• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2015

Bone destruction is a pathological symptom of some chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis. Inflammation-induced bone loss of these diseases results from increased number and activity of osteoclasts. Paeoniae Radix Alba has been used in korean traditional medicine to treat disease including inflammation, gynecopathy and various pain. However, these effects have not been tested on osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells that regulate bone metabolism. Here, we investigated the effects of Paeoniae Radix Alba ethanol extract (PRAE) on receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL)-mediated osteoclast differentiation and formation. Osteoclast differentiation and formation were measured by tartrate resistant acidic phosphatase (TRAP) staining and TRAP solution assay. The treatment of PRAE on bone marrow derived macrophages (BMMs), which is known as osteoclast precursor cells, inhibited osteoclast differentiation and formation in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the expression of osteoclast differentiation marker genes was suppressed by PRAE treatment. This inhibitory effect of PRAE resulted from significant repression of c-Fos expression, and subsequent reduction of NFATc1 expression which was previously reported as a master transcription factor for osteoclastogenesis in vitro and in vivo. These results demonstrate that PRAE negatively regulates osteoclast differentiation and formation and suggest that PRAE can be used as a potent preventive or therapeutic candidate for various bone diseases, such as postmenopausal osteoporosis, periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.1321-1328
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• 2018

Objective: This study was performed to report on the effects of traditional Korean Medicine as a treatment for a patient with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, with lower limb pain as the chief complaint. Methods: We treated this patient with traditional Korean medicine and measured symptom severity using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) as well as measuring the length of the patient's self-exercising time. Results: After about 7 weeks of treatment, most pathological symptoms had decreased. There was a gradual decline in the VAS and a gradual increase in the length of the self-exercising time. Although there was an increase in the ODI scale during the first 2 weeks, it eventually showed a decline in the rest of the period. Conclusions: Traditional Korean medicine can be a solution for the patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease suffering from peripheral neurological symptoms.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.938-947
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• 2019

Objective: This study was performed to report the changes in symptoms and radiological consequences of a patient diagnosed with spinal neurofibroma and complaining of lower back pain. Methods: The patient was diagnosed with a spinal neurofibroma after MRI examination and was treated with traditional Korean medicine, including traditional Korean medication and acupuncture. We measured the change in symptom severity using a numerical rating scale (NRS) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). We also used the EQ-5D (EuroQoL-5D) scale to assess the patient's quality of life. In addition, we examined the change in the size of the cyst by MRI twice after discharge: at about 3 months after discharge and at about 8 months after discharge. Results: After about 6 weeks of treatment, most pathological symptoms had decreased. The patient showed a decline in NRS and ODI scores and showed an increase in quality of life. The two MRI examinations after the discharge revealed a decrease in the size of the cyst. Conclusions: Traditional Korean medicine can be a solution for patients with spinal neurofibroma causing neurological pain.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.22-37
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• 2021

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of the experience prescription in 『Donguisusebowon(東醫壽世保元)』. Methods We examined the examples of the experience prescription in the pathology of 『Donguisusebowon』. Afterward, we considered the characteristics about the experience prescription of Junggyeong Jang and the Next Generation Doctors in 『Donguisusebowon』. Results and Conclusion 1. The Junggyeong Jang's experience prescription isn't modified despite the fact that it doesn't fit the constitutional disease and pharmacology, and many experience prescriptions are mentioned to in the pathology of 『Donguisusebowon』. But the Next Generation Doctors's experience prescription is modified, and a considerable number of experience prescriptions are not mentioned to in the pathology of 『Donguisusebowon』. 2. Jema Lee cited all of the Junggyeong Jang's experience prescription except Daesiho-tang(大柴胡湯) as an explanation for the constitutional disease, and cited a prescription that could not be used for the constitutional disease. And the pathological symptom of the Junggyeong Jang's experience prescription was used to establish the system of the Sasang Constitutional Medicine, so the Junggyeong Jang's experience prescription wasn't modifed. 3. Jema Lee cited a prescription that could be used for the constitutional disease. And the pharmacology of the Next Generation Doctors's experience prescription was used to establish the system of the Sasang Constitutional Medicine, so the Next Generation Doctors's experience prescription was modifed. 4. Jema Lee established the Sasang Constitutional Medicine based on the Existing Medicine. It was appeared in composition and name about the table of contents of the experience prescription in 『Donguisusebowon』.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2023

Purpose: Odontomas represent a common clinical entity among odontogenic tumors, but are not well-addressed in the Vietnamese population. The present study aimed to determine the clinical and preclinical characteristics of odontomas and associated factors in the Vietnamese population. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study retrieved data from histopathological diagnoses from 2 central hospitals of Odonto-Stomatology in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam during 2004-2017. The odontomas were classified as complex (CxOD) or compound (CpOD) subtypes. The epidemiological, clinical, and radiological characteristics of the odontomas, stratified by subtype and sex, were obtained and analyzed. Results: Ninety cases, consisting of 46 CxODs and 44 CpODs, were included. The average age of patients was 32.4 (±20.2) years. The patients with CxOD were older than those with CpOD (P<0.05). Clinically, 67% of patients showed an intraoral bone expansion. Approximately 60% of patients with CxOD exhibited a painful symptom, about 3-fold more than those with CpOD (P<0.05), whereas almost all patients with CpOD exhibited perturbations of dentition, unlike those with CxOD (P<0.05). Radiologically, CxOD was characterized by a larger dimension than CpOD in both sexes (P<0.05), and CpOD induced complications in adjacent teeth more often than CxOD (P<0.05). The development of odontoma with advancing age differed significantly in odontoma subtypes related to their pathological origins, and between the sexes, resulting from different physiological states. Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the value of clinical and radiological features of odontomas and their associated factors for the early diagnosis and adequate treatment of younger patients.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.187-217
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• 2010

By reading the main character, Rene Gallimard, in M. Butterfly as a spatial metaphor of America, this article examines how homogeneous American national identity of heterosexuality and white masculinity has been reinforced since the cold war and has constituted a crisis of hegemony with the decline of imperialism and how its pathological symptom is shown through the melancholic suicide of Gallimard. This article also argues how the feminine attributes implied in race, gender and sexuality in M. Butterfly are designated and allegorized as an impure, contaminated and ahistorical marker of national integrity in pthe social and material status of the heterosexual American white male. To develop my argument, I read M. Butterfly from a psychoanalytic point of view. Therefore I depend on Freud, Lacan, and Bhabha's psychoanalysis as the theoretical basis. In this paper, I also argue that the homogenized and fixed national identity is splitted and collapsed from within as shown in the Gallimard's melancholy and in the process of splitting the "Third Space" of hybrid subjects for the marginal and the emergent like Song Liling, a homosexual Asian man, can be built "from a space in-between." Therefore Hwang calls into questions conventions of fixed, essentialist identities through the shifting gender identities between Song and Gallimard in M. Butterfly and how identities in the plural are constructed variously in throughly historicized, politicized situations, and these constructions can be complicated by relations of power.

• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was designed to provide the data base for the diagnosis and treatment of the foot tumor by investigation of the clinical and pathological characteristics and distribution of the foot tumor. Materials and Methods: 142 foot tumors of 141 patients were studied. All patients were diagnosed with surgical biopsy. We investigated clinical and pathological characteristics and epidemiologic distribution of the foot tumor by reviewing the medical records and imaging materials. The location of the tumors were classified with zone of Kirby et al. Results: 75 patients were female and 66 were male. The average age of the patients was 33.2 years old. Benign soft tissue tumors were the most as 68 cases, and followed by 57 benign bone tumors, 12 malignant soft tissue tumors and 5 malignant bone tumors. Ganglia were the most in benign soft tissue tumors as 36 cases, subungual exostoses in benign bone tumors as 18, squamous cell carcinomas in malignant soft tissue tumors as 7, and metastatic lung cancers in malignant bone tumors as 2. The rate of pain complaints was the highest in malignant bone tumors, the duration of symptom was longest in benign soft tissue tumors, and the size of the tumor was the biggest in malignant bone tumors. Neurological symptoms were found in only 3 benign soft tissue tumors. For the zonal distribution, zone 5 was the most in 59 cases and zone 4 was the least as 10. The most numbers of the benign bone tumors located in zone 5, of benign soft tissue tumors in zone 1, of malignant bone tumors in zone 1 and 2, and of malignant soft tissue tumors in zone 5. The methods of surgical treatment included intralesional or marginal resection, curettage with or without bone graft, toe amputation, below knee amputation and limb salvage. Conclusion: The tumors of the foot were rare and various, and mostly benign (88%), but we can do proper treatment of those tumors without excluding malignant tumors by considering the age of patients, pain, duration of symptom, size of the tumors, and zonal distribution.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 1994

Background : Diffuse panbronchiolitis(DPB) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease of unknown etiology which has characteristic clinical, radiological and pathological features, and is distinguished from bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, bronchiectasis, or alveolitis. Clinically, patients with DPB have chronic cough, purulent sputum, exertional dyspnea, and finally respiratory failure. Until a few years ago, the prognosis of DPB had been thought to be very grave, because there had been no effective treatment for the disease. But recent1y, low-dose long-term erythromycin was found to be very effective on DPB. Even though DPB is prevalent in Japan, and is known to be rare outside of Japan, we have a1ready reported the clinical features of 16 DPB cases in Korea. We tried low-dose long-term erythromycin on DPB patients and analyzed the clinical effect of erythromycin. Methods : We analyzed the changes of subjective symptoms, physical signs, pulmonary function tests and chest X-rays on 14 DPB patients with more than 6 months erythromycin treatment during the period from September 1989 to August 1992 in Seoul National University Hospital. Results : 1) Subjective symptoms improved in all patients within 2-3 months, and 54.5% of the patients showed no symptom after one year of treatment. 2) Crackles and wheezing decreased in 92.9% of the patients after 3 months and completely disapppeared in 63.5% of the patients after one year of treatment. 3) FVC and FEV1 increased remarkably during the first 3 months, and slowly increased thereafter, reaching normal level after one year of treatment. 4) Small nodular lesions on chest X-ray decreased in all patients, and chest PA was normal in 36.4% of the patients after one year of treatment. 5) There was side effect in one patient, stopping medication because of dyspepsia. One patient stopped medication because of no symptom after 16 months of treatment, but her symptom recurring after one month, improving again after retreatment. Conclusion: Low-dose long-term erythromycin showed ramarkable effectiveness on DPB. Further studies are needed on the mechanism of the drug and the duration of the treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.57-67
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• 2014

The vigor condition of trees is an important indicator for the management of urban forested area. But difficulties in how to assess the tree vigor condition still remain. Previous efforts were limited in the 1) measurement of single indicator rather than using multiple indices, 2) purpose-oriented measurement such as for air-pollution effect or specific pathological symptom, and 3) ordinal-scale evaluations by field crews 4) despite human errors based on his/her experiences or prior knowledge. Therefore, this study attempted to develop a quantitative and objective methodology for assessing tree vigor condition, by measuring multiple modules and building the profile inventory. Furthermore, the possibility and limitations were discussed in terms of schematic frames describing tree vigor condition. The vigor condition of 56 flowering cherry plants in urban park were assessed by in-situ measurements of following eight items; growth of crown(Gc), growth of shoots, individual tree volume(Vol), plant area index, woody area index, leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content(Lc) and leaf water content(Lw). For validation, these measurements were compared with the ranks of holistic tree vigor condition, which were visually assessed using a 4-point grading scale based on the expert's knowledge. As a result, the measures of each evaluation item successfully highlighted a variety of aspects in tree vigor condition, including the states of both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic parts. The variation in the results depending on evaluated parts was shown within an individual tree, even though the broad agreement among the results was found. The result of correlation analysis between the tested measurements and 4-point visual assessment, demonstrated that the state of water-stressed foliage of the season (Lw) or the development of plant materials since sapling phase (Vol) could be better viewed from the outer appearance of trees than other symptoms. But only based on the visual assessment, it may be difficult to detect the quality of photosynthesis (Lc) or the recent trend in growth of trees (Gc). To make this methodology simplified for the broad-scale application, the tested eight measurements could be integrated into two components by principal component analysis, which was labelled with 'the amount of plant materials' and 'vigor trend', respectively. In addition, the use of these quantitative and multi-scale indicators underlies the importance of assessing various aspects of tree vigor condition, taking into account the response(s) on different time and spatial scale of pressure(s) shown in each evaluated module. Future study should be advanced for various species at diverse developing stages and environment, and the application to wide areas at a periodic manner.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.47-55
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• 2004

Wang Cheong-Im(1768-1831) in the Ching dynasty conducted the therapy of blood statis syndrome using the methods for promoting blood circulation and removing blood statis in accordance with the description in the book Uirimgaechak(醫林改錯). Thus, this study examined his methods for promoting blood circulation and removing blood statis, therapy of blood statis syndrome and mechanism of function. Since the blood statis symptoms varied on the parts where the blood statis were occurred, the therapy for promoting blood circulation and removing blood statis applied different treatments and drugs depending on the symptoms. The therapy also valued much of qi and blood. Qi is important to the human body so that the therapy replenished qi and simultaneously promoted the blood circulation as mainly focusing on the regulation of the qi flow. Moreover, the therapy adjusted the level of removing blood circulation and rate of replenishing qi. The degree of prescription and drug was differentiated in treating a variety of blood statis because of the difference in the seriousness and characteristics of blood circulation, amount and application of drug and combination of drugs. The therapy was careful about the regulation of qi for the replenishment of qi and the nurishment of blood for the promotion of blood circulation. If the blood circulation was blocked, the blood statis was formed. Accordingly, the phlegm and the blood statis were closely related. Then, the phlegm and blood statis were simultaneously treated. The therapy divided the properties of blood statis into the stagnant excess syndrome, the stagnant deficiency syndrome, the stagnant cold syndrome and the stagnant heat syndrome and treated the patients suitable for each symptom. The function of mechanism in the treatment using the methods for promoting blood circulation and removing blood statis was divided into the stagnation of blood and interruption in blood circulation. The therapy laid stress on promoting blood circulation and removing blood circulation. With such emphasis, the therapy facilitated the circulation in the bloood vessel, prevented the coagulation of blood, removed the blood statis and promoted the metabolism. Then, the physiological function and pathological change internal organs were improved. Furthermore, the therapy strengtened the heart and promoted the blood circulation by improving the systemic blood circulation. Moreover, the therapy facilitated the micro-circulation by adjusting the balance of body.