• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.159-167
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• 2004

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of auricular acupuncture therapy by using different techniques combined with common acupuncture treatment on lumbago patients. Methods: 30 patients with lumbago who were hospitalized in Semyung Univ. Oriental Medical Hospital were devided into three groups. Group A of 10 patients were treated by common acupuncture treatment and auricular acupuncture therapy by methods of burying needles. Group B of 10 patients were treatedd by common acupuncture treatment and auricular acupuncture therapy by methods of pricking needles. Group C of 10 patients were treated only by common acupuncture treatment. The pain scale and improvement index of these three groups were evaluated after 10 days of admission. Results: 1. On the score of pain scale, group A and B were both superior to group C, but had no specific difference(p=0.15). 2. On the score of improvement index, group B was superior to group A, and group A was superior to group C(p=0.04). Conclusions: The combination of auricular acupuncture therapy and common acupuncture treatment was more effective than only to use common acupuncture treatment to lumbago patients. Especially, using the auricular acupuncture therapy by pricking methods, was the most effective methods in increasing improvement index.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.334-342
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• 2009

This study investigates the effects of Psidium guajava L. leaf (Pg), Lagerstroemia speciosa L. leaf (Ls) and mixture A (Pg, Ls, Morus indica L. leaf extract, Pinus densiflora needles extract, Acanthopanax senticosus M. root extract) on streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetes rats. For four weeks, STZ-diabetes rats were fed crystallized extracts of Pg, Ls, and mixture A. Compared to the diabetic control group, extracts of Pg, Ls, and mixture A decreased glucose levels in rats by 20%, 14% and 24% respectively. These extracts also decreased the level of total cholesterol, triglyceride and free fatty acid, compared to the diabetic control group, while effectively increasing levels of insulin and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. These results showed that mixture A had greater antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, and insulin-increasing effects than the Pg and Ls extracts. Mixture A also showed better restoration of damaged beta cell function compared to Pg and Ls extracts. Therefore, it was proved that mixture A provides a beneficial synergistic effect when compared with Pg and Ls extracts used individually.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.97-102
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• 2011

Meridian Research Center, Division of Standard Research, Keora Institute of Oriental Medicine Objectives : Ear acupuncture needle is used to treat smoking, drug abusing, alcoholism frequently over time stability of ear acupuncture needle is important factor for safe acupuncture treatment. In spite of the importance, there has been few study about the quality of disposable acupuncture needle tip - using scanning electron microscope (SEM) in 2002, 2003. Moreover, there was no study about ear acupuncture needle. Methods : The three ear acupuncture needle, made in China, Japan, Korea was chosen. We used Hank's solution at the 38$^{\circ}C$ as a phantom tissue liquid. Except for the control group, five groups of needles are soused one to five days. Surface corrosion was observed using the SEM compared with control group. Results : There was no particular corrosion in all groups of ear acupuncture needles compared with the control group. Conclusions : All of the ear acupunctures used in this study are stable in body fluids at least 5 days.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.247-254
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• 2010

Purpose: To study the thickness of gluteal subcutaneous fat (SCF) and propose an adequate length for needle for gluteal intramuscular injections based on computed tomography (CT) measurements. Methods: The thickness of gluteal SCF were measured and studied for 568 patients who visited a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea between January 2007 and February 2009 for routine health screening and who had abdominopelvic CT. Results: The average thickness of gluteal SCF was $15.92{\pm}4.08mm$ in males and $24.90{\pm}5.47mm$ in females. The thickness of gluteal SCF differed significantly according to gender. The gluteal SCF thickness was greater than 20.4 mm for 54 (12.3%) of the 440 male patients and 99 (77.3%) of the 128 female patients. Conclusion: The most common syringe needle used for gluteal intramuscular injections in Korea is a 23 G, 25.4 mm-needle. The SCF thickness must be less than 20.4 mm in order to reach the dorsogluteal muscles to a depth of at least 5 mm if this 25.4 mm needle is used. In many patients, especially in female patients, the 25.4 mm needles will result in improper intramuscular injections with the injection being into the SCF. Therefore an appropriate needle should be selected by considering the gender and SCF thickness of patients receiving gluteal intramuscular injections.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.6
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• pp.843-848
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• 2010

The effects of soil acidification on the photosynthetic activity of Quercus acutissima seedlings were investigated. We measured the growth and photosynthetic activity of the seedlings in relation to soil acidification. The dry weights of the seedlings were reduced according to the amount of $H^+$ in the soil. The concentrations of Al in needles at the 90 meq $H^+$ were significantly higher than those at the control. The contents of chlorophyll in needles at 90 meq $H^+$ were significantly lower than those at the control. The net photosynthetic rates of the seedlings in the acidified soil were reduced by increasing the amount of $H^+$ to the soil. The carboxylation efficiencies(CE) of photosynthesis were reduced in the seedlings grown in the acidified soil. These results suggested that the soil acidification induced the inhibition of photochemical reactions and $CO_2$ fixation of photosynthesis.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 1994

An antioxidative compound was isolated from pine needles. This compound was identified as 4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3[2H]-furanone on the basis of spectroscopic evidences. It scavenged 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals more efficiently than maltol and tocopherol did. It exhibited an inhibitory effect on the lipid peroxidation of rat liver microsome induced by Fe(ll)/ascorbate, and the protective effect against UV cytotoxicity in cultured human fibroblasts. In addition, HMF appeared to prevent the cellular melanogenesis in the cultured murine melanoma cells, more effectively than kojic acid, a well known inhibitor of melanogenesis, while the former was not so effective as the latter for the inhibilion of the tyrosinase. Considering that cellular melanogenesis is a metabolic process triggered by oxidative stress, it was tentatively deduced that the antioxidative property of HMF may afford the effect against cellular pigmentation by alleviating the causative stress. This study provided a novel inhibitor of melanogenesis, that might be useful for the cosmetic applications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.3293-3297
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• 2014

Background: Pine needle oil from crude extract of pine needles has anti-tumor effects, but the effective component is not known. Methods: In the present study, compounds from a steam distillation extract of pine needles were isolated and characterized. Alpha-pinene was identified as an active anti-proliferative compound on hepatoma carcinoma BEL-7402 cells using the MTT assay. Results: Further experiments showed that ${\alpha}$-pinene inhibited BEL-7402 cells by arresting cell growth in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, downregulating Cdc25C mRNA and protein expression, and reducing cycle dependence on kinase 1(CDK1) activity. Conclusion: Taken together, these findings indicate that ${\alpha}$-pinene may be useful as a potential anti-tumor drug.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.45-57
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• 1995

A study .to identify an occupational hazards for hospital working health care providers from needle stick injury as an occupational hazards of health care providers in hospital and prevention A survey of 2430 health professionals (2184 nurses, 182 doctors, and 64 Lab technicians) was conducted to describe and provide information about 1) the experience of needle stick. 2) the number of needle stick, 3) the treatment after needle stick. 3) the situation of needle stick, 4) the report of needle stick, 5) the cause of needle stick, 6) the discard method of used needles, and 7) how to worry about getting infection disease after needle stick. Data were collected using questionnarires constructed by the authors and tested by a pilot study. Results of the study showed that 96.7% of the sample had an experience of needle stick (96.8% of the nurses, 96.7% of the doctors, and 92.2% of Lab technicians). Seventy seven percent of the sample experienced less than 10 needle sticks, 19% of the sample experienced 11 to 20 needle sticks, and the rest of the sample experienced more than 20 needle sticks. The situations where needle sticks occurred include intrvenous injection (36.5%), intramuscular injection (21.6%), blood withdraw (17.8%), and preparation(11.8%). The study showed that needle sticks (67.5%) usually occurred after client treatment. Health professionals used recapping method (55%) after they used needles. Needle sticks were predominantly caused by the carelessness of health professionals (61%), After needle sticks, 88.2% of the sample subjects treated needle sticks using disinfection technique by themselves. Most of health professionals (92.6%) did not report the accident. and 95.6% of them did not receive any test or further treatment. After needle sticks, 87.8% of nurses, 83.6% of doctors, and 96.6% of lab technicians worried about hepatitis infection. 'Health professionals also worried about AIDS infection, tetanus, venereal infection, and skin injury. These findings suggest that health professionals are at high-risk of needle stick and fail to report needle stick accidents. They should pay more attention to needle stick in order to avoid unwanted infection.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.100-106
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• 1996

The extraction of taxol and baccatin III from the ground needles of Taxus cuspidata were carried out by using supercritical carbon dioxide with and without cosolvents such as ethylacetate and methanol at 300 bar and 313K. Taxol is a promising anticancer agent and baccatin III is a precursor of semisysthesis of taxol. The taxol and baccatin III contents in the extracts were determined by a HPLC. The highest yields of taxol and baccatin III could be obtained by the supercritical extraction with 3wt% methanol and ethylacetate, respectively, as cosolvents. It was also found that the selectivity of taxol and baccatin III were 0.117 and 1.245wt%, respectively, with 0.7wt% ethylacetate, which demonstrated that the selectivity of taxol and baccatin III were increased about 1.8 and 19 times than those of conventional organic solvent extraction.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.210-220
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• 2019

Objectives : Warm needling is a combined treatment technique of acupuncture and moxibustion. In this study, we aimed to find out the components related with the thermal stimulation of the warm needling and to provide basic data for the guideline of the warm needling technique in the clinic. Methods : In this study, we measured thermal change of 3% agarose phantom embedding K-type thermocouples in depths of 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 mm. The warm needling was performed with acupuncture needles of various specifications (0.50×30, 0.50×40, 0.30×30, 0.30×40, 0.20×30 and 0.20×40 mm). A linear regression analysis was performed to find out the major component and quantify the effectiveness of the thermal stimulation during warm needling. Results : As a result of the measurement of temperature change, we could observe the thermal change pattern from the surface of the phantom to the 16mm deep part of the phantom. The thermal pattern was similar among the needles of different specifications. The regression analysis pointed the distance between the moxa cautery and the skin surface as the main component for the thermal stimulation of the warm needling. Conclusions : The authors suggest considering the distance between moxa cautery and the skin rather than the diameter of the acupuncture needle in accordance to the result of the study.