• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.275-297
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• 2009

Herbal medicines have been used worldwide, particularly in the Far East countries, for thousands of years. Herbal medicines comprise complex mixtures of different phytochemical substances, and their nature may vary substantially depending on many factors related to the cultivation condition, area and harvest time. The processing of the herbal medicines significantly affects their pharmacological and toxicological properties. In this paper, we discuss current research that deals with the techniques for processing Chinese herbal medicines. These results will provide a scientific basis for developing new techniques for the processing of herbal medicines.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.508-516
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• 2007

Thymus magnus is an endemic (Ulleung Island) species in Korea. This plant is used as diaphoretics and carminatives in traditional medicine. In the literature, few scientific assays were realized on this species, such as antibiotic (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enteritidis, and S. typhimurium) and antifungal activities. In order to clarify whether essential oil of T. magnus have pharmacological effects, anti-inflammatory, sedative, anti-depressant, analgesic, and sleep-prolonged effects were investigated using animal models. From this study, the following conclusions were attained; 1) Essential oil of T. magnus did not show any acute toxicity on mice when orally administered at the dose of 2-3 g/kg body weight. 2) Essential oil of T. magnus possessed strong anti-inflammatory activity, similar to that of a positive control prednisolone. 3) Essential oil of T. magnus had excellent analgesic activity, comparable to that of aspirin. 4) The essential oil of T. magnus possessed strong sleep-prolonged effect on pentobarbital induced-sleep test in mice model. 5) In the hot plate test, the essential oil of T. magnus had moderate effect. 6) And the essential oil of T. magnus had no significant effects in forced-swimming test and open-field test.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.672-685
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• 2022

This article proposes a subject-independent application of brain-computer interfacing (BCI). A 32-channel Electroencephalography (EEG) device is used to measure imagined speech (SI) of four words (sos, stop, medicine, washroom) and one phrase (come-here) across 13 subjects. A deep long short-term memory (LSTM) network has been adopted to recognize the above signals in seven EEG frequency bands individually in nine major regions of the brain. The results show a maximum accuracy of 73.56% and a network prediction time (NPT) of 0.14 s which are superior to other state-of-the-art techniques in the literature. Our analysis reveals that the alpha band can recognize SI better than other EEG frequencies. To reinforce our findings, the above work has been compared by models based on the gated recurrent unit (GRU), convolutional neural network (CNN), and six conventional classifiers. The results show that the LSTM model has 46.86% more average accuracy in the alpha band and 74.54% less average NPT than CNN. The maximum accuracy of GRU was 8.34% less than the LSTM network. Deep networks performed better than traditional classifiers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1748-1756
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• 2024

Biofilm formation by bacteria poses a significant challenge across diverse industries, displaying resilience against conventional antimicrobial agents. Nanoparticles emerge as a promising alternative for addressing biofilm-related issues. This review aims to assess the efficacy of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles in inhibiting or disrupting biofilm formation by various bacterial species. It delineates trends, identifies gaps, and outlines avenues for future research, emphasizing best practices and optimal nanoparticles for biofilm prevention and eradication. Additionally, it underscores the potential of nanoparticles as substitutes for traditional antibiotics in healthcare and combating antibiotic resistance. A systematic literature search, encompassing Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar from 2015 to 2023, yielded 48 publications meeting the review criteria. These studies employed diverse methods to explore the antibacterial activity of nanoparticles against biofilm-forming bacteria strains. The implications of this study are profound, offering prospects for novel antimicrobial agents targeting biofilm-forming bacteria, often resistant to conventional antibiotics. In conclusion, nanoparticles present a promising frontier in countering biofilm-forming bacteria. This review delivers a structured analysis of current research, providing insights into the potential and challenges of nanoparticle utilization against biofilm-related challenges. While nanoparticles exhibit inherent antimicrobial properties with applications spanning healthcare, agriculture, and industries, the review acknowledges limitations such as the narrow scope of tested nanoparticles and the imperative need for extensive research on long-term toxicity and environmental impacts.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.135-141
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• 1997

The early studies demonstrated that the relative amount of FSH was important for stimulating normal ovarian activity and demonstrated the existence of a threshold level for FSH, above which follicular growth was activated. It was found that only a modest increase in circulating FSH level above the threshold (between 10 and 30%) was required to stimulate folliculogenesis. In addition, FSH is primary responsible for initiating estradiol production through the activation of the aromatase enzyme system in granulosa cells, follicular secretion and growth. LH on the other hand, plays a supportive role in ovarian steroidogenesis, stimulating the ovarian thecal cells to produce androgen, the precursor for estradiol synthesis. But there is now an increasing number of reports in the literature demonstrating an adverse effect of LH on fertility and miscarriage in infertile and fertile women. So HP-FSH is the drug of a highly purified FSH preparation which has a higher specific activity and far fewer impurities than FSH. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of HP-FSH administered (SC; subcutaneous) versus FSH(IM; intramuscular) for ovulation induction. 20 candidates patients for ovulation induction were participated. All patients underwent pituitary desensitizing with a long gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist protocol and ovulation induction was started with HP-FSH SC (10 patients; group I) or FSH IM (10 patients; group II). After ovulation, outcome of ovulation induction and local reaction of injection site were compared. There were no difference of outcome of ovulation in two groups except pregnancy rate/embryo transfer. Group I had a higher pregnancy rate/ embryo transfer than Group II (44.4% Vs 28.6%). Pain, redness, tenderness, bruising and itching when the injection received on the first 5 days of treated (50 SC and 50 IM injections) were assessed. There were no significant difference (P>0.05) in the incidence of tenderness, bruising and itching between the IM and SC injection. But IM injection (FSH) had a tendency of higher above incidence. The number of reports of pain, redness were significantly increased in IM injection group (P<0.05). These results indicate that SC administration of HP-FSH has been shown to be as effect for superovulation as traditional gonadotropins, with an improved safety profile due to the removal of extaneous proteins.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.27-41
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• 2016

Objectives : The purpose of this research is to understand melanin with both Korean and Western medicine.Methods : We investigated the comprehension of melanin in both western and Korean medicine through literature review and studied relationships between melanin and five viscera(五臟), especially liver(肝), spleen(脾), kidney(腎). We Also studied representative pigmentary disorders(melasma, vitiligo) in western and Korean medicine to figure out how to understand pigmentary disorders in oriental medicine.Results : The results are as follows. 1. Melanin is associate with liver, because free coursing(疎泄) function of liver is the origin of transport melanin to keratinocyte from melanocyte. Also, melanogenesis factors like MITF and CREB are closely associated with liver and pigmentary disorders occur frequently after stress conditions or women. 2. Melanin is absorbed and scattered in keratinocytes by the function of spleen. Pigmentary disorders result from failure of spleen and formation of phlegm-retained fluid(痰飮). 3. Kidney essence(腎精) is the origin of melanin formation. In addition, corticosteroid, the major hormone of melanogenesis is secreted by adrenalin and adrenalin belongs to kidney(腎) in Korean medicine. 4. Melasma is created by disorder of melanin transport and absorbtion, so melasma is associated liver (肝) and spleen(脾). Therefore the treatment for melasma may focus on improvement function of liver and spleen. 5. The destruction of melanocyte or abnormal melanogenesis by disorder of the immune system, metabolic and affective disorders can make vitiligo, so vitiligo is associated with liver and kidney which are major part of melanin formation. Therefore the treatment of vitiligo can focus on improvement function of liver(肝) and kidney(腎).Conclusion : We compared Korean and western medicine to understand melanin. We also interpreted the mechanism of melanin and pigmantary disorders in western medicine and considered the relationship with visceral manifestation theory(臟象論) in traditional Korean medicine. Further studies are needed to apply comprehension of melanin to clinical stage.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.52-70
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• 2018

Objectives : Atopic dermatitis(AD) and environmental factors are closely related, but there is lack of oriental medical examination. So we compared the relationship between AD and various environmental factors in Oriental medicine and Western medicine. Methods : We described the relationship between AD and environmental factors through the latest papers and a review of the oriental medicine literature. Results : The regional diversity of AD incidence implies a close relationship between climate factors and AD, and high altitude and low pH springs also have an effect on AD. Air pollutants from industrialization and urbanization aggravate AD. The increase in indoor residence time and the increase in room temperature and humidity have also increased the sensitization to allergens such as house dust mite. In oriental medicine, wind(風) is one of the environmental factors and is an inflammatory state due to external irritation. Wind-Humidity(風濕) refers to erythematous wetting dermatitis with itching and exudation, Wind-Fever(風熱) refers to acute inflammatory reaction with erythematous papules and plague, and Blood-Weakness(血虛) refers to aggravation and chronicization of inflammation due to persistence of skin barrier impairment. Conclusions : We examined the relationship between AD and various environmental factors. We also described the oriental medical viewpoints of the environmental factors in the occurrence of AD and skin barrier impairment.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1221-1225
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• 2009

The pulse diagnosis is an important and universally used method in Oriental Medicine. Since the traditional method of palpating the pulse relies on the subjective sense in the fingers of an Oriental Medical Doctor(OMD), there has been continued need for more objective method for pulse diagnosis. Recently, various pulse analyzers have been developed to meet such objective palpation and interpretation. However, most of these attempts were not successful to replace OMD's own palpation by fingers. To improve the performance of the pulse analyzers, one should develop machine-appropriate interpretations for the pulse images in the literature, in addition to the improvement in the repeatability and reproducibility. One of such widely-used pulse images to be interpreted is the floating and sinking pulse. The floating and sinking pulses are the two representative pulse images informing us how strong pressure one should apply to obtain the maximal pulse strength. A previous study suggested a convenient and unified measure for the floating and sinking pulses by defining the coefficient of the floating-sinking pulse(CFS). We found the original definition of the CFS could be erroneous under some situations. To improve the performance, we introduce new CFS algorithm for determining the floating and sinking pulse with a pulse analyzers(3-D MAC). To test the performance of the newly suggested algorithm, we conducted a clinical study comparing the agreement ratio with the floating and sinking pulse diagnosis by the OMDs. We found that, among the subjects who are diagnosed with having either the floating pulse or sinking pulse, the new CFS algorithm showed 55.3% diagnosis rate and 73.0% concordance rate, which are about 3% and 6% improvement in the diagnosis rate and agreement rate, respectively, compared to the original CFS algorithm.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1341-1348
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• 2009

Hoechunyanggyeok-san (HYS) is a traditional oriental herbal medicine widely used for treating inflammatory disorders. Although there are numerous clinical results of HYS reported in the literature of oriental hebal medicine, it has been rarely conducted to evaluate the immuno-biological activity. The present study was conducted to examine the anti-inflammatory effects of HYS extract (HYSE) in vivo and in vitro. To determine the cytotoxic concentration of HYSE, cell viability was tested by MTT assay. All four doses of HYSE (0.01, 0.03, 0.10 and 0.30 mg/ml) had no significant cytotoxicity during the entire experimental period. In order to measure NO levels in culture medium, the cells were treated with $1\;{\mu}g/ml$ of LPS 1h before adding HYSE for 24 h and then culture medium were reacted with Griess reagent. Increased NO production and iNOS expression were detected in LPS-activated cells compared to control. However, these increases were dose-dependently attenuated by treatment with HYSE. LPS plays a key role in leading to the massive production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-$\alpha$, IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 in macrophages. Thus, we next determined the levels of these cytokines. HYSE reduced the elevated production of TNF-$\alpha$, IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 by LPS. Moreover, the effects of HYSE were in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo, histopathological study, HYSE effectively inheefed the increases of hind paw skin thicknesses and inflammatory cell infiltrations induced by carrageenan treatment. It, therefore, considered that HYSE will be favorably inheefed the acute edematous inanner. In s. These findings showed that HYSE could have anti-inflammatory effects through the reduction of NO and inflammatory cytokines in macrophage. Furthermore, the reduction of carrageenan-induced paw oedema by HYSE helps to understand its actions on inflammatory conditions.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2024

Cognitive reserve (CR) is a concept that can explain the discrepancies between the pathologic burden of the disease and clinical manifestations. It refers to the individual susceptibility to age-related brain changes and pathologies related to Alzheimer's disease, thus recognized as a factor affecting the trajectories of the disease. The purpose of this study was to explore the current states of clinical studies on neural substrates of CR in Alzheimer's disease using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We searched for clinical studies on CR using fMRI in the Pubmed, Cochrane library, RISS, KISS and ScienceON on August 14, 2023. Once the online search was finished, studies were selected manually by the inclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of selected articles and reviewed the neural substrates of CR. Total thirty-four studies were included in this study. As surrogate markers of CR, not only education and occupational complexity, but also composite score and questionnaire-based method, which cover various areas of life, were mainly used. The most utilized methods in resting-state fMRI were independent component analysis, seed-based analysis, and graph theory analysis. Through the analysis, we demonstrated that neuroimaging techniques could capture the neural substrates associated with cognitive reserve. Moreover, functional connectivity of brain regions centered on prefrontal and parietal cortex and network areas such as default mode network showed a significant correlation with CR, which indicated a significant association with cognitive performance. CR may induce differential effects according to the disease status. We hope that this perspective on cognitive reserve would be helpful when conducting clinical researches on the mechanisms of traditional Korean medicine for Alzheimer's disease in the future.