• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.227-244
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• 2019

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of application of Traditional East Asian Herbal Medicine (TEAM) in the treatment of Atrophic Vaginitis (AV). Methods: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) were obtained from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, RISS, NDSL, and KISS. The risk of bias was assessed by using Cochrane's risk of bias tool, and RevMan 5.3 software was used. Results: 26 RCTs with 3,162 patients were identified and reviewed. Among them, 21 RCTs observe the effect of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine. 23 RCTs reported treatment groups was statistically effective than control groups in the study. Also, the recurrence rate was estimated in 10 RCTs and was lower than control groups. 12 studies observed adverse events (AEs) and severe AEs were not reported. Conclusions: This review suggested that TEAM was safe and effective in the treatment of AV. TEAM may also decrease the recurrence rate. However, this could not be proven conclusively. To ensure evidence-based clinical practice, well-designed trials with larger sample sizes are needed.

• Integrative Medicine Research
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.195-219
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• 2015

Acupuncture therapy has been proved to be effective for diverse diseases, symptoms, and conditions in numerous clinical trials. The growing popularity of acupuncture therapy has triggered the development of modern acupuncture-like stimulation devices (ASDs), which are equivalent or superior to manual acupuncture with respect to safety, decreased risk of infection, and facilitation of clinical trials. Here, we aim to summarize the research on modern ASDs, with a focus on featured devices undergoing active research and their effectiveness and target symptoms, along with annual publication rates. We searched the popular electronic databases Medline, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science, and analyzed English-language studies on humans. Thereby, a total of 728 studies were identified, of which 195 studies met our inclusion criteria. Electrical stimulators were found to be the earliest and most widely studied devices (133 articles), followed by laser (44 articles), magnetic (16 articles), and ultrasound (2 articles) stimulators. A total of 114 studies used randomized controlled trials, and 109 studies reported therapeutic benefits. The majority of the studies (32%) focused on analgesia and pain-relief effects, followed by effects on brain activity (16%). All types of the reviewed ASDs were associated with increasing annual publication trends; specifically, the annual growth in publications regarding noninvasive stimulation methods was more rapid than that regarding invasive methods. Based on this observation, we anticipate that the noninvasive or minimally invasive ASDs will become more popular in acupuncture therapy.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.148-156
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• 2019

Esophagogastric junction (EGJ) cancer is a solid tumor entity with rapidly increasing incidence in the Western countries. Given the high proportion of advanced cancers in the West, treatment strategies routinely employed include surgery and chemotherapy perioperatively, and chemoradiation in neoadjuvant settings. Neoadjuvant chemoradiation and perioperative chemotherapy are mostly performed in esophageal cancer that extends to the EGJ and gastric as well as EGJ cancers, respectively. Recent trials have tried to combine both strategies in a perioperative context, which might have beneficial outcomes, especially in patients with EGJ cancer. However, it is difficult to recruit patients for trials, exclusively for EGJ cancers; therefore, the results have to be carefully reviewed before establishing a standard protocol. Trastuzumab was the first drug for targeted therapy that was positively evaluated for this tumor entity, and there are several ongoing trials investigating more targeted drugs in order to customize effective therapies based on tissue characteristics. The current study reviews the multimodal treatment concept for EGJ cancers in the West and summarizes the latest reports.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.23-34
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• 2018

Objectives : This review aims to evaluate the effects and the safety of Chuna manual therapy(CMT) for pediatric functional constipation. Methods : We searched 10 electronic databases(Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CAJ, Oasis, RISS, KISS, NDSL, KMBASE, KISTI) and related 2 journals until October 2018. We included randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of testing CMT for pediatric functional constipation. The methodological quality of RCTs related assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results : 16 RCTs were eligible in our inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis of 11 studies showed positive for use CMT for pediatric functional constipation. CMT significantly improved total efficancy rate compared with medications (P < 0.00001). Conclusions : There is evidence of CMT for pediatric functional constipation with meta-analysis. However, our systematic review has limited evidence to support CMT for pediatric functional constipation. because the quality of relevant trials is relatively poor. Further well-designed RCTs should be encouraged. the quality of relevant trials is relatively poor.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.62-77
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aimed to anaylze randomized controlled trials on the effectiveness of herbal medicine for hyperemesis gravidarum. Methods: We searched the randomized controlled trials that intervented oral herbal medicine treatment on hyperemesis gravidarum retrieved using seven domestic and foreign databases. Literature search was conducted on April 19, 2021. Results: 185 studies were searched, and 7 were finally selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. All subjects were treated with western symptomatic treatment and in treatment group, additional oral herbal medicine was administered. Although the evaluation index was different for each study, all the indexes in the treatment group were significantly improved compared to the control group. Conclusions: Herbal medicine treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum showed significant effectiveness compared to western symptomatic treatment. In the future, additional studies are needed to evaluate the safety of herbal medicine treatment.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.116-129
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the maternal health effects of internet-based education interventions on parturients during the postpartum period through a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Methods: An electronic literature search of the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EMBASE, Eric, PsycINFO, PubMed, RISS, and KISS databases was performed, using the combination of keywords such as 'parenthood education', '*natal education', '*birth intervention', 'internet-based intervention', 'randomized controlled trial'. The inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed papers in English regarding randomized controlled trials of internet-based postnatal education interventions. Educational interventions were delivered through any web, mobile, eHealth, mHealth, virtual reality, short message service, or social networking service platform. Quality appraisal was performed using the Risk of Bias 2 (RoB 2) for randomized controlled trials. Nine articles were yielded, and the intervention effects were analyzed. Results: Internet-based education interventions during the postpartum period affect maternal self-efficacy, postpartum depression, and successive breastfeeding; however, they do not affect maternal satisfaction and parenting confidence. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that internet-based education interventions affect maternal health status in terms of psychological, emotional, and physical wellness. Therefore, maternal health care professionals can utilize remote education using the internet or mobile-based interventions during the postpartum period.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.13-25
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• 2022

Objective This study aimed to analyze randomized controlled trials of the effect of acupuncture on Tourette syndrome and to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment. Methods Based on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Pubmed search with the key search terms of 'Tourette syndrome, acupuncture', dated from 2000 to 2021, ten randomized controlled trials were identified and analyzed for this study. Results 1. The most commonly used acupoints were Taechung (LR3), Sinmun (HT7), Hapgok (LI4), Pungji (GB20) and Backhoe (GV20). 2. The most commonly used meridians were Bladder Meridian, Stomach Meridian and Gallbladder Meridian. 3. Acupuncture treatment was found to be significantly more or equally effective than western medicine such as haloperidol and tiapride. Conclusions Based on the results of the randomized controlled trials analyzed in this study, acupuncture was found to be effective in the treatment of Tourette syndrome. However, more clinical studies are needed to prove the effectiveness of acupuncture in Tourette syndrome.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.425-451
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• 2022

Objectives: To review trends of clinical trials on Korean medicine treatments for postoperative sleep improvement. Methods: We searched randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on Korean medicine treatments for postoperative sleep improvement from ten domestic and foreign databases. Sample sizes, diseases, types of operation, diagnosis tools, pattern identification, interventions, outcome measurements, and main results of included studies were extracted and analyzed. Results: A total of 20 RCTs were selected. Most studies were published in China. The most common target disease was cancer, followed by cardiovascular disease. Most studies lacked detailed description regarding participants such as onset, duration of sleep disturbance, and preoperative sleep issues. Herbal medicine was the most frequently used in 12 studies. The most commonly used prescription was Suanzaoren decoction. The effectiveness of Korean medicine treatment on improving postoperative sleep was found to be significant in most studies. Conclusions: Korean medicine treatments might be effective in postoperative sleep improvement. However, the quality of included studies was low. Therefore, further well-designed research studies are needed to provide high quality clinical evidence on Korean medicine treatments for postoperative sleep improvement.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.75-101
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• 2021

Objectives: ncluding stroke. The aim of this study was to systematically review the clinical evidence of CT for stroke. Methods: To identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting the effectiveness and/or safety of CT, seven databases including PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched for articles published from January 2000 to February 2021 without language restrictions. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.4 software and the results were presented as mean difference (MD) or standard mean difference (SMD) for continuous variables and odds ratio (OR) for diverse variables with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Assessment of the methodological quality of the eligible trials was conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration tool for risk of bias in RCTs. Results: Twenty-two RCTs with 1653 participants were included in the final analysis. CT provided additional benefit in improving upper limb motor function (Fugl-Meyer assessment for upper limb motor function, MD 6.91, 95% CI 4.64 to 1.67, P<0.00001) and spasticity (response rate, OR 3.28, 95% CI 1.31 to 8.22, P=0.08) in stroke survivors receiving conventional medical treatment. These findings were supported with a moderate level of evidence. CT did not significantly increase the occurrence of adverse events. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the potential of CT to be beneficial in managing a variety of complications in stroke survivors. However, to compensate for the shortcomings of the existing evidence, rigorously designed large-scale RCTs are warranted in the future.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2023

Objectives To evaluate the evidence supporting the effectiveness of acupuncture for facet joint syndrome. Methods We conducted search across 9 electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL (CENTRAL), KoreaMed, Kmbase, Koreanstudies Information Service System (KISS), ScienceOn, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang) to find clinical trials that used acupuncture as treatment for facet joint syndrome. The methodological quality of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) were assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB) tool, while non-randomized controlled clinical trials (nRCTs) were assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment tool for Non-randomized Study (RoBANS) tool. Results Nine RCTs and one nRCT met our inclusion criteria. Fire needle was more effective than medial branch block in terms of visual analogue scale (VAS) after 1 month (p=0.02). Also, Fire needle was more effective than Ibuprofen in terms of VAS and oswestry disability index (ODI) (p<0.05). However, in the rest of the study results, the intervention group did not show a statistically significant difference than the control group. Conclusions Although our review found encouraging but limited evidence of acupuncture for facet joint syndrome, most of the studies included in the analysis were evaluated as methodologically high risk of bias. From now on further well-designed RCTs should be encouraged.