• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.242-254
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• 2023

Although upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are common diseases, there have been no studies of their relationship with the indices obtained from tongue image analyses. The purpose of this study was to identify a tongue index through an analysis of tongue images (TIs) showing significant changes before and after treatment in patients with URTIs. A computerized tongue image acquisition system was developed to acquire TIs from subjects in the same environment. An image was taken from each of 39 URTI patients and 39 healthy controls. For the patients, images were acquired before and after treatment to identify changes. The tongue area was classified into a tongue body and a tongue coating, and the coating ratio between the two areas, the average value of the colour of each area, and teeth marks were calculated. No significant difference was observed in age or sex between the URTI patients and control participants. Heart rates were slightly different. The analysis of TIs showed that the luminance of the tongue coating and the coating area ratio were decreased, while the reddish value of the tongue body at the centre area increased as the treatment progressed. Tongue coating and body in URTIs had different colour and shape from those in the normal. It is expected that this result will contribute not only to the objectification of traditional Chinese medicine but also to diagnostic methods that do not involve face-to-face physician visit during the pandemic.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.637-644
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• 2018

Objectives: In this study, the tongue features of patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) were compared with those of healthy controls. Methods: This prospective, case-control study was conducted on patients with FD and controls recruited at a single center. After screening, the subjects were allocated to the patient or control groups (patients=42, controls=40). Tongue images were acquired using a computerized tongue image acquisition system (CTIS). An independent t-test was conducted to compare the measurements from patients and controls. Binary logistic regression was performed to determine significant differences between the two groups after adjusting for age and sex. Results: The CIE $a^*$ color value in the tongue coating area was significantly lower in the patients with FD than in the controls (p=0.001). The tongue coating ratios were also significantly higher in the FD group than in the control group (p=0.003). We found that the CIE $a^*$ color value in the tongue coating area and the tongue coating ratios were significant predictive factors in both groups, based on binary regression analysis (p=0.016, 0.044, respectively). Conclusions: This study found that FD was significantly associated with CIE $a^*$ color value in the tongue coating area and tongue coating ratios. We suggest that these factors could be used as objective indicators of FD.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2012

Objectives The aim of this study is to propose an optimized tongue colour interpolation method to achieve accurate tongue image rendering. Methods We selected 60 colour chips in the chips of DIC color guide selector, and then divided randomly the colour chips into two groups. The colour chips of a group (Gr I) were used for finding the optimized colour correction factor of error and those of the other group (Gr II) were used for verifying the correction factor. We measured colour value of the Gr I colour chips with spectrophotometer, and took the colour chips image with a digital tongue image system (DTIS). We adjusted colour correction factor of error to equal the chip colour from each method. Through that process, we obtained the optimized colour correction factor. To verify the correction factor, we measured colour value of the Gr II colour chips with a spectrophotometer, and took the colour chips image with the DTIS in the two types of colour interpolation mode (auto white balance mode and optimized colour correction factor mode). And then we calculated the CIE-$L^*ab$ colour difference (${\Delta}E$) between colour values measured with the spectrophotometer and those from images taken with the DTIS. Results In auto white balance mode, The mean ${\Delta}E$ between colour values measured with the spectrophotometer and those from images taken with the DTIS was 13.95. On the other hand, in optimized colour correction factor mode, The mean ${\Delta}E$ was 9.55. The correction rate was over 30%. Conclusions In case of interpolating colour of images taken with the DTIS, we suggest that procedure to search the optimized colour correction factor of error should be done first.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.170-188
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the diagnostic factors of Damjeok in the literature. Methods: This study used the databases of five (Mediclassics, RISS, KMbase, OASIS, CNKI) to analyze diagnostic factors of Damjeok. Literatures published by May 2023 were assessed and we classified 91 literatures dealing with diagnostic factors by 5 categories, 'characteristics', 'location', 'symptom', 'pulse wave & tongue feature', and 'eating habits & lifestyle'. Results: Damjeok is mainly formed at the stomach in the form of lump or hard seed, and it can be observed in other regions or even the whole body by its trait of floating. Damjeok mainly shows symptoms of the digestive system and also causes various symptoms associated with the respiratory system and infection, musculoskeletal system, urogenital system, neuropsychiatric system and cardiovascular system. Regarding pulse wave and tongue feature, a slippery wave and greasy coated tongue are typical features of Damjeok. Additionally, bad eating habits and a lack of exercise have been described as a factor that cause and aggravate Damjeok. Conclusions: The two most important factors in the diagnosis of Damjeok are abdominal stiffness by physical examination and digestive symptoms, and these correspond to the definition of a syndrome. Diagnostic factors based on literature evidence will provide clues to the clinical diagnosis of Damjeok syndrome.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1219-1223
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• 2006

Tongue is one of the most important parts in patient diagnosis in traditional Korean(Chinese) medicine. This paper presents health monitoring method using tongue images of a person. The method uses not absolute tongue features but relative ones which are differences from reference health condition(RHC), diagnosed in hospital, for a person. A user can give tongue images to a health monitoring system everyday, which extracts regions of interest (ROI's) of the tongue, and compares their features with reference health condition. In the experiments, tongue image analysis for a person by our computerized method encouraged us that the method using tongue images can be contributed for health monitoring.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.65-72
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• 2016

A mobile healthcare application is a healthcare software application designed to run on mobile devices such as smartphone and tablet computers. Mobile healthcare applications have enormous potential for monitoring and care everyday living of patient with chronic disease. In fact, mobile healthcare applications are found to be active in various fields. However, the development is rarely done in Korean medicine field. The aim of this study was to develop the healthcare application based on the tongue diagnosis. The process included planning, designing, programming, and revising. Through a pilot study, the application was found the improvement requirement, and to be usable in the real-life settings.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.42-62
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• 2011

Objective: This study was designed to identify and explore the pathological patterns of functional dyspepsia (FD) patients. We also evaluated the usefulness of the Pattern Identification Questionnaire by comparing it with other assessment tools for FD. Methods: We recruited 97 FD patients based on the Rome III criteria for FD diagnosis. The pathological patterns of the subjects were determined by the Pattern Identification Questionnaire. Their dyspepsia-related symptoms were assessed using the Gastrointestinal Symptom Questionnaire (GIS) and the Pyeongwi-san (Pingwei-san) Patternization Questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were evaluated with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and quality of life with the Functional Dyspepsia-Related Quality of Life (FD-QoL) Questionnaire. Tongue coating was measured by the Digital Tongue Diagnosis System (DTDS). Results: The male to female ratio was 1:1.1, and the forties and fifties age groups were largest in number. The spleen deficiency and phlegm-dampness pattern was the most common pattern found among the FD patients. No significant differences in the GIS, BDI, FD-QoL, and DTDS scores were found among the five pattern types. All pattern types showed significant correlation with GIS, Pyeongwi-san Patternization Questionnaire, and FD-QoL scores. Conclusions: Pattern Identification Questionnaire can not only identify the pathological pattern types of FD patients but also evaluate the severity of their symptoms. Compared to conventional assessment tools for FD, it could enable a more dynamic evaluation of FD patients reflecting the severity of dyspeptic symptoms and the quality of life. Further studies on the Pattern Identification of FD patients are anticipated in order to improve the diagnosis and therapy for Korean FD patients.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.348-360
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• 2015

Objectives From observing the tongue of a patient, one can assess the health status; this method has been frequently used in traditional Korean Medicine (KM) clinics. In particular, KM posits that the color of the tongue is highly related to digestive functions. In this study, the color of tongue and heart rate variability (HRV) were compared between chronic dyspepsia (CD) patients and healthy subjects. Methods Healthy subjects and CD patients with functional dyspepsia (FD), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or chronic gastritis (CG) were enrolled for the study. Profile view images of the tongue were acquired by using a computerized tongue image acquisition system (CTIS). The color of the tongue body was extracted from the non-coated region on the tongue images. Results Color differences in CIE L*a*b* color space between the three sub-types of CD patients and healthy subjects were analyzed by using multiple linear regression analysis with age and sex as the factors. The variable b* was significantly lower in GERD patients than in the controls (p=0.017). Variable a* was significantly lower in CG than in the controls (p=0.03). No significant difference was seen between FD and controls. In GERD, the tongue body seems to be intense red in color; in CG, pale red. Frequency domain analysis showed that HF was significantly lower in GERD patients than in the controls (p=0.041). Conclusions The color of the tongue body and HF of HRV can be used for diagnosing digestive functions in health care.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.942-949
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• 2009

We in this paper propose the method for diagnosis patients through the reasoning based on the diagnosis ontology in oriental medicine. In prior studies, it is simply diagnosed with the information of main symptoms, optional symptoms, and tongue / pulse. In addition, ontology itself has subjective opinions of oriental medical doctors for patients in form of axioms. There is a problem in latter case that it is difficult for other oriental medical doctors to change knowledge within the ontology. In order to solve these problems, we have constructed the diagnosis ontology and the reasoning algorithm as followings: First, in order to raise the diagnosis accuracy, we constructed the diagnosis ontology with pattern identifications, main symptoms, optional symptoms, and tongue / pulse. We also utilize the diagnosis points described in the pathology textbook, which has been studied in all of domestic oriental medical colleges. This information is represented as OWL instances in ontology, not OWL axioms so that it can be easily updated. Second, we suggest the algorithms for diagnosis reasoning and learning method based on the ontology. We have implemented the reasoning and learning system according to the diagnosis algorithm. In future study, we will construct the diagnosis ontology with all of pattern identifications and symptoms within the pathology textbook.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.243-249
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• 2012

These days it is becoming more and more common to find electronic medical screening systems installed in Oriental hospitals and clinics. This is a relatively new development for the practice of traditional Oriental medicine. Specifically, Pulse detection machines are being utilized in order to help determine a patient's disease scientifically. However, identifying and diagnosing the specific disease correctly for each patient is still very difficult in Oriental medicine. The intention of this paper is to propose a solution which uses two separate Electronic systems working together to produce a better likelihood of finding the correct diagnosis for each patient. It is proposed that an EMR intelligent electronic chart system be developed and employed, which would utilize both Pulse wave system and a tongue detection system at the same time, in order to solve the problem. Computer simulation results have proven to show that EMR systems used in hospitals and clinics are more efficient and yield a more accurate diagnosis than traditional methods.