• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.161-169
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• 2010

Objectives & Methods : To compare the medicinal herbs between Ayurvedic medicine and traditional Korean medicine(TKM), we took reference of major publications related to Ayurvedic medicinal herbs such as Indian Herbal Remedies, Prime Ayurvedic Plant Drugs, with those of TKM. We selected most widely used 130 herbal species of Ayurvedic medicine and compared the similarities and differences with TKM. Comparative factors were the origin, habitation, synonyms, usage, medicinal parts, and precautions. Results : 1. The medicinal herbs Resinatum Lignum(沈香), Arecae Pericarpium(大腹皮), Arecae Semen(檳榔), Carthami Flos (紅花), Camphorum(樟腦), Crotonis Semen(巴豆), Curculiginis Rhizoma(仙茅) used in TKM did exactly correlate in their origins with those of Ayurvedic medicine. 2. Varieties of allied species were found in their origins. Benincasae Pericarpium(冬瓜皮), and Benincasae Semen(冬瓜子) derive from the same plant Benincasa hispida Cogn. for both Ayurvedic medicine and TKM. Interestingly, B. cerifera Savi. is also claimed for same uses in Ayurvedic medicine. This broadened use of allied species is found in various Ayurvedic herbal medicine such as Cannabis Semen(火麻仁) using Cannabis indica Lam., and Curcuma Longae Rhizoma(薑黃) using Curcuma domestica Valeton. This suggests the possibility of their usage also in TKM. 3. Myrrha(沒藥), and Curculiginis Rhizoma concorded their usage with TKM. While Arecae Pericarpium(大腹皮), Arecae Semen(檳榔), Aquilariae Resinatum Lignum(沈香), Pericarpium(冬瓜皮), Benincasae Semen(冬瓜子), Cannabis Semen(火麻仁), Carthami Flos(紅花), Camphorum(樟腦), Crotonis Semen(巴豆), Curcumae Radix(鬱金), Curcuma Longae Rhizoma(薑黃) and Zedoariae Rhizoma(莪朮) revealed varied efficacies according to their part used or usage forms. Conclusion : Both Ayurvedic medicine and TKM reflect the traditional medicine of its regions where is founded. Mutual understanding improves the capability of coping of diverse ailments of present days and also replacing some plants in the days of increasing threat to our environment. Abundant external applications of various plants found in Ayurvedic medicine were particularly useful for TKM to complement its strength in herbal intake.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.142-161
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report the effect and safety of traditional Korean medicine (TKM) for enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) after gynecological surgery. Methods: The study is conducted by analyzing the medical records of the hospitalized patients in TKM hospital. Eighty-six patients were enrolled who received TKM for ERAS after gynecological surgery from January 2015 to April 2018. We performed statistical analysis by using SPSS ver. 25.0. To prove the effect and safety of TKM for ERAS, we analyzed symptoms and Hemoglobin (Hb), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and serum creatinine (Cr) with glomerular filtration rate (GFR). In addition, we checked other adverse reactions that the patients complained to prove the safety of TKM for ERAS. Results: Among symptoms of pain, there was a statistically significant decrease in abdominal pain, lower back pain, and shoulder pain. Other symptoms showed statistically significant improvement in fatigue, abdominal tympanosis, operation-site discomfort, dizziness, urinary discomfort, throat discomfort, constipation, dyspepsia and colporrhagia. Anemia in both ferritin combination treatment group and herbal medicine only group showed significant improvement. There was no liver damage or renal damage by TKM. Conclusions: The result has shown that TKM for ERAS after gynecological surgery is effective and safe. The further study of TKM for ERAS with more patients is needed.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.47-54
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• 2008

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the disease burden of cancer, to investigate how many cancer patients use CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) therapies with or without conventional medicine, to know reasons for use of cancer CAM therapies, and finally to discuss viewpoints on treating cancer with traditional Korean medicine (TKM). Method: In order to know the disease burden of cancer, the prevalence and mortality of cancer patients of Korean, American, and WHO reports were investigated, and the usage of cancer CAM therapies was investigated in several reports. The viewpoints about cancer treatment with TKM were suggested with the characteristics of TKM. Results: One hundred thousand Korean people were diagnosed [in time period] as new cancer patients, and cancer patients are gradually increasing every year. Cancer is a leading cause of deaths in Korea and worldwide. From 21% to 63% of Korean cancer patients, 80% of American cancer patients, and 35.9% of European cancer patients used CAM therapies, and the most common therapy was an herbal therapy. Conclusions: TKM has been used to treat cancer since initial use of acupuncture and herbs with basic viewpoints on human health and disease. First, TKM regards occurrence of cancer as an environmental problem of the whole human being. Second, the pathologic concept centered on antipathogenic Qi (Zheong Qi) can reinforce the functioning of the patient's own natural vitality to overcome cancer. Third, TKM deals with cancer patients through mind, body, and spirit based on the monoism of mind and body.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.363-366
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• 2011

Guibi-tang is a traditional medicine used for the treatment of colds. We investigated the levels of several compounds in Guibi-tang before and after fermentation with Lactobacillus and tested their ability to inhibit angiotensin-converting enzyme. Six known compounds (decursin, decursinol angelate, nodakenin, liquiritin, formononetin, and 6-gingerol) and 2 unidentified compounds were detected in Guibi-tang (GB) and fermented Guibi-tang (FGB) by an established HPLC-DAD method. The levels of the 6 known compounds were decreased after fermentation. FGB showed more potent inhibition of angiotensin-converting enzyme activity than GB. In conclusion, fermentation with Lactobacillus affects the content of several compounds in GB and improves its angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activity.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.72-80
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• 2013

Objectives : Ontology is a good tool to represent the knowledge and has developed for Traditional Korean Medicine(TKM) in Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine. There are a lot of TKM terms, which have a complex meaning, especially major indication terms of medicinal treatment and terms of symptom and disease. These complex meaning terms result in the low linkage between major indication terms of medicinal treatment and terms of symptom and disease in TKM ontology. We studied to enhance the percentage of the linkage among those data in TKM ontology. Methods : We disassembled major indication terms of medicinal treatment into minimum meaning units and then linked them to enhance the percentage of the linkage among medicinal material, formula and disease ontology based on Traditional Korean Medicine. To retain objectivity, several experts of Korean Medicine used a web-based tool that supports users in refining terms and disassembling them into the minimum meaning efficiently. Results : The outcome shows that the percentage of the linkage among medicinal material, formula and disease ontology increased. By linking disassembled major indication terms to symptoms and diseases, the amount of information for medicinal materials and formulas also increased quantitatively in comparison with given formula for diseases in disease ontology. Conclusions : By this study, disassembled data increases the percentage of linkage between diseases and medicinal treatments. And the applicability of TKM ontology is also increased.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this review is to investigate the trends of Traditional Korean Medicine treatments on degenerative knee arthritis. Methods : We investigated the studies on traditional Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM) treatments for degenerative knee arthritis via searching 5 Korean web databases. Results : 31 research papers were found to be analyzed according to their published year, the titles of journals, published institution, the types of study, the number of cases, the types of treatments. 31 papers were published since 1992. The studies on TKM treatments about degenerative knee arthritis were mainly published in The journal of korean acupuncture & moxibustion medicine. 13 Randomized Controlled Trials, 10 Case series, 4 Reviews, 3 Non RCTs, and 1 Case Report had been under research. In 22 cases of the studies, one method was used to treat the symptoms. Whereas in 5 cases of the studies, various TKM treatments were used to treat the symptoms. Visual analogue score(VAS) and patient's subjective complaints were used as primary assessments. Conclusion : In this study, we analyzed the trends of TKM treatments on degenerative knee arthritis. Reviewing the domestic trends of studies on Traditional Korean Medicine treatments on degenerative knee arthritis and examining the strong and weak points of those treatments are essential for the further studies.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.382-387
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• 2009

Enhanced formation and accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been implicated as a major pathogenesis process leading to diabetic complications, normal aging, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. In our ongoing project to discover novel treatments for diabetic complications from natural sources, we have investigated on the inhibitory activity of 67 ethanol extracts from 57 Korean herbal medicines against the formation of AGEs in vitro. Of these, 22 extracts were found to have a significant AGEs inhibitory activity ($IC_{50}$<50 ${\mu}g$/ml) compared with aminoguanidine ($IC_{50}$=75.98 ${\mu}g$/ml). Particularly, 6 extracts from 3 herbal medicines, Castanea crenata (flower, leaf, bark-twig), Acer tatarium subsp. ginnala (fruit) and Sapium japonicum (leaf, twig) showed (approximately 8-17 fold) stronger inhibitory activity than that of aminoguanidine.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the practice patterns of traditional Korean medicine (TKM) doctors and the acceptance of payment model in order to develop a new TKM health insurance payment model linked with TKM clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Methods : Lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (HIVD) and idiopathic facial palsy (IFP) were selected as a test diseases to develop a new TKM payment model. The level of benefit coverage in the National Health Insurance (NHI) was designed. The survey asked 228 TKM doctors about their practice patterns in HIVD and IFP patients and acceptance of new payment model. Results : Mean of medical cost for treatment of HIVD was 441,000 KW, mean of treatment period ranged from 4.9 to 17.5 weeks, and mean of number of treatment ranged from 14.6 to 50.4 HIVD patients. In the case of IFP, mean of medical cost for treatment of IFP was 468,000 KW, mean of treatment period was at least 4.2 and up to 15.9 weeks and mean of number of treatment ranged from 14.2 to 52 IFP patients. Conclusions : Current study suggests that mixed payment model of per-visit and episode-based model seem to be proper. The model 1 bundles both items which were covered and not covered by NHI in a rational way. The model 2 is based on the development and application of critical pathway. Lastly, model 3 suggests bundling of items covered by current NHI. Acceptance of TKM doctors is expected to be highest in the model 3.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.205-216
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• 2014

Objectives The purpose of this study is to help improve the management of traditional Korean medical(TKM) clinics and the policies for supporting them, by conducting a survey of the practitioners of TKM. Methods Stratified sampling was conducted based on regional location, and 700 samples were selected in a random manner from the membership list. The questionnaire was delivered and returned by mail. The survey was conducted between 20 July and 31 August 2010. A total of 177 questionnaires (recovery rate: 25.28%) were recovered and analyzed for the study. Results 1. The the survey indicate that the overall size of TKM clinics has fallen compared with previous survey, while the average number of beds per clinic has remained unchanged at 7.9. The sale of medicine as a proportion of total monthly sales has increased. 2. There has been no change in the composition of clinical staff as there are three nursing assistants. Although the average daily number of patients to clinics has remained at around 33.90 compared with ten years ago, the number of patients requiring seeking acupuncture treatment has increased while the number of those treated with medication has decreased. 3. Clinicians in TKM have indicated their preference for a binary system that separates TKM from western medicine (57.4%). The respondents do not favor the separation of dispensary from medical practice (81.5%), marks of origin for medicinal herbs (68.9%), disclosure of the prescriptions (67.2%), and the overseas expansion of Korean medical services (70.4%). However, they indicated that they are very much in favor of being granted the authority to employ and give orders to medical technicians (96.0%). 4. The respondents selected Korea as the country that maintains a proper academic system for traditional medicine (45.5%), and are not in favor of opening Korea's traditional medicine market under an Free Trade Agreement(FTA) with China (72.7%). Conclusion The overall status of the management of TKM clinics has declined compared with the preceding decade. There has been only a slight change in clinicians' opinion of the related policies and regulatory issues.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.69-76
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• 2011

Objectives : Our study aims to help users take the medicinal materials in a desirable manner by providing toxic and contraindicating information, based on the ontology of medicinal materials in traditional Korean medicine (TKM). Methods : The toxic and contraindicating data are extracted for 160 medicinal materials from 67 books published in Korea and China. The extracted data are linked to the medicinal material in the ontology, respectively. Results : We in this paper construct an ontology for toxic and contraindicating data of medicinal materials in traditional Korean medicine (TKM), extending our conventional ontology. Based on the ontology, we devised a web-based searching tool that enables users to share the toxic and contraindicating information of medicinal materials. Conclusions : The contents in our ontology are facts based on the books, while the addition of clinical knowledge may elaborate the ontology. Moreover, the addition of easy explanations for terminologies in our ontology is required to help users which are not familiar to TKM.