• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.130-137
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• 2022

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, appropriate management of sequelae and treatment of infectious symptoms became increasingly important healthcare issues. Although the practice guidelines and treatment cases based on the East Asian traditional medicine have been reported, there are rare studies on the use of Korean medicine in Korea. Therefore, this study aimed to present the progress of non-contact Korean medical treatment for infected patients at a local public health center using retrospective chart review. A total of 18 patients were prescribed with 5 days of herbal decoction and medicine extract covered by the national health insurance. With the questionnaire form, the progression and improvement of symptoms before and after treatment were evaluated using the numerical rating scale (NRS), and the treatment satisfaction and opinions were obtained. The symptoms such as cough (5.56±2.23 to 2.89±2.14), sputum (6.11±1,75 to 3.28±2.47), sore throat (6.06±2.70 to 1.47±1.62), anorexia (5.56±2.63 to 1.94±2.21), nausea (3.75±1.71 to 1.17±1.11), diarrhea (3.40±2.63 to 1.50±1.51), chest tightness (4.93±2.46 to 2.29±2.30) and fatigue (6.44±1.79 to 2.67±1.88) all improved according to the NRS, and the satisfaction with herbal medicine treatment on a 5-point Likert scale was 4.24±0.90. No side effects and adverse reactions were reported. Thereupon non-contact Korean medical treatment can be concluded that it effectively reduces the COVID-19 infection mild symptoms in restrictive extent. Since the retrospective data does not include a control group, the more confirmative data is needed by multicenter and large-scale controlled clinical study afterwards.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.215-225
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• 2022

Background: Patients with hematologic cancers have a risk of drug-related problems (DRPs) from medications associated with chemotherapy and supportive care. Although the role of oncology pharmacists has been widely documented in the literature, few studies have reported its impact on cost reduction. This study aimed to describe the activities of oncology pharmacists with respect to hematologic diseases and evaluate the associated cost avoidance. Methods: From January to July 2021, patients admitted to the department of hemato-oncology at Seoul National University, Bundang Hospital were studied. The activities of oncology pharmacists were reported by DRP type following the Pharmaceutical Care Network version 9.1 guidelines, and the acceptance rate was calculated. The avoided cost was estimated based on the cost of the pharmacy intervention, pharmacist manpower, and prescriptions associated with the intervention. Results: Pharmacists intervened in 584 prescriptions from 208 patients during the study period. The most prevalent DRP was "adverse drug event (possibly) occurring" (32.4%), followed by "effect of drug treatment not optimal" (28.6%). "Drug selection" (42.5%) and "dose selection" (30.3%) were the most common causes of DRPs. The acceptance rate of the interventions was 97.1%. The total avoidance cost was KRW 149,468,321; the net profit of the avoidance cost, excluding labor costs, was KRW 121,051,690; and the estimated cost saving was KRW 37,223,748. Conclusion: Oncology pharmacists identified and resolved various types of DRPs from prescriptions for patients with hematologic disease, by reviewing the prescriptions. Their clinical service contributed to enhanced patient safety and the avoidance of associated costs.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.139-162
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• 2022

Objectives : The review was conducted to validate the effectiveness of herbal medicines on acne. Methods : Randomized controlled trials(RCTs) reporting the effects of herbal medicine treatment on acne were searched through seven electronic databases from the time of application of the material to October 2021. Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias was used to assess the risk of bias. Analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.4 and R 4.1.0 Meta, Metafor program. Results : 34 RCTs was selected and meta-analysis was performed with 30 studies. The inflammatory lesion count of the herbal medicine(MD=0.29, 95% CI:-0.59-0.01, p<0.01, I²=80%) and the non inflammatory lesion count of herbal medicine(MD=-0.30, 95% CI:-0.70-0.10, p<0.01, I²=78%) were seen. The score of IGA(RR=1.43, 95% CI:0.90-2.27, p<0.91, I²=0%), VISIA(MD=0.36, 95% CI:0.21-0.51, p=0.07, I²=40%), effective rate(RR=1.23, 95% CI:1.05-1.44, p<0.01, I²=98%), DLQI(MD : 0.59, 95% CI:0.14-1.04, p=0.07, I²=63%) and recurrence rate(RR=0.36, 95% CI:0.23-0.58, p=0.73, I²=0%) were seen. The effective rate of herbal medicine were statistically higher that of the control group(WM)(RR=1.19, 95% CI:1.04-1.37, p<0.01, I²=97%). As a result of dividing the treatment groups into OHM, EHM, and OEHM, the EHM group(RR=1.17, 95% CI:0.79-1.72, p<0.01, I²=99%) showed the most statistically significant effect. The overall risk of bias of the included studies was some concerns. No serious adverse effects were observed. Conclusions : This review found the effectiveness of herbal medicine for acne.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2016

A conflict of interest (COI) places people in ethical dilemma when providing consultation in a field of business, medical/pharmaceutical industry, research etc. Disclosure is a commonly adopted strategy for the adverse effect of COI, but previous studies have reported inconsistent results. This investigated whether individual differences in pursuing self-interest influence differently on consultation behavior during voluntary- or no-disclosure of COI conditions. A total of 190 adults participated in an on-line experiment which consisted of two tasks. On the 1^st task, participants were divided into either a role-oriented group or a self-interest group depending on their consultation choice on the task. On the 2^nd task, participants were required to choose whether to disclose COI to his/her virtual partner and provided consultation to them. No group differences were found in frequency of choosing voluntary disclosure. For the role-oriented group, the voluntary disclosure group provided unbiased information to the virtual partners than the no disclosure group. However, no group difference between voluntary- and no-disclosure group in the self-interest group. Implications and limitations are further discussed.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.377-386
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• 2023

The effect of different commercially available bedding materials on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of ducks for 42 days was investigated. 336 one-day-old White-Pekin ducklings (60.48 ± 0.16 g) were randomly allocated into 24-floor pens with one of the three beddings namely i) coco peat, ii) rice husks, or iii) sawdust. 14 ducklings per pen and 8 replicate pens per bedding material were used. Birds were fed a starter diet from days 1-21 and a grower diet from days 22-42. Weekly growth performance evaluation was conducted for the average body weight, weight gains, daily feed intake, and feed conversion efficiency. One bird per pen was sacrificed on day 42 for the evaluation of carcass characteristics including the carcass, breast, and leg muscle percentages. Breast and leg muscle samples were then collected and analyzed for their proximate and pH values. Higher body weights (p < 0.05) were noticed with rice husks on day 42 only. Improved daily gains (p < 0.05) were also noticed for birds raised with rice husks over the entire period (days 1-42). Concerning feed intake, higher values (p < 0.05) were similarly noted with rice husks for the grower phase (days 22-42), and the entire experimental period (days 1-42). Marginally improved feed intake values were also noted with the use of rice husks as the bedding materials on day 42 (p = 0.092). Improved feed efficiency (p < 0.05) was noticed with rice husks on day 35, the grower period, and the entire 42-day period. However, no significant differences were noticed for most of the carcass characteristics that were evaluated. Nevertheless, higher (p < 0.05) pH values for the breast muscle were noticed with the use of coco peat and sawdust as the bedding. Conclusively, the bedding type could have a significant impact on the growth performance of ducks without adverse effects on carcass characteristics. The use of rice husks as bedding might be advantageous and is therefore recommended.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of vibration on primary (e.g. plasma cortisol), secondary (e.g. plasma glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Na⁺, K⁺ and Cl^- and tertiary (e.g. mortality) stress responses in cultured eel, Anguilla japonica. For this purpose, three groups (including one control group and two stress groups) were set up. The control group was made exposed to vibration corresponding to 48 decibel (dB, V) (produced using electric vibrators) for 15 minutes per hour every day, and the two stress groups was made exposed to vibration corresponding to 58 and 68 dB (V) (produced using the same electric vibrators), equally, for 15 minutes per hour every day. Blood was sampled at day 0 (before starting vibration stress tests, BS), and days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 (after starting vibration stress tests). As a result, plasma cortisol showed trend to continuously rise by consecutive stress from 4.1±0.1 ng/ml in BS. In 48 dB group (control), cortisol showed the highest level with 7.6±0.9 ng/ml after 7 days (p<0.05), but at 9 and 11 days was not significantly compared with BS level. In 58 dB group, the cortisol showed the highest level with 43.1±4.8 ng/ml after 1st day. Cortisol of 68 dB group increased significantly during the experimental period (14.4±2.3~32.0±5.7 ng/ml) (p<0.05). In 58, and 68 dB groups during the experimental period differed significantly compared to 48 group (p<0.05). Glucose in 48 dB were increased from 42.0 ±5.7 (BS) to 52.5±2.1 (1 day), the level was not significantly from 1 to 11 days. Glucose in 58 and 68 dB groups was increased significantly than BS during experimental period (p<0.05). K⁺ in 68 dB increased significantly (p<0.05) from 2.3±0.2 mE/ql (BS) to 3.3±0.5 mE/ql at 5 days. In 48 and 58 dB groups during the experimental period differed significantly (p<0.05). Na⁺ and Cl^- levels were not differed significantly during the experimental period. AST and ALT in 58 and 68 dB groups showed trend to continuously rise by consecutive stress. At 7 and 9 days in AST, between 48, 58 and 68 dB groups differed significantly (p<0.05). In 48, 58 and 68 dB groups at 1 day, blood hematocrit increased significantly higher than BS. The 11 days after vibration stress, the mortality in 48, 58 and 68 dB groups was 1.1, 5.1 and 5.8%, respectively. The present results have shown that A. japonica exhibited ''typical'' physiological responses when exposed to chronic vibration stress. These data suggested that chronic vibration stress caused substantial stress in the fish; especially the persisting elevated plasma AST and ALT levels observed would be expected to adverse effect. In conclusion, chronic vibration stress could greatly affects the hematological characteristics in A. japonica.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

In this study, a formula (EJ-F101) was prepared to develop a raw material for acne-prone skin improvement using wheat germ extract, and a clinical trial cream was prepared and clinical trials were conducted. As a result of the analysis, when comparing before and after using the product, both the test group and the control group showed significant improvement effects in terms of open comedones, occluded comedones, papules, sebum and oil content in the facial region at 4 weeks after product use, compared to the control group in the test group which showed a more significant improvement effect. As a result of the survey on the efficacy of the product, most items showed higher positive answers in the test product compared to the control product four weeks after the use of the product, and about 43-81% of the study subjects answered positively in the test product, except for the "open surface" item. In addition, for all items related to the usability of the product, about 14-86% of the test group and 38-90% of the control group answered positively at the time point 4 weeks after using the product. As a result of skin safety evaluation, no adverse skin reactions were observed in all subjects of this study. Based on the above results, it is considered that the cream using wheat germ extract is suitable for use on acne-prone skin(non comedogenicity).

• Journal of Convergence Korean Medicine
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2022

Objectives: Smoking had a long negative impact on public health. The ingredients of a cigarette are major risk factors for several diseases. Owing to the problems about economic and quality of life, we need to ensure smoking cessation (SC). There are several approaches for SC including pharmacological therapy, nicotine replacement therapy, education, and behavioral intervention. However, due to some limitations, other alternative approaches are gaining popularity. Acupuncture has been reported to have few side effects and be more effective than some conventional treatments in several articles. However, there are no systematic reviews on the comparison of acupuncture combination treatment with other conventional monotherapies. Methods: Randomized controlled trials that used acupuncture as an adjunct treatment for SC will be searched and data will be summarized according to the predefined criteria. The primary outcome will be the abstinence rate, and secondary outcomes will be adverse events and biochemical indicators. We will use Review Manager to perform a meta-analysis, Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias tool for the risk of bias assessment, and the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach to determine the quality of evidence. We will investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture combination treatment for SC with this study. Ethics and dissemination: This study will provide reliable clinical evidence on additional effect of acupuncture on smoking cessation. We will publish our results in a peer-review journal.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.169-177
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• 2023

Background: The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has identified cases of people suspected of suffering lung disease potentially caused by chloromethylisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (CMIT/MIT) used in humidifier disinfectants (HDs). The Korean Ministry of Environment (MoE) epidemiological investigation and toxicity test study found that HDs caused health damage such as asthma and lung disease. Objectives: The main purposes of this study were to classify the HD exposure rating and to analyze the exposure characteristics that affect exposure to CMIT/MIT HDs. Methods: The exposure characteristics and socio-demographic characteristics of victim participants using CMIT/MIT HDs were investigated through questionnaires. An inhalation no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) for CMIT/MIT was produced based on inhalation toxicity values. Exposure ratings (class 1~class 2) were cross-tabulated with clinical ratings (acceptable~unacceptable). A correlation analysis was conducted with the main exposure characteristics that affect the exposure concentration of CMIT/MIT HDs. Results: The concentration in indoor air of CMIT/MIT was 8.75±25.40 ㎍/m³, and the exposure concentration was 2.30±6.29 ㎍/m³. The CMIT/MIT exposure rating of 67 participants with high exposures of not more than MOE 100 were evaluated as 14.5%, while the damage participants who matched the clinical rating made up 4.5%. The exposure concentration of CMIT/MIT showed a positive correlation with the daily usage amount and usage frequency, and a negative correlation with volume of the indoor environment. Conclusions: A new exposure rating could be suggested and calculated based on the MOE, and the factors affecting the exposure concentration could be identified.