• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.129-136
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• 2022

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of applying intensity on the muscle activity and muscle hardness of the upper trapezius muscle in adult males when TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) was applied. In addition, this study intends to prepare the scientific basic data of TENS for the purpose of relaxation based on the experimental results. Methods : Eighty-seven healthy adult males participated in the experiment, and they were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. All subjects in this study were healthy subjects without musculoskeletal or nervous system damage. All subjects were subjects who voluntarily consented to the purpose and method of the experiment. All subjects were provided with a load by typing for 20 minutes, and muscle activity and muscle hardness of the upper trapezius muscle were measured immediately. Afterwards, TENS was given to each groups for 15 minutes, and the experimental group received stimulation at the motor threshold level, and the control group received a placebo stimulation. After stimulation, muscle activity and muscle hardness of the upper trapezius muscle were measured in the same method. The measured data were compared between groups through an independent t-test and dependent t-test. The statistical significance level was set at .05. Results : The application of TENS statistically significantly decreased the muscle activity and muscle hardness of the trapezius muscle in the experimental group, and the results showed a significant difference from the control group. Conclusion : Application of TENS significantly decreased the muscle activity and muscle stiffness of the upper trapezius muscle. The application of TENS of applying intensity that induces muscle contraction may induce relaxation by reducing the muscle activity and muscle hardness of the trapezius muscle.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.207-223
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• 2023

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Under the standard of care, patients with advanced GC (AGC) have a median survival time of approximately 12-15 months. With the emergence of immunotherapy as a key therapeutic strategy in medical oncology, relevant changes are expected in the systemic treatment of GC. In the phase III ATTRACTION-2 trial, nivolumab, a monoclonal anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody, as a third- or later-line treatment improved overall survival (OS) compared with placebo in patients with AGC. Furthermore, nivolumab in combination with 5-fluorouracil and platinum as a first-line treatment improved OS in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-negative AGC in the global phase III CheckMate-649 study. Another anti-PD-1 antibody, pembrolizumab, in combination with trastuzumab and cytotoxic chemotherapy as a first-line treatment, significantly improved the overall response rate in patients with HER2-positive AGC. Therefore, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are essential components of the current treatment of GC. Subsequent treatments after ICI combination therapy, such as ICI rechallenge or combination therapy with agents having other modes of action, are being actively investigated to date. On the basis of the success of immunotherapy in the treatment of AGC, various clinical trials are underway to apply this therapeutic strategy in the perioperative and postoperative settings for patients with early GC. This review describes recent progress in immunotherapy and potential immunotherapy biomarkers for GC.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 2022

Objectives This report aimed to investigate the possibility of correcting facial asymmetry using cervical Chuna manipulation treatment and functional cerebrospinal technique and introduce meaningful additional improvement of systemic symptoms of non-surgical Korean medicine treatments through three case studies. Methods Three patients with facial asymmetry were treated using Korean medicine treatments. The effects of the treatments were all measured using photographs, lateral cephalograms, and whole-body radiogram and Likert scale. Results After Korean medicine treatment, there were significant correction effects of asymmetry in photography, cephalography, and whole-body radiogram and meaningful score of Likert scale. Conclusions This study suggested that Korean medicine treatments may be effective in facial asymmetry. Improving muscular asymmetry, including soft tissue asymmetry and functional asymmetry, has meaningful effects on maintaining an overall balance of the body. Facial asymmetry should be treated by making an alignment of the whole body and there should be further well-designed, randomized, and placebo-controlled trials to verify these results.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2023

Objectives: Psychiatric symptoms in epilepsy are very common, and the most common symptoms are depression, insomnia, and anxiety. These symptoms not only lower the quality of life of epilepsy patients, but also elevate the risk of epileptic seizures. There are no specific criteria for the available antiepileptic drugs to ameliorate these symptoms in patients with epilepsy, and there is a lack of evidence to support the efficacy and safety of existing drugs. The Shugan Jieyu capsule (SJC) is a traditional herbal medicine composed of Acanthopanax senticosus and Hypericum perforatum and is reported to be effective in relieving psychiatric symptoms. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of SJC as a treatment for psychiatric symptoms in epilepsy patients. Methods: Electronic databases will be investigated for publications in English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. The participants of the study are epilepsy patients with psychiatric symptoms diagnosed using any validated criteria. All types of controls will be compared-placebo, conventional treatments, and no treatment-to groups treated with SJC or modified SJC. We will measure the degree of improvement in psychiatric symptoms and check epileptic symptoms, such as the frequency of seizures. The study selection and data extraction will be performed by two independent reviewers, who will also assess methodological quality using the risk-of-bias tool by Cochrane. We will use Review Manager software (RevMan) to carry out all statistical analyses. Results: This systematic review and meta-analysis will be performed in accordance with the PRISMA-P statement. Conclusion: This systematic review is the first study to assess the efficacy and safety of SJC for the treatment of psychiatric symptoms in epilepsy. We expect that this study will provide clinically applicable evidence for patients with epilepsy when selecting drug treatments.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.86-95
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• 2022

Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of ultra-thin microcurrent patch application on pain, tenderness, trunk flexion, and trunk extension in patients with back pain. Design: pretest-posttest design: single blind. Methods: Thirty men and women diagnosed with chronic back pain were classified into 15 microcurrent application groups and 15 placebo groups. Changes in pain were observed on a visual analog scale, tenderness was observed with a digital tenderness meter, and changes in trunk flexion and trunk extension angles were evaluated with a posture analyzer. The paired t-test was used to see the changes within each group before and one week after the experiment, and the independent t-test was used to see the change in the difference between the groups, and the significance level was 0.05. Results: In both the experimental group and the control group, there was a significant difference in pain within and between groups(p<0.05). In the experimental group, there were significant differences in the intra- and inter-group changes in the erector spinae muscle tenderness and low back pain disorder index(p<0.05). In the experimental group, there was a significant difference in the change in trunk flexion and extension within the group(p<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, it was confirmed that the application of ultra-thin microcurrent was effective for pain, tenderness, and movement of back extension in patients with low back pain. It is expected that it will be used as a basic data for microcurrent therapy and as a treatment method for improving the function of patients with back pain in the future.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.78-94
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to review the trends of clinical trials of traditional herbal medicine Gyejibongnyeong-hwan for chronic pelvic inflammatory disease in CNKI. Methods: We searched relevant studies using Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Data retrieval was carried out by December 20^th, 2021. We analyzed characteristics of study subjects, treatment period, composition of prescription, outcome and adverse event of selected studies and the risk of bias was assessed by using Cochrane's risk of bias tool. Results: Among the total 988 studies, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies were randomized controlled studies and written in Chinese. In all studies, Gyejibongnyeong-hwan was effective in improving chronic pelvic inflammatory disease. Conclusions: This study suggests that Gyejibongnyeong-hwan can be effective in treating chronic pelvic inflammatory disease compared to antibiotics treatment. Further large and well-established randomized placebo controlled trials will be needed.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.75-93
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• 2023

Objectives We aimed to analyze the registration status of interventional clinical trials in children and adolescents with chronic cough. Methods All interventional clinical trials registered up to 3 July, 2023 on the international clinical trial registry platform (ICTRP) of the World Health Organization (WHO) were analyzed. Information was extracted including study design, interventions, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and outcome indicators. Results A total of 18 interventional clinical trials were analyzed. For study design, multicentre trials, randomized allocation, parallel group design and phase 4 trials were the most frequently reported. Blinding was used in 44.4% and informed consents were obtained from 61.1%. For intervention, drugs were used in 61.1%, using placebo control group in 27.8%. Quality of life questionnaires were most frequently reported in 50% as the primary outcome, and adverse events were the most as the secondary outcome. In most cases, the assessment timepoints were after two weeks. Conclusions Based on the characteristics of clinical trial design analyzed in this study, it is necessary to design traditional Korean medicine clinical trials with improved quality and accuracy of information.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.186-189
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• 2002

Many of the adverse effects of solar UV exposure appear to be directly attributable to damage to epidermal DNA. In particular, cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) may initiate mutagenic changes as well as induce signal transduction responses that lead to a loss of skin immune surveillance and micro-destruction of skin structure. Our approach is to reverse the DNA damage using prokaryotic DNA repair enzymes delivered into skin using specially engineered liposomes. T4 endonuclease V encapsulated in liposomes (T4N5 liposome lotion) enhanced DNA repair by shifting repair of CPD from the nucleotide excision to the base excision repair pathway. Following topical application to humans, increased repair limited UV-induction of cytokines, many of which are immunosuppressive. In a recent clinical study, topical treatment of UV-irradiated human skin with T4N5 liposome lotion reduced the suppression of the nickel sulfate contact hypersensitivity response. Similarly, the photoreactivating enzyme enhances repair by directly reversing CPDs after absorbing activating light. Here also treatment of UV-irradiated human skin with photoreactivating enzyme in liposomes and photoreactivating light restored the response to the contact allergen nickel sulfate. These findings confirm in humans the observation in mice that UV induced suppression of contact hypersensitivity is caused in part by CPDs. We have tested the ability of T4N5 liposome lotion to prevent UV-induced skin cancer in patients with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), who have an elevated incidence of skin cancer resulting from a genetic defect in DNA repair. Daily use of the lotion for one year in a group of 20 XP patients reduced the average number of actinic keratoses by 68% and basal cell cancers by 30% compared to 9 patients in the placebo control group. Delivery of DNA repair enzymes to skin is a promising new approach to photoprotection.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.289-302
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• 2023

Purpose: Liver metastasis (LM) is reported in approximately 40% of patients with advanced/metastatic gastric/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (metastatic esophagogastric adenocarcinoma; mGEA) and is associated with a worse prognosis. This post-hoc analysis from the RAINBOW trial reported the efficacy, safety, and biomarker outcomes of ramucirumab and paclitaxel combination treatment (RAM+PAC) in patients with (LM+) and without (LM-) LM at baseline. Materials and Methods: Patients (n=665) were randomly assigned on a 1:1 basis to receive either RAM+PAC (LM+: 150, LM-: 180) or placebo and paclitaxel (PL+PAC) (LM+: 138, LM-: 197). The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated using stratified Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models. The correlation of dichotomized biomarkers (VEGF-C, D; VEGFR-1,2) with efficacy in the LM+ versus LM- subgroups was analyzed using the Cox regression model with reported interaction P-values. Results: The presence of LM was associated with earlier progression than those without LM, particularly in patients receiving PL+PAC (hazard ratio [HR], 1.68). RAM+PAC treatment improved OS and PFS irrespective of LM status but showed greater improvement in LM+ than that in LM- (OS HR, 0.71 [LM+] vs. 0.88 [LM-]; PFS HR, 0.47 [LM+] vs. 0.76 [LM-]). Treatment-emergent adverse events were similar between patients with and without LM. No predictive relationship was observed between biomarker levels (VEGF-C, D; VEGFR-1,2) and efficacy outcome (OS, PFS) (all interaction P-values >0.05). Conclusions: RAM provided a significant benefit, irrespective of LM status; however, its effect was numerically stronger in patients with LM. Therefore, RAM+PAC is a clinically meaningful therapeutic option for patients with mGEA and LM.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.92-101
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• 2023

Background: Stroke is one of the causes affecting gait and balance. Taping is considered an effective method for improving balance and gait in stroke patients. Numerous studies have confirmed the functional effects of taping in stroke patients. However, there is still no consensus regarding the use of taping to improve gait and balance. Objects: The purpose of this review was to investigate the effects of taping on the balance and gait of patients with stroke through meta-analysis of studies. Methods: PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Review, RISS, DBPia, and Science on were used to collect articles on Kinesio and non-elastic taping. The key terms were "Stroke", "Hemiplegia", "Taping", "Tape", "Balance", and "Gait" with cut-off of October, 2022. Taping group was compared with control groups with sham, placebo, and no taping. The outcome measures included the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, and gait speed (cm/s). Eighteen studies (524 patients) were selected for the meta-analysis. Results: Overall, taping improved balance and gait in stroke patients, and Kinesio and non-elastic taping had similar effect sizes. Taping improved the BBS and TUG, and was most effective on gait speed. Contrary to the expectation that a longer duration of taping would be more affective, taping was most effective when the total taping duration was shorter than 500 minutes. In addition, the effect size of taping was greater when it was simultaneously attached to multiple locations. Conclusion: This meta-analysis supports the use of taping to improve gait and balance in stroke patients, and provides guidelines for the location, duration, and type of tape to increase taping efficiency.