• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.39-47
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• 2016

Objectives : This study was conducted to examine the clinical effects of thread embedding acupuncture on lumbar herniated intervertebral disc patients. Methods : This is a retrospective study based on clinical charts. Despite the treatments of acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, herbal medicine, and physical therapy during admission period, 10 lumbar herniated intervertebral disc patients who had shown few improvements in their symptoms were selected as subjects. Thread embedding acupuncture was conducted to reduce patient pain. Patient progress was categorized into three periods based on when the embedding procedure performed. Verbal numeric rating scale (VNRS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), and a 5 step evaluation scale for satisfaction were used to analyze the outcome. Results : Regarding comparison of VNRS improvement rate, both 3 and 6 days after embedding progress showed significant difference compared to before embedding progress. ODI improvement rate showed significant difference only 6 days after embedding progress. Patients' satisfaction with treatment had increased by several degrees. Conclusion : Thread embedding acupuncture for lumbar herniated intervertebral disc patients may be effective in reducing pain and improving their quality of life.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.577-590
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of toothpaste containing hydroxyapatite for patients who complained dental hypersensitivity. Before baseline of application of toothpaste with hydroxyapatite, tooth brushing instruction was done respectively and the several indices were measured at baseline, 2, 4, 8 weeks. Clinical indices were estimated, and responses to cold, compressive air, tactile stimulus were evaluated with verbal rating score. Relief effects and visual analogue scale were also evaluated. The results of this study were as follows 1. The occurrence rate of hypersensitivity in upper jaw was higher than that of lower jaws, and molar area showed more hypersensitivity than premolar and incisor area. Buccal site was hypersensitive followed by interproximal and lingual site. 2. Plaque index, gingival index and probing depth reduction were gradually improved after Tooth Brushing Instruction and using toothpaste. 3. Subjects showed most sensitive response to cold stimuli than compressive air and tactile stimuli. 4. The relief effect was increased during using tooth paste and complete relief was increased especially at 8 weeks. 5. Visual analogue scale was increased. In conclusion, it was confirmed that toothpaste containing microcrystalline hydroxyapatite have the relief effect of tooth hypersensitivity. During 8 weeks, stimulus responses were decreased and hypersensitivity relief effect was increased.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.27-51
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• 2019

This case study aimed to investigate changes in self-expression following participation in a rap making program with adolescent survivors of childhood cancer. The rap making program was constructed based on the contextual support music therapy model. Three adolescent survivors of childhood cancer participated in six 80-minute individual sessions. During the sessions, each participant engaged in the following tasks: song discussion, lyric creation, and rapping over a selected beat. At pre and posttest, the Self-Expression Scale was completed by participants. Their verbal expressions lyrics were observed during the sessions, and individual interviews with the participants were conducted at the completion of the program. The results demonstrated that the mean rating of the Self-Expression Scale increased after the rap making intervention. Analysis of the participants' verbal expressions and lyrics demonstrated that participants were experiencing difficulties adjusting to school that they wanted to resolve. Furthermore, the analysis of the interviews at posttest found that participants experienced positive changes in self-perception, self-expression, and expectations for their future, compared to the pretest when the participants expressed negative self-perceptions due to difficulties in interpersonal relationships at school and physical limitations. This indicates that rap making can be an effective resource for providing this population with the means to recognize positive attributes about themselves and improve self-expression.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.184-193
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• 2007

Objectives:There is increasing evidence that the cerebellum plays an important role in cognition and psychiatric symptoms as well as motor coordination. The concept of cognitive dysmetria has been making cerebellar function in schizophrenia the focus of current studies. In other words, disruption in the corticocerebellum-thalamic -cortical circuit could lead to disordered cognition and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia. The purposes of this study were to determine cerebellar dysfunction in male schizophrenic patients semiquantitatively with ICARS and to investigate the clinical and cognitive correlates of ICARS in patients. Methods:We compared the scores of cerebellar neurologic sign using ICARS in 47 male patients with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia with 30 gender and age-matched healthy control subjects. The semiquantitative 100-point ICARS consists of 19 items divided into 4 unequally weighted subscores:posture and gait disturbances, kinetic functions, speech disorders and oculomotor disorders. All subjects were also assessed with cognitive function test. Cognitive functions were evaluated by Korean-Mini Mental Status Examination (K-MMSE), Verbal fluency test, and Clock drawing test. The patients were administered Korea version of Positive and Negative Symptom Scale(K-PANSS) to assess the symptom severity. Results:Schizophrenic patients had significantly higher scores on the ICARS than control subjects with posture and gait disturbances, kinetic functions, and oculomotor disorders. They also showed more significant impairments in cognitive function tests than control subjects. There was a significant correlation between ICARS and negative symptoms of patients. In cognitive function test, Clock drawing test was significantly associated with negative symptoms. In addition, Clock drawing test was negatively correlated with the total score of ICARS. Conclusion:In this study, we confirmed that schizophrenic patients have significant impairments in cognitive and cerebellar function, and that those were related with negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients. These results support a role of the cerebellum in schizophrenia. It is meaningful that we used a structured, and reliable procedure for rating neurological soft signs, ICARS. We hope that future prospective studies using a similar design help that rate of neurological sign should have been visible with the progression of illness.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.116-131
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study was to observe the changes of women's postpartum symptoms, the quality of life and depression scale over the first six weeks after childbirth. Methods: Twenty seven mothers who received Korean medical treatment in the outpatient department treatment (from September 27th, 2017 to January 5th, 2018) were evaluated for Verbal numerical rating scale (VNRS), edema index, EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS), and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Results: There were 17 high risk participants (63.0%) and 10 normal participants (37.0%). The VNRS of edema is the highest in the first week, and the VNRS of joint pain is the highest from the second week to the sixth week in all patients. The Extra Cellular Water/Total Body Water (ECW/TBW) of high risk group significantly decreased from $0.403{\pm}0.011$ to $0.387{\pm}0.006$(p<0.05) in the first 2 weeks. The ECW/TBW of normal group significantly decreased from $0.393{\pm}0.070$ to $0.383{\pm}0.011$ (p<0.05) in the first 2 weeks. The EQ-VAS of high risk group increased from $64.12{\pm}13.941$ to $69.35{\pm}18.155$ (p<0.05) in the first 2 weeks. But this difference was not significant statistically (p=0.234). The EQ-VAS of normal group significantly increased from $62.50{\pm}21.763$ to $74.00{\pm}9.661$ (p<0.05) in the first 2 weeks. The difference of EPDS was not statistically significant between the first week and the sixth week in every participants. Conclusions: VNRS was the highest in edema in the first week, joint pain was the highest from the second week to six week. The edema index of high risk groups was higher than that of the normal group in the first week (p<0.05). The EQ-VAS of normal group significantly increased (p<0.05) in the first 2 weeks but high risk group didn't. In the EPDS, the ratio of nine or more points of high risk group was more than twice than normal group in the first 2 weeks.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.173-182
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• 2014

Objectives : There are few reports on treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome in the field of traditional Korean medicine. The aim of this study is to report a case of a 29-year-old male patient diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, whose symptoms were relieved after 3-week integrated Korean medical treatment. Methods : A patient diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome was admitted into the Korean medicine hospital. The patient had left shoulder pain and left arm numbness. The pain was worse if it had become cold. The patient was treated using Sa-am acupuncture(Daejangseunggyeok), sweet bee venom acupuncture, herbal medicine and other treatment including physical therapy from September 7th to 27th of 2012. Improvement of the patient's symptoms was evaluated by verbal numerical rating scale(VNRS), skin surface temperature difference between the left and right symmetric part of digital infrared thermographic image(DITI). Results : After 3-weeks of treatment, VNRS decreased and skin surface temperature difference between the left and right symmetric part of DITI showed moderate improvement. Conclusions : The results suggest that integrated Korean medical treatment may affect to reduce the symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. Further study is needed to evaluate the importance of this report.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.21-31
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. Methods : This clinical study was carried out on 119 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis, who had been admitted from May, 2009 to March, 2011. Patients were sorted into two groups ; One group(bee venom pharmacopuncture group) was treated with bee venom pharmacopuncture and acupuncture therapy, the other(non-bee venom pharmacopuncture group) with acupuncture therapy only. Verbal numerical rating scale(VNRS) and Oswestry disability index(ODI) were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment in both groups. VNRS and ODI scores of the two groups were statistically compared. Results : The bee venom pharmacopuncture group demonstrated a more significant improvement than non-bee venom pharmacopuncture group when evaluated with VNRS and ODI. Conclusions : In the case of the patients with spinal stenosis, it was found that treatment with combination of bee venom pharmacopuncture and acupuncture was more effective in improving the conditions of the patients (subsidence of the symptoms) than the acupuncture treatment only.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.234-240
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• 2009

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the analgesic effect of 0.25% and 0.5% levobupivacaine for real time ultrasound guided single-injection femoral nerve block for the patients who are undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods: Femoral nerve block was done to all patients with 20 ml of 0.9% normal saline on one leg and 20 ml of 0.25% levobupivacaine on the other leg for group I (n = 16) and 0.5% levobupivacaine for group II (n = 15) with 1:200,000 epinephrine and using real-time ultrasound and a nerve stimulator. The data concerning the verbal numerical rating scale (VNRS) for each leg, the consumption of the intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) and the demands for the additional analgesics was collected at 0, 1, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours after the operation. Results: The legs on which femoral nerve block was done with levobupivacaine showed a lower VNRS score than the legs with normal saline in either group I or group II. The VNRS scores between the two legs, the consumption of the IV PCA and the demand for additional analgesics showed no significant differences between the groups. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that single-injection femoral nerve block using real-time ultrasound with either 0.25% levobupivacaine or 0.5% levobupivacaine 20 ml provides a good effect for the postoperative pain control after TKA.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was performed to evaluate the effects of oriental medical treatments and Chuna treatment on patients with pain and limited range of motion(LOM) about shoulder subsequent to scapular fracture. Methods : Two patients suffered from pain and LOM about shoulder after scapular fracture, one is scapular body fracture with multiple rib fractures, the other is only intraglenoid fracture were treated with Chuna therapy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, physical therapy and measured by VNRS(Verbal numerical rating scale) and ROM (Range of motion). Results : After oriental medical treatments and Chuna treatment, we found out a recovery from two patients suffered from pain and LOM about shoulder subsequent to scapular fracture. Conclusions : Through this study, we suggest that oriental medical treatments and Chuna treatment were effective to cure patients with pain and LOM subsequent to scapular fracture.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Oriental medical treatment in patients with acute lumbar Herniated Intervertebral Disc(HIVD). Methods : This clinical study was carried out on 44 patients with acute lumbar HIVD, who had been admitted from Oct. 2011 to Nov. 2011. All of 44 patients were treated with acupuncture, Chuna treatment and herbal medicine during the whole admission period. Verbal numerical rating scale(VNRS) and Oswestry disability index(ODI) were used to evaluated the effectiveness of the Oriental medical treatment. Result : Siginificant improvement of the symptoms was seen when evaluated with VNRS and ODI. Conclusions : These results suggest that in the case of low back pain and lower limb numbness caused by acute HIVD, conservative treatments can be considered as one of the options of treating the symptoms beside surgical way.