• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.1646-1654
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• 2007

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of several herbal prescriptions in patients with allergy or atopic disease, such as atopic dermatitis, asthma and allergy rhinitis and others, on the blood immunological parameters and to verify the safety of long-term use of herbal medicine. Eighty one patients with allergy or atopy disease who taken herbal medicine at least for 2 months were compared with patients who taken same medicine with no allergy & atopy disease (n=14) and normal healthy subjects (n=22). According to the comparison of immunological parameters change, the data showed that herbal medicine decreased IgE (P=0.003), Eosinophil ratio (P<0.001) and count (P<0.001) of White Blood Cell (WBC) and did not affect to the liver cell enzymes in blood. This results indicated that herbal medicine decreased immune hypersensitivity and improved chronic inflammation related to blood immunological parameters of allergy or atopy diseases. In addition, herbal medicine seemed to be safe to the liver function for long-term use.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.570-581
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• 2015

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the experimental studies which was performed by single or complex herbal medicines on hypothyroidism.Methods I searched the domestic experimental studies about single or complex herbal medicines’ effects on hypothyroidism that published since 2000 on 4 Korean databases by keywords, ‘thyroid gland’, ‘hypofunction’, ‘hypothyroidism’.Results 11 single herbal medicines and 9 complex herbal medicines in 20 experimental studies have reported their effectiveness and safetiness in PTU-induced hypothyroidism rats by evaluating the changes of several biochemical and hematological indexes.Conclusions In order to make new and more effective medicines on hypothyroidism, there should be further studies by using combinations of herbal medicines and the differences of their mechanisms.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.550-569
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of herbal medicine treatment for patients with migraine and to suggest research methods for herbal medicine treatment on migraine. Methods: In this study, a search was conducted through several academic sites using a combination of terms '편두통', 'Migraine', '한약', '한약치료', 'Herbal medicine', 'Herbal medicines', 'Herb', 'Traditional Chinese Medicine', and 'TCM'. Randomized controlled trials using herbal medicine treatments for adult patients with migraine were selected. Results: Ultimately, 46 papers were selected and analyzed. A statistically significant improvement was noted in the treatment group in terms of clinical migraine symptoms and other migraine evaluation tools before and after the herbal medicine treatment. Herbal medicines were administered in decoction, pill, and granule formulations. Many kinds of medicinal herbs, such as 解表藥類, 補益藥類, 淸熱藥類, 活血祛瘀藥類, and 平肝藥類, have been used for migraine. Among them, 川芎, belonging to 活血祛瘀藥類, is mentioned 36 times and is the most frequently used medicine. Herbal medicine was used safely for migraine treatment, without major adverse reactions, and the recurrence rate was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group. Conclusions: In conclusion, the herbal medicine treatment for patients with migraine showed a statistically significant improvement in 46 papers. Future studies should utilize standardized and objective evaluation tools, along with appropriate experimental design. The relevant articles should be increased to a significant level to verify the effect of herbal medicine treatments on migraine.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.181-190
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• 2009

It is important to establish the safety of herbal medicine because of its frequent and widespread use in Korea. Several studies on the safety of herbal medicine have been performed and there have been rare serious adverse drug reactions from those reports in Korea. However, the results are not strongly supported because of not adopting appropriate enough research methodology as to make the safety issue clear. For improving the quality of the safety research on herbal medicine. including investigations of drug induced liver injury (DILl). the aim of this study was to suggest herbal medicine-induced liver injury investigation forms for performing reasonable safety research. After a systematic review of the preceding studies regarding herbal safety in Korea was performed in 2008, we assessed the quality and the limitations of the primary studies. Two investigation forms for herbal safety research were made as a following step. one a basic investigation form for herbal safety research and the other an advanced investigation form for suspected DILl cases, Those forms include the essential informations and data needed to make an appropriate assessment of whether DILl occurred during or after the use of herbal medicine. Guidelines for using those forms and other recommendations were also suggested. More rigorous studies are required for answering the safety issue of herbal medicine as well as the efficacy issue. We hope for wide use and improvement of those investigation forms in the study of herbal safety by many researchers for establishing better evidences in Korea.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.181-214
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• 2022

Pediatric epilepsy, a chronic, recurrent brain disorder, is the most common neurological disorder in children. Its prevalence is increasing. Early management is very important since 30~40% of cases persist into adulthood. To provide basic data for future clinical research on pediatric epilepsy using Korean medicine treatment and cooperation between Western medicine doctors and Korean medicine doctors, we reviewed recent clinical research in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) using herbal medicine for pediatric epilepsy. A total of 23 articles (1 clinical practice guideline, 3 systematic reviews, 15 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and 4 non-RCTs) were reviewed in this study. The authors summarized characteristics of included studies regarding study subjects, diagnostic tools, pattern identification tools, treatment period, evaluation tools, detail of herbal medicines, treatment effects, and adverse events. Combination therapy using both herbal medicine (HM) and anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) was performed more frequently than herbal medicine alone. Liver-pacifying medicinal, water-draining medicine, and orifice-opening medicine were frequently used. The main single HMs were Cheonma, Boglyeong, Jogudeung, and Seogchangpo. Combined therapy using HM and AEDs had significant benefits in improving total effective rate. It also appeared to be safer than AEDs. However, since the quality of clinical trials was poor and only studies in the last 10 years were included, the clinical evidence was uncertain. Finally, the authors provided limitations of this study and several suggestions for future research based on our analysis results.

• Journal of Korean Medical Ki-Gong Academy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.326-339
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• 2009

Objective : The studies on liver effect in administration of western medicine have been well-established so far, but the studies on liver effect in administration or herbal medicine haven't been made. To make things worse, people who have liver disease generally believe that taking a herbal medicine is not useful to take care or their disease and even think it can cause liver disease. But this belief is not verified at all. So we feel the need to study about how taking herbal medicine affect to liver injury patient. Methods : We chose the 4 patient who seems to have the liver injury on the index of liver function test and we administrate the herbal medicine and after several day or weeks we recheck the liver function test. Results : Through the this method, we find the positive effect of taking herbal medicine on the patients who have the liver disease. Conclusions : Our results give no evidence that herbal medicine is harmful for liver disease. We need to study more about this.

• Journal of Oriental Physiology
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• v.14 no.2 s.20
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• pp.127-137
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• 1999

The current experiment was carried out to investigate the analgesic effects of several herbal drugs in acetic acid - induced pain model. In a single drug group : after administration of herbal drugs(1g/kg or 3g/kg) orally for 30 minutes, 1% acetic acid $(250{\mu}l)$ was administered into abdominal cavity of mouse. And then the number of times of writhing response was measured for 30 minutes. In a combination drug group : after administration of herbal drugs (1g/kg and it's compound 2g/kg) orally for 30 minutes, 1% acetic acid $(250{\mu}l)$ was administered into abdominal cavity of mouse. And then the number of times of writhing response was measured for 30 minutes. The results were summarized as follows; 1. Water extracts of Akebiae caulis(木通) and Stephaniae tetrandrae radix(防己) decreased significantly the number of writhing response. 2. Methanol extracts of Achyranthis bidentatae radix(牛膝), Carthami flos(紅花), Akebiae caaulis(木通), Stephaniae tetrandrae radix(防己), Myrrha(沒藥), Corydalidis tuber(玄胡索) and Persicae semen(桃仁) decreased significantly the number of writhing response. 3. Water extracts of Achyranthis bidentatae radix(牛膝) plus Akebiae caulis(木通), Achyranthis bidentatae radix(牛膝) plus Stephaniae tetrandrae radix(防己) and Achyranthis bidentatae radix(牛膝) plus Ledebouriellae radix(防風) decreased the number of writhing response significantly. 4. Methanol extracts of Achyranthis bidentatae radix(牛膝) plus Myrrha(沒藥), Achyranthis bidentatae radix(牛膝) plus Stephaniae tetrandrae radlx(防己) and Achyranthis bidentatae radix(牛膝) plus Ledebouriellae radix(防風) decreased the number of writhing response significantly.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.19-30
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• 2013

This study was aimed to develop a new formula for herbal medicine-safety classification in terms of evidence-based medicine. Recently, human equivalent dose(HED)-based therapeutic index was developed for herbal medicine-safety classification by transforming $LD_{50}$ to HED. However, the use of the $ED_{50}$ and $LD_{50}$ to derive the therapeutic index may be misleading as to safety, depending on the slope of the dose-response curves for therapeutic and lethal effects. To overcome this deficiency, HED-based MOS(Margin of Safety)was developed and suggested in this study. The HED-based MOS developed by using $LD_1$, changing to ALD(approximate lethal dose), and $ED_{99}$. The HED-based MOS seems to be more useful and safer than HED-based therapeutic index since its values for several herbal medicines are basically two times less than the values from HED-based therapeutic index. Thus, HED-based MOS can be a good example of Evidence-based approach for herbal medicine-safety classification.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.89-116
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• 2019

Objective: This study aimed to ascertain what should be considered in the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer," by analyzing existing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods: Committee for the development of a guideline, consisting of 6 Korean medicine doctors, reviewed guidelines and clinical trials on using herbal medicine for treating liver cancer. The trials were analyzed in terms of inclusion and exclusion of participants, intervention, comparators, outcomes, and trial design. We then compared the results of our analysis with the guidelines to identify issues we must to consider when following the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer." Several guidelines for antitumor agents and clinical trials on herbal medicine were obtained from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety homepage, etc. The search terms were as follows: "liver neoplasms"; "herbal medicine"; "medicine, Korean traditional"; and "medicine, Chinese Traditional.". Results: Ten articles were obtained from pubmed and Embase. There was no guideline for clinical trials on using herbal medicine for treating liver cancer. All the participants in the reviewed articles had primary liver cancer, and the type of intervention varied (e.g., decoction, patches, and capsules. The comparators included placebos and conventional treatments such as chemotherapy. The outcome assessment methods were tumor response, quality of life, survival, and liver function tests. Adverse events occuring during the trial were also evaluated. Conclusion: Findings were derived by reviewing existing guidelines and comparing them with clinical trials on liver cancer and herbal medicinal products. These results will be utilized in the development of the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer."

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.89-99
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• 2019

Objectives The purpose of this study is to report a case of a child with alopecia areata who was reintroduced with the same herbal treatment that was used before. Methods The patient was treated for 10 months with the herbal medicine. After a relapse, this patient took the same herbal medicine for another 2 months. Results After the treatment, the patient's hair loss and hair conditions were improved. After a relapse, alopecia areata was resolved by reintroducing the same herbal medicine treatment, and the condition was maintained well for several months even after the end of the treatment. Conclusion This study shows the effects of the herbal medicine for alopecia areata in a child. However, further studies are needed, including long-term follow-up studies after the end of the treatment.