• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.237-249
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• 2019

Objectives: Interest in the use of complementary and alternative treatments to treat dementia. Meditation is used to treat various symptoms of physical and psychological diseases. Some studies suggest that meditation might have positive effects on cognitive functions, especially attention, in the elderly. However, how meditation affects Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients remains unclear. In this review, we assessed the effectiveness of practicing meditation in combination with standard care in AD. Methods: We searched the CCRCT, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED and CINAHL databases on 30 May 2017. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used meditation in adult patients diagnosed with AD. We allocated patients to a meditation combined with standard care or a standard care-only group. Results: The two RCTs met the inclusion criteria. A total of 98 patients were included in the meditation with standard care and standard care-only groups in this review. All meditation programs in the included trials were based on practicing mindfulness. The results of our meta-analysis indicatedthat adjunctive mindfulness meditation programs exerted favourable but non-significant effects on cognitive function on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) (MD=4.68, 95% CI -0.11 to 9.46; Z=1.92, p=0.06). Only one study assessed depression, anxiety, quality of life and stress. No adverse events related to meditation were reported in the included studies. Conclusions: Insufficient data iscurrently available to determine the effectiveness of practicing meditation on patients diagnosed with AD. Hence, further RCTs with high methodological quality and larger sample sizes are needed to effectively estimate the effects of meditation on AD.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.20-35
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• 2021

Objectives: Waste treatment by incineration is gradually increasing as the emission of harmful substances has decreased owing to developments in incineration technology. However, residents living near incinerators continue to express anxiety regarding the effects on their health. Therefore, we attempted to summarize the health impact of incinerators by comprehensively reviewing the recently reported literature. Methods: Sixty-two epidemiological research papers related to incineration and health effects were selected from the Google Scholar database and analyzed (from between January 2001 and December 2019). Results: When compared to older incinerators, newer incinerators established after 2000 are considered relatively safe in terms of health effects. Nevertheless, there have been some studies that have linked them to various diseases, such as malignant tumors including soft tissue cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, reproductive disorders, respiratory diseases, and more. In addition, incinerator workers and local residents are considered to be exposed to dioxins and some heavy metals from the incinerator. Since most studies included subjects exposed to older incinerators, it is difficult to apply these results to the health impact assessment of new incinerators. However, it is not appropriate to conclude that new incinerators made with state-of-the-art technology are safe, as chronic environmental diseases caused by hazardous substances tend to appear only after prolonged exposure. Conclusions: In terms of environmental health, it is necessary to continuously monitor the health effects of incinerators. Also, there is a need to develop a research methodology that can minimize various confounders in incineration-related epidemiological study.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 2021

Purposes: We studied whether forest bathing is effective in improving the stress of the human body. Therefore, we investigated changes in pulse rate, stress index, and autonomic nervous system after 2 hours of forest bathing on Jeju Samdasu Forest Methods : The study was conducted before and after forest bathing through heart rate variability and questionnaire. Results: After forest bathing, the average pulse rate of the experimental group was significantly increased. The stress index significantly decreased in the post-test in the experimental group. The cumulative stress, sympathetic activity (LF), parasympathetic activity (HF) change, and LF/HF ratio were slightly different from those of post-test in the experimental group, but were not statistically significant. In the survey of job stress average index and state characteristic anxiety index through questionnaire, it decreased significantly after forest bathing (p<.001). Conclusions: The Samdasu forest bathing has been proven effective in enhancing pulse and reducing stress, so it is evaluated that forest bathing is effective in promoting health.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.545-550
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• 2021

Background and objective: With increasing land use intensity in urban areas, apartment buildings have been recognized as a typical type of urban residence. In this study, the impacts of different views through a window on health-related responses were investigated using psychological and physiological parameters. Methods: Photos of three different types of views taken on low (2-12 m), middle (28-35 m), and high (over 54 m) floors of dense apartment building areas were used as visual stimuli. Twenty-two healthy adults participated in the indoor experiment. Semantic differential methods and profile of mood states were used as psychological tools. Autonomic nervous activity was evaluated using blood pressures, pulse rate and heart rate variability (HRV). Results: Analytic data showed different characteristics of psychological and physiological outcomes in three different apartment views. In the analysis of psychological parameters, significantly negative responses to the views on middle floors were found in the subscales of tension-anxiety and anger-hostility, compared to low floors. Significantly positive scores in the subscale of vigor were found on low floors with abundance of vegetation and high floors with a view of the sky. A significantly increased value of HF was found on low floors (2,294.96 ± 169.79), compared to the middle(1,553.45 ± 84.66) and high (1,523.02 ± 70.49) floors. Despite the high scores in openness and vigor, high floor views showed significantly higher LF/HF values (1.83 ± 0.09), the indicator of the sympathetic nervous system, than low (1.30 ± 0.07) and middle floor views (1.34 ± 0.06), which might be related to the unconscious fear of heights. Conclusion: Views from different heights in an apartment building can affect the psychological states of residents. Green space through the window may have a positive health outcome by reducing physiological stress.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.66-76
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• 2023

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the use of heart rate variability on a stroke patient with autonomic dysfunction and the effectiveness of Bunshimgi-eum. Case report: The patient showed autonomic dysfunction, including chest discomfort, 煩燥 (sweating, anxiety, insomnia, nausea, lightheadedness), and abdomen discomfort (dyspepsia, heartburn) after ischemic stroke. She was treated with a herbal medicine (Bunshimgi-eum) through complex Korean medicine treatment. The effect was evaluated using heart rate variability (HRV), Mini-Mental State Examination-DS (MMSE-DS), mean pulse rate, and subjective percentage of symptoms. After treatment, the HRV score, MMSE-DS score, and subjective percentage of symptoms improved, and the pulse rate decreased from the upper boundary value. Discussion: The results suggest that HRV may be useful in evaluating stroke patients with autonomic dysfunction and that Bunshimgi-eum is suitable for treatment.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.44-53
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• 2023

Objectives : This study was conducted to reveal the relationship between multiple factors of traditional Korean Medicine diagnosis and consider the further probabilities of treating people with physical and mental problems not defined as diseases, which is called 'Mibyeong' in traditional Korean Medicine. Methods : 40 healthy participants were included in the observational clinical trial. The participants were asked to complete health questionnaires (e.g. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Stress Response Inventory) and they went through a traditional diagnosis process, including four stages of diagnosis (looking, listening/smelling, inquiring, and pulse taking), by a Korean Medicine doctor. Both the Korean Medicine doctor and an artery tonometry device performed the pulse diagnosis. Results : Although all participants were healthy people with no history of disease, more than half of participants had a problem related with severe level of fatigue (n=19), sleep disturbance (n=26) and stress (n=27) status according to the related questionnaires. Participants diagnosed with phlegm syndrome by the Korean Medicine doctor showed significantly greater score in phlegm pattern questionnaires than participants who were not. However, there was little agreement between the doctor's pulse diagnosis and radial artery tonometry results. Conclusions : We conducted a pulse diagnosis and measured health-related information along with the traditional Korean Medicine diagnose procedure, including four stages of diagnosis, and we found a linkage between diagnosis of phlegm and the phlegm pattern questionnaire score. The results suggest that a number of healthy participants, with no disease diagnosed, have Mibyoung symptoms which need further clinical management. Thus, we suggest that Mibyoung management programs based on qualified diagnosis tools and traditional Korean medicine diagnosis procedures be developed, and that future research using various diagnostic tools be carried out on a large population.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 2022

This study was conducted to investigate the response of the human body to stress induced by wall recording of subway stations in the city center. The experiment was conducted as a simulation exercise, and six images were selected and produced based on Subway Line 2, a representative underground space in Seoul. The study participants included 24 male and female college students. A three-minute experiment was conducted, during which the participants were shown the control image and green wall image once each. To measure psychological status, the following measurement indicators were used: Semantic Differential, Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Physiological changes were investigated by tracking participants' heart rate and blood pressure. Results showed that parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves were activated in the presence of the green wall in the subway station. The psychological evaluation analysis revealed that negative affect toward underground space decreased, while positive affect increased. This study found that the green wall in subway stations has a stable effect on the human body, both psychologically and physiologically. In the future, green walls in underground spaces can be used to reduce psychological stress and increase physiological relaxation.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.199-208
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• 2023

The emergence of COVID-19 virus has shaken almost every aspect of human life including but not limited to social, financial, and economic changes. One of the most significant impacts was obviously healthcare. Now though the pandemic has been over, its aftereffects are still there. Among them, a prominent one is people lifestyle. Work from home, enhanced screen time, limited mobility and walking habits, junk food, lack of sleep etc. are several factors that have still been affecting human health. Consequently, diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety etc. have been emerging at a speed never witnessed before and it mainly includes the people at young age. The situation demands an early prediction, detection, and warning system to alert the people at risk. AI and Machine learning has been investigated tremendously for solving the problems in almost every aspect of human life, especially healthcare and results are promising. This study focuses on reviewing the machine learning based approaches conducted in detection and prediction of diabetes especially during and post pandemic era. That will help find a research gap and significance of the study especially for the researchers and scholars in the same field.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.381-387
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• 2023

Background: Frailty is defined as a condition of being weak and delicate, and it represents a state of high vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. Recent studies have suggested that the cingulate gyrus is associated with frailty in the elderly population. However, few imaging studies have explored the relationship between frailty and the cingulate gyrus in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis. Methods: Eighteen right-handed patients with ESRD undergoing hemodialysis were enrolled in the study. We used the FreeSurfer software package to estimate the cortical thickness of the regions of interest, including the rostral anterior, caudal anterior, isthmus, and posterior cingulate gyri. The Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and laboratory tests were also conducted. Results: The cortical thickness of the right rostral anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) was significantly correlated with the Fried frailty index, age, and creatinine level. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the cortical thickness of the right rostral ACG was associated with frailty after controlling for age and creatinine level. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the cortical thickness of the rostral ACG may be associated with frailty in patients with ESRD on hemodialysis and that the rostral ACG may play a role in the frailty mechanism of this population.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.302-316
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to develop and validate a structural model for the quality of life (QoL) among high-risk pregnant women, based on Roy's adaptation model. Methods: This cross-sectional study collected data from 333 first-time mothers diagnosed with a high-risk pregnancy in two obstetrics and gynecology clinics in Cheonan, Korea, or participating in an online community, between October 20, 2021 and February 20, 2022. Structured questionnaires measured QoL, contextual stimuli (uncertainty), coping (adaptive or maladaptive), and adaptation mode (fatigue, state anxiety, antenatal depression, maternal identity, and marital adjustment). Results: The mean age of the respondents was 35.29±3.72 years, ranging from 26 to 45 years. The most common high-risk pregnancy diagnosis was gestational diabetes (26.1%). followed by preterm labor (21.6%). QoL was higher than average (18.63±3.80). Above-moderate mean scores were obtained for all domains (psychological/baby, 19.03; socioeconomic, 19.00; relational/spouse-partner, 20.99; relational/family-friends, 19.18; and health and functioning, 16.18). The final model explained 51% of variance in QoL in high-risk pregnant women, with acceptable overall model fit. Adaptation mode (β=-.81, p=.034) and maladaptive coping (β=.46 p=.043) directly affected QoL, and uncertainty (β=-. 21, p=.004), adaptive coping (β=.36 p=.026), and maladaptive coping (β=-.56 p=.023) indirectly affected QoL. Conclusion: It is essential to develop nursing interventions aimed at enhancing appropriate coping strategies to improve QoL in high-risk pregnant women. By reinforcing adaptive coping strategies and mitigating maladaptive coping, these interventions can contribute to better maternal and fetal outcomes and improve the overall well-being of high-risk pregnant women.