• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of occupational exposure to styrene on the components of metabolic syndrome. We surveyed 263 employees, among whom 117workers we ere chronically exposed to styrene in glass-reinforced plastic boat manufacturing factories and 146 controls had never been occupationally exposed to styrene as will as hazardous chemicals. The general and job characteristics such as age, smoking and drinking habit, working hours and duration were not significant different except sleeping hours(p<0.05). Among the components of metabolic syndrome, the systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and fasting glucose were significantly higher in exposed workers. On multiple logistic regression analysis for the components of metabolic syndrome, waist circumference was insulin (OR=1.129), blood pressure was MA(OR=14.724), fasting glucose(OR=1.191) and metabolic syndrome(OR=1.110) were significantly associated with insulin. The mean concentration of airborne styrene was $ 38.1{\pm}40.1$ ppm, blood concentrations of glucose and insulin and levels of HOMA-IR in over 50 ppm exposed group were higher than in blow 50 ppm exposed group. These results suggested that the exposure of styrene affects blood pressure, fasting glucose and insulin levels and that dysfunction and/or declination in glucose and insulin metabolism might induced ultimately insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.987-992
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• 2008

This study was carried out to understand the macroscopic aspects of the digestive system symptoms occurring after taking oriental herb complex decoction as observing morphological changes in esophagus, stomach and duodenal bulb by endoscopy of upper gastrointestinal tract when these symptoms developed. The subjects of this study were 46 patients (male 22, female 24, mean age : $54.72{\pm}14.26$ years) who were chosen among ones who took oriental herb complex decoction for medical care and developed symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract while taking an oriental herb decoction, which were assumed that the digestive symptoms were newly developed because of administration. The subjects were given morphological examination by endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract. As a result of the endoscopy operated due to the digestive symptoms developed during the administration of oriental herb decoction, there were 2 cases of esophagitis, 5 cases of acute gastritis, 1 case of chronic gastritis A type, 15 cases of chronic gastritis B type, 1 case of duodenitis, 1 case of gastric ulcer, 1 case of gastric polyp, 2 cases of intestinal metaplasia, 1 case of gastric ptosis and 17 cases of normal findings which didn't have any abnormality macroscopically with endoscopy. With regards to the patients who complained of the digestive symptoms after taking oriental herb decoction, it has been found that the symptoms occurred as the oriental herbal medicine taken by the patients who had the digestive symptoms at ordinary times influenced on the gastrointestinal tract. Especially, many of them were had chronic gastritis and functional dyspepsia in the past. The disease accompanying macroscopic lesions at endoscopy which occurred due to the oriental herb decoction as direct cause, was acute gastritis, and it was the prescription to cure the pains and inflammations of skeletomuscular disease.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1185-1193
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• 2007

Ginsing polysaccharide, known to have an immune regulating effect, was administered to 23 randomly selected healthy male subjects with a mean age of 23 years in accordance with an IRB approval. Then, these subjects underwent physico-chemical tests and serum proteome was analyzed from the blood sample taken from these subjects. Analyses of proteome involved image analysis, protein sections and protein identification in sequence after two-dimensional electrophoresis was carried out. During the physico-chemical test, 4 subjects were excluded from the study. In the proteome analysis, identified were 5 spots such as SP40, 40, Cytokeratin 9, hypothetical protein LOC544932, Apolipoprotein E ,similar to Human albumin, which showed differences in the amount of protein expression. In conclusion, changes of 5 proteins were remarkable before and after administration of ginsing polysaccharides. In certain cases, hepatic and renal slight injury occurred. Thus, further clinical study on dosage regimen would be necessary for securing the basis for concentration-dependent effectiveness and safety.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.51-71
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• 1997

A Pregnancy is the women's normal physiological and developmental process, in which many psychological changes including sexual problems always occur. But there have been few guidelines on sexual life during pregnancy. So this study was performed to evaluate the sexual life of pregnant women, and to analyze the factors affecting satisfaction of sexual life during pregnancy. Questionnaires were given to pregnant women who visited two general hospitals for antenatal care as well as to attendants at a prenatal Lamaze class. The results were as followings : 1) The average age of the 194 pregnant women was 28.5 years ; 98.4% of them had educated more than 12 years. ; the average monthly income was about 15,000,000 won ; primigravida women were 81.4% of the total cases. 2) As the pregnancy progressed, the frequency of the sexual intercourses was decreased in 48.5% because of the anxiety on the fetal damages. The was no significant differences between frequency of sexual intercourses and the degrees of physical discomfort and spouse intimacy. Man superior position was taken in 88.1% ; the incidence of orgasms before and during pregnancy were 71.1% and 41.1%, respectively ; the incidence of painful sexual intercourse in primigravida women was decreased by pregnancy in 4.6%, and in the case of multigravida women it was increased in 2.1%. 3) The average point of sexual knowledge was 11.5 in total points of 20 ; that of sexual attitude was 29.1 in total points of 40 ; that of sexual satisfaction was 28.5 in perfects points of 40. 4) The factors which significantly related to the satisfaction of sexual life were spouse intimacy, sexual attitude, change of sexual body position during pregnancy, and the orgasms before and during pregnancy. Considering above results, nursing care and nursing intervention including sexual education and counselling programs are needed during pregnancy as well as before pregnancy.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.297-304
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• 1987

A study was carried out to find out the relationship between arginine vasopressin (AVP) release and plasma osmolality in 15 young men (age: 21.4 yr). After an overnight fasting, wale. (20 ml/kg) was imbibed, and venous blood and urine samples were collected every 30 min for 90 min. then 5% saline was infused (0.06 ml/min/kg) for 120 min. AVP was extracted on Sep-Pak column and measured by radioimmunoassay. Under basal condition, plasma osmolality (pOsm), AVP (pAVP) and aldosterone (pAldo) levels were 286.5 mOsm/kg, 1.1 pg/ml, and 140 pg/ml, respectively. pAVP became undetectable during maximum water diuresis, and increased in response to hypertonic saline infusion. pAVP level began to increase when pOsm was above 280 mOsm/kg. Changes in urinary AVP excretion (uAVP) was parallel to pAVP levels. The fall in pAVP was followed by a decrease in uAVP, uOsm and an increase in free water clearance, while the later rise in pAVP was followed by an increase in uAVP, uOsm and a decrease in free water clearance. When pooling all data together, relationships between pAVP and pOsm, and uAVP and uOsm were best expressed by an exponential relationship (r=0.78, 0.86, respectively). pAldo level decreased to 71 pg/ml after water ingestion, and decreased further to 30 pg/ml 2 hr after 5% saline infusion. Even at the same pNa, pAldo level during dehydration state was significantly higher than during hydration state. Negative exponential relation (r=-0.59) was observed between pAldo and pNa. Response to change in body fluid volume was greater in aldosterone than in AVP release.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.791-797
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• 2003

This study investigated the effect of Yanggyuksanhwa-tang on cerebral ischemia of the rats. Considering age-related impact on cerebral ischemia, aged rats (18 months old) were used for this study. Ischemic damage was induced by the transient occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries (BCAO) under the hypotension. Yanggyuksanhwa-tang was administered twice orally. Then changes of pyramidal neurons and heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) expressions in ischemic damaged hippocampus were of observed. The BCAO in aged rats led significant decrease of pyramidal neurons in CA1 hippocampus. While the treatment of Yanggyuksanhwa-tang significantly attenuated the reduction of pyramidal neurons in CA1 hippocampus following BCAO ischemia. The BCAO in aged rats led significant increase of HSP72 expression in CA1 and mild in CA3 hippocampus. While the treatment of Yanggyuksanhwa-tang significantly attenuated the increase of HSP72 expression in CA1 hippocampus following BCAO ischemia. The extent of HSP72 expression in CA2 and DG of hippocampus was not different between the sham operated group, the BCAO ischemia control group, and the group of Yanggyuksanhwa-tang administration after BCAO ischemia. The treatment of Yanggyuksanhwa-tang significantly attenuated the increase of normalized optical density depending on HSP72 expression in CA1 hippocampus following BCAO ischemia.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.238-247
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• 1992

Immigration of Koreans to the United States has increased since the 1960's. Adjusting to life in the United States produces a great deal of stress for immigrants. Despite better economic opportunites, many see the U.S. culture as threatening to their family and cultural values. Differences in culture, language, expectations and social behavior can lead to misunderstandings between health care providers and clients. These misunderstanding can leaf to frustration on the part of each. The ultimate result of this is that often Korean-immigrants do not get their health care needs met and stress response symptoms can lead to disease if there is no appropriate care. To determine the health care needs and concerns of Korean-Americans, a health needs assessment is needed. Appropriate and adequate information about the health care needs of these individuals is important as it relates to American policy changes allowing greater numbers of immigrants to enter the U.S. The purpose of this prospective study was to describe Korean-American stress response. This study focused on the primary presenting problems for which subjects reported having sought care. These included a variety of stress-related symptoms, including peripheral manifestations, cardiopulmonary symptoms, central-neurological symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, muscle tension, habitual patterns, depression, anxiety, emotional irritability and cognitive disorganization. Of the 300 subjects who entered the study, 80% (N＝223) completed the questionnaire in full. Demographically, the percentage of females and males was 50% each and they ranged in age from 20 to 69 years. Ninety percent of the subjects were highly educated, 25% owners of business, 25% white collar professionals, 15% employed in sales or as skilled /unskilled labor, 30% had no occupation : and 5% were housewives or students. The SOS inventory is designed to quantify self-perception of behavioral, cognitive, and physiological components of the stress response. It consisted of 94 items divided into 10 subscales. The result of this study are as follows : The total mean 505 of all subjects (N＝223 was .8129 ; the mean 505 for male(N＝114) was .7665 and for females, (N＝108) .8594. The level of symptoms for central-neurologic and muscle tension was higher for than for males. The highest stress response of all subjects was emotional irritability symptoms(1.0644) : the lowest stress response of all subjects was peripheral manifestation symptoms.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.580-584
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• 2003

Diabetic Nephropathy is one of the major causes of chronic renal failure. It is a common microvascular complication and clinically defined as the presence of persistent Proteinuria. We studied the effects and change of the renal function of Complex Herbal medication of the 20Diabetic Nephropathy patients. We measured the initial levels of Total Protein, Creatinine Clearance Rate(Ccr), Serum Creatinine(Serum-Cr), Urine Creatinine(Urine-Cr) and HbA1C on admission and followed up the level changes of Total Protein, Ccr, Serum-Cr and Urine-Cr on discharge. The results are following : Complex Herbal Medication does not cause the renal toxicity. The longer hypertension period is, the higher Serum-Cr level and Urine-Cr level. In an older age group, Urine-Cr is lower. 4.From the 'Deficiency in Origin and Excess in Superficiality(本虛表實)'points of view, Complex Herbal Medication improves the Serum-Cr in Diabetic Nephropathy patients. According to this results, it could be suggested that Complex Herbal Medication does not cause the renal toxicity in Diabetic Nephropathy patients and intensive controls of blood sugar, blood pressure and Complex Herbal Medication prevent the renal failure in Diabetic Nephropathy patients with early stage of Microalbumiuria.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.840-847
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• 2005

This study was written in order to help understanding of visible diagnosis of energy and color(기색). Visible diagnosis of energy and color is a very important factor of diagnosis and a necessary step of visible diagnosis. As human's body is under the control of spirit(신) and spirit(신) is stored by five viscera(오장), so spirit expresses the change of five viscera and is reflected by energy and color(기색). Strictly speaking, energy and color(기색) is not divided into each other. But, we can say that glittering glossy part belongs to energy(기) and blue, red, yellow, white and black part belongs to color(색). Various changes of energy and color(기색) observe the rules of yin-yang(음양). If we consider the interior and exterior(내외), top and bottom(상하), right and left(좌우), rise and fall(부침), clearness and muddiness(청탁), weak and severe(미심), spread and gather(산박), gloss and dness(택요) etc. we can decide the yin and yang(음양), inside and outside(표리), coldness and heatness(한열), truth and false(허보), life and death(생사) and prognosis. One man's own color is determined by the five human type(오형인), There are very various points of changing colors. As divided into principal groups, there are three main groups, that is, sky(천), earth(지) and man(인). A season(사시), day and night(주야) and cloud and clear(음청) belong to the factor of sky(천), a direction and configuration of the ground(지형) belong 治 the factor of earth(지), and motion and rest(동정), seven emotions(칠정), age and youth(노소), poor and rich(빈부) and high and low(귀천) belong to the factor of man(인).

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1137-1141
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• 2005

This paper is written in order to investigate how Lee Je-Ma changed traditional Zhu Xi's philosophical view on Way(Tao; 道) Virtue(De: 德) Nature(Xing;性) and Imperative(Ming; 命), which was general concepts of his contemporary age, to practical philosophy and created new medical theories of Sasang(4 symbols) science from it. Lee emphasized the true thing which is able to be done in one's living not the concepts of Sasang. So he induced the concepts of Way and Virtue from the easy and simple way(易簡之道) in the Classic of Changes(I'Ching) for the purpose of practice by anyone. Because Nature and Imperative are derived from Way and Virtue in the context logically, human life is virtual in itself, so the substance of Nature and Imperative became equal with Way and Virtue. Herein the names and concepts of original 'Sasang' were substituted to Business(事), Mind(心), Body(身), Thing(物) which is able to be directly related with human being in his daily life. And he explained variously about the responses of Mind and Body of individuals onto Business and Thing. So it could be applied in medical aspects like emotional, symptomatical, characteristic features. Conclusively man is virtual being, so Nature and Imperative in the level of Human being are based on Way and Virtue in the level of Heaven. For that reason the new concepts of Sasang Business. Mind. Body Thing or Heaven. Human. Nature and Imperative were proposed.