• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2022

Objective: To report the improvements with Korean medicine-based integrative cancer therapies on adverse effects of adjuvant chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer patients. Method: There were two patients complained cough, rhinorrhea, numbness, general weakness, nausea and dyspepsia after chemotherapy. They got treated centered on Korean medicine including herbal medicine, acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, moxibustion, hand and foot bath. They were also treated Western immunotherapies like Thymosin at regular intervals. The symptoms were measured by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 for Palliative Care(EORTC QLQ C-15 PAL) and their subjective assessments. Results: Their chief complaints were relieved and their quality of life scores was improved even though they have been receiving chemotherapy continuously. Conclusion: These cases revealed a possibility that Korean medicine-based integrative cancer therapies could improve some symptoms after chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.177-193
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• 2009

The assessment of patient status in palliative medicine is essential for determining treatments and for clinical outcomes. The objective of assessment tools is to raise the quality of care for individual patients and their families. There are a number of tools available to assess pain, non-pain symptoms and quality of life. The tools are either uni-dimensional or multi-dimensional measures. Unfortunately, however, no single tool is recommended to be a superior to others in symptoms or quality of life assessment. Therefore, to select an appropriate assessment tool, one should consider the time frame and unique characteristics of tools depending on purpose and setting. The combination of prognostic index is highly recommended in prognostication, and web-based prognostic tools are available. Recently, a new objective prognostic score has been constructed through multicenter study in Korea. It does not include clinicalestimates of survival, but includes new objective prognostic factors, therefore, anyone can easily use it. For beginners in palliative medicine, relatively easy-to-use tools would be convenient. We recommend Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status to assess functional status, numeric rating scale for pain assessment and the Korean version of brief pain inventory for initial pain assessment. Asking directly with numeric rating scale or the Korean version of MD Anderson Symptom Inventory would be desirable to assess various symptoms together. We think that European Organization Research and Treatment Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 for Palliative Care is good to assess the quality of life, while Objective Prognostic Score is convenient as prognostic index for beginners.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.814-821
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• 2018

Thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers in Korea, and thyroidectomy is the first-line treatment. Hypoparathyroidism is a common complication of thyroidectomy and can cause symptoms such as numbness, spasm, and anxiety, but these issues have seldom been reported in the Korean medical literature. The present case was a 53-year-old thyroid cancer patient who complained of numbness caused by hypoparathyroidism, general weakness, fatigue, and postoperative pain after total thyroidectomy. The patient was treated with Korean medicine treatment, including herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping, and moxibustion, and her changes in clinical symptoms were measured with a numeric rating scale (NRS), the Karnofsky performance status scale (KPS), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). After treatment, her clinical symptoms were improved, leading to an improvement in her quality of life. Therefore, Korean medicine may be effective in the treatment of thyroid cancer patients who experience numbness caused by hypoparathyroidism, general weakness and fatigue after total thyroidectomy.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.207-243
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• 2016

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social and communication impairments, as well as repetitive and restrictive behaviors. The phenotypic heterogeneity of ASD has made it overwhelmingly difficult to determine the exact etiology and pathophysiology underlying the core symptoms, which are often accompanied by comorbidities such as hyperactivity, seizures, and sensorimotor abnormalities. To our benefit, the advent of animal models has allowed us to assess and test diverse risk factors of ASD, both genetic and environmental, and measure their contribution to the manifestation of autistic symptoms. At a broader scale, rodent models have helped consolidate molecular pathways and unify the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying each one of the various etiologies. This approach will potentially enable the stratification of ASD into clinical, molecular, and neurophenotypic subgroups, further proving their translational utility. It is henceforth paramount to establish a common ground of mechanistic theories from complementing results in preclinical research. In this review, we cluster the ASD animal models into lesion and genetic models and further classify them based on the corresponding environmental, epigenetic and genetic factors. Finally, we summarize the symptoms and neuropathological highlights for each model and make critical comparisons that elucidate their clinical and neurobiological relevance.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.487-493
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• 2020

Objectives: This case report aimed to present the effect of Korean medicine therapies, including Sikyungbanga-tang, on cough in a breast cancer patient with metastasis to the lung. Methods: The patient was treated for 48 days with Sikyungbanga-tang and Saengmaek-san to control cough and other symptoms. To assess the changes in the symptoms and the patient's quality of life, the numeric rating scale (NRS), the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ), and the EORTC quality of life questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) were used. Results: Following treatment with herbal medicine, the clinical symptoms and quality of life improved. Moreover, the patient's cough did not recur even one month later. Conclusions: This case report demonstrates that Korean herbal medicine, including Sikyungbanga-tang, may be effective in treating cough in breast cancer patient with metastasis to the lung. However, further research is needed to confirm these findings.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2008

Objective : This study was conducted to evaluate the changes in the levels of neurotransmitters and cortisol in patients with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to evaluate their correlation with symptoms after long-term pharmacological treatment. Methods : Twenty-eight Vietnam veterans with chronic PTSD and 34 non-PTSD patients were consecutively recruited. The Combat Exposure Scale (CES), Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (M-PTSD), Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAS) were used to evaluate symptom severity. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to measure the plasma levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine, and a radioimmunoassay (RIA) was performed to evaluate the plasma level of cortisol. Results : Plasma cortisol was significantly lower in PTSD patients than in control subjects, while there was no significant difference in plasma epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine between the two groups. The scores of M-PTSD, CAPS, HAMD and HAMA were signigicantly higher in PTSD patients than control group. Conclusion : After long-term treatment, the levels of neurotransmitters in PTSD patients returned to within the normal range, and the patients' symptoms showed some improvement. However, the core symptoms of PTSD continued to appear intermittently, and they are thought to be associated with hormonal systems, such as the HPA axis. It is also suggested that PTSD should be considered to be a complex disorder associated with multiple systems and that combinations of the effective medications for each system should be used to treat patients with PTSD.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1-30
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• 2022

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of patients with facial palsy symptoms treated with Korean medicine treatment(KMT) after western treatment. Methods : We conducted an individual in-depth interview with 10 participants who had experience in both western and KMT for facial palsy symptoms. This qualitative study adopted the grounded theory of Strauss and Corbin, and collected data was analyzed by using coding(open-axial-selective) that was performed to create paradigm model, which can explain this study's main theme. Results : The central phenomenon of this study was 'choosing Korean medicine treatment after western treatment preceded', and the core category was derived as 'selecting process of KMT after western medical treatment and improvement plan of Korean medicine treatment'. Conclusions : For patients with facial palsy, KMT was perceived as an essential treatment rather than an alternative, and recognized as the main treatment. Patients didn't settle for western treatment which was in progress, actively selected KMT and suggested the specific plan for improvement of KMT. Through this, we should be considered the direction of the KMT for facial palsy symptom which is the common disease of KMT.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2021

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the emotional characteristics of adults who complained of fatigue using the Core Seven Emotion Inventory-Short Form (CSEI-s) followed by correlation analysis with the Chalder fatigue scale (CFQ) and Psychosocial Well-being Index-Short form (PWI-SF). Methods: In this study, the medical records of 45 participants who complained of fatigue and completed the CSEI-s, CFQ, and PWI-SF were evaluated. Records of a total of 45 adults were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Version 25.0). Frequency Analysis, Descriptive Analysis, Independent t-test, One Way ANOVA, and Correlation analysis were used for data analysis. Results: 1. According to the educational status of the participants, Thought (思) was identified to be significantly higher in below college graduate than in graduate school and above. 2. As the period of complaining of fatigue increased, a significant difference was observed in Depression (憂) and Fright (驚). 3. According to the degree of fatigue, there was a significant difference in Depression (憂) and Fright (驚), and especially Depression (憂) was higher in the middle fatigue group than in the low fatigue group. 4. PWI-SF, Anger (怒), Depression (憂), and Sorrow (悲) showed a positive correlation with CFQ scores. Conclusions: The results suggest that CSEI-s can be used to measure the psychological symptoms of a patient with fatigue.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.173-181
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• 1997

In oriental medicine, it is required that correct medical knowledge should be maintained for medical expert system which analyzes and diagnoses patients symptoms. Typical medical expert system has a knowledge base as its core, and the knowledge base contains a domain specific knowledge about patients records. However, oriental medicine diagnostic knowledge is formed mostly as qualitative data, knowledge could be ambiguous and uncertain. In this paper, we looked at quantification methods and propose a method for quantifying the oriental medicine diagnostic knowledge, which is improving the knowledge base of an oriental medicine expert system.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.3-8
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• 2011

Cognitive models of panic disorder have emphasized cognitive distortions' roles in the maintenance and treatment of panic disorder (PD). However, the patient's difficulty with identifying and managing emotional experiences might contribute to an enduring vulnerability to panic attacks. Numerous researchers, employing emotion processing paradigms and neuroimaging techniques, have investigated the empirical evidence for poor emotion processing in PD. For years, researchers considered that abnormal emotion processing in PD might reflect a dysfunction of the frontal-temporal-limbic circuits. Although neuropsychological studies have not provided consistent results regarding this model, a few studies have tried to find the biological basis of dysfunctional emotion processing in PD. In this article, we examine the possibility of dysregulation of emotion processing in PD. Specifically we discuss the neural basis of emotion processing and the manner in which such neurocognitive impairments may help clarify PD's core symptoms.