Objectives: This study was aimed to investigate the effects of Galhwahyejung-tang (GHT) on alcohol-induced oxidative stress in rat model. Methods: Twenty SD rats were orally administrated with 40% ethanol (mL/kg) combined with GHT (50, 100, 200mg/kg) or distilled water for 2 weeks. Biochemistry in blood, malondialdehyde (MDA), total reactive oxygen species (ROS), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in serum, liver, brain, and kidney were determined. Results: GHT treatment significantly ameliorated the alcohol-induced alteration of hepatic enzyme; especially AST and ALT. GHT treatment also ameliorated the increase of MDA in liver, ROS level in serum and brain. GHT treatment reduced the depletion of antioxidant capacity in serum and brain. Conclusion: These results that GHT has antioxidant properties explaining the relevance of clinical application and its partial mechanisms of GHT.

Objectives: We investigated to develop and validate HPLC-PDA methods for simultaneous determination of eight constituents in Galgeun-tang (GGT). Methods: Reverse-phase chromatography using a Gemini C18 column operating at $40^{\circ}C$, and photodiode array (PDA) detection at 230 nm, 254 nm, and 280 nm, were used for quantification of the eight marker components of GGT. The mobile phase using a gradient flow consisted of two solvent systems. Solvent A was 1.0% (v/v) aqueous acetic acid and solvent B was acetonitrile with 1.0% (v/v) acetic acid. Results: Calibration curves were acquired with $r^2$ > 0.9999, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) values (%) for intra- and inter-day precision were less than 3.0%. The recovery rate of each component was in the range of 87.33-101.38%, with an RSD less than 7.0%. The contents of the eight components in GGT were 1.98-12.17 mg/g. Conclusions: The established method will be applied for the quantification of marker components in GGT.

Objective: This study aimed to produce a description of features of chronic fatigue patients visiting an Oriental Hospital. Methods: 121 patients (75 male and 46 female) who visited a fatigue-care center were enrolled in this study, and the main complaints besides fatigue feeling, symptom differentiation, and health-related factors were analyzed. Results: On a visual analogue scale (VAS), average severity of fatigue was 7.0 (male 6.77 and female 7.4; 0 indicates no fatigue vs. 10 indicates intolerable fatigue), and the main complaints included headache (male and female) and dyspepsia (female). Patients generally slept about 7 hrs and caught a cold 2.4 times per year (same in both male and female). 54.6 % of patients used functional supplements, and red ginseng, vitamin and herbal medicine were chosen in that order. Conclusions: Chronic fatigue is a main target of traditional Korean medicine (TKM). This study can be helpful to design TKM-based treatment for chronic fatigue-related symptoms.

Objective: This study was undertaken to systematically assess and summarize the effects of acupuncture on cortisol secretion. Materials and methods: We searched articles published up to May 2010 in six electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, KISS, KISTI, DBPIA, Kyobo Scholar). Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) which met all the inclusion criteria were reviewed. Eight RCTs were finally selected for this systematic review and assessed by three reviewers. The risk of bias was also estimated by using the Cochrane criteria. Results: Six RCTs reported no distinct difference of cortisol levels between control and experimental groups. Two RCTs reported significant differences of cortisol levels between groups; one reported the acupuncture group with markedly higher concentrations of cortisol while the other reported the opposite result. Conclusion: There are some difficulties in clearly identifying the effects of acupuncture on cortisol levels in this systematic review due to inconsistent results. Therefore, more rigorous trials with larger scales need to be conducted to clarify the effects of acupuncture on cortisol levels.

Introduction: Up to now there has been no unified orthography of Donguibogam (東醫寶鑑) in English. Too manydifferent spellings on Donguibogam are seen in the articles on it. Therefore, we present a solution to the spelling problem of Donguibogam in this study. Discussion: To verify the problem of various spellings of Donguibogam we looked at over 54 articles that have spellings of Donguibogam published from 2000 to 2008, and compared those 29 different spellings with each other. To know the historical background of Donguibogam spelling, we looked over many translations that foreigners used, but we could just find fragmentary references to Donguibogam. We compared various spellings with the official orthography of the Korean government. We discussed the appropriateness of various spellings. There is no unified spelling in the DongUiBoGam center and in the conference articles of the Korean Society of Medical History, which recently celebrated the 400th year of DongUiBoGam publication. Conclusion: It is suggested that the proper orthography should be "Donguibogam: Principles and Practice of Eastern Medicine". Hereafter all articles should follow this spelling without exception for more consistent study.

Objective: This study investigated the therapeutic possibility of natural therapy in atopy-camp for children with atopic dermatitis. Methods: 30 children (19 boys and 11 girls, median age 11.5 years, ranging from 9 to 15) participated in natural environment-based activities in a camp-village located in Geumsan-gun for five days. Assessment of symptom change was conducted by self-reporting numeric scale (NRS) for pruritus and sleeping difficulty, investigator global assessment (IGA), eczema area and severity index (EASI score), serum histamine and IgE concentration before and after the camp period. Statistical significance was analyzed by paired t-test. Results: NRS for pruritus ($4.7{\pm}2.0$ into $4.3{\pm}2.1$), sleeping difficulty ($3.1{\pm}2.1$ into $2.9{\pm}2.0$), and serum histamine concentration ($4.27{\pm}7.39$ mol / L into $3.21{\pm}6.08$ mol / L) showed positive changes but didn't reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). IGA ($3.8{\pm}0.9$ into $4.13{\pm}1.0$), while EASI score ($10.8{\pm}9.7$ into $9.1{\pm}9.2$) and IgE ($408{\pm}320$ IU / mL into $385{\pm}3.8$ IU / mL) were significantly improved (p < 0.01). Conclusions: In spite of the limitation of the clinical trial protocol, this study may provide the possibility of natural environment-based therapy for children with atopic dermatitis.

Objective: The present study investigated the effect of ethanol extract of Cynanchum wilfordii (ECW) on vascular relaxation and vascular inflammation in rat artery isolated from rats and anti-inflammatory activity in human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMC). Methods: Vascular tone and guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) production were examined in rat artery isolated from Sprague Dawley rats, in the presence of ECW. HASMC were incubated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) or Angiotensin II for 24 h. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and anti-oxidant activity of ECW was investigated by pretreatment with ECW in HASMC. Results: Cumulative treatment of ECW relaxed aortic smooth muscles of rats in a dose-dependent manner. ECW-induced vasorelaxation was significantly decreased by pretreatment of L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) or oxadiazolo-quinoxalinone (ODQ). Furthermore, ECW treatment of thoracic aorta significantly increased cGMP production. Incubation of ECW with ODQ or L-NAME markedly decreased ECW-induced cGMP production. ECW treatment dose-dependently suppressed TNF-${\alpha}$- or Angiotensin II-induced increase in matrix metalloproteinase-2 expression in HASMC. Also, ECW exhibited 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity in vitro and reduced TNF-${\alpha}$-induced increase in reactive oxygen species production in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions: Taken together, the results suggest that ECW exerts vascular relaxation via NO/cGMP signaling pathway and decreases MMP-2 expression via anti-oxidant activity.

Objective: We present a case of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain with the aim of driving further study evaluating the effectiveness of Oriental medical treatment on patients with neuropathic pain. Method: We prescribed Bogijetong-tang (BJT) two times a day and performed acupuncture and moxibustion once a day over one month of hospitalization. Laboratory tests were performed twice a month during this period. To evaluate the therapeutic effect, Total Symptom Score (TSS) or Visual Analog Score (VAS) was examined at intervals of 7 days. Result: Laboratory data showed no abnormal signs compared with those of initial examination. The patient's subjective symptoms were rapidly relieved within one month. Also, the sums of TSS scores (upper limbs/lower limbs) decreased from 13.64/7.32 to 3.32/3.32 points, and VAS scores (upper limbs/lower limbs) improved from 19/10 to 6/8 points. Conclusion: This case presents a possibility that Oriental medical treatment may offer potential benefits (from an approach aimed at relieving of pain) for patients with chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain.