• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.210-216
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• 2021

Background: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication of acute herpes zoster. The treatment of PHN remains a challenge for clinical pain management. Despite the effectiveness of anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and lidocaine patches in reducing PHN, many patients still face intractable pain disorders. In this randomized controlled study, we evaluated whether hydromorphone through intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) was effective in relieving PHN. Methods: Patients with PHN were randomly divided into two groups, one group received oral pregabalin with IV normal saline, another group received oral pregabalin with additional IV PCA hydromorphone for two weeks. Efficacy was evaluated at 1, 4, and 12 weeks after the end of the treatments. Results: Two hundred and one patients were followed up for 12 weeks. After treatment, numerical rating scale (NRS) score of patients in the hydromorphone group was significantly lower than that of the control group, and the difference of NRS scores between the two groups was statistically significant at 4 and 12 weeks after treatment. The frequency of breakthrough pain in the hydromorphone group was significantly lower than that in the control group 1 and 4 weeks after treatment. After treatment, the quality of sleep in the hydromorphone group was significantly improved compared with the control group. The most common adverse reactions in the hydromorphone group were dizziness and nausea, with no significant respiratory depression. Conclusions: IV PCA hydromorphone combined with oral pregabalin provides superior pain relief in patients with PHN, which is worthy of clinical application and promotion.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.307-314
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• 2024

Broussonetia kazinoki twig extract (BKT) is recognized for its antioxidant and anti-cancer effects and natural whitening properties. So, it is used as a raw material for cosmetics. B. kazinoki twig is also an edible raw material. B. kazinoki has been used in Asia for paper production and oriental medicine, has anti-diabetic effects, and contains various flavonoids and alkaloids. In this study, to evaluate the efficacy of BKT on allergic skin inflammatory responses, we investigated its effects on factors related to skin inflammation in HaCaT keratinocytes and allergic responses in RBL-2H3 cells. There was no cytotoxicity of the 70% ethanol extract against HaCaT and RBL-2H3 cells. In HaCaT cells, stimulation with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-𝛼) and interferon-gamma (IFN-𝛾) increased the production of several chemokines, including thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC), macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC), and regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES). However, it was observed that this elevation was notably mitigated in a concentration-dependent manner upon treatment with BKT. Furthermore, BKT treatment demonstrated a significant reduction of 𝛽-hexosaminidase and inflammatory cytokines TNF-𝛼 and IL-4 in IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. Thus, it is expected that BKT can be used as a natural cosmetic and food ingredient that effectively suppresses allergic inflammatory reactions.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.94-101
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• 2024

Herbal medicine (HM)-containing Ephedra Sinica (ES) has been associated with false-positive amphetamine immunoassay (FP IA) results. This study retrospectively evaluated the effects of dose, duration, and withdrawal instructions on FP IA and the safety of HM-containing ES at a clinic in Seoul from 2022 to 2023. The study included 6 patients in the FP IA group and 5 patients in the withdrawal instruction negative (Neg) group. The pre-test ephedrine alkaloids dose in the FP IA group was 95.17±31.90 mg, compared with 88.6±20.43 mg in the Neg group. The FP IA group had taken HM for 226.67±152.87 days before testing, and testing was performed while taking HM. In contrast, the Neg group had taken HM for 147.6±23.49 days and had 5.4±1.50 days of withdrawal period before the test following instructions of Korean medicine doctors. All adverse events (AEs) were moderate in severity, and the number of occurrences was similar: 5 in the FP IA group and 7 in the Neg group. AEs included constipation, insomnia (3 cases each), and palpitations (2 cases). The results of this study show that ES-induced FP IA can be resolved with withdrawal instructions and ES can be safely prescribed and administered by Korean medicine doctors. Further studies are needed to determine how to prevent FP IA after taking ES.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.377-382
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• 1998

This study was carried out to measure the contents of moisture, crude ash, crude fat, total amino acid, with amino acid composition, vitamin C, ${\beta}-carotene$, vitamin E, total catechins, EGCG, EGC, ECG, EC, GA, caffeine, theobromine and theophylline of the green tea I, II, III, oolong, and black tea. The content of crude fat of green tea I, II, III, oolong, and black teas was 1.1, 2.5, 4.9, 0.8 and 1.2% respectively, total amino acid content was 0.87, 0.78, 0.60, 0.63 and 1.05% respectively, and theanine content was 0.52, 0.48, 0.31, 0.41 and 0.61%, respectively. Total amino acid content of green tea increased in the order of green tea I> green tea II> green tea III, and among the teas, the content of theanine was the highest in the amino acids present. The content of vitamin C of green teal, II, III, oolong, and black tea was 101.6, 87.5, 95.9, 99.1 and 108.0 mg%, respectively, ${\beta}-carotene$ content was 270, 268, 481, 80 and 181 ppm, respectively. Among the ${\alpha}-,\;{\beta}-,\;{\gamma}-\;and\;{\delta}-tocopherol$, the content of ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ was the highest in vitamin E present, and ${\beta}-\;and\;{\delta}-tocopherol$ were not detected in the samples of green teal, II, III, oolong, and black teas. The total catechins of green teal, II, III, oolong, and black teas was 10.5, 10.4, 7.2, 8.4 and 1.8% respectively, and among them, EGCG content was the highest. The content of EGC increased in the order of green tea I > green tea III > green tea II > oolong tea> black tea. The contents EGCG and ECG increased in the order of oolong tea> green tea I > green tea II> green tea III> black tea, and the highest contents of EGCG and ECG were observed in the samples of oolong tea. The content of GA was 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.13 and 0.31%, respectively, and the highest contents of GA, caffeine and theobromine were observed in the sample of black tea. The highest content of theophylline, however, was observed in the sample of green tea I.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.1401-1407
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• 2008

1-Deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) is a strong $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitor which inhibits hyperglycemia in animals. To select the Bacillus strains highly producing DNJ, 4,000 strains were isolated from soil and grain samples. By the inhibitory activity against $\alpha$-glucosidase, nine Bacillus strains were selected and then identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. B. subtilis S10 was finally selected as the best strain for the production of DNJ. Various carbon sources and nitrogen sources in culture medium were evaluated for the highest production of DNJ. As the results, the optimized concentration of carbon source and nitrogen source was 1.0% galactose and 1.6% polypeptone and the concentration of DNJ produced was 0.75 g/L. The effect of culture supernatant of B. subtilis S10 on lowering blood glucose level was investigated in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice model. Mice were randomly assigned to control group (saline) and three test groups such as acarbose group, silkworm powder group and B. subtilis S10 group. After eight-week oral feeding, blood glucose levels of the B. subtilis S10 and silkworm powder groups were respectively $209.1{\pm}19.6\;mg/dL$ (59.1%) and $208.6{\pm}39.8\;mg/dL$ (59.0%) lower than $510{\pm}10\;mg/dL$ of the control group. These results indicated that the culture supernatant of B. subtilis S10 was able to reduce the blood glucose level in STZ-induced diabetic mice.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.410-417
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• 2010

Various functional foods, marketing health and functional effects, have been distributed in the market. These products, being in forms of foods, tablets, and capsules, are likely to be mistaken as drugs. In addition, non-experts may sell these as foods, or use these for therapy. Efforts for creating health food regulations or building regulatory system for improving the current status of functional foods have been made, but these have not been communicated to consumers yet. As a result, problems of circulating functional foods for therapy or adding illegal medical to such products have persisted, which has become worse by internet media. The cause of this problem can be categorized into (1) product itself and (2) its use, but in either case, one possible cause is lack of communications with consumers. Potential problems that can be caused by functional foods include illegal substances, hazardous substances, allergic reactions, considerations when administered to patients, drug interactions, ingredients with purity or concentrations too low to be detected, products with metabolic activations, health risks from over- or under-dose of vitamin and minerals, and products with alkaloids. (Journal of Health Science, 56, Supplement (2010)). The reason why side effects related to functional foods have been increasing is that under-qualified functional food companies are exaggerating the functionality for marketing purposes. KFDA has been informing consumers, through its web pages, to address the above mentioned issues related to functional foods, but there still is room for improvement, to promote proper use of functional foods and avoid drug interactions. Specifically, to address these issues, institutionalizing to collect information on approved products and their side effects, settling reevaluation systems, and standardizing preclinical tests and clinical tests are becoming urgent. Also to provide crucial information, unified database systems, seamlessly aggregating heterogeneous data in different domains, with user interfaces enabling effective one-stop search, are crucial.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.144-155
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• 1987

Water extracts of polygonum hydropiper and Polygonum aviculare completely inhibited the germination of lettuce seeds. Methanol extracts from these two species also inhibited the seed germination of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and Oenothera odorata. Fifteen phenolic acids in total were identified by GLC from P. hydropiper and eighteen from P. aviculare. The most common phenolic acids identified from P. hydropiper were sinapic, salicylic+vanillic and ferulic acid presented in all the fractions. In addition, salicylic+vanillic, tannic+gallic, sinapic, ferulic and p-coumaric acid seemed to be important phenolic compounds in terms of quantity. However, salicylic+vanillic acids were the unique phenolic acids occurred in all the fractions of P. aviculare. The others such as tannic+gallic, sinapic, ferulic, p-coumaric acid, p-cresol and catechol present in large amount appeared also the important phenolic substances influencing allelopathic effects of P. aviculare. Linolenic acid and oxalic acid were the major fatty and organic acids in both plant species, presented in 2.38mg/g and 20.588mg/g in P. hydropiper, 3.70mg/g and 14.288mg/g in P. aviculare, respectively, which seem to be exhibiting allelopathic effects of these plants. Total alkaloids were presented in low amount such as 0.20% in P. hydropiper arid 0.22% in P. aviculare which may not be important elements. Pet. ether extracts were 2.42% in P. hydropiper and 1.65% in P. aviculare, which exhibit another potential for allelopathic effects that need further investigation. Various authentic phenolic compounds at different concentrations inhibited the germination of lettuce seed, indicating that the phenolic substances identified here may be directly related to biologically active substance.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1096-1103
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• 2019

Neuroinflammation is mediated by the activation of microglia and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Therefore, the inhibition of neuroinflammation may be an effective solution to treat these brain disorders. Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis is an insect belonging to the order Coleoptera and inhabits Korea, China, Japan and Siberia. P. brevitarsis seulensis is an edible insect that can be consumed as a protein source for humans. It has been reported that P. brevitarsis seulensis contains useful bioactive substances for hepatoprotection and improving blood circulation, such as indole alkaloids. Microglia cells are the main source of proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide (NO) in the central nervous system, which Perform neuroimmune, inflammatory, and other neurobilogical functions. In this study, we investigated the anti-neuroinflammatory effects of P. brevitarsis seulensis ethanol extract (PBE) in activated microglia cells treated with lipopolysaccgarude (LPS, 100 ng/ml). As a result, PBE significantly inhibited NO production without cytotoxicity and decreased the expression levels of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. In addition, the production of inflammatory cytokine secreted by LPS was also reduced by PBE. These results suggest that PBE could be a good source of functional substances to prevent neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.