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A Study on the Blood-Letting Therapy in Elementary Questions (("황제내경소문(黃帝內經素問)" 중(中) 사혈(瀉血)에 관한 연구(硏究))

  • Lee, Jun-Geun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Oriental Medical Informatics
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.19-42
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    • 2008
  • Blood-Letting Therapy is a rational and ecological medical treatment by which we can heal most of the diseases by removing the static blood which precipitates in the blood vessel and blocks the flowing of blood. And the static blood is the generic term for the injurious, bad, dead and precipitated blood which is blocked the capillary vessel. The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine says that "the patient is treated with drugs internally and stone acupuncture externally. "In the old texts, the blood-letting therapy is mentioned as blood-letting, network vessel pricking, bloodletting, pricking, and arousing pulses etc and it is noted down as the method of network vessel pricking in 'On the Application of Needles' of Spiritual Pivot. Nine-pricking therapy, twelve-pricking therapy and five-pricking therapy are recorded in the methods of network vessel pricking and among them, the method of squeezing blood after pricking the affected part is explained as the network vessel pricking. There are four methods of network vessel pricking, pricking, picking, cluster needling and scatter-pricking and they are fluidly applied to the various symptoms of diseases. In 'On Discriminative Treating for Patients of Different Regions' in Elementary Questions, Ki-baek emphasizes "most of the local people, there are black in skin and loose in striate, and their diseases are mostly of carbuncle kind. It is suitable to treat the disease with stone therapy to prick with stone, so the stone therapy is transmitted from the east. "And in 'On the Corresponding Relation Between the Eum and Yang of Man and All Things' in Elementary Questions, when the Emperor asked Ki-Back, he answered "sthenia means the sthenia of evil, and deficiency means the deficiency of healthy energy. When the blood is sthenic, the evil should be discharged by pricking when out letting the blood; deficiency of vital energy is the asthenia of channels and network vessels, so the energy should drain from the channel which is not deficient, to replenish. "And in this case we can use the methods of 'Breaking out the static bloods', 'driving out the static bloods', blood-letting'. With this we can infer that the blood-letting therapy is made use of the important medical treatments from the ancient times. Especially in referring to the principles of treatment in The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, it mostly alluded to acupuncture therapies and only eleven times to medicinal treatments. This is to verify that the blood-letting therapy formed the foundation of the medical art. In Dong's Therapy of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Bloodletting, Dong Kyeong-Chang gave emphasis on the points that there must be extravasated bloods without exception in the serious illnesses which is old, unnatural, accompanying acute pains and so we can revive our body‘s sprit by circulating 'gi' and static blood piled up in the network vessel, regulating the weakness and strength, and controling the disharmony of the internal organs. The blood-letting therapy has effect on the orifice in emergency, such as fore draining, freeing network vessels, harmonizing gi and blood, relieving pain, dispersing swelling and concretion, sedation, resolving toxin as well as strengthening the heart, relieving itching. So it has distinguished effect on all kinds of medical treatment to the modern people. But by the change of social customs and the confucianism of confucius - it is widely spread on the period of North and South Dynasties, 'Wi' and 'Jin' in china and the period of the Three States in korea - The blood-letting therapy which was regarded as the most important medicinal treatment withered rapidly. And Confucius accentuated the importance of our body and all its members, loyalty and filial piety and banned any damage of our body under no circumstances. As a result of it, the therapy of blood-letting had a rapid decrease and barely kept itself in existence in both countries. What is worse, at the period of Japanese colonial rule of korea and our nation's founding of early stage, it has been withered by the high-handed policy to change Oriental Medicine into modern medical science. So the therapy of blood-letting barely kept itself in existence in some Buddhist temples. Another case, it has handed down as a old-fashioned quick fix in folk remedies. But all kinds of the contamination of heavy metals and the misuses of antibiotics are widely spread nowadays, which increased diseases of adult people and incurable diseases as modern society unavoidably made its way into a highly industrial society. To make us more miserable, the western medical science - the antibiotics and surgical operation medical science - already reveals itself into a limit. The necessity of a new medical science which can give a security to the patients who are suffering from the diseases of adult people and the incurable diseases is especially come into the force nowadays. In view of the results after bibliographically studying on the blood-letting Therapy in Elementary Questions of the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, the blood-letting therapy has acted for the important Oriental medicinal science and has been clarified the prominent effects on the diseases of adult people and the incurable diseases. So it is regarded as an appropriate thing that we lay out a determined theory of the blood-letting therapy and of course prevent the unwanted side effects from inappropriate medicinal treatments, and make full use of clinic by elevating the curative value and that we win back our self-respect of medical treatment which is dominated from the western medical science and ultimately contribute to national medical welfare.

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Study on the Herb Remedies of ENT, Eyes, Teeth and Skin Problems (이비인후, 안, 치아 및 피부증상의 민간요법에 관한 고찰)

  • Cho, Kyoul-Ja;Kang, Hyun-Sook
    • Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.50-71
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    • 1997
  • The intention of this study is to apprehend the con. tents and methods of herb remedies that are commonly conducted when there are health-problem cases of ENT, eyes, teeth and skin. Methods of this study are divided into two stages : 1) For a period of six months from December 1994 to June 1995, some 40 persons who are believed to be well versed with herb remedies have been randomly chosen, and we made a survey on herb remedies by symptoms: and 2) we have endeavored to make their grounds evident through the studies on literatures with the focus on the basic data collected. Their results are as follows: 1) When one feels a pain in ears, such herb remedies are employed as pouring the vapor into ears, which is made by steaming Alaska pollack, or as applying or wiping with the juices of radish or the ginkgo, or' alum. Applying the radish juice is effective for sterilization and fever removal: and applying the ginkgo juice is effective for cleanliness. But, plastering alum, sesame oil or castor oil, or pouring the vapor of Alaska pollack into ears are perhaps effective but do not have any pharmacologic grounds. 2) When one bleeds at the nose, such kinds of herb remedies are applied as stimulating nose or head with cold water, pressing nose or ridge of nose, or filling up nares with mashed mugworts. In addition, they have utilized garlic or leeks. Such methods as stimulating with cold water or just pressing nose and ridge of nose is based on reasonable grounds, i.e. vasoconstriction and vascular compression ; and applying mashed garlic on the sole of foot is good for the circulation of Qui ; and the use of mugworts and leeks is based upon the pharmacological function of hemostasis. 3) When one feels a sore throat such kinds of herb remedies are employed as gargling or rinsing throat with brine, drinking hot gruel or water, or drinking the juice of mugwort, radish, ginger or Chinese quince. Gargling with brine or drinking the juice of mugwort, radish or ginger is based upon the pharmacological function of pain alleviation, fever removal, and detoxication. 4) When a boil is formed in mouth, such herb remedies are applied as spreading honey, brine or alum water, and taking gall nut, Chinese matrimony vine, lotus root, etc, for drugs. Spreading honey, brine or water that is made by infusing gallnut, Chinese matrimony vine, lotus root is based upon such functions as hematosis, astriction, antibacterial, and antiphlogistic, Alum, eggplant and licorice are said to be effective, but their pharmacological effects have no grounds. 5) When one has conjunctivitis such herb remedies are commonly applied as irrigation with brine and dropping breast milk in eyes. Moreover, such other drugs are used as plantain. shepherd's purse, and purslane, etc. The use of brine, breast milk, plantain, shepherd's purse and purslane is based upon such functions as sterilization, antiphlogistic, disinfection and pain relieving. Eriocaulon sieboldianum, bean stem, bean pod and narcissus leaves are said to be effective, but their pharmacological action have no basis. When one has a stye, such herb remedies are applied as extracting eyelashes, stimulating by a massage of middle finger, third finger or big toe, as well as sear ing with a heated bamboo comb that is fine-toothed. Other than these, plantain and nightshade's nuts are used as drugs for it. Extracting eyelashes corresponds with exclusing suppurative node and draining the stye of pus ; and the use of plantain is based upon disinfection: and nightshade's nuts are said to be effective, however, their pharmacological action has no grounds. 6) For a treatment of toothache, such herb remedies are commonly employed as rinsing mouth with brine and holding cold water or gasoline in the mouth ; and as the drugs that are believed to be effective have been Welsh onion, ginger and castor-oil, plant, etc. The use of Welsh onion is based upon pain killing, antiinflammatory actions, and the use of ginger is based upon detoxication and disinfection ; and seeds of castor-oil plants are said to be effective, but they have no pharmacological basis. 7) When one has hives, such herb remedies are commonly applied as rubbing burned straw in affected parts, exposing to its smoke, rubbing with salt, sweeping down with a broom, and spreading and drinking boiled water of trifoliate orange. The use of cassia tora seeds, walnut, aloe and radish is said to be effective. The use of cassia tor a seeds has the functions of intestinal order, anti-paralysis, etc. The use of walnut has resulted in an increase of blood by invigorating spirits ; and the use of aloe is based upon disinfection, antibiotic, anti-salt, antihistamine and detoxication action. But, the effects of radish juice and straw's smoke have no pharmacological grounds. 8) When one gets a boil, such herb remedies are commonly used as applying a plaster, paste of flour mixed with yolk, soy sauce or honey, as well as spreading pounded elm tree. Other remedies that have been said to be effective are ; heating with mugwort, brine, wild rocambole, aloe, onion, squid's bone, etc. The use of mugwort is based upon pain killing, astringent antiinflammatory and tranquility. Wild rocambole is based upon the generation and maintenance functions of cell-joining textures ; elm tree upon antiphlogistic ; aloe upon fever removal and antiphlogistic ; onion on pain killing, fever removal, antiphlogistic and tranquility ; squid's bone on astriction: and brine or vinegar on sterilization. Pine resin and gardenia seed are said to be effective, but they have no pharmacological basis. 9) When one cuts his skin, such herb remedies are commonly employed as spreading mugwort's juice or squid's bone powder, or pressing the wounds. In addition, kalopanax, onion and fine soil are employed. The use of mugwort, kalopanax and squid's bone is based upon such functions as hemostasis, sedation, pain killing, antibacterial ; and fine soil is said to be effective, but it has no pharmacological basis. 10) When one suffers from whitlow, such herb remedies are commonly utilized as heating with boiled soy sauce, spreading soybean paste, or dipping into eggs, etc. Other drugs that have been employed are onion root, brine, eggplant, potato, loach, etc. The use of onion is based upon pain killing and antiphlogistic functions ; and that of brine upon antiphlogistic function. The use of soy sauce or soybean paste, fomentation, eggplant, potato and loach is said to be effective, but it has no pharmacblogic ground. 11) For the treatment of frostbite, such herb remedies are commonly used as dipping the affected part into frozen soybean sack, using boiled water of eggplant stem, garlic caulis, onion, hot pepper, caulis. Onion is based upon antiphlogistic and tranquility actions garlic upon disintection, metabolic exacerbation, tonic and aphrodisiac actions and the use of eggplant and hot pepper is based upon help blood circulation, dissolution and excretion of waste matters in vein. 12) For the treatment of burn, such herb remedies or drugs are commonly used as cleansing with Korean gin, spreading eggs, cleansing with cold water and soap water ; and as brine, cactus, moss, soybean paste, oil, etc. The cleansing with Korean gin, cold water, soap water, brine, vinegar is based upon cleaning and sterilizing functions ; and the use of cucumber is based upon nu. trition provision, and strengthening of resisting power by adjustment of metabolism. The use of potato, cactus, moss, oil and eggs is said to be effective, but their phamacological functions are not clarified. In view of the above results, we can realize that the drugs that have been employed in herb remedies are quite diverse. However, in regard to majority of herb remedies that have been employed by symptoms, the pharmacological functions of their drugs have not been clarified, and they are merely known as effective. Furthermore, they have not been recorded in the literature as yet ; and we confirm that there have been many herb remedies that were executed without the proper knowlege of their effects. It is now our view that the results of this survey may be utilized for consulting data in regard to the use of herb remedies.

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The Palliative Care and Hospice for the People Living with HIV (HIV 감염인을 위한 완화의료와 호스피스)

  • Choi, Jae-Phil
    • Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.159-166
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    • 2017
  • According to the advance of antiretroviral regimen and the early treatment strategy, people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) are achieving the goal of virologic suppression and immune restoration. Most of them no more die of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) defining illnesses, and become older with chronic comorbidities such as cardiovascular, metabolic, hepatic, renal and neurological diseases. However some PLWH still visit hospitals as late presenters with very low CD4+ T cell counts, so that they suffer AIDS defining illnesses to die or experience severe neurological complications resulting in disabilities. Early palliative interventions are needed on the various symptoms of PLWH. Thus far chronic pains such as distal symmetric sensory polyneuropathies have been underevaluated. Active pain-relieving interventions are important to them. Recently we define end of life condition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or eligibility to hospice care after adjusting current status of HIV treatment. Hospice teams should pay attention to the specific medical conditions, psychological needs, and social circumstances of PLWH. With just standard precautions as common infection control measures, general hospice cares can be provided to them like to other hospices subjects. For giving PLWH opportunities to have the end of life with value and dignity, hospice multidisciplinary team should intervene them early and aggressively. Now we need more clinical experiences and institutional improvements.

A Study of Premenstrual Syndrome(PMS) and the Nutritional Intake of College Women Residing in Busan Metropolitan City (부산지역 여대생의 월경전 증후군 실태 및 영양섭취상태에 관한 연구)

  • 황혜진;김영만
    • Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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    • v.7 no.6
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    • pp.731-740
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    • 2002
  • This study was designed to identify premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and to investigate the correlation between premenstrual syndrome and nutritional intakes. The subjects of this study were 138 college women residing in Busan Metropolitan City. The subjects were asked to complete Menstrual Discomfort Questionnaire (MDQ) regarding PMS, food intake frequencies and nutritional intake. We studied the correlation between PMS symptoms and nutritional intake. The average height and weight of anemic subjects were 161.42 $\pm$ 3.50 cm and 51.87 $\pm$ 5.42 kg. The average BMI (body mass index, kg/$m^2$) was 19.92 $\pm$ 2.14 and PIBW (percent ideal body weight) were 93.02 $\pm$ 9.75%. Except for phosphorous, vitamin A and vitamin C intakes, the intake levels of all other nutrients were below the Korean RDA. The average calorie intake of the subjects was 1645.65 $\pm$ 352.63 kcal (82.2% of the Korean RDA) and iron intake of the subject was 11.06 $\pm$4.03 mg (69.1% of the Korean RDA) . The calcium and vitamin $B_6$ intakes were 512.26 $\pm$ 183.12 mg (73.1% of the Korean RDA) and 1.12 $\pm$ 0.14 mg (80.0% of the Korean RDA), respectively. With regard to their menstrual state, 45.9% subjects responded that their menstrual cycles were irregular. The frequency of PMS of the subjects was 30.2% (over 3 points) on 5 point scale (1 : no. 5 severe). The common symptoms of PMS of the subjects were pain (2.32 $\pm$ 1.01), negative effects (2.27 $\pm$ 0.87), behavioral changes (2.26 $\pm$ 0.85), water retention (2.07 $\pm$ 0.78) , arousal (1.79 $\pm$ 0.84) , autonomic reactions (1.77 $\pm$ 0.87) , lack of control (1.69 $\pm$ 0.75) and decreased concentration (1.68 $\pm$ 0.75) . There was significant correlation between all the PMS symptoms and calcium (p < 0.01) , vitamin E (p < 0.05) , carbohydrate (p < 0.05) . This suggests that PMS represents the clinical manifestation of nutrient deficiency states especially calcium. Therefore we concluded that calcium supplementation is likely to be of benefit in relieving PMS symptoms.

An Analysis of Nursing Decision Tasks, Characteristics, and Problems with Decision Making (환자 간호에 대한 간호사의 의사결정 내용과 특성 및 의사결정 장애요인에 관한 분석)

  • 최희정
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.880-891
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    • 1999
  • The purpose of this study was to describe nursing decision tasks, their characteristics, and problems associated with decision making. The subjects were 32 nurses who had at least one-year nursing experience and worked on medical-surgical units or intensive care units(ICU). They were asked to describe their decision making experiences in patient care situations and to identify the characteristics of each decisions. They were also asked to describe perceived problems associated with decision making in nursing. The responses on nursing decision tasks and problems were analyzed with content analysis and the decision characteristics were identified by statistical analysis of variance. It was found that there were 16 nursing decisions which are as follows : decisions related to interpreting and selecting appropriate strategies for pain management(6.6%) ; decisions related to providing emotional support (0.7%) ; decisions related to explaining the patient's condition and rationale for procedures(1.1%) ; decisions related to assisting patients to integrate the implications of illness and recovering into their lifestyles(2.9%) ; decisions related to detecting significant changes In patients and selecting appropriate intervention strategies (17.2%) ; decisions related to anticipating problems and selecting preventive measures(4.2%) ; decisions related to identifying emergency situations(0.4%) ; decisions related to effective management of patient crisis until physician assistance becomes available(2.8%) ; decisions related to starting and maintaining intravenous therapy(2.6%) ; decisions related to administering medications(8.1%) ; decisions related to combating the hazards of immobility(7.3%) : decisions related to treating wound management strategies(5.5%) ; decisions related to relieving patient discomfort(13.9) ; decisions related to selecting appropriate strategy according to the changing situation of the patient(18.2%) ; decisions related to selecting the best strategy for patient management(5.3%) ; and decisions related to coordinating, ordering, and meeting the various needs of the patient (3.1%). The nurses reported the fellowing problems in decision making : difficulties due to lack of knowledge and experience (18.6%) ; uncertainty and complexity of decision tasks(15.2%) ; lack of time to make decisions(2.9%) ; personal values which conflict with other staff(15.7%) ; lack of selection autonomy(30.0%) ; and organizational barriers(7.6%). Continuing education programs and decision support systems for frequent nursing decision tasks can be established on the basis of these results. Then decision ability in nurses will increase through the education programs and decision support systems, and then quality of nursing service will be better.

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A Clinical study for cervical headache (경추성(頸椎性) 두통(頭痛)에 대한 임상적(臨床的) 연구(硏究))

  • Cho Eun-Hee;Hwang Yoo-Jin;Lyu Dong-Soo;Yoon Min-Young;Kim Hyun-Jung;Jin Sin-Young;Cho Nam-Geun;Lee Byeung-Cheul;Lee In;Lee Geon-Mok
    • Journal of Acupuncture Research
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    • v.18 no.6
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    • pp.114-124
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    • 2001
  • Objective : To evaluate the effect of treatment for cervical headache by using Cathami Flos herbal acupuncture that are known for anti-inflammatory and function of relieving the pain. Methods : Evaluated the result of Cathami Flos herbal acupuncture treatment twice in a week for patients who have cervical headache with cervical MRI abnormality at Gun-Po Oriental medical hospital in affiliation with wonkwang university. Results : 1. In the distribution of sex; Female rate was 45.9% and male rate was 54.1%., In the distribution of age, Thirties and forties group was the largest group by each 32.8%. 2. In the distribution of Cervical MRI abnormality; Abnormality of C2/3, C3/4, C4/5 was 94.6%, disk bulging and disk protrusion was 94.5%. 3. The effect of treatment by age was as follows; Thirties and forties group were each 31.1%, total 62.2%. 4. In the distribution of treatment period and curative value; 'Two weeks to four week' was 63.9%. Conclusion : These results shows that it is possible for headache to be occurred by cervical abnormality and that the effect of treatment by Cathami Flos herbal acupuncture is exellent by relaxing contracted muscles, strengthening weakened' ligaments and improving inflammatory parts.

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Antioxidative Effects and Anti-proliferative Effects of MeOH, BuOH and Ethyl Acetate Fractionated from Stephania delavayi Diels (일문전(Stephania delavayi Diels.) 메탄올, 부탄올, 에틸아세테이트 분획물의 항산화 및 세포증식억제 효과)

  • Li, Yong-Chun;Kim, Kyoung-Hee;Xu, Hong-De;Park, Dae-Hun;Choi, Yeon-Shik;Hwang, Hye-Rim;Lee, Min-Jae;Choi, Jong-Jin;Kwon, Myung-Sang;Yook, Hong-Sun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.38 no.3
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    • pp.297-301
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    • 2009
  • Stephania delavayi Diels. (S. delavayi Diels.) has been used as a drug for pain-relieving and acute gastroenteritis treatment in China. Because the major therapeutic mechanism of anti-inflammatory drug is to inhibit the cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and because COX-2 proteins inhibit apoptosis, COX-2 inhibitor has been thought as the anticancer drug candidate. For this reason, we examined S. delavayi Diels. as an anticancer drug. S. delavayi Diels. was fractionated with methanol and then partitioned with ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and reducing power. DPPH radical scavenging activities of the crude fractions at the concentration of $1,000{\mu}g/mL$ were 75.23% (n-butanol), 68.11% (methanol), 63.58% (ethyl acetate), and 50.13% (water). The reducing power increased according to the concentration in dose-dependent manner. Also, when the antiproliferation effects of each fraction against human breast cancer cell-lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 were examined, methanol extract, n-butanol fraction and ethyl acetate fraction exhibited cell proliferative inhibition effects in both cell-lines whereas water fraction did not. Among the crude fractions, the n-butanol fraction exhibited the most potent anti-proliferation effect. In conclusion, fractions from S. delavayi Diels. are promising anticancer drug candidates.

An Analysis of Research Trend about Oriental Nursing Published in Korea (한방간호연구 논문분석)

  • Lee, Hyang-Yeon;Kang, Hyun-Sook
    • Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.102-113
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    • 2000
  • The study attempts to analyze the trends of study related with oriental nursing. This article reviewed 81 researches on oriental nursing from 1985 to July 2000, by examining them according to the articles' characteristics, sources by publication period, research design, nursing intervention effect of experimental study and concept, and content of literature review. The findings of the analysis can be summarized as follows; 1. The number of studies related with oriental nursing has progressively increased by year from 1985, and that of articles was the highest during the period between 1995 to 1999. Since the 1990s, the number of articles including thesis and dissertation increased, and a third of subject articles were thesis among them. 2. The majority of research design were survey and correlational studies, and most of them were published in the 1990s. Literature review articles also occupied a certain portion, and most of them were published after 1995. In addition, the research design of dissertation revealed in various types. 3. Nursing intervention used in the experimental study was Dan Jeon Breathing, San-Yin-Jiao (SP-6) Pressure, Percutanous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, Guided Imagery, Diet for Sasang Constitution, Yoga Exercise, Qigong Exercise, Meridian Massage, Bed Exercise Program, Health Contract and Structured Rehabilitation Education. Among the study subjects, patients with chronic illness were at the highest rate, and the most nursing intervention effects presented physiological effect, activities of daily living and relieving pain. In most studies, the affirmative effect proved. 4. The key concept of literature review articles is energy, oriental nursing, health promotion, oriental medicine management of illness and etc. Being important concepts to understand oriental nursing, they confirm similar perspective of oriental medicine and nursing and show simultaneously the importance of nursing considered into the cultural perspective. The summary of the above results shows a tendency that the thesis and dissertation have been relatively considered with various research designs, while the others have focused on literature review. Especially, experimental study proved affirmative effect through various experimental treatment of nursing intervention related with oriental medicine. Besides in the literature review, inquiry of theories and practical perspective, which is necessary for the establishment of oriental nursing, was introduced. However, for the establishment of oriental nursing, more studies are to be required along with development of nursing intervention related with health promotion.

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사별에 대한 한국 문화적 접근

  • Im, Seung-Hui
    • Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.42-49
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    • 2005
  • To determine which are the culturally specific factors of Korean bereavement, this chapter focuses on the view of death and the traditional mourning process which reflect Korean values and norms. The formation of the Korean view and understanding of death has been strongly influenced by three of its major traditional religions: Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism (Park:1994: Hao:1999) and Christianity more recently. Each religion has a different view of death and the appropriate expression of mourning. Korea accommodates funeral customs and rules strictly as a cultural system and has retained these traditions over a long period; hence, some of the traditional funeral rituals still remain in modern Korean life, although some of the rites have been simplified. We have looked at the various ways in which grief and mourning is displayed and shared in a collective manner over a long period of time. This fits in well within the other Eastern cultures that are collectively organized, and contrary to the Eurocentric models do not hastily seek to detach the living from the dead and recognize that grief is a long process, and different individuals may take different amounts of time to recover from the grief. The view of death and bereavement in Korea has sprung from the roots of three Korean religions, together with the recent addition of Christianity, although they mainly result from the three earlier religions. The beliefs of these religions are still closely linked together in the rituals of Korean bereavement on both conscious and unconscious levels. The influence of these religions is evident in practice through the bereaved family's mourning reactions, funeral rites and customs and its views about death. Korea used to have a period of mourning for three years, following traditional mourning rites; then the chief mourner and the bereaved families could return to their normal life. In spite of this long mourning process for the bereaved family, once the funeral ceremony is finished, people expect the bereaved family not to express their grief in public; even the bereaved family does not like to talk about death. The process for bereaved people is related to mourning processes in terms of detachment from the deceased in order to start a new life. Relatives and the community recommend the performance of the kut ceremony for relieving the grief of the bereaved. When one family member dies in an unlucky way, the bereaved family may have some fear or other psychological reactions of grief such as pain, depression, insomnia and nightmares, hallucinations or other physical reactions. Unlucky deaths give the bereaved a very painful time and these types of reactions are often more serious than reactions to natural death. But through the kut ceremony, the bereaved family can start to make a new relationship with the deceased. The taboo of this type of death and death generally remains a crucial aspect of the isolation that bereaved people might face and the collective nature of mourning(even where it is still present) is unable to address this aspect of the privatization of grief.

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Wedelolactone Promotes the Chondrogenic Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Suppressing EZH2

  • Wei Qin;Lin Yang;Xiaotong Chen;Shanyu Ye;Aijun Liu;Dongfeng Chen;Kunhua Hu
    • International Journal of Stem Cells
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.326-341
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    • 2023
  • Background and Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease that leads to the progressive destruction of articular cartilage. Current clinical therapeutic strategies are moderately effective at relieving OA-associated pain but cannot induce chondrocyte differentiation or achieve cartilage regeneration. We investigated the ability of wedelolactone, a biologically active natural product that occurs in Eclipta alba (false daisy), to promote chondrogenic differentiation. Methods and Results: Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemical staining, and immunofluorescence staining assays were used to evaluate the effects of wedelolactone on the chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). RNA sequencing, microRNA (miRNA) sequencing, and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation analyses were performed to explore the mechanism by which wedelolactone promotes the chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs. We found that wedelolactone facilitates the chondrogenic differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs and rat bone-marrow MSCs. Moreover, the forkhead box O (FOXO) signaling pathway was upregulated by wedelolactone during chondrogenic differentiation, and a FOXO1 inhibitor attenuated the effect of wedelolactone on chondrocyte differentiation. We determined that wedelolactone reduces enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2)-mediated histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation of the promoter region of FOXO1 to upregulate its transcription. Additionally, we found that wedelolactone represses miR-1271-5p expression, and that miR-1271-5p post-transcriptionally suppresses the expression of FOXO1 that is dependent on the binding of miR-1271-5p to the FOXO1 3'-untranscribed region. Conclusions: These results indicate that wedelolactone suppresses the activity of EZH2 to facilitate the chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs by activating the FOXO1 signaling pathway. Wedelolactone may therefore improve cartilage regeneration in diseases characterized by inflammatory tissue destruction, such as OA.