• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8455-8460
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• 2016

Background: Poor participation rates are often observed in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programs utilising faecal occult blood tests. This may be from dislike of faecal sampling, or having benign bleeding conditions that can interfere with test results. These barriers may be circumvented by offering a blood-based DNA test for screening. The aim was to determine if program participation could be increased by offering a blood test following faecal immunochemical test (FIT) non-participation. Materials and Methods: People were invited into a CRC screening study through their General Practice and randomised into control or intervention (n=600/group). Both groups were mailed a FIT (matching conventional screening programs). Participation was defined as FIT completion within 12wk. Intervention group non-participants were offered a screening blood test (methylated BCAT1/IKZF1). Overall participation was compared between the groups. Results: After 12wk, FIT participation was 82% and 81% in the control and intervention groups. In the intervention 96 FIT nonparticipants were offered the blood test - 22 completed this test and 19 completed the FIT instead. Total screening in the intervention group was greater than the control (88% vs 82%, p<0.01). Of 12 invitees who indicated that FIT was inappropriate for them (mainly due to bleeding conditions), 10 completed the blood test (83%). Conclusions: Offering a blood test to FIT non-participants increased overall screening participation compared to a conventional FIT program. Blood test participation was particularly high in invitees who considered FIT to be inappropriate for them. A blood test may be a useful adjunct test within a FIT program.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2551-2555
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• 2013

Background: Physical activity is a component of lifestyle activity and one that has been increasingly seen as 'the medicine' to cure chronic diseases, including certain types of cancer. Physical activity has potent impact on mortality but only if it is well incorporated as lifestyle activity may it allow a better outcome of the quality of life of cancer survivors. This paper presents a review on the evidence of physical activity being actively promoted as lifestyle activity amongst cancer survivors, for the last five years. Materials and Methods: Electronic databases were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials incorporated as lifestyle activity through MEDLINE with the associated terms "physical activity or exercise", "quality of life" and "cancer survivor or people with cancer", 'lifestyle' and 'randomised controlled trial'. The period of search was confined to publication within January 2008 till December 2012 and further limits were to full text, peer reviewed, abstract available and English language. Results: Based on inclusion criteria, 45 articles were retrieved. Of these, 41 were excluded after examining the full paper. Four final articles on randomized controlled trials were studied to determine the effectiveness of PA to improve the quality of life in post treatment cancer survivors and positive associations were found. Conclusions: Physical activity is related to better quality of life of cancer survivors. Only one paper had characteristics of lifestyle incorporation for a lifestyle redesign, but none overtly or actively promoting exercise interventions as an essential lifestyle activity. With increasing survivorship, the benefits of physical activity must be aggressively and overtly promoted to optimize its positive impact.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8127-8133
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• 2016

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of back massage on the anxiety state, cortisol level, systolic/diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, and sleep quality in family caregivers of patients with cancer. Materials and Methods: Forty-four family caregivers were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (22 interventions, 22 controls) after they were matched on age and gender. The intervention consisted of back massage for 15 minutes per day for a week. Main research outcomes were measured at baseline (day I) and follow-up (day 7). Unpaired t-test, paired t test and chi-square test were used to analyse data. Results: The majority of the caregivers were women, married, secondary school educated and housewife. State anxiety (p<0.001), cortisol level (p<0.05), systolic/diastolic blood pressure (p<0.001, p<0.01 respectively), and pulse rate (p<0.01) were significantly decreased, and sleep quality (p<0.001) increased after back massage intervention. Conclusions: The study results show that family caregivers for patients with cancer can benefit from back massage to improve state anxiety, cortisol level, blood pressure and heart rate, and sleep quality. Oncology nurses can take advantage of back massage, which is non-pharmacologic and easily implemented method, as an independent nursing action to support caregivers for patients with cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.978-984
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• 2016

Osteoporosis is a disease that often occurs in postmenopausal women. The purpose of this study was to examine the positive effects of Cheongukjang powder containing menaquinone-7 (MK-7) on bone health circulation in postmenopausal women. Fifty-six postmenopausal women were recruited into a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. The participants were randomly assigned into two groups. For 12 weeks, one group received $800{\mu}g$ MK-7 in the form of Cheongukjang packs (CMK-7), and the other group received the same amount of identical-looking placebo packs containing barley meal for 12 weeks. Femoral bone mineral density (BMD), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (ALP), deoxypyridinoline (DPD), osteocalcin (OSC), serum Ca, and serum P were measured at baseline (0 weeks) and 12 weeks. After 12 weeks in the CMK-7 group, it was found that BMD, serum Ca, and serum P had increased above the baseline (p<0.0001, p=0.0028, p<0.0001), whereas bone-specific ALP, DPD, and OSC had decreased below the baseline (p=0.0003, p<0.0001, p<0.0001). Therefore, MK-7 taken as Cheongukjang is expected to prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.99-110
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• 2009

목 적 : 한약 또는 한약제제의 아토피성 피부염에 대한 치료효과를 조사하고 향후 연구방향을 제시하기 위하여 고찰연구를 시행하였다. 방 법 : PubMed에 한약과 아토피성 피부염과 관련된 검색어의 조합을 넣어 포함기준에 맞는 무작위배정 대조군 임상연구만 포함하였다. 연구설계, 치료방법, 대조군, 평가지표, 결과, 부작용 관련 정보를 미리 정해놓은 자료 추출 형식에 맞추어 추출하고 방법론적 질 평가는 옥스포드 질 평가 척도와 그룹 할당 은닉(allocation concealment) 여부를 평가하였다. 연구들이 임상적 및 통계적으로 상이하여 메타분석은 이루어지지 않고 기술적 고찰만 실시하였다. 결 과 : 모두 8편의 연구가 고찰기준을 만족시켰다. 다양한 복합한약제제와 한약이 포함된 외용제가 평가되었는데 8편 가운데 5편에서 아토피성 피부염의 증상을 호전시키는 것으로 나타났다. 방법론적 질은 대체로 양호한 것으로 나타났으며 일부 효과적인 것으로 나타난 한약복합제제에서 간손상 등의 부작용도 보고되었다. 결 론 : 한약 또는 한약제제를 이용한 치료는 아토피성 피부염의 증상개선에 도움이 되는 것으로 보이나 현재 근거는 부족하다. 우리나라에서 많이 쓰이는 한약제제들 역시 엄정한 임상연구를 거쳐 그 효과를 평가하고 근거를 구축해야 할 것이다.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.41-46
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• 2015

Objectives This systematic review will analyse randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of manual therapy in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) to evaluate the efficacy of this approach. Methods RCTs will be identified in the following ten databases based on searches starting with their inception: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, four Korean databases as KoreaMed, DBPIA, NDSL, and RISS and three Chinese databases as CNKI, VIP and Wanfang. The quality of these studies will be analysed using the Cochrane risk of bias. A meta-analysis will be conducted, and subgroup analysis will be considered if comparatively large heterogeneity is detected. Conclusions We plan to publish this systematic review in a peer-reviewed journal. Findings from this review may contribute to the treatment process in clinical situations. Trial registration number: PROSPERO 2015: CRD42015024090

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.79-95
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this review is to analyze the domestic study trends on climacteric syndrome treated with pharmacopuncture. Methods: We investigated the studies on pharmacopuncture for climacteric syndrome via searching 6 online databases. Results: 18 studies were selected. There were 2 case reports, 1 randomised controlled trial, and 15 animal experiments. There were 14 studies about osteoporosis, 1 study about hot flush and sweating, 1 study about abdominal obesity, 1 study about neck pain, and 1 study about learning disability and memory disorder. Nokyong was most frequently used for pharmacopuncture, followed by Honghwa. 陰谷 (KI10) was most frequently used for acupuncture point, followed by 腎兪 (BL23). Conclusions: This study shows that pharmacopuncture could be one of the effective treatments for climacteric syndrome. More well-designed clinical studies using pharmacopuncture for climacteric syndrome will be needed.

• Proceedings of the SCSK Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.73-84
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• 2003

Skin aging process on pre-menopausal women is a problem that needs to be prevented as early as possible. The decrease of oestrogen level which is one of the intrinsic factors of the skin aging process will affect the skin biological process, due to oestrogen receptors on the skin. A number of researches conducted on pre-menopausal women with the allocation of oestrogen hormone resulted in delaying the skin aging process. The administration of soy isoflavon, a phytoestrogen found in daily food, on pre-menopausal women is hoped to be able to prevent skin aging process, even clinically or molecular biologically. This research aims to explain the benefit of administering of soy isoflavon on skin aging process. The design of the research is randomised controlled trial (RCT). As many as 60 pre-menopausal women were collected with simple random sampling method. Soy isoflavon is an independent variable, while skin aging process is a dependent variable assessed from the hydration, sebum level, average roughness, depth of wrinkles, skin clarity, length of the telomere. Analysis was conducted using t and MANDVA tests and.the result showed a significance (F = 10,439; p = 0,001) over the allocation of soy isoflavon to the whole variable dependent, including the telomere length and the skin hydration, meant that allocation of soy isoflavon could delay skin aging process.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.165-178
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to assess how Traditional Chinese Medicine treats the medical condition of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Methods: The authors searched for relevant articles through the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure-www.global.cnki.net) with the following keywords: The main search was for the term 'RLS,' with supportive words added such as 'Acupunture', 'Acupoint', 'Meridian', 'Moxibustion', 'Massage', 'Acupoint injection'. Our search yielded a total of 233 articles; there were a total of 71 articles related to clinical fields. We then analyzed the chosen articles using a number of criteria including the study type used, the treatment method utilized, and the main effect of the treatment. Results: The 71 analyzed articles utilized the following type of study design: 4 were classified as Quasi-randomised trial, 22 as Randomized Controlled Trial, and 45 as a case report. Regarding the treatment used for RLS, 25 studies examined a single treatment modality, while 46 studies examined a complex treatment modality. There were a total of 10 types of acupuncture treatment used in treating RLS; several massage and acupoint injection method were also found. Finally, there were a few studies that used Moxibustion, as well as several supportive treatments like Cupping, Moxibustion, Steam-Washing, TDP (Teding Dancibo Pu) were found. Conclusions: Traditional Chinese Medicine has used a variety of different study designs and treatments vis-a-vis RLS. These treatments are also used to treat the condition in South Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5143-5147
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• 2014

Cervical cancer screening in Malaysia is by opportunistic Pap smear which contributes to the low uptake rate. To overcome this, a pilot project called the SIPPS program (translated as information system of Pap smear program) had been introduced whereby women aged 20-65 years old are invited for Pap smear and receive recall to repeat the test. This study aimed at determining which recall method is most cost-effective in getting women to repeat Pap smear. A randomised control trial was conducted where one thousand women were recalled for repeat smear either by registered letter, phone messages, phone call or the usual postal letter. The total cost applied for cost-effectiveness analysis includes the cost of sending letter for first invitation, cost of the recall method and cost of two Pap smears. Cost-effective analysis (CEA) of Pap smear uptake by each recall method was then performed. The uptake of Pap smear by postal letter, registered letters, SMS and phone calls were 18.8%, 20.0%, 21.6% and 34.4%, respectively (p<0.05). The CER for the recall method was lowest by phone call compared to other interventions; RM 69.18 (SD RM 0.14) compared to RM 106.53 (SD RM 0.13), RM 134.02 (SD RM 0.15) and RM 136.38 (SD RM 0.11) for SMS, registered letter and letter, respectively. ICER showed that it is most cost saving if the usual method of recall by postal letter be changed to recall by phone call. The possibility of letter as a recall for repeat Pap smear to reach the women is higher compared to sending SMS or making phone call. However, getting women to do repeat Pap smear is better with phone call which allows direct communication. Despite the high cost of the phone call as a recall method for repeat Pap smear, it is the most cost-effective method compared to others.