• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.7-14
• /
• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of bee venom pharmacopuncture (BVP) therapy according to the methods used to treat knee osteoarthritis (OA): intra-acupoint combined with intra-articular injection, intra-acupoint injection, and intra-articular injection. Methods: A total of 69 patients were recruited by the Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion at Dong-Eui Oriental University Hospital from February 1 to July 23, 2012. The patients were assigned to 3 groups: the first group with intra-acupoint combined with intra-articular BVP Injection (the experimental group), the 2nd group with intra-acupoint BVP injection (control group II), and the 3rd group with intra-articular BVP injection (control group II). The participants were assigned in the order in which they were recruited. Treatments were done twice a week, for a total of 9 times. The effectiveness was assessed by using the visual analouge scale (VAS) and the Korea Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (KWOMAC). Results: All three groups exhibited significant VAS and KWOMAC effects. Moreover, the 4 week follow-up after the final treatment showed a persistence of BVP effects. However, when the groups were compared, no statistically significant differences in VAS and KWOMAC were noted, but when improvement was considered, the results showed that intra-articular injection was more effective than intra-acupoint injection. Especially, intra-acupoint combined with intra-articular injection was the most effective among the three treatments. Conclusions: Combining intra-acupoint with intra-articular injection, depending on the patient's symptoms, may produce better results when conservatively treating knee OA.

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

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.83-89
• /
• 2017

Purpose: Thermal sensation or thermal comfort was randomly used in many studies which focused on combined effects of thermal and acoustic environments on human perception. However, thermal sensation and thermal comfort are not synonyms. Thermal comfort is more complex human perception on thermal environment than thermal sensation. This study aims to investigate effects of noise on thermal sensation and thermal comfort separately, and also to investigate effects of temperature on acoustic sensation and comfort. Method: Combined thermal and acoustic configurations were simulated in an indoor environmental chamber. Twenty four participants were exposed to two types of noise (fan and babble) with two noise levels (45 dBA and 60 dBA) for an hour in each thermal condition of PMV-1.53, 0.03, 1.53, 1.83, respectively. Temperature sensation, temperature preference, thermal comfort, noisiness, loudness, annoyance, acoustic comfort, indoor environmental comfort were evaluated in each combined environmental condition. Result: Noise did not affected thermal sensation, but thermal comfort significantly. Temperature had an effect on acoustic comfort significantly, but no effect on noisiness and loudness in overall data analysis. More explicit interactions between thermal condition and noise perception showed only with the noise level of 60 dBA. Impacts of both thermal comfort and acoustic comfort on the indoor environmental comfort were analyzed. In adverse thermal environments, thermal comfort had more impact than acoustic comfort on indoor environmental comfort, and in neutral thermal environments, acoustic comfort had more important than thermal comfort.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.11
• /
• pp.6541-6548
• /
• 2013

Pigmented rice is mainly black, red, and dark purple, and contains a variety of flavones, tannin, polyphenols, sterols, tocopherols, ${\gamma}$-oryzanols, amino acids, and essential oils. The present study evaluated the cytotoxic effects of purple rice extracts (PREs) combined with chemotherapeutic drugs on human cancer cells and mechanisms of cell death. Methanolic (MeOH) and dichloromethane (DCM) extracts of three cultivars of purple rice in Thailand: Doisaket (DSK), Nan and Payao (PYO), were tested and compared with white rice (KK6). Cytotoxicity was determined by 3-(4, 5-dimethyl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2, prostate cancer LNCaP and murine normal fibroblast NIH3T3 cells. MeOH-PYO-PRE was the most cytotoxic and inhibited HepG2 cell growth more than that of LNCaP cells but was not toxic to NIH3T3 cells. When PREs were combined with paclitaxel or vinblastine, they showed additive cytotoxic effects on HepG2 and LNCaP cells, except for MeOH-PYO-PRE which showed synergistic effects on HepG2 cells when combined with vinblastine. MeOH-PYO-PRE plus vinblastine induced HepG2 cell apoptosis with loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (MTP) but no ROS production. MeOH-PYO-PRE-treated HepG2 cells underwent apoptosis via caspase-9 and-3 activation. The level of ${\gamma}$-oryzanol was highest in DCM-PYO-PRE (44.17 mg/g) whereas anthocyanin content was high in MeOH-PYO-PRE (5.80 mg/g). In conclusion, methanolic Payao purple rice extract was mostly toxic to human HepG2 cells and synergistically enhanced the cytotoxicity of vinblastine. Human HepG2 cell apoptosis induced by MeOH-PYO-PRE and vinblastine was mediated through a mitochondrial pathway.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.125-133
• /
• 2000

Objectives : This study uses meta-analysis methodology to examine the statistical consistency and importance of random variation among results of epidemiologic studies of occupational electromagnetic field exposure and leukemia. Methods : Studies for this meta-analysis were identified from previous reviews and by asking researcher active in this field for recommendations. Overall, 27 studies of occupational electromagnetic field exposures and leukemia were reviewed. A variety of meta-analysis statistical methods have been used to assess combined effects, to identify heterogeneity, and to provide a single summary risk estimate based on a set of simiar epidemiologic studies. In this study, classification of exposure metircs on occupational epidemiologic studies are reported for (1) job classification (20 individual studies); (2) leukemia subtypes (13 individual studies); and (3) country (27 individual studies). Results : Results of this study, an inverse-variance weighted pooling of all the data leads to a small but significant elevation in risk of f 1% (OR=1.11, 95% CI : $1.06\sim1.16$) among 27 occupational epidemiologic studies. Publication bias was assessed by the 'fail-safe n' that may be not influence for all combined results exception a few categories, ie, 'power station operators' and 'electric utility workers' by job classification on occupational study. And ail combined odds ratio results were similar for fixed-effects models and random-effects models, with slightly higher risk estimates for the random-effects model in situations where there was significant heterogeneity, ie, Q-statistic significant (p<.05). Conclusions : We found a small elevation in risk of leukemia, but the ubiquitous nature of exposure to electromagnetic fields from workplace makes even a weak association a public health issue of substantial power to influence the present overall conclusion about relationship between electromagnetic fields exposure and leukemia.

• Food Quality and Culture
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.55-60
• /
• 2008

This study examined the effects of lactic acid spray, hot water spray, or their combined treatment, as well as the effects of acidified sodium chlorite (ASC), for the decontamination of Escherichia coli on beef carcass surfaces using a commercial intervention system. With this system, the effects of 2 or 4% lactic acid (v/v), hot water ($89{\pm}1^{\circ}C$), or their combined treatment, were examined in terms of reducing inoculated E. coli. ASC (266 ppm), which was adjusted to pH 2.5 using acetic acid or citric acid, was applied using a hand-held spray system. When the beef carcasses were treated with 2 or 4% lactic acid for 10.4 s, less than 1 log reductions of inoculated E. coli were observed. A hot water spray treatment for 9.8 s resulted in a 2.1 log reduction of inoculated E. coli. However, when the hot water was followed with either 2 or 4% lactic acid, no difference in E. coli reduction was found between the hot water alone or the combined treatment with lactic acid. When ASC was adjusted to pH 2.5 with acetic acid and citric acid, 3.8 and 4.1 log reductions of E. coli were observed, respectively. Overall, the lactic acid spray treatment was least effective, and the ASC treatment was most effective, for the E. coli decontamination of beef carcasses. Therefore, these data suggest that ASC would be a more effective intervention against E. coli than most of the methods currently being used. However, more research is required to evaluate the effects of ASC on other organisms, as well as to identify application methods that will not affect meat quality.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.1-18
• /
• 2009

Objectives : In this study, we survey papers about the combined therapy of oriental medicine and western medicine in oriental medicine viewpoint. Methods : First, we collected research papers on combined treatment, and we found 70 papers in the two internet sites, 'OASIS' and 'KISTI', using the keywords 'combined treatment', 'collaborated diagnosis', 'oriental-western medicine', and 'western-oriental medicine'. Then we analyzed them according to year, oriental-western medicine, diseases, research methods and subjects. Results & Conclusions : Researches for combined therapy had some problems as follows : First, studies have been made only for limited diseases like cancer, infection, stroke, etc. Second, methods of research are also limited. Some methods such as in vivo, in vitro and case-report are used repeatedly. Third, only the positive aspects of the combined therapy are proposed. We don't find the side effects of the combined therapy at all. To solve these problems, more objective and balanced studies such as RCT for various diseases should be performed.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.49-56
• /
• 2015

Background: Although many of those who drive for a living are exposed to repetitive and awkward posture and whole body vibration which cause them cumulative trauma disorder, therapeutic studies related to the problems from the transport unit are still somewhat inadequate. The purpose of this case report is to identify the effect of combined exercise program on patients suffering chronic neck pain caused by long hour of intra-city bus driving. Method: A total of 4 subjects are selected as patients, all of whom have more than 10 years of experience in intra-city bus transportation services. These people have suffered from neck pain for years. We ran the combined exercise program 3 times a week for 4 weeks and respectively evaluated the results after the 2nd and 4th week. We implemented conventional physiotherapy for 40 minutes, another 40 minutes of combined exercise program, and then educated the patients to enable themselves to do active stretching program as a home program. The combined exercise program contained 3 different stages. 1st stage: active stretching program, 2nd stage combined stabilization exercise and strengthening exercise, 3rd stage: proprioceptive exercise Result: After 4 weeks of intervention, there was enhance in the range of motion. $12^{\circ}$ increase in flexion, $10^{\circ}$ in extension, $6^{\circ}$ in lateral flexion respectively, and $10^{\circ}$ in rotation on average. VAS(visual analgue scale) decreased by 33% on average, NDI(neck diability index) by 28% and fatigability by 23%. Conclusion: There were improved results in the range of motion, NDI, VAS, and in fatigability after applying combined exercise program to intra-city bus drivers exposed to whole body vibration and cumulative trauma disorder.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.258-262
• /
• 2007

The antifungal activity of the essential oil fraction from Thymus magus, and its major component thymol, against Candida albicans was investigated in vitro and in vivo. The combined effects of the oils and clotrimazole, a commonly used antifungal drug for treatment of external candidiasis, were evaluated in this study. In experimental vaginal candidiasis the essential oil fraction of T. magnus resulted in relatively milder inhibition of fungal growth following the inoculation of test mice compared to clotrimazole. However, new fungal growth was not detected up to 12 days after cessation of treatment. In contrast, in a similar experiment using clotrimazole, C. albicans was detected in the $12^{th}$ day post-treatment with the sample. This result indicates that T. magnus oil could be a promising drug to control vaginal candidiasis. In checkerboard titer tests, the combination of clotrimazole with the essential oil fraction of T. magus or T. quinquecostatus resulted in significant synergism, with FIC indices between 0.14 and 0.27 against C. albicans, while clotrimazole combined with thymol, the major component of these oils, produced only an additive effect, with FIC indices ranging between 0.50 and 1.00. Thus, the prominent synergistic effects of clotrimazole combined with T. magus essential oil indicate that these compounds may be an effective treatment for C. albicans infections.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.115-125
• /
• 2008

Diabetes mellitus is a worldwide epidemic. Global projections suggest that most nations will have a doubling of the incidence of Diabetes mellitus(DM) within 20years. The Herb-Combined Remedy(HCR) of DM was known as one of anti-hyperglycaemic agents. But it is unclear whether HCR can be used to treat patients with Diabetic nephropathy or not. The present study was designed to investigate the anti-hyperglycaemic and preventive effects from diabetic nephropathy of HCR in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Treatment with HCR regulated blood glucose levels, but did not affect body weights. In addition, HCR was able to decrease blood glucose levels after 120min. Serum BUN levels were not effective but, serum Creatinine levels were lowered by treatment with HCR or MF. In histopathological observation of renal tissue, both HCR and MF groups showed decreased tendency of inflammation and renal injury. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that HCR is effective to treat patients with DM and also has preventive activity on diabetic nephropathy.