• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.111-125
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• 2012

Objectives : One of the fundamental premises of medical anthropology is the interconnectedness of medicine and society. Recent ethnographies of medicine demonstrate that the interconnectedness of the social and the medical not just evokes relatedness of the two parties, but also emphasizes the agency of the constituents, mutually shaping and being shaped. Against this backdrop, this study attempts to anthropologically investigate Korean medicine in South Korea and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China. Methods : The findings are based on anthropological studies of East Asian medicine employing long-term fieldwork about Korean Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Results : TCM is characterized by standardization, hospitalization, and scientization, by which simplification, collectivization, and biomedicalization prevail in contemporary traditional medicine in China. In contrast, Korean medicine is characterized by diversity, care delivery by individual private clinics, and a considerable distance from biomedicine. To understand the divergence of the two East Asian medicines, one should consider the social contexts intervening into the medical contents, such as the role of the state and dominant discourses in given historical periods. Conclusions : Korean medicine in South Korea and TCM in China demonstrate well the hybridity of the social and the medical, suggesting that, for more comprehensive understanding of the medical, the social should be paid attention to.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.163-164
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• 1995

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2013

This study examines the meaning of classical texts in contemporary society. Drawing on an anthropological investigation of Somun Hakhoe, an association of Korean medicine doctors in South Korea, and its foundational text "Somun Daeyo", the present study explores the interconnectedness of medical texts and medico-social practices in bringing medical tradition into the contemporary era. The themes that author Lee Kyu-joon emphasizes in "Somun Daeyo" are thoroughly embodied in Somun Hakhoe's medico-social practices, such as the study activities based on "Somun Daeyo"(in particular, on Somun Buseol, the five articles written by the author, attached to "Somun Daeyo"), the focus on Buyang theory(扶陽論), and the distinctive feature of composing formula. The ethnographic data collected about the group activities of Somun Hakhoe also demonstrate that the social relationship of the teacher and disciples plays an important role in bringing East Asian medicine into the present. This study articulates the significance of the interaction between the classical text and the medico-social practices around it. The dynamism taking place in the interaction points to the "living tradition" actively flowing rather than being static in the past. This study illustrates the close relationship between medical history and medical anthropology and encourages more studies of classical texts based on the intimate relationship between the two disciplines.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.76-79
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• 2019

Korean Physicians encounter often the patients with cultural syndromes. This paper surveys those cultural syndromes in Korea, contrasted with those in other countries in five different domains; socio-cultural, sexual, psychological, psychosomatic and religio-spiritual. I discovered three natural consequences if not intervened; 1) healed and readjusted, 2) paradigmatically shifted for the better results and 3) mal-adjustment for the worse. In the hope to let the culture shifted toward better one, I propose to allow our Koreans to be educated, inspired by Park Wansoe's novel; 'Dreaming in an Incubator(꿈꾸는 인큐베이터)'.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.453-459
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• 2013

Although Serbia is recognized as an endemic country for echinococcosis, no information about precise incidence in humans has been available. The aim of this study was to investigate the skeletal manifestations of hydatid disease in Serbia. This retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the medical database of Institute for Pathology (Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade), a reference institution for bone pathology in Serbia. We reported a total of 41 patients with bone cystic echinococcosis (CE) during the study period. The mean age of 41 patients was $40.9{\pm}18.8$ years. In 39% of patients, the fracture line was the only visible radiological sign, followed by cyst and tumefaction. The spine was the most commonly involved skeletal site (55.8%), followed by the femur (18.6%), pelvis (13.9%), humerus (7.0%), rib (2.3%), and tibia (2.3%). Pain was the symptom in 41.5% of patients, while some patients demonstrated complications such as paraplegia (22.0%), pathologic fracture (48.8%), and scoliosis (9.8%). The pathological fracture most frequently affected the spine (75.0%) followed by the femur (20.0%) and tibia (5.0%). However, 19.5% of patients didn't develop any complication or symptom. In this study, we showed that bone CE is not uncommon in Serbian population. As reported in the literature, therapy of bone CE is controversial and its results are poor. In order to improve the therapy outcome, early diagnosis, before symptoms and complications occur, can be contributive.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4477-4479
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• 2012

Background: The high incidence and relatively good prognosis of breast cancer has made it the most prevalent cancer in the world today. A large number of distinct mutations and polymorphisms in the p53 gene have been reported worldwide, but there is no report regarding the role of this inherited susceptibility gene in breast cancer risk among the Bengalee Hindu Caste females of West Bengal, India. Aim of the Study: We investigated the distribution and the nature of p53 gene mutations and polymorphisms in exons 5-7 in a cohort of 110 Bengalee Hindu breast cancer patients and 127 age, sex and caste matched controls by direct sequencing. Results: We did not observe any mutations and polymorphisms in our studied individuals. Conclusion: We therefore conclude that mutations in exons 5-7 of p53 gene are rare causes of breast cancer among Bengalee Hindu caste females, and therefore of little help for genetic counseling and diagnostic purposes.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

This study examines the meaning of medical-text publication in the Joseon Dynasty by applying anthropological notions of "health care system" and "popular health care sector" to the social and political contexts of the pre-modern state. The present study focuses on the social network of senders and receivers in which medical knowledge is communicated and shared. Exploring the multi-layered structure of the network among the state, the author-practitioners, and populace, this study argues that the network of knowledge sharing system by publication of medical texts itself is a core structure in the health care system of the Joseon Dynasty. This pre-modern health care system aimed to vitalize and reinforce the "popular health care sector" by sharing medical knowledge with populace through the book-publication system. Foucault's notion of "biopolitics" provides a comparative window between the modern health care system and the health care system of the Joseon period, articulating the particularity of the pre-modern health care system.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2012

A growing number of people shows deep interests in healthcare and treatments for the elderly with increasing their population. Contrary to general adults, old people have their own physiological and pathological characteristics. Therefore, treatments for the elderly should be different form those for others in younger generation. Alimentotherapy, which means the treatment or prevention by means of food, is one of the best way to deal with geriatrics that are chronic, multiple. Korea has its tradition and plenty of information in this field. Even in the early ChoSun Dynasty, when people suffered from lack of proper medical care, physicians used dietary prescriptions as active treatments, Therefore, we can find lots of cases in "Hyangyak-jibseogbang" and "Euibangyoochui" which are medical books published at that time. After that, a specialized alimentotherapy book, "Sikryochanyo" was written based on that kind of total medical volumes. With development of society, economy. and medical science, alimentotherapy has grown remarkably. Unlike in the early Chosun Dynasty, it was used positively for promoting general health condition and practiced as supportive method for medication in the late Chosun Dynasty. Considering the characteristics of the elderly, alimentotherapy is the most effective way to keep them healthy and can also used with medication.

• Iberoamérica
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.1-23
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• 2019

This study analyzes how the health program is implemented by political and economic factors in the case of Minga Ambiental program in Paraguay. In the field of critical medical anthropology, the practice of health care programs explains that socio-cultural and political and economic factors can be the main variables besides the primary purpose of preventing and eradicating the disease. In the same vein, this study also analyzed how community-based health programs operate by various external factors. As a result, the Minga Ambiental program is a health program called Dengue Fever, which has been tended to be sustained and expanded by various actors, including politicians and corporations in countries and communities, despite concerns about effectiveness. In this case, this study found that health programs can be operated by political and economic relations different from their original purpose, and are intertwined in various social contexts by various actors in constructing health programs.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.163-172
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• 2020

Medical treatments as universal care have been turning into delivering medical technology. Coping with death, which is prevalent in all medical circumstances, without comprehensive understanding results in missing out on significant aspects between life and death. This makes doctors surrender easily to a conventional and binary division of life and death and reduces the chance of including death as a part of the medical realm. Furthermore, in terms of medical education, we need to have the opportunity to consider such subjects that can benefit from special planning and consideration. Through reviewing articles in a variety of disciplines such as medicine, philosophy, psychology, literature, and anthropology, we can better understand death, condolences, and the relevance between them in a contextual way. In order to seek a better approach, this study also aims to survey and review the recent state of death education in diverse fields of medicine in Korea. In conclusion, if it is complicated for us to explain or understand death in general, focusing on condolences as a human response to death could be one meaningful way that deserves contemplation. It is possible to regard condolences as a touchstone and a prerequisite in death education itself.