• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.87-101
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• 1997

This Research is an attempt to find out what effects the resistance exercise program has on the rheumatoid arthritis patient's functional disability and biochemical parameters. The research took place from June to November 1996, and the target included an experimental group of 25 cases of rheumatoid arthritis and a control group of 26 cases of rheumatoid arthritis taken from the Anam Medical Center at Korea University. The resistance exercise program was executed on these patients five times a week during a period of eight weeks. Before and after the experiments, measurements of functional disability score, ESR, CRP, self-efficacy, and family support were taken and closely analysed. The results of this analysis are as follows : 1. After the experiment, the experimental group had less functional disabilities compared to the control group(t=9.11, P=0.0017). 2. After the experiment, the ESR of both the experimental and the control groups decrease, but there was not notable difference between the two groups(t=0.07, P=0.9546). 3. After the experiment, the CRP of both the experimental and the control groups decreased, with no significant different between them(t=0.53, P=0.6022). 4. After the experiment, the self-efficacy of the experimental group increased significantly compared to the control group(t=3.15, P=0.0042), but the self-efficacy had no effect on the actual practice of the program. 5. After the experiment, the family support of the experimental group was higher than of the control group(t=6.33, P=0.0013), but again the family support had no effect on the actual practice of the program. Judging from the results of these experiments, the resistance exercise program not only diminishes rheumatoid arthritis patients' functional disabilities, but also has a great influence on increasing their self-efficacy and family support. Concluding, in diminishing the functional disabilities of rheumatoid arthritis, the resistance exercise program would be appropriate nursing intervention.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.230-249
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• 2001

This study was conducted to investigate the affecting factors on the adaptation to uncertainty in patients having rheumatoid arthritis. Subjects of the study constituted 222 patients who visited outpatient of rheumatic center in Seoul. Self report questionnaires were used to measure the variables affecting the adaptation to uncertainty. The variables affecting the adaptation to uncertainty were uncertainty, mastery, appraisal of danger, appraisal of opportunity, emotion focused coping, problem focused coping, pain, depression and activity of daily life(ADL). Reliability coefficients of these instruments were found Cronbach's $Alpha\;=\;.70{\sim}.94$. In data analysis, SPSSWIN 10.0 program was utilized for descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The results were as follows. 1) The range of total pain scores was from 0 to 147 and the mean score of the pain in rheumatoid arthritis patients was 72.64. 2) The range of total depression scores was from 20 to 72 and the mean score of the depression in rheumatoid arthritis patients was 39.86. 3) The range of total ADL scores was from 22 to 80 and the mean score of the ADL in rheumatoid arthritis patients was 72.56. 4) Among the independent variables, significant factors to explain the adaptation to pain in patients were danger appraisal of uncertainty(p<.05) and emotion focused coping(p<.05). 5) Among the independent variables, significant factors to explain the adaptation to depression in patients were danger appraisal of uncertainty(p<.001), opportunity appraisal of uncertainty(p<.001) and mastery(p<.005). 6) Among the independent variables, significant factors to explain the adaptation to ADL in patients were mastery(p<.001) and danger appraisal of uncertainty(p<.05).

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.250-261
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• 2001

Alternative therapy for rheumatoid arthritis has become worldwide phenomenon this decade without scientific validation. This study was undertaken to explore the prevalence, patterns of use, and perceived efficacy of alternative therapies by patients attending a rheumatology clinic. We conducted a crossectional survey of 142 RA patients with structured questionnaire at outpatient rheumatic clinic from July to August in 2001. Results of this study were summarized as follows : 1. 85.9% of subjects were woman. Mean age was 49.97years, duration of rheumatoid arthritis was 5.6years. Mean pain score was 5.29cm. 2. 74.6% of subjects perceived rheumatoid arthritis as a controllable disease. 31% of patients combined medical treatments with alternative therapies. 58.5% of patients perceived that combining medical treatments with alternative therapies is the most effective strategy in controlling disease. 3. 77.5% had used more than one alternative therapy since the diagnosis was made. The major reason of discontinuation of use was no effect for the treatment of their disease. 4. 34.5% were currently using an alternative therapies and 50.9% were going to use alternative therapies in future. 5. 42.7% reported that alternative therapies was effective and only 3.6% reported side effects. 6. The perceived effect score was 3.14cm in general expecially the physiological score 2.91cm, psychological score 4.16cm. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a high use of alternative therapies by rheumatoid arthritis patients. And the perceived effect score of physiological aspect was not higher than one of psychological aspect. Therefore it should be considered in education program for the use of alternative therapies.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2019

Background: Taraxacum platycarpum has been used in traditional medicine in Korea to treat intoxication and edema and as a diuretic. According to previous reports, it has anti-cancer, anti-gastritis, and anti-inflammation effects. However, the improvement effect of T. platycarpum on rheumatoid arthritis has not been investigated. The anti-oxidative and anti-inflammation effects of the aerial parts of T. platycarpum are different from those of its subterranean parts. Thus, we evaluated the effect of the water extracts of Taraxaci radix (WTR) on type II collagen-induced rheumatoid arthritis (CIA) in animal models. Methods and Results: Rheumatoid arthritis was induced by type II collagen. WTR (100 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg) was administered to the animal models. Methotrexate was used as the positive control. The levels of interleukin-6, TNF-alpha, and type II collagen IgG in the animals were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Treatment with 500 mg/kg WTR decreased the serum levels of interleukin-6, TNF-alpha, and collagen IgG in the CIA models. Moreover, treatment with WTR diminished the arthritisinduced swelling of the hind legs and monocyte infiltration in the bloodvessels of the animal models. Conclusions: These results indicate that WTR has the potential to improve rheumatoid arthritis by reducing the levels of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 and TNF-alpha. However, further experiments are required to elucidate the influence of WTR on signal transduction in vitro and in vivo.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.228-241
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia among women with rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: This cross-sectional study of 288 women with rheumatoid arthritis was conducted in a university-affiliated hospital. Data were collected by reviewing the women's medical charts and self-report questionnaires. Results: The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia was 27.8%, 5.9% and 48.3%, respectively. Despite the high prevalence of dyslipidemia, the subjects'awareness of it and its treatment rates were the lowest, which resulted in a low control rate. Of the 288 subjects, 158 (55%) had at least one of the three conditions. The prevalence of the combination of cardiovascular risk factors increased with age, and 32.7% of those aged 60 or older had two or three of the cardiovascular risk factors. Combinations of cardiovascular risk factors were significantly related with severe pain and fatigue. Conclusion: Cardiovascular risk factors were highly prevalent among the women with rheumatoid arthritis, but the rates of awareness, treatment, and control were suboptimal. There is a pressing need to facilitate the prevention, early detection and appropriate management of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia among patients with rheumatoid arthritis in order to prevent cardiovascular disease.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.77-84
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• 2022

Objectives This study is designed to identify the effectiveness of herbal medicine for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis. Methods We will investigate 10 databases, 4 Korean databases (KoreaMed, KMBASE, Koreanstudies Information Service System [KISS], ScienceOn) and 6 of abroad (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], WanFang, Citation Information by NII [CiNii]) without publication date, language limitation for clinical study of herbal medicine for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis. Type, dose, duration, frequency of herb medicine will be analyzed. Results Randomized controlled trials about herbal medicine or herb extract for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis should be included in the study. Cochrane's risk of bias tools will be used to assess quality of the study. Mean differences or standardized mean differences of 95% confidence intervals will calculated and data synthesis will be conducted using Review Manager (RevMan, ver.5.3; The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark). Conclusions It is expected to provide basic data for the active use of herb medicine by systematically synthesizing and analyzing the actual situation, effectiveness, and safety of herb medicine for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.472-486
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• 2020

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic disease with chronic progress, but the recent rapid developments of drug treatments have led many patients to gain control of their disease activity. As a result, surgery has been performed less commonly on the wrist or hand than in the past. On the other hand, surgical treatment is still essential to patients who do not respond to those medications. For the successful treatment of symptomatic deformed joints or functional disability, surgeons should understand that the pathology of rheumatoid arthritis proceeds differently in every patient. Furthermore, because rheumatoid arthritis often invades multiple joints in the hand and wrist, the patients often require multiple operations simultaneously. This paper summarizes the current concepts of surgical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in the hand and wrist based on more than 30 years' experience of our senior surgeon and a literature review.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.177-196
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• 2004

Objective : Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that pathogenesis is not fully understood and one of the most intractable musculoskeletal diseases. The concern in the immunopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis has been increased since 1980's and many immunotherapeutic agents including disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) were developed and became the mainstay of treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. However, the cure of the disease has hardly been achieved. In oriental medicine, rheumatoid arthritis is related to Bi-Zheng(痺證), that presents pain, swelling, andlor loss of joint function as major clinical manifestations, and also known to be deeply involved in suppression of immune function related to weakness of Jung-Ki(正氣). The herbal medicine, empirically used, could be a potential resource of development of new immunotherapeutic agents for rheumatoid arthritis. Methods : We developed a search strategy using terms to include "rheumatoid arthritis and herbal medicine" combined with "Chinese medicine" and/or "Oriental medicine". The search was focused on experimental studies of herbal medicine (January 1999 to May 2004), which is known to have effects on immune function of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Computerized search used Internet databases including KISS and RISS4U (Korea), CNKI (China), MOMJ (Main Oriental Medicine Journal, Japan), and PubMed. The articles were selected from journals of universities or major research institutes. Results : The literature search for experimental studies on effects of herbal medicine on immunity of rheumatoid arthritis retrieved a total of 21 articles (Korea; 8, China ; 12, Japan ; 1). Of 21 articles, 10 were related to single-drug formula, 2 to drug interaction, and 9 to multi-drug formula. Single-drug formula was mainly used for aqua-acupuncture and researches on active components. Studies of drug interaction emphasized harmony of Ki-Hyul(氣血) and balance of Han-Yeul(寒熱). Multi-drug regimen was mainly found among formulas for Bo-Ki-Hyul(補氣血) and Bo-Sin(補腎). Conclusion : Studies on rheumatoid arthritis were performed both in vitro and in vivo in vitro study, LPS-stimulated splenocytes and synoviocytes were treated with herbal medicine, resulting in proliferation and activation of immune cells and suppression of cytokine activities in vivo study CIA animal model demonstrated that herbal medicine decreased antibody production and improved function of immune cells. In cellular and molecular study herbal medicine showed profound effects on the level of mRNA expression of certain cytokines related to immune function. This study revealed that herbal medicine has significant immune modulatory action and could be used for recovery of immune dysfunction of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.1_2 s.25
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• pp.39-43
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• 1979

Piroxicam is known to be a new nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug which has anti-inflammatory, antiedema, antigranuloma and analgesic activities through the mechanism of inhibition of prostaglandin synthetase. Clinical survey for piroxicam was carried cut on 40 cases of rheumatoid arthritis and 30 cases of degenerative arthritis who visited University Hospital from Feb. to June, 1979. Following results could be obtained: 1) In rheumatoid and degenerative arthritis, the effect of piroxicam was significant in decrease of joint pain, shortening of duration of morning stiffness, decrease in number of swollen joints, improvement of joint stiffness, decrease of E.S.R., increase of mean grip strength and decrease of articular index. 2) Side effects, almost all in G-I troubles were encountered in 6 cases in 40 cases of rheumatoid arthritis and 4 cases in 30 cases of degenerative arthritis.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.242-248
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• 2010

The present study was designed in order to determine whether Lonicerae flos (LF) could mitigate rheumatoid arthritis through inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 by regulation of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF). We found that MIF mRNA expression in synoviocytes stimulated with phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate dose-dependantly decreased by LF extract treatment (0.4 - 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$). The distribution of MIF, COX-2 and MMP-9 positive reacted cells in LPS induced arthritis of mice were decreased by LF (45 mg/kg/day) treatment for 28 days. These data likely indicate that LF may act as MIF inhibitor and may be possible to develop useful agent for rheumatoid arthritis.