• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.580-591
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• 2011

This research was performed to investigate the effects of NEP (Nutritional Education Practice) program developed by KHyDDI (Korea Hypertension Diabetes Daegu Initiative) for hypertension and diabetes patients. The subjects were 116 patients (hypertension 70, diabetes 46) who had completed basic education program at the education information center and four-session program was implemented for them. Nutrient intake was analyzed and compared before and after the program by 24-hr recall method and evaluate weight, waist circumference, body fat, blood pressure and eating habits in terms of nutrition knowledge, eating behavior, salty taste assessment. The improved results after the program were observed in weight, waist circumference, body fat ratio, blood pressure, slightly salty taste in salty taste assessment, nutrition knowledge, eating behavior, sodium, energy, carbohydrate and protein intake ratio to total energy (p < 0.001). Therefore, this program is effective in the improvement of weight, waist circumference and eating behavior, and the continued management would lead to the prevention of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases in the community.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.230-235
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• 2007

Objective : We investigated the incidence of the vascular abnormalities associated with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage [ICH] using three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography [3D-CTA]. Methods : We prospectively assessed consecutive 76 patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage [ICH] who underwent 3D-CTA between June 2003 and May 2005. The patients with a recent history of trauma or mainly subarachnoid hemorrhage were excluded. We investigated relationship between vascular abnormality and ICH location. The findings of 3D-CTA were classified as one of three patterns with ICH; type A [without evidence of vascular abnormality], type B [with no vascular abnormality as the source of hemorrhage, but with incidental vascular abnormality], and type C [presence of a vascular abnormality as the source of hemorrhage]. Results : Sites of ICH were lobar 26, basal ganglia 23, thalamus 17, posterior fossa 6 and dominant intraventricular hemorrhage [IVH] 4. Among 76 patients, sixteen [21.1%] vascular abnormalities were noted excluding 13 cases of stenoocclusive disease. Sixteen cases included 6 cases of cerebral aneurysms [7.9%], 5 moyamoya diseases [6.6%], 4 arteriovenous malformations [5.3%] and 1 dural sinus thrombosis [1.3%]. Lobar ICH [30.8%] had a higher vascular abnormalities than other types, and younger age [<40] group had a higher incidence of vascular abnormalities than old age group. The patterns of 3D-CTA include sixty cases [79.0%] of type A, 6 cases [7.8%] of type Band 10 cases [13.2%] of type C. The vascular abnormalities were found in 8 [13.5%] of 59 hypertensive patients and 8 [47.0%] of 17 non-hypertensive patients [p=0.006]. Conclusion : 3D-CT angiography is considered a useful screening tool for ICH patients with suspected cerebrovascular abnormalities and should be considered in such clinical settings, especially in lobar type and in non-hypertensive younger patients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.61-69
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• 1995

Hyperlipidemia is a major predisposing factor of atherosclerosis and cerebrovascular accidents. In effort to develope a hypolipidemic drug from medicinal herb, We tested three prescriptions of traditional medicine for the lipid lowering effect on diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats. GyejI-Bokryung-Hwan, Ohyak-Sunki-San, and Shihoga-Yongol-Moryu-Tang were selected based on the comnon prescriptions for patients with hyperlipidemia-related diseases. Water extract from each prescriptions was made by the method used in the clinical setting, and administered intragastrically once a day, for 4 weeks. Fenofibrate and lovastatin were given by the same method as the control drugs. Blood levels of total cholesterol(TC), high density lipoprotein(HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglyceride(TG) were measured before, 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after starting the drug administration. All of the traditional prescriptions did not show lipid lowering effect, while fenofibrate lower the blood cholesterol levels(TC;from 215mg/dl before to 182m41 at 4 weeks-point of drug administration, and LDL ;from 203mg/dl before to aut 161, and 163mg/dl at 3 and 4 week-point respectively). Oyak-Sunki-San increased the level of TC (from 283mg/dl to over 350mg/dl starting from the first week of drug administratin). Effects on TG variable in the cases of traditional medicines and control drug In conclusion, any of the three traditional medical prescriptions did not decrease the level of blood cholesterol.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.188-197
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• 2015

In this study, we investigated the effect of rice bran water extract fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum Hong (RBLw), on activities of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and thromboxane $A_2$ synthase (TXAS), thromboxane $A_2$ ($TXA_2$) production associated microsomal enzymes and evaluated its the antiplatelet effect. RBLw, containing 13.5 mg of ferulic acid, dose-dependently inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation, and inhibited the production of $TXA_2$, an aggregation molecule. In addition, RBLw directly inhibited COX-1 activity in a dose-dependent manner, but not TXAS activity in platelet microsomal fraction having cytochrome c reductase (an endoplasmic reticulum marker enzyme) activity and expressing COX-1 (72 kDa) and TXAS (60.5 kDa) proteins. These results suggest that RBLw selectively inhibited the activity of COX-1 rather than TXAS to attenuate $TXA_2$ production in ADP-activated platelets. Thus, we demonstrate that RBLw might have direct COX-1 antagonistic function for platelet aggregation-mediated diseases, such as thrombosis, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, and ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.145-156
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• 2014

Objectives: Korean medicine hospitals, since they first emerged in the early 1970s, have rapidly become a new member of the hospital population. As it was a new organizational frame for traditional medicine, we tried to analyze the changes of Korean medicine hospitals coping with institutional environment and their relative positioning in the whole health care sector. Methods: On the basis of Scott and his colleagues' identification of the three components of institutional environments, changes in organizational logics, actors, and governance of Korean medicine hospitals during the period from 1971 to 2010 were analyzed. Results: First, Similar to previous literature on institutional eras of Korean health sector, three distinct periods were characterized: the foundation of Korean medicine hospitals to consolidate the legal status(1971~1986), a rapid increase of entrepreneurial hospitals through cultural-cognitive legitimacy(1987~2001), and the reinforcement of specialization and competition(2002~present). Conclusions: Results suggested that: (1) changes in institutional environments hada heavy impact on structural and behavioral changes among Korean medicine hospitals, but the pace was slower than that of western medicine hospitals. (2) In structure, Korean medicine hospitals have positioned themselves as unofficial long-term care hospitals, focusing on chronic diseases(e.g. cerebrovascular disease). Our study demonstrated that organizational theories can provide useful framework for the analysis of Korean medicine and related policies. Indeed, one of the most important implications of this study is that understanding changes in institutional environments is important to understand the process of how members of the health care sector live, grow, change, decline and survive.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2020

Purpose: Agent Orange (AO) is a herbicide and defoliant used by the United States and its military allies during the Vietnam War. Pneumonia is a common cause of death among Vietnam veterans in our hospital. There have been no previous studies researching any association between AO exposure and the prognosis for pneumonia. The primary objective of this study was to investigate associations between AO exposure and 30-day mortality due to pneumonia. The secondary objective was to examine the clinical factors associated with therapeutic outcomes in veterans with pneumonia, and to assess the prevalence of combined diseases in AO-exposed veterans. Methods: This study retrospectively included veteran patients diagnosed with pneumonia in the emergency department and hospitalized between February 2014 and March 2018. The enrolled patients were grouped according to their defoliant exposure history, and the clinical information of defoliant-exposed and non-defoliant-exposed groups were compared. Patients were divided according to 30-day mortality, and significant factors influencing mortality were evaluated by using univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. The final multivariate model revealed the effect of AO exposure on therapeutic outcomes of pneumonia. Results: A total of 1006 patients were analyzed. Of these, 276 patients had a history of AO exposure, whereas 730 patients had not been exposed. Factors positively associated with 30-day mortality were malignancy, respiratory rate, blood urea nitrogen, and albumin which was negatively associated with mortality. Conclusion: Exposure to defoliant is not associated with 30-day mortality in patients with pneumonia. However, veterans with defoliant exposure are associated with a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cerebrovascular accident, malignancy, and chronic kidney disease.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.1193-1201
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• 2019

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the clinical characteristics of patients who complained of heartburn and to report the effects of Sogunjung-tang granules on heartburn. Methods: Observation was carried out on 30 patients with heartburn who were treated in Dongshin University Oriental Medicine Hospital from 1 October 2018 to 3 July 2019. For relieving heartburn, an oriental medical therapy of Sogunjung-tang granules was administered. To evaluate the effect of treatment, the visual analog scale (VAS) was used. Results: Females predominated among the patients (86.7% of the total). The patients were mostly aged in their 50s and the average age was 56.8 years. In the medical histories of the patients, other diseases (neuropsychiatric disease, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, urologic disease, uterine disease etc.) were the most common (34.7%) and gastrointestinal disease was the second most common (22.4%). The patients took Sosiho-tang granules plus Sogunjung-tang granules for a maximum of 282 days. The number of patients who took medication within 10 days of experiencing heartburn was the highest and the number of patients who took medication more than 30 days of experiencing heartburn was the lowest. The scores on the visual analog scale (VAS) were significantly improved after treatment, the average decreasing from 7.0 to 3.1. Before taking the granules, the average rate of improvement for patients who recorded less than VAS 6 was 80%. Six out of seven inpatients showed more than two VAS changes on 3.8 day of taking medicine, and 23 outpatients showed more than two VAS changes on the second visit. Conclusions: This study suggests that Sogunjung-tang granules is probably effective in the treatment of heartburn.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2005

Objective : To compare the mortality rate of Korean medical doctors to that of the general Korean population for the period 1992-2002. Methods : The membership records of the Korean Medical Association were linked to the 1992-2002 death certificate data of Korea s National Statistical Office using 13-digit unique personal identification numbers. The study population consisted of 61,164 medical doctors with a follow-up period of 473,932 person-years. Standardized mortality ratios(SMRs) were calculated to compare cause-specific mortality rates of medical doctors to those of the general population. Results : We confirmed 1,150 deaths at ages from 30 to 75 years from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 2002. The SMR for all-cause of death was 0.47(95% CI : $0.44{\sim}0.50$). The SMRs for smoking-related diseases such as cerebrovascular accidents and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were smaller than the SMR of all-cause of death. However, the SMRs for colorectal and pancreatic cancers were not significantly lower than those of the general population. Transport accidents and suicides accounted for 72% (94 of 131) of external causes of death. The SMR for suicide was 0.51 (95% CI : $0.38{\sim}0.68$). Conclusions : The mortality rate of South Korean medical doctors was less than 50% that of the general population of South Korea. Cause-specific analysis showed that mortality rates in leading causes of death were lower among medical doctors although differences in mortality rates between medical doctors and the general population varied with the causes of death. These health benefits found among medical doctors may be attributable to the lower level of health damaging behaviors (e.g., lower smoking rates) and better working conditions.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.599-602
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• 2008

Vincamine, one of the major indole alkaloids in vincaminor (Vinca minor L.) is commonly used for treating cerebrovascular diseases. The antioxidant activity of vincaminor extracts and vincamine were measured by 1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and lipid malonaldehyde (MA) assay. Vincaminor leaves were pulverized and extracted with various solvents such as water, methanol, and ethanol. The antioxidant activities of the extracts varied in accordance with solvents and assays. In DPPH assay, the water extract showed the highest antioxidant activity. In lipid MA assay, However, the ethanol extract inhibited MA formation from cod liver oil by 82% at the level of 5,000 ${\mu}g/mL$. Vincamine in the extract was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatogram and the concentration of vincamine was 0.419$\pm$0.005 ${\mu}g/mL$.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2016

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases seriously harm human health, and Bifidobacterium is the most beneficial probiotic in the gastrointestinal tract of humans. This work aimed to screen cholesterol-lowering Bifidobacterium from Guizhou Xiang Pig and evaluate its tolerance to oxygen, acid, and bile. Twenty-seven aerotolerant strains with similar colony to Bifidobacterium were isolated through incubation at 37℃ in 20% (v/v) CO₂-80% (v/v) atmospheric air by using Mupirocin lithium modified MRS agar medium, modified PTYG with added CaCO₃, and modified PTYG supplemented with X-gal. Ten strains with cholesterol-lowering rates above 20% (w/w) were used for further screening. The selected strains’ tolerance to acid and bile was then determined. A combination of colony and cell morphology, physiological, and biochemical experiments, as well as 16S rRNA gene-sequence analysis, was performed. Results suggested that BZ25 with excellent characteristics of high cholesterol-removal rate of 36.32% (w/w), as well as tolerance to acid and bile, was identified as Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis. To further evaluate Bifidobacterium BZ25’s growth characteristic and tolerance to oxygen, culture experiments were performed in liquid medium and an agar plate. Findings suggested that BZ25 grew well both in environmental 20% (v/v) CO₂-80% (v/v) atmospheric air and in 100% atmospheric air because BZ25 reached an absorbance of 1.185 at 600 nm in 100% atmospheric air. Moreover, BZ25 was aerotolerant and can grow in an agar medium under the environmental condition of 100% atmospheric air. This study can lay a preliminary foundation for the potential industrial applications of BZ25.