• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.173-180
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• 2005

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to assess the effect auricular acupuncture for acute mental stress using power spectrum analysis of the heart rate variability(HRV). Methods : 10 healthy volunteers participated in this study. After 5 minute rest, the first mental stress was provided for 5 minute. And then subjects rested for 15 minute. The second mental stress was provided for 5 minute. The acupoint, Shin-Mun point of the ear was stimulated for 15 minute. HRV was recorded before and after the first and second mental stress, and after auricular acupuncture stimulation. Results : After mental stress, normalized LF and LF/HF ratio is significantly increased. Before and after simple rest, normalized LF and normalized HF is significantly changed, but LF and LF/HF ratio is not significantly changed. On the other hand, before and after auricular acupuncture treatment, normalized LF, normalized HF is significantly changed, and also LF and LF/HF ratio is significantly decreased. Conclusion : The result suggest that auricular acupuncture can decrease more significantly in cardiac sympathetic activity due to mental stress than simple rest.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 2003

Objective : Auricular acupuncture is a method of treatment that involves needling the ear in order to produce relief of symptoms. This concept was first developed by P.Nogier, french doctor and referred to as somatotopic representation. Many authors have commented the fact that the vagus nerve supplies the external auditory and the concha. The aim of this randomised, single blind study was to investigate whether auricular acupuncture of the ear produced changes in the pulse rate, an indicator of vagal tone. Methods: 10 healthy man volunteers were divided into normal and epinephrine stimulation group. Then each group was divided into vagus area acupuncture and control area acupuncture group again. Epinephrine stimulation group was injected by epinephrine 0.3cc twice, first. All of them were needled in either the vagus area or control area of the ear, and pulse rate changes were measured by patient monitor over 1 hour. Results : In the epinephrine stimulation group, there was significant differences in the pulse rate change between vagus area acupuncture and control area acupuncture group. After injection of epinephrine, the basal pulse rate was increased 1.3~1.4 times in the control group. However, in the vagus area acupuncture group the basal pulse rate was increased only 1.1~1.2 times.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to compare three therapies - auricular acupuncture, transdermal nicotine patch and therapy - in combination with auricular acupuncture and nicotine patch. Methods : The subjects of this study included 188 male smokers in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, who visited Wonmi Public Health Center. They were evaluated with the Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence, amounts of daily smoking and success rate of smoking cessation. The subjects decided on a therapy method strictly of their own choice. They were divided into three groups according to the therapy; auricular acupuncture group (62 persons), nicotine patch group (69 persons) and combination therapy group (57 persons). Results : All three groups resulted in statistically significant reducing effects of nicotine dependence and amounts of daily smoking. In the combination therapy group, nicotine dependence was significantly decreased by more than those of the other groups. There were no statistically significant differences in decrements of daily smoking and success rate of smoking cessation among the three groups. Conclusions : The above results suggest that auricular acupuncture and transdermal nicotine patch have significant effects of smoking cessation. If they are combined, it is expected that therapies for smoking cessation would be developed.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.35 no.12B
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• pp.1192-1198
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• 2010

As indicators of life quality have recently shown great improvement, alternative medicine is becoming a mainstream health care pattern, in which early stage medical examinations and treatments are usually preformed before diseases occur. In this context, the ear-acupuncture method is increasingly used these day as one of important alternative medicine treatments. In this paper, we performed an experiment of facial region color analysis with kidney ear acupuncture point irritation. For this, we collected facial image samples before and after kidney ear acupuncture point irritation under the same condition. From the samples, the change rates of K, L values of CMYK color system and Lab color system, respectively, on kidney related facial parts were extracted and analyzed to investigate kidney function improvement.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.219-234
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• 2021

Objectives: The objective of this study was to review and analyze domestic research trends of ear acupuncture and ear acupressure (EAs) in elderly population. Methods: We searched five domestic databases to collect relevant original clinical studies up to July 2, 2021. Conditions of elderly participants and results reported in included studies were analyzed. Methods of EAs used were analyzed referring to STandards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture. Results: A total of 17 studies including nine randomized controlled trials were analyzed. As for the target condition, sleep disorder was the most common (n=9), followed by pain condition (n=6). There were three studies on participants with specific Sasang constitution. Procedures of EAs used in nursing studies were generally similar to those of Korean medicine (KM). Conclusions: Domestic studies have reported that EAs might be helpful in improving the health of the elderly. In the future, more research studies using EAs for the elderly are needed in KM field. Collaborative research with KM nurses is recommended. EAs should be further investigated as a promising KM intervention in terms of health and welfare for the elderly.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.52-68
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the weight loss effects of auricular acupuncture in obese patients. Methods: Six databases (Research Information Sharing Service [RISS], Korean studies Information Service System [KISS], Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System [OASIS], PubMed, The Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI]) were searched up to May 20, 2020. Eight eligible randomized controlled trials were included the present study. The quality of included studies was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool and a meta-analysis was performed by Review Manager software. A meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model and a subgroup analysis was performed to detect the sources of heterogeneity, identify the selection of acupuncture methods and explore its contributions to the weight loss effects. Results: Among 8 trials, 5 trials used auricular acupuncture and 2 trials used auricular acupressure, 1 trial used both types of intervention. Most commonly selected acupoints were Shenmen (TF4) and stomach (CO4). Treatment duration was six to twelve weeks, and total treatment session was six to twelve. Compared to the control groups, auricular acupuncture significantly decreased body weight, body mass index (BMI), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL) and ghrelin. For the selection of acupuncture methods, both methods performed similarly in most outcome except waist circumference (WC), body fat percentage (BFP), and triglycerides (TG). Conclusions: We found that auricular acupuncture can be effective for weight loss and controlling appetite. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to heterogeneity. So further vigorous and well-designed studies should be conducted to strengthen the evidence of the use of auricular acupuncture for obesity.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.97-106
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• 2007

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical effect of oriental medical short term therapy on visceral fat obesity. In present study, we report 20-year-old visceral fat obesity woman who experienced oriental medical therapy program. Methods : The obese patient was treated from the 20th of June to the 3rd July. Herbal medicine, low calorie diet, electrolipolysis, auricular acupuncture, and aerobic exercise were done during the treatment period. Results : Her body weight decreased from 77.30kg to 71.15kg. The BMI decreased from $32.6kg/m^2$ to $29.5kg/m^2$. First of all, visceral fat tissue was effectively decreased after oriental obesity therapy evaluated by CT. Visceral fat tissue decreased from $123.44cm^2$ to $83.06cm^2$, subcutaneous fat tissue from $327.88cm^2$ to $323.09cm^2$. Short term oriental medical treatment could be effective in visceral fat obesity treatment. Conclusions : The patient with visceral fat obesity was improved using short term oriental medical treatment.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.2812-2818
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• 2013

Medicine such as Korean oriental medicine and alternative medicine is inferior to western medicine in diagnostic skills and treatment regimen but despite going through a lot of in western medicine preference to that is situations. Likewise, in Korean oriental medicine and alternative medicine have been closely linked to that effect not proven scientifically to be solved is regarded as the biggest drawback. In this paper, auricular therapy that is often used in alternative medicine to help strengthen the internal organs function which whether the conduct of stimulating ear is effective or not by applying to ocular inspection of Korean oriental medicine is proposed. For this purpose, lung ear reflex points to stimulate were performed after the right cheek color by measuring stimulation before comparison and analysis of the experiments. In addition, in order to examine this first analysis of the human body to the lungs and the elements of image analysis is to study. Experimental result, derived b value increased to a value of the right cheek and the results by lung ear to stimulate reflex point.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.89-94
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• 2002

We experienced a male patient who was diagnosed as very severe abdominal obesity. From the 3rd of January to the 14th of April we applied herbal medication(Tiganyiyiren-tang), very low calorie diet, aerobic exercise, behavioral therapy, electrolipolysis, infra-red therapy, auricular acupuncture, and aqua-massage to him. And we examined the changes of his height, weight, body composition, body size, liver functional test, abdominal CT finding. The food production of this year has decreased by 5 percent. His weight decreased by 28.2%, PIBW by 28.5%, BMI by 28.2%, PBF by 22.7%, and WHR by 15.9%. The circumference of upper extremity decreased by 25.7%, the circumference of the muscle of upper extremity by 18.2%, the circumference of chest by 20.5%, the circumference of abdomen by 29.5%, the circumference of hip by 17.4%, and the circumference of thigh by 15.9%. In the liver functional test GOT decreased from 42IU/l to 361U/I, GPT from 1211U/l to 48IU/I. Total cholesterol from 211mg/dl to 152mg/dl, and Trigliceride from 192mg/dl to 81 mg/dl. In the abdominal CT finding the amount of fat in the abdominal cavity decreased from $9732mm^2$ to $3639mm^2$.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.295-317
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• 1996

It is researched to elucidate the effects of Taeumjowuitang(TE,太陰調胃湯), Sibimikwanjungtang(SE, 十二味寬中湯) and Yangkeogsanwhatang(SY,凉膈散火湯) on the obesity induced by gold thioglucose and the differentiation and growth of preadipocyte 3T3-L1 in the mouse. The result were as follows: 1. TE,SE and SY extracts improved the blood level of transaminase in the obese mouse induced by gold thioglucose. 2. TE,SE and SY extracts inhibited the increase of liver fat and body fat in the obese mouse induced by gold thioglucose. 3. TE,SE and SY extracts inhibited the increase of body weight in the obese mouse induced by gold thioglucose. 4. TE,SE and SY extracts inhibited the growth of undifferentiate preadipocyte 3T3-L1. 5. TE,SE and SY extracts showed inhibitory effect on the differentiation of preadipocyte 3T3-L1. The above results suggest that the TE,SE and SY extracts may be used on the obesity induced by the overgrowth and differentiation of adipocyte, and the accumulation of fat in liver and body.