• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.13-24
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• 2013

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the availability of diagnosis of Yin-deficiency in the elderly with xerostomia and factors influencing subjective oral dryness. Methods: We surveyed 50 patients recruited by the clinical trial, 'Efficacy of Yukmijihwang-tang on Xerostomia in the Elderly: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Two-center Trial'. The subjects were assessed on their subjective oral dryness using the Dry Mouth Symptom Questionnaire (DMSQ). Their salivary functions were measured by Unstimulated Salivary Flow Rate (USFR) measurements. In addition, the subjects were evaluated on their Qi-stagnation and Yin-deficiency conditions using the Qi-stagnation questionnaire and Yin-deficiency questionnaire. Results: There were statistically significant correlations between three variables (USFR, DMSQ score and Qi-stagnation score) and Yin-deficiency score. In the multiple regression analysis, the regression model was statistically significant (F = 10.273, p < .001). The factor most strongly influencing the subjective oral dryness was USFR (${\beta}$ = -0.386). Yin-deficiency had the next strongest impact on the subjective oral dryness (${\beta}$ = 0.371). Qi-stagnation affected the subjective oral dryness weakly (${\beta}$ = 0.075). In the simple regression analysis, Yin-deficiency had a statistically significant effect on each of six subscales of DMSQ (p < .01). Among the six subscales, DMSQ-1 ('Oral dryness at night or on awakening') was the most strongly influenced by Yin-deficiency. Conclusions: The results of this study show that the diagnosis of Yin-deficiency in the elderly with xerostomia was available and Yin-deficiency was an important factor influencing the subjective oral dryness. Therefore, the consideration of Yin-deficiency is significant for diagnosis and treatment in the elderly with xerostomia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5339-5343
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• 2012

The induction of apoptosis in target cells is a key mechanism for most anti-tumor therapies. Bufalin is a cardiotonic steroid that has the potential to induce differentiation and apoptosis of tumor cells. Research on bufalin has so far mainly involved leukemia, prostate cancer, gastric cancer and liver cancer, and has been confined to in vitro studies. The bufadienolides bufalin and cinobufagin have been shown to induce apoptosis in a wide spectrum of cancer cell. The present article reviews the anticancer effects of bufalin. It induces apoptosis of lung cancer cells via the PI3K/Akt pathway and also suppressed the proliferation of human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cell line in a time and dose dependent manner. Bufalin, bufotalin and gamabufotalin, key bufadienolides, significantly sensitize human breast cancer cells with differing ER-alpha status to apoptosis induction by the TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). In addition, bufadienolides induce prostate cancer cell apoptosis more significantly than that in breast epithelial cell lines. Similar effects have been observed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but the detailed molecular mechanisms of inducing apoptosis in this case are still unclear. Bufalin exerts profound effects on leukemia therapy in vitro. Results of multiple studies indicate that bufalin has marked anti-tumor activities through its ability to induce apoptosis. Large-scale randomized, double-blind, placebo or positive drug parallel controlled studies are now required to confirm the efficacy and apoptosis-inducing potential of bufalin in various cancers in the cliniucal setting.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.435-440
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• 2012

This study was designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Rhubarb extracts ($Rubenal^{(R)}$) in dogs with chronic renal failure (CRF). Client-owned 40 dogs with CRF graded International renal interest Society (IRIS) II-III were enrolled in this study. The dogs were equally allocated and blindly administered with $Rubenal^{(R)}$ or placebo. The following items were evaluated at day 0, 30, 90 and 180: body condition score (BCS), clinical score (appetite, polydipsia/polyuria, quality of life score), hemogram (WBC, RBC, PCV), serum biochemistry (ALT/AST, ALP, Creatinine/BUN, total protein, albumin), serum electrolyte (Na, K, Cl, Ca, P), systolic blood pressure, urinalysis (UPC, USG) and IRIS stage. In this study, we found that the $Rubenal^{(R)}$ preparation was well tolerated by dogs and induced no adverse effects. Statistically significant improvements were observed in clinical score (quality of life score by vet and clients), serum BUN and creatinine levels, serum phosphorus concentration, level of proteinuria, and the IRIS score of CRF in dogs after 6 month of treatment of $Rubenal^{(R)}$. Those findings suggested that the Rhubarb extracts can improve the clinical signs of CRF (i.e. azotemia, hypertension, proteinuria, hyperphosphoremia) and the quality of life (i.e. BCS, clinical score) and can retard the progression of CRF in dogs. Therefore the Rhubarb extracts can be a good supplementary drug for treating dogs with subclinical and clinical renal diseases. However, care should be taken for interpreting our result, because this study is not double-blinded controlled study but pilot study.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.79-94
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• 2007

Objective : The Purpose of this research is to examine the effect of Sa-am acupuncture treatment(Sim-seungkyuk) for major symptoms of Hwa-byung. Method : In this randomized, single blind, placebo-controlled study, we compared active acupuncture with sham acupuncture in the treatment for major symptoms of Hwa-byung. likert scale(5 score) for major symptom of Hwa-byung was measured as the 1st evaluative instrument, and STAXI-K, STAI-K, BDI-K and HRV were also measured as the 2nd evaluative instrument at the before treatment and after treatment. Results : 26 volunteers participated in this study by dividing two groups, each 13 persons in trial group and control group at random. In comparison of likert scale for major symptoms, after treatment the total score of likert scale for major symptoms decreased significantly in both group than before treatment. And after treatment, the total score of trial group decreased less than those of control group in comparison between two groups. especially after 2 weeks from all treatment, there was significant difference between two groups. Conclusion : We considered that Shim-seungkyuk of Sa-am acupuncture treatment will be not recommended to treatment of Hwa-byung because this study could not prove effect of Shim-seungkyuk treatment for Hwa-hyung in spite of preliminary study. This study will be used to provide a fundamental data for development of clinical research as preliminary study of Hwa-byung.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 2015

Purpose: To investigate the effects of the intake of xylooligosaccharide-sugar mixture (XOS) on defecation frequency and symptoms in 56 young women (mean age of 22.1 years old) with constipation. Methods: Two experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, a randomized double-blind study was performed to evaluate the effect of 6 weeks' intake of 10 g sucrose containing 7% xylooligosaccharide or 10 g sucrose on constipation. In experiment 2, 24 g coffee mixture containing 12.8 g plant cream and 11.2 g xylooligosaccharide-sugar mixture was consumed by the subjects. During the study, the clinical efficacy was assessed by using a daily diary. The subjects indicated the number of frequencies they defecated in a day and the clinical symptom scores. Results: In experiment 1, the mean frequency of defecations was 2.07 in the pretreatment week and increased significantly to 4.05, 4.42, 4.84, 4.84, and 4.05 in weeks 2 to 6 of XOS intake, in comparison with the 3-3.67 with sucrose intake (sucrose, SUC). In experiment 2, the mean frequency of defecations significantly increased from 2.47 in the pretreatment week to 4.11-5.67 in weeks 1-6 of XOS intake. The occurrence of very loose or loose stools in the XOS group was significantly increased in weeks 5 and 6, compared with the pretreatment week and SUC group. XOS intake significantly alleviated the abdominal displeasure and feeling of residual stool leftness in weeks 2, 3, 5, and 6, while SUC did so in weeks 4 and 6 (p < 0.05). The coffee mixture containing xylooligosaccharide-sugar mixture reduced the abdominal displeasure and feeling of residual stool leftness from week 3 until the end of the experiment (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that xylooligosaccharide-sugar mixture intake was effective, without adverse effects, for the alleviation of constipation in the young women in this study.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.261-274
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• 2016

Objectives: To determine the general characteristics of clinical studies about Hwabyung and assess their limitations and alternatives. Methods: Clinical studies that examined the effects of traditional Korean medicine intervention on Hwabyung were included in this study. A systematic search of English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean databases was performed. The characteristics of included articles were described and those articles were assessed by Risk of Bias (RoB) tool or Risk of Bias for Nonrandomized Studies (RoBANS) tool. Results: Sixteen articles were selected from 1,826 articles. Most clinical studies about Hwabyung were published in Korea. The number of conducted trials was insufficient. The prevailing study design was randomized controlled trial. Traditional Korean medicine intervention used in the trials were acupuncture, herbal medicine, counselling, meditation, emotional freedom technique (EFT), music therapy, art therapy, and multi intervention program. Herbal medicine study used placebo as control while non-pharmacological intervention study mostly used no treatment as control. Most of the trials were supported by the government. Therefore, financial conflict of interest might not exist for results. We judged that some studies had a high risk of bias. In general, most of the studies with a high risk of bias were non-pharmacological intervention studies, and the risk of bias was mainly due to lack of blinding. Conclusions: More clinical studies of Hwabyung are needed. There are some issues about a suitable comparison and effective blinding strategy for non-pharmacological study. Improving methodological quality is required.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.115-121
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• 2013

We examined the characteristics of food allergy prevalence and suggested the basis of dietary guidelines for patients with food allergies and atopic dermatitis. A total of 2,417 patients were enrolled in this study. Each subject underwent a skin prick test as well as serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) measurement. A double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge was conducted using milk, eggs, wheat, and soybeans, and an oral food challenge was performed using beef, pork, and chicken. Food allergy prevalence was found among 50.7% in patients with atopic dermatitis. Among patients with food allergies (n = 1,225), the prevalence of non-IgE-mediated food allergies, IgE-mediated food allergies, and mixed allergies was discovered in 94.9%, 2.2%, and 2.9% of the patients, respectively. Food allergy prevalence, according to food item, was as follows: eggs = 21.6%, milk = 20.9%, wheat = 11.8%, soybeans = 11.7%, chicken = 11.7%, pork = 8.9% and beef = 9.2%. The total number of reactions to different food items in each patient was also variable at 45.1%, 30.6%, 15.3%, 5.8%, 2.2%, and 1.0% for 1 to 6 reactions, respectively. The most commonly seen combination in patients with two food allergies was eggs and milk. The clinical severity of the reactions observed in the challenge test, in the order of most to least severe, were wheat, beef, soybeans, milk, pork, eggs, and chicken. The minimum and maximum onset times of food allergy reactions were 0.2-24 hrs for wheat, 0.5-48 hrs for beef, 1.0-24 hrs for soybeans, 0.7-24 hrs for milk, 3.0-24 hrs for pork, 0.01-72 hrs for eggs, and 3.0-72 hrs for chicken. In our study, we examined the characteristics of seven popular foods. It will be necessary, however, to study a broader range of foods for the establishment of a dietary guideline. Our results suggest that it may be helpful to identify food allergies in order to improve symptoms in patients with atopic dermatitis.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.3-17
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• 2017

Background: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common and painful complication of acute herpes zoster. In some cases, it is refractory to medical treatment. Preventing its occurrence is an important issue. We hypothesized that applying nerve blocks during the acute phase of herpes zoster could reduce PHN incidence by attenuating central sensitization and minimizing nerve damage and the anti-inflammatory effects of local anesthetics and steroids. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of using nerve blocks to prevent PHN. We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov and KoreaMed databases without language restrictions on April, 30 2014. We included all randomized controlled trials performed within 3 weeks after the onset of herpes zoster in order to compare nerve blocks vs active placebo and standard therapy. Results: Nine trials were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Nerve blocks reduced the duration of herpes zoster-related pain and PHN incidence of at 3, 6, and 12 months after final intervention. Stellate ganglion block and single epidural injection did not achieve positive outcomes, but administering paravertebral blockage and continuous/repeated epidural blocks reduced PHN incidence at 3 months. None of the included trials reported clinically meaningful serious adverse events. Conclusions: Applying nerve blocks during the acute phase of the herpes zoster shortens the duration of zoster-related pain, and somatic blocks (including paravertebral and repeated/continuous epidural blocks) are recommended to prevent PHN. In future studies, consensus-based PHN definitions, clinical cutoff points that define successful treatment outcomes and standardized outcome-assessment tools will be needed.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.55-69
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• 2008

Objective : We investigated the effects of distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture on autonomic nervous system with the Heart Rate Variability(HRV) in adult man. as well as we tried to observe how distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture on the balance of the autonomic nervous system. Method : We investigated the effects of distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture on autonomic nervous system with the Heart Rate Variability(HRV) in adult man. as well as we tried to observe how distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture on the balance of the autonomic nervous system. 1 healthy volunteers consisted of 31 subjects in experiment(distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture) group and 30 subjects in control(Normal Saline) group. Study form was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial. 31 subjects in experiment group were injected distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture at $GB_{21}$(Kyonjong) and 30 subjects in control group were injected Normal Saline at $GB_{21}$(Kyonjong). except of 2 subjects(in control group) who can't be measured and 11 subjects(7 in experiment group and 4 in control group) who move or make unforceable error during measuring. Finally 24 subject in experiment group and 24 subject in control group are studied. We measured HRV by PolyG-I on 7 times : before and after injection per 5 minutes during 30 minutes. The SPSS 10.0 for windows was used to analyze the data and the paired t-test(in group) and Student t-test(between two groups) were used to verify the result. Result : 1. After distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture injection, Mean HRV is significantly low only for first 5 minute, SDNN is significantly high after 5 minute, Complexity is significantly low after 5 minute, HRV index is significantly high after 10 minute and pNN50 is significantly low after 5 minute. 2. SDNN of distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture Group significantly increased from 20minute to 25minute, and pNN50 of distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture Group significantly decreased from 10minute to 15minute and 20 minute to 30 minute compared with those of Normal Saline group. 3. After distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture injection, Ln(TP), Ln(VLF) and Ln(LF) are significantly high after 5 minute, normalized LF is significantly high after 5 minute and normalized HF is significantly low after 5 minute. 4. Ln(TP) and Ln(VLF) of distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture Group significantly increased from 20minute to 25 minute compared with those of Normal Saline group. Conclusion : The results suggest that distilled Wild Ginseng Herbal Acupuncture in healthy adult man tend to activate the autonomic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system compared to Normal Saline within normal range.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.31-40
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• 2009

Objective : This study was to investigate the effects of distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture and Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture on autonomic nervous system with Heart Rate Variability(HRV). Purpose of the trial was to observe what influence distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture and Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture have on the autonomic nervous system. Methods : 60 healthy male volunteers were divided into three groups which consist of two experimental groups such as Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture and Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture, and a control group. Study design was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial. 20 subjects in experimental group were injected distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture at $GB_{21}$(Kyonjong), 20 subjects in other experimental group were injected distilled Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture and 20 subjects in control group were injected Normal Saline at $GB_{21}$(Kyonjong). One volunteer of each groups were excluded from analysis because of error during measuring HRV. At the end of the study 57 volunteers completed HRV analysis. HRV was measured by QECG-3:LXC3203(LAXTHA Inc. Korea) at P0, P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6 and its time-course dependent change in each group was analyzed using paired t-test, and the difference of HRV fluctuation among two experimental group and a control was evaluated by one way ANOVA(p<0.05). Results : A. Time Domain Analysis 1. Analysis of Mean HRV, SDNN and Complexity After injection of distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture, Mean HRV was significantly decreased only at 20 minutes after injection. SDNN was significantly increased from 15 minute after injection. Complexity was significantly decreased only at 15 minute after injection. After injection of distilled Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture, Complexity was significantly decreased at 10, 15 and 30 minutes after injection. 2. Analysis of HRV index, pNN50 After injection of distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture, pNN50 was significantly decreased at 15, 20 and 25 minutes after injection. Compared with Normal Saline injection, distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture and Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture showed significant difference on HRV index and pNN50 at 5 minutes after injection. B. Frequency Domain Analysis 1. Analysis of Ln(TP), Ln(VLF) After injection of distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture, Ln(TP) was significantly increased at 15 and 30 minutes after injection. Ln(VLF) was significantly increased at 10, 15 and 30 minutes after injection. After injection of distilled Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture, Ln(VLF) was significantly increased only at 30 minutes after injection. Compared with Normal Saline injection, distilled Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture showed significant difference on Ln(TP) after 5 minutes of injection. Conclusions : Our results suggest that Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu Pharmacopuncture and Zizyphi Spinosi Semen Pharmacopuncture in healthy adult man tend to activate the autonomic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system compared to Normal Saline within normal range.