• Title/Summary/Keyword: natural therapies

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Aldose reductase inhibition of the methanolic extracts of selected noxious and exotic plants

  • Lee, Ju Sung;Woo, Dong Geon;Cho, Ga Eul;Lee, Sanghyun
    • Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.62 no.2
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    • pp.203-209
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    • 2019
  • The inhibition of aldose reductase (AR) by the extracts from sixteen noxious and exotic plants was examined. Among them, Aster pilosus showed the highest inhibition of AR ($IC_{50}$ value $0.11{\mu}g/mL$). This study showed that A. pilosus with promising AR-inhibitory activities can be utilized for the development of natural therapies for treating and managing diabetic complications.

A literature study on Bromidrosis (腋격의 病因.病機.治療에 對한 文獻的 考察)

  • Kim, Jong-sung;Kim, Kyung-joon
    • The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.157-184
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    • 2000
  • Bromidrosis is a disease which is also called huchou[호격] in the oriental medicine. This disease produces an odor and a small amount of sweat from the axillary area. Prognosis of the disease could possibly get better with age. This can be explained by the fact that its symptoms begin usually when a person reaches puberty and as the person gets old, the symptoms reduce or disappear even when specific treatments are not applied. Although the disease is not lethal, many patients have difficulties in leading a normal and comfortable life, physically and psychologically with this in mind and some osbservations gained from the literature studies on the causes,symptoms, and treatments, I embarked on a study aimed at finding out the therapies. My study on the literature has produced the following results ; 1. In the oriental medicine, hu-chou[호격] means the characteric smell or odor produced from the fox. 2. The literature studies point out two causes in the oriental medicine. One is natural. The other is acquired. Acquired cases have the following causes: shi-re-nei-yun[濕熱內蘊]. xie-뱌-bu-huo[血氣不和], gan-qi-yu-jie[肝氣鬱結]. 3 There are two therapies in the oriental medicine. One is internal and the other external. out of the two, external therapies were mainly used according to the literature studies that I have consulted. 4. According to my study, the most frequently used herbal medicine was Alunitum(明 礬)(45 times), followed by Minium(密陀僧)(39 times) and Moschus(?香)(21 times respectively). 5. My study also found that bian-zheng[辨證] was not .rarely listed on old literatures. Therefore, old literatures did not clearly show how to root out the disease. They only taught now to alleviate the symptoms and remove the characteric odor.

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Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Oral Health : a Literature Review of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials (구강건강에 이용되는 보완대체의학 치료: 무작위대조임상연구를 통한 문헌적 고찰)

  • Kim, Da-Hee;Choi, Gwang-Ho;Hwang, Eui-Hyoung;Heo, Kwang-Ho;Kim, Yong-Deok;Shin, Byung-Cheul
    • Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.23-39
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    • 2014
  • Objective : This review aims at analyzing Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies, using for oral health to know current use of CAM in dental area by analyzing randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs). Method : We searched the following 6 electronic databases until 1 July 2014. : Pubmed, Medline, Embase, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database(AMED), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature(CINAHL), the Cochrane Library. We included parallel RCTs and cross-over RCTs that assessed the efficacy of CAM regardless of blinding and language. Results : A total of 154 RCT articles were included. There were 2-arm parallel study design(69.5%), 3-arm parallel study design(20.8%), 4-arm parallel study design(4.5%) and Cross-over design(5.2%). Complementary and alternative medicine RCTs in oral health tend to increase in the early-2000s and in the mid-2010s. In addition, 154 citations were classified according to diseases and interventions that categorized Natural Products studies(68.2%), Mind and Body Practices studies(31.8%). We classified in detail that vitamin and mineral therapies(29.9%), dietary supplements(24.7%), acupuncture(23.3%), Herbal medicine(13.6%), homeopathy (2.6%), energy therapies(2.6%), Massage(1.9%), biofeedback(0.6%), traditional medicine(0.6%). Conclusion : Increasing publications and diverse interventions regarding CAM for oral health is observed by analyzing RCTs from the literature review. Further studies are needed to be performed as systematic reviews to verify their effectiveness and the research to inquire into side effect.

Beneficial Effects of Natural Environment Therapy for Atopic Dermatitis

  • Suk, Seo Kyoung;Son, Chang-Gue
    • The Journal of Korean Medicine
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    • v.38 no.2
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    • pp.1-6
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    • 2017
  • Objectives: Natural environment therapy is considered as an option for atopic dermatitis. This study was aimed to examine the beneficial effects of natural environment therapy among patients with atopic dermatitis who have moved in an atopy-free village. Methods: The questionnaire-based survey was conducted from parents of 20 children with atopic dermatitis (12 male and 8 female, median age 8 years, ranging from 6 to 13 years). The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions for the changes of two typical symptoms of pruritus and sleeping difficulty after moving into an atopy-free village. Results: 75.0% and 88.9% of patients have a family history (at least one parent and one of siblings respectively) of allergic disorders. The median staying period of patients was 27.6 months (ranging from 2 to 55 months). The score indicating pruritus was significantly improved from $6.2{\pm}2.8$ into $4.8{\pm}1.8$ (p<0.05), and sleeping difficulty was also improved from $5.7{\pm}2.9$ into $4.3{\pm}2.1$ (p<0.05) too. Conclusions: This study suggests that the natural environmental therapies could be a choice for patients with atopic dermatitis, which should be studied further for their scientific evidence and mechanisms.

Biological Activities of Phytoestrogens in Plant and Foodstuff (작물에 함유된 Phytoestrogen의 특성과 생리활성)

  • 김성란;최선영;안지윤;하태열
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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    • v.48
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    • pp.31-40
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    • 2003
  • Phytoestrogens are oestrogenic compounds found in plants and consist of isoflavones, lignans, and coumestans. The structural similarity of phytoestrogens to endogenous oestrogens has promoted the hypothesis that phytoestrogens exert hormonal or anti-hormonal effects relevant to the risk of hormone-dependent disease and/or their suitability as a dietary alternative to hormone replacement therapy. Epidemiological studies suggest that food stuffs containing phytoestrogens may have a beneficial role in protecting against a number of chronic disease and conditions. It is thought that these estrogen-like compounds may protect against chronic diseases, such as hormone-dependent cancers, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Furthermore, phytoestrogens are used as a natural alternative to hormone replacement therapy and to reduce menopausal symptoms. Phytoestrogens are considered good candidates for use in natural therapies and as chemopreventive agents in adults. However safe and efficacious levels have yet to be established.

Lycopene-Induced Hydroxyl Radical Causes Oxidative DNA Damage in Escherichia coli

  • Lee, Wonyoung;Lee, Dong Gun
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.24 no.9
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    • pp.1232-1237
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    • 2014
  • Lycopene, which is a well-known red carotenoid pigment, has been drawing scientific interest because of its potential biological functions. The current study reports that lycopene acts as a bactericidal agent by inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated DNA damage in Escherichia coli. Lycopene treatment elevated the level of ROS-in particular, hydroxyl radicals ($^*OH$)-which can damage DNA in E. coli. Lycopene-induced DNA damage in bacteria was confirmed and we also observed cell filamentation caused by cell division arrest, an indirect marker of the DNA damage repair system, in lycopene-treated E. coli. Increased RecA expression was observed, indicating activation of the DNA repair system (SOS response). To summarize, lycopene exerts its antibacterial effects by inducing $^*OH$-mediated DNA damage that cannot be ameliorated by the SOS response. Lycopene may be a clinically useful adjuvant for current antimicrobial therapies.

Vorinostat-induced acetylation of RUNX3 reshapes transcriptional profile through long-range enhancer-promoter interactions in natural killer cells

  • Eun-Chong Lee;Kyungwoo Kim;Woong-Jae Jung;Hyoung-Pyo Kim
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.56 no.7
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    • pp.398-403
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    • 2023
  • Natural killer (NK) cells are an essential part of the innate immune system that helps control infections and tumors. Recent studies have shown that Vorinostat, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, can cause significant changes in gene expression and signaling pathways in NK cells. Since gene expression in eukaryotic cells is closely linked to the complex three-dimensional (3D) chromatin architecture, an integrative analysis of the transcriptome, histone profiling, chromatin accessibility, and 3D genome organization is needed to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how Vorinostat impacts transcription regulation of NK cells from a chromatin-based perspective. The results demonstrate that Vorinostat treatment reprograms the enhancer landscapes of the human NK-92 NK cell line while overall 3D genome organization remains largely stable. Moreover, we identified that the Vorinostat-induced RUNX3 acetylation is linked to the increased enhancer activity, leading to elevated expression of immune response-related genes via long-range enhancer-promoter chromatin interactions. In summary, these findings have important implications in the development of new therapies for cancer and immune-related diseases by shedding light on the mechanisms underlying Vorinostat's impact on transcriptional regulation in NK cells within the context of 3D enhancer network.

Anticancer Drugs at Low Concentrations Upregulate the Activity of Natural Killer Cell

  • Hyeokjin Kwon;Myeongguk Jeong;Yeeun Kim;Go-Eun Choi
    • Biomedical Science Letters
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.178-183
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    • 2023
  • Natural killer (NK) cells are innate cytotoxic lymphoid cells that actively prevent neoplastic development, growth, and metastatic dissemination in a process called cancer immunosurveillance. Regulation of the cytotoxic activity of NK cells relies on integrated interactions between inhibitory receptors and numerous activating receptors that act in tandem to eliminate tumor cells efficiently. Conventional chemotherapy is designed to produce an anti-proliferative or cytotoxic effect on early tumor cell division. Therapies designed to kill cancer cells and simultaneously maintain host anti-tumor immunity are attractive strategies for controlling tumor growth. Depending on the drug and dose used, several chemotherapeutic agents cause DNA damage and cancer cell death through apoptosis, immunogenic cell death, or other forms of non-killing (i.e., mitotic catastrophe, senescence, autophagy). Among stress-induced immunostimulatory proteins, changes in the expression levels of NK cell activating and inhibitory ligands and tumor cell death receptors play an important role in the detection and elimination by innate immune effectors including NK cells. Therefore, we will address how these cytotoxic lymphocytes sense and respond to high and low concentrations of drug-induced stress to the drug cisplatin, among the various types of drugs that contribute to their anticancer activity.

Detection of Antiinflammatory Agents from Natural Products as Inhibitors of Cyclooxygenase I and II

  • Lee, Dong-Hee;Kang, Sam-Sik;Chang, Il-Moo;Mar, Woong-Chon
    • Natural Product Sciences
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.19-28
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    • 1997
  • Constitutive cyclooxygenase (COX-I) is present in cells under physiological conditions, whereas inducible cyclooxygenase (COX-II) is induced by some cytokines, mitogens, and endotoxin presumably in pathological conditions such as inflammation. We have evaluated the inhibitory effects of solvent fractionated extracts of natural products on the activities of COX-I and COX-II. Oxygen uptake COX assay was performed, as a primary screening from the tissue extracts of bovine seminal vesicles (BSV), by monitoring the initial rate of oxygen uptake using an oxygen electrode. Additionally, we evaluated plant extracts for the inhibitory effects of COX-I (in HEL cells) and COX-II (in lipopolysaccharide activated J774A.1 macrophages) using thin layer chromatography of prostanoids produced from $^{14}C-labelled$ arachidonic acid (AA). The use of such models of COX-I and COX-II assay will lead to the identification of specific inhibitors of cyclooxygenases with presumably less side effects than present therapies. Inhibitory effects of 50 kinds of plant extracts on the COX-I and COX-II activities were determined and the active fractions were found in the ethyl acetate fractions of Dryopteris crassirhizoma (roots), Amomum cardamomum (roots), Triticum aestivum (seeds), Perilla sikokiana (leaves), Anemarrhena asphodeloides (roots). Especially, the ethyl acetate fraction of Dryopteris crassirhizoma (roots), which exhibited the strong inhibition against BSV COX $(IC_{50},\;65.4\;{\mu}g/ml)$, COX-I $(IC_{50},\;8.5\;{\mu}g/ml)$, and COX-II $(IC_{50},\;17.2\;{\mu}g/ml)$, is under investigation to isolate active principles using activity-guided fractionation method.

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