaluation for the results illustrated that the segmented region excluding a non-tongue region provides important information for the accurate diagnosis. The proposed method can be used for an objective and standardized diagnosis and for an u-Healthcare system.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.12-21
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• 2005

1. Objectives Though the distributional rate of Sasangin was mentioned in ${\ulcorner}$Dongyi Suse Bowon${\lrcorner}$, there were few studies on the distributional rate of Sasangin in Korea. So, this study was conducted to estimate the distributional rate of Sasangin in Korea. 2. Methods The medical records of 1,423 subjects who have taken diagnosis of Sasang constitution from January 2003 to June 2003 at a health examination center of a hospital in Seoul were reviewed. Then distributional rate of Sasang constitution were analyzed and age sex-adjusted standardized distributional rate were estimated by direct standardization using a reference population of 2000 aged from 20 to 70 years. 3. Results and Conclusions (1) The total number of subjects were 1,423(Males : 704(49.5%) / Females : 719(50.5%)). And the mean age of the subjects was $46.3{\pm}11.4$ years(males : $45.4{\pm}11.3$ / females $47.1{\pm}11.4$). (2) Among the 1,423 subjects, distributional rate of Taeumin, Soyangin, and Soeumin were 46.9%, 29.1% and 24.0%(Male : Taeumin 48.2%, Soyangin 37.9%, Soeumin 13.9% / Female: Taeumin 45.6%, Soyangin 20.4%, Soeumin 33.9%). (3) Age sex-adjusted standardized distributional rate of Taeumin, Soyangin, and Soeumin were 45.4%, 28.2% and 26.4%(Male : Taeumin 50.8%, Soyangin 35.1%, Soeumin 14.1% / Female: Taeumin 39.5%, Soyangin 21.0%, Soeumin 39.4%) (4) The rate of Soeumins was higher than that mentioned in ${\ulcorner}$Dongyi Suse Bowon${\lrcorner}$,and the distributional rate of Sasangin according to sex was different. (5) So it was thought that the distributional rate of Sasangin in Korea was different from that mentioned in ${\ulcorner}$Dongyi Suse Bowon${\lrcorner}$.