• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.1351-1360
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• 2000

The hand acupuncture, called Sujichim, is mostly conducted at home. Many people try to learn and apply the Sujichim treatment to the health care of their family. This paper proposes a mixed reality scheme for the hand acupuncture supporting system. Using our system, a novice can easily perform the acupuncture by himself to improve his body condition. Our system has two major phases: learning phase and operation phase. In learning phase, we extract the finger joint lines from the real world image, where the lines are very important for finding the acupuncture spots on a hand. In operation mode, user can easily make Sujichim treatment by the knowledge provided by the computer. According to the experiments, our system is proved to be very effective and easy to use.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2006

Introduction : Even though Acupuncture has been know for its effect for a long time, recently it is required to verifiy its effect. To solve this, clinical trial, based on EBM, has been the way to explain acupuncture's treatment effect. Methods: Last year we had a clinical trial based on acupuncture. From this experience we came to a conclusion mentioned below. Results : 1. To find out acupuncture's effect more certainly, it is needed that Korean medical method or treatment should be connected to diagnosis. 2. We had found out that sham and minimal acupuncture are the most appropriate way in single blinding. 3. It is required for the acupuncturist to practice the right real acupuncture point and sham's point in clinical trial. 4. The most important thing to maintain the subjects from dropping out is to always be concerned to the subjects and management them. Conclusion : The best way to advance clinical trial on acupuncture is to use single blinding system with sham acupuncture together in controlled groups and most of all also needs a standardized acupuncture point and depth.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.135-140
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• 2005

Objectives : There have been several studies about the quality of acupuncture needle tip recently. We have investigated the condition of the tip of the acupuncture needles in the last studies. In the former studies, we discovered the metallic scuff, lumps and irregularities of the acupuncture needle tips under the microscope. But, no information was available on those foreign materials' identity. Methods : We have selected 200 needles of 1000 pieces from several companies by randomized methods. And we observed the tip of the 6 needles selected finally at ${\times}1000\;or\;{\times}3000$ magnification and analyzed the components of the metallic scuff, lumps and irregularities of the needle tips with a SEM-EDX analyser. Results : We found that the identity of the metallic scuff, lumps and irregularities of the needle tips were metallic materials and silicon. For example, A point was composed of Fe(69.78%), Cr(17.71%), Ni(8.11%), Zn(2.04%), Si(1.23%), Mn(1.12%), and B point was composed of Si(66.40%), Fe(26.76%), Cr(6.84%). Conclusion : The results of this study confirm that there is a real possibility of the remaining of metallic materials and silicon in body of patient, after acupuncture treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to intensify our efforts to make needles of good quality and to concentrate on manufacturing process of acupuncture needles completely to be free from danger in acupuncture treatment.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.222-228
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• 2020

The purpose of this article was to investigate the current state of studies on clinical trials of acupuncture treatment for Alzheimer's disease using neuroimaging method. We searched for clinical trials of acupuncture treatment for Alzheimer's disease(AD) and mild cognitive impairment(MCI) using neuroimaging method in the MEDLINE (Pubmed) database on March 18, 2020. Once the online search was finished, studies were selected manually by the inclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of selected articles and reviewed the neural substrates of acupuncture treatment in AD. Total ten studies were included in this study. The most frequently applied modality for AD was functional MRI. The most frequently selected acupoints for AD were KI3, LR3 and LI4. One of studies showed that acupuncture treatment could improve the symptoms of MCI. Through the analysis, we demonstrated that neuroimaging method could capture the neural substrates associated with AD. Moreover, acupuncture may induce differential response according to the disease status. Finally, real acupuncture could produce more extensive activation/deactivation than sham acupuncture. We hope that neuroimaging method can contribute to the clinical research of acupuncture treatment for AD through large-scale RCT and diverse imaging modality.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2013

Objectives : Many studies have investigated the electric specificity of meridian and acupoint. However, the definition about the real substance of 'Ki(Qi)' that flows in the meridian has not been established yet. The authors hypothesized that the 'Ki(Qi)' may be the very 'bioelectricity' of western medicine, from two common features that they are not visible with naked eyes and that they function in the living body only. Methods : 20 healthy adults participated in this study. Heart rate was measured before and after exercise. Acupuncture was performed at PC6 immediately after exercise with counter balance in the first experiment. In the second experiment, acupuncture group was further divided to the three groups, i.e. glove acupuncture group, manual acupuncture group, and NaCl acupuncture group. In the glove group, acupuncturist put on the two folds of latex gloves to block bioelectric currents between the acupuncturist and subject. In the NaCl group, acupuncturist had his fingertips wet with NaCl solution. Results : Exercise increased Heart Rate and acupuncture at PC6 inhibited this increase. In the second experiment, the significant difference compared to the comtrol group was the most in NaCl acupuncture and the least in Glove acupuncture. However, there was no significant difference between three groups. Conclusions : The results of this study seem to be deficient as a conclusive evidence for the hypothesis that the 'Ki(Qi)' of Korean Medicine is the 'bioelectricity' of western medicine.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2023.11a
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• pp.563-565
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• 2023

Acupuncture and acupressure apply needles or pressure to anatomical points for therapeutic benefit. The over 350 mapped acupuncture points in the human body can each treat various conditions, but anatomical variations make precisely locating these acupoints difficult. We propose a computer vision technique using the real-time hand and face tracking capabilities of the MediaPipe framework to identify acupoint locations. Our model detects anatomical facial and hand landmarks, and then maps these to corresponding acupoint regions. In summary, our proposed model facilitates precise acupoint localization for self-treatment and enhances practitioners' abilities to deliver targeted acupuncture and acupressure therapies.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.278-287
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to provide with basic information on application of hand acupuncture as a complementary and alternative therapy by giving some recognition of efficiency and effectiveness of hand acupuncture. And so, answers for questionnaires of 290 respondents were used for this research and collected from June 5 through 13, 1999 from adults twenty and over who were participating in the hand acupuncture training program in Seoul and had some direct experiences with hand acupuncture therapy, whatever they had been treated and/or had treated. To secure reliability of measurement tool. Cronbach'a has been calculated and Factor Analysis was done as Validity Analysis of question classification. Demograprucal characteristics of hand acupuncture experienced people and factors related to hand acupuncture experiences are calculated based on the real number and percentage. The degree of recognition of efficiency and effectiveness of hand acupuncture is made as average and standard deviation, while the degree of recognition of efficiency and effectiveness based on general characteristics come from one-way ANOVA. 1. According to socio-demographical analysis. the questioned could be classified firstly as age (40-49 : 32.5%. 30-39 : 24.9%. 50-59 : 21.9%. 60-69 : 14.7%. 20-29 : 6.0%). secondly gender (male 36.6%. female 63.4%). thirdly occupation (housewife: 43.8%. self-employed: 15.5%. company-employee: 14.8%). fourthly education (high school graduate: 41.9%, college graduate: 37.9%), and lastly monthly-income (1 to 2 million: 51.4%. 2 to 3 million: 20,3%) 2, As for the general aspects related to hand acupuncture. 80,0% of the respondents answered almost zero for the monthly average number of visit to hospital and 15.5% responded 1 to 2 visits, 6,2% of the respondents is complaining of a disorder of digestive system. 19,0% circulatory disease, 10.7% bad nervous system. By utilizing hand acupuncture, 84% of the questioned have following experiences in curing diseases: digestive system 47.3%, circulatory system 9.3%, nervous system 8.3%, 54,1% are curing 1 to 2 and 10.3% 3 to 4 patients on a daily basis with hand acupuncture. Research on the demerits of giving medical treatment with hand acupuncture shows 23,8% are feeling economic burden. 16.6% difficulty of learning and 16.2% weak theoretical backgrounds. 3. Among the efficiency recognition, possibility of general application is average 4,29 and simple treatment is 4,19. economic merits 4.36. possibility of establishment with supplementary and alternative medicine 4.17, medical effectiveness 4.09. 4, As a result of demographical analysis on the efficiency and effectiveness of hand acupuncture therapy, it appears that the recognition of efficiency based on occupation and the recognition of effectiveness based on monthly income are most significant to be noticed. In an orderly fashion. government-employee, self-employed, company-employee. and then housewife have perceived hand acupuncture very efficiently, And those who recognize hand acupuncture to be most effective are people earn 1 million to 2 million won a month, 5. The efficiency(p = .003) and effectiveness (p= .049) of hand acupuncture therapy by number of visit to hospital were statiscally significant, and effectiveness of hand acupuncture therapy by disease exist was statiscally significant (p= .033).

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.125-134
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• 2005

목적 : 이 연구의 목적은 플라시보 자락요법을 계발하기 위함이다. 방법 : 이 연구에서 우리는 자락요법을 잘 알고 있는 특정 피시험군에 진자락요법과 위자락요법을 시행하고, 피시험자에게 본인이 받은 치료가 무엇이었는지 설문조사하였다. 위자락요법은 피부를 뚫어 혈관을 자파시키지 않고 피부 겉에서 느낌만 나도록 자극을 주고 흡입하는 것이다. 결과 : 총 53명의 피시험자가 모든 시험과정에 적절하게 참가하였으므로 모든 데이터를 신뢰할 수 있었다. 결과는 두 그룹간에 유의한 차이를 발견할 수 없었다. 위자락요법을 받은 피시험자중 44.4%는 그들이 받은 치료가 진자락요법이라고 생각했고, 55.6%는 위자락요법이라고 생각했다. 진자락요법을 받은 피시험자중 53.8%는 그들이 받은 치료가 진자락요법이라고 생각했고, 46.2%는 위자락요법이라고 생각했다. 결론 : 각 군간의 민감도와 특이도 간에 유의한 차이가 나타나지 않으므로, 자락요법에 있어 플라시보가 성공했다고 볼 수 있다. 이 연구는 자락요법을 적응증으로 하는 다양한 질환의 임상연구에 있어서 대조군 처치시 좋은 모델을 제시하였다.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.304-309
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• 2022

Background: This study was conducted to determine the anti-inflammatory effect of astaxanthin, on atopic dermatitis. Methods: Changes in mouse body weight, lymph node weight, and the degree of improvement in symptoms were measured to determine the inflammatory response. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests were performed to determine the degree of expression of inflammation-related cytokines (IL-31 and IL-33 and chemokines such as CCL17 and CCL22), and western blot analysis was performed to evaluate the expression of inflammation-related factors (iNOS, COX-2, and NF-kB signaling molecules p-IkBα, p50, p-65 and pSTAT3). Results: The degree of symptoms significantly improved in the PA+AX group. Lymph node weight in the PA+AX group was lower than the PA group. Inflammatory cytokines (IL-31, IL-33, and inflammatory chemokines such as CCL17 and CCL22) were significantly reduced in the PA+AX group compared with the PA group. The expression of inflammatory genes (iNOS, COX-2, NF-kB and signaling molecules (p-IkBα, p50, p65, and p-STAT 3) was lower in the PA+AX group compared with the PA group. Conclusion: Astaxanthin may modulate the inflammatory response in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis and has an anti-inflammatory effect.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.141-153
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• 2005

Objectives : This survey was accomplished to find out how Korean medical doctors take acupuncture treatment in real clinics. Methods : The survey questions were developed by the consensus from the professors who major in acupuncture and moxibustion. The questionnaire was given the 2731 Korean medical doctors at the mending education site; In addition, it was given to 793 doctors working at the 105 Korean medical hospitals listed on the National Korean Medical Hospital Associations Address book by postal mail; and also it was given to the 142 public health care Korean medical doctors who attended the conference for the municipal and provincial representatives of the public health service Korean medical doctors. Total of 1277 questionnaires were retrieved out of the 3666 subjects. Results : 1. Nine hundred out of 1277 Korean medical doctors used method of differentiation syndromes(70.4%) and 1184 out of 1277 Korean medical doctors convalescence decide with subjective symptom improvement of patient(92.6%). 2. Nine hundred eight out of 1277 Korean medical doctors used both local and remote points(71.0%) and 916 out of 1277 Korean medical doctors treat with method of reinforcement-reduction(71.7%). 3. Eleven hundred fifth five out of 1277 Korean medical doctors used cupping a boil(90.3%) and 1023 out of 1277 Korean medical doctors used moxibustion(80.1%). Conclusion : When Korean medical doctors treat with acupuncture, most of them diagnose with differentiation methods and meridian theory, decide convalescence with subjective symptom improvement of patient, select out of both local and remote acupuncture points, treat with method of basic reinforcement-reduction, apply moxa and cupping a boil when they are necessary. The cupping a boil comes to be used when being muscle and joint disease. The moxa comes to be used when being chronic disease.