• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.585-591
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• 2022

Background: Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) extract has been shown to have beneficial effects in patients with atherosclerosis, suggesting that KRG extract may be effective in preventing subsequent ischemic stroke in patients with severe atherosclerosis. Methods: This double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomized patients with severe atherosclerosis in major intracranial arteries or extracranial carotid artery, to ginseng group and placebo group. They were given two 500-mg KRG tablets or identical placebo tablets twice daily for 12 months according to randomization. The primary endpoint was the composite of cerebral ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack during 12 months after randomization. The secondary endpoints were change in volumetric blood flow of the intracranial vessels and the incidence of newly developed asymptomatic ischemic lesions. Any adverse events were monitored. Results: Fifty-eight patients were randomized from June 2016 to June 2017, 29 to ginseng and 29 to placebo, and 52 (28 and 24, respectively) completed the study. One patient in the placebo group, but none in the ginseng group, experienced ischemic symptoms (p = 0.46). Changes in volumetric blood flow and the presence of ischemic brain lesions did not differ significantly in the two groups, and none of these patients experienced adverse drug reactions. Conclusion: Ginseng was well tolerated by patients with severe atherosclerosis, with these patients showing good compliance with ginseng dosing. Ginseng did not show significant effects compared with placebo, although none of the ginseng-treated patients experienced ischemic events. Long-term studies in larger patient populations are required to test the effect of ginseng.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.99-109
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• 2021

Objectives: Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the treatment of herbal medicine for patients with COVID-19 asymptomatic infections. Method: In English, search engines such as 'PubMed', 'Science Direct', and 'Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL)' were used. In Chinese, search engines such as 'China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI)' and Wanfang were used. The keywords for the search engines were 'COVID-19', 'asymptomatic infection', 'Korean Medicine', 'traditional Chinese medicine', 'herbal medicine', and etc. Only clinical studies using herbal medicine for patients without fever or respiratory symptoms were selected. We excluded the cases that do not fit the research topic. Results: A total of 5 studies were finally selected. Among them, four of them used integrated herbal medicine and Western medicine, and one of the studies treated exclusively for herbal medicine. There were a total of seven prescriptions for herbal medicine used in the study. Outcome variables were used as following: lab test, nucleic acid conversion time, hospitalization period, chest CT, and etc. In the RCT study, herbal medicine and Western medicine decreased nucleic acid conversion time, average hospitalization time compared to the control group, but it was not statistically significant. No other adverse reactions were reported in all studies. Conclusion: According to the results, integrated herbal medicine and Western medicine might be an effective treatment for patients with COVID-19 asymptomatic infection reducing hospitalization period, time of nucleic acid turning negative. No severe adverse effects were reported. However, it is thought that better-designed research will be needed in the future.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.10
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• 2024

Background: External parasites, particularly ticks and fleas, are among the most common problems affecting dogs. Chemical medicines are commonly used to prevent and eliminate such external parasites, but their improper use can cause adverse reactions, and the toxins they contain may remain in the environment. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the in vitro efficacy of Zanthoxylum limonella, citronella, clove, peppermint, and ginger essential oils against dog ticks and fleas and to test the sensitivity of dogs' skin to these essential oils. Methods: The five essential oils were tested for in vitro efficacy against ticks and fleas, and the two most effective essential oils were then tested on the dogs' skin. Results: The results revealed that these five essential oils at 16% concentrations effectively inhibited the spawning of female engorged ticks. In addition, all five essential oils had a strong ability to kill tick larvae at concentrations of 2% upward. Furthermore, 4% concentrations of the five essential oils quickly eliminated fleas, especially clove oil, which killed 100% of fleas within 1 h. A 50%, 90%, and 99% lethal concentration (LC₅₀, LC₉₀, and LC₉₉) for the essential oils on tick larvae in 24 h were found to be low values. LC₅₀, LC₉₀, and LC₉₉ for the essential oils on flea in 1 h was lowest values. Clove oil at 16% concentration was the most satisfactory essential oil for application on dogs' skin, with a low percentage of adverse effects. Conclusions: This study confirmed the effectiveness of essential oils for practical use as tick and flea repellents and eliminators. Essential-oil-based pharmaceutical can replace chemical pesticides and provide benefits for both consumers and the environment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10273-10276
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• 2015

Objective: To explore the clinical effects of nimotuzumab combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of late gastric cancer. Methods: A total of 34 reoccurrence or metastatic patients with late stage gastric cancer who were confirmed by histopathology and/or cytology were selected and randomly divided into observational and control groups, of 17 cases each. Patients in the control group were treated with the standard DCF plan, while patients in observational group additionally received nimotuzumab. The short-term and long-term efficacy and adverse reactions in the 2 groups were followed. Results: The objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were 64.7% (11/17) and 82.4% (14/17) in observational group and 25.0%(4/16) and 37.5%(6/16) in the control group(ORR and DCR between 2 groups, ${\chi}^2=5.2412$, P=0.0221 and ${\chi}^2=6.9453$, P=0.0084). The median progression-free survival (PFS) time and median overall survival (OS) time were 6.50 months and 12.50 months in observational group and 4.50 months and 8.25 months in the control group (P=0.0212; P=0.0255). The main toxic and side effects in the 2 groups were reduced leukocytes and hemoglobin, gastrointestinal reactions and hair loss and these were relieved after symptomatic treatment and nutrition support therapy. There were no differences in the occurrence of toxic and side effects between the 2 groups. Conclusions: Nimotuzumab combined with DCF plan is effective in treating late stage gastric cancer. A larger scale study is now warranted for confirmation of the findings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4629-4631
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• 2015

Background: The research was to compare the efficacy and side effects of cisplatin or lobaplatin in combination with mitomycine (MMC) and vincristine in treating patients with cervical squamous carcinoma. Materials and Methods: Cervical squamous carcinoma patients who were pathologically diagnosed with stage Ib-IIb from April 2012 to May 2013 in the general hospital of Chinese People's Libration Amy were enrolled. All patients were confirmed without prior treatment and were randomly divided into two groups, Group A and B. Efficacy and side effects were evaluated after one cycle of chemotherapy. Results: Group A (n=42) were treated with Loubo$^{(R)}$ (Lobaplatin) $50mg/m^2$, MMC $16mg/m^2$ and Vincristine $2mg/m^2$ every 21 days. Group B (n=44) were treated with Cisplatin $100mg/m^2$, MMC $16mg/m^2$ and Vincristine $2mg/m^2$ every 21 days. All 86 patients completed one cycle of chemotherapy with cisplatin or lobaplatin in combination with MMC and vincristine. No difference was observed regardiing short-term effect between two groups. Main side effects were bone marrow suppression and gastrointestinal reactions including decrease of white blood cells, platelet and nausea/vomiting. Grade III-VI liver and kidney impairment was not reported in two groups. In group A the incidence of uterine artery spasm in the process of drug delivery was significantly lower than the group B. Conclusions: Cisplatin or lobaplatin with MMC and Vincristine in the interventional treatment of cervical squamous carcinoma were effective, especially after uterine artery perfusion chemotherapy at tumor reduction and tumor downstaging period. The adverse reactions of concurrent chemotherapy are tolerable, and low physical and mental pressure even more less stimulation of vascular in treatment with lobaplatin. However, the long-term effects of this treatment need further observation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6595-6597
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• 2015

Objective: To investigate short- and long-term treatment effects and side reactions of lobaplatin plus 5-Fu combined and concurrent radiotherapy in treating patients with inoperable middle-advanced stage esophageal cancer. Methods: Sixty patients with middle-advanced stage esophageal squamous cell cancer were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were administered lobaplatin (50 mg intravenously) for 2 h on day 1, and 5-Fu ($500mg/m^2$) injected intravenously from day 1 to 5 for 1 cycle, in an interval of 21 days for totally 4 cycles. At the same time, late-course accelerated hyperfractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy was performed. Patients were firstly treated with conventional fractionated irradiation (1.8 Gy/d, 5 times/week, a total of 23 treatments, and DT41.4 Gy), and then treated with accelerated hyperfractionated irradiation (1.5 Gy, 2 times/d, a total of 27 Gy in 9 days, an entire course of 6-7 weeks, and DT 68.4Gy). Results: All patients completed treatment, including 10 complete response (CR), 41 partial response (PR), 7 stable disease (SD), and 2 progressive disease (PD). The total effective rate was 85.0% (51/60). Thirty-nine patients had an increased KPS score. One-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 85.3%, 57.5%, and 41.7%, respectively. The median survival time was 27 months. The adverse reactions included myelosuppression, which was mainly degree I and II. The occurrence rate of radiation esophagitis was 17.5%. No significant hepatic or renal toxicity was observed. Conclusion: Lobaplatin plus 5-Fu combined with concurrent radiotherapy is safe and effective in treating patients with middle-advanced stage esophageal cancer. However, this result warrants further evaluation by randomized clinical studies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3253-3258
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• 2012

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) plus chemotherapy versus WBRT alone for treating brain metastases (BM) from lung cancer by performing a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: The PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, ASCO, ESMO, CBM, CNKI, and VIP databases were searched for relevant RCTs performed between January 2000 and March 2012. After quality assessment and data extraction, the meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.1 software, with funnel plot evaluation of publication bias. Results: 19 RCTs involving 1,343 patients were included. The meta-analyses demonstrated that compared to WBRT alone, WBRT plus chemotherapy was more effective with regard to the objective response rate (OR = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.79 - 2.98; P < 0.001); however, the incidences of gastrointestinal reactions (RR = 3.82, 95% CI = 2.33 - 6.28, P <0.001), bone marrow suppression (RR = 5.49, 95% CI = 3.65 - 8.25, P < 0.001), thrombocytopenia (RR = 5.83, 95% CI = 0.39 - 86.59; P = 0.20), leukopenia (RR = 3.13, 95% CI = 1.77 - 5.51; P < 0.001), and neutropenia (RR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.61 - 4.68; P < 0.001) in patients treated with WBRT plus chemotherapy were higher than with WBRT alone. There was no obvious publication bias detected. Conclusion: WBRT plus chemotherapy can obviously improve total efficacy rate, butalso increases the incidence of adverse reactions compared to WBRT alone. From the limitations of this study, more large-scale, high-quality RCTs are suggested for further verification.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.823-829
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• 1997

The patients visiting pediatric dental office have been being younger than the previous, and they were often combined with systemic disease. But, we aren't able to perform the verbal communication, because of their impediment and youthfullness. And, we can't carry out the behavior control via physical restraint, as the developed social structure and the attitude of children and their parents. So, the importance and concerning of conscious sedation using sedative medicine are increased by time and time. Among the various conscious sedation, Chloral Hydrate and Nitrous Oxide inhalation are most popularly used, and barbiturates, benzodiazepine, opioids and hydroxyzine are used often. But, these medications have some side-effects and adverse reactions, may be failed to sedate the children. And limited use of medically compromised patients, especially for ASA class III, IV or more dangerous patients. We, the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Chosun University have met some dangerous situation due to unfavorable pharmacogenic reactions, but we can control the situation and get well healed results. The below results are common situations and their solutions during conscious sedation. 1. By the intravenous administration, thrombophlebitis is the most common side-effects, but it may be healed with time without any special treatment. 2. Under the definitive guidelines about conscious-sedation, we can perform a safe conscious sedation for ASA class III patients. 3. When adversed reaction of Benzodiazepine is occured, it could be cared effectively with benzodiazepine antagonist, named Flumazenil.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2015

Arsenic which is found in several different chemical forms and oxidation states and causes acute and chronic adverse health effects is a toxic trace element widely distributed in soils and aquifers from both geologic and anthropogenic sources. Arsenic which has a mysterious ability to change color, behavior, reactivity, and toxicity has diverse chemical behavior in the natural environment. Arsenic which has stronger ability to readily change oxidation state than nitrogen and phosphorus due to a consequence of the electronic configuration of its valence orbitals with partially filled states capable of both electron donation and acceptance although the electronegativity of arsenic is greater than that of nitrogen and similar to that of phosphorus. Arsenate (V) is the thermodynamically stable form of As under aerobic condition and interacts strongly with solid matrix. However, it has been known that adsorption and oxidation reactions of arsenite (III) which is more soluble and mobile than As(V) in soils are two important factors affecting the fate and transport of arsenic in the environment. That is, the movement of As in soils and aquifers is highly dependent on the adsorption-desorption reactions in the solid phase. This article, however, focuses primarily on understanding the fate and speciation of As in soils and what fate arsenic will have after it is incorporated into soils.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.72-77
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• 2016

Purpose: Gaucher disease (GD) is the most common lysosomal storage disease caused by beta-glucocerebrosidase (GBA) deficiency. Oral substrate reduction therapy with miglustat ($Zavesca^{(R)}$) was approved for the treatment of adults with GD type 1, for whom enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is unsuitable or not a therapeutic option. In this study, we report the effect of miglustat ($Zavesca^{(R)}$) in three Korean GD patients. Materials and Methods: Clinical findings comprising age at diagnosis, presenting signs, laboratory findings at diagnosis, GBA activity and mutations, and clinical courses of the three patients were reviewed. Results: Miglustat was administered to three patients who reported allergic reactions during intravenous imiglucerase infusions. One patient withdrew after 15 months of miglustat administration owing to continuous elevation of disease biomarker levels (chitotriosidase, acid phosphatase, and angiotensin-converting enzyme). Poor adherence to medication was suspected but was denied by the patient. In the other two patients, platelet count and levels of hemoglobin and other biomarkers remained stable during miglustat administration. However, they suffered from severe diarrhea and weight loss, which led to miglustat discontinuation after 1 and 12 months of administration. Conclusion: Our study shows that although miglustat is suggested to GD patients as an alternative treatment to ERT, significant adverse reactions may lead to discontinuation of miglustat. In addition, it is difficult to monitor the drug adherence.