• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.155-161
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• 2020

PURPOSE: This study investigated the effect of a head-mounted display (HMD) based virtual reality (VR) cognitive rehabilitation program on the cognitive ability and activities of daily living in patients with mild cognitive impairment. METHODS: This study enrolled 5 mild cognitive impairment patients at the G welfare center in Gwangju metropolitan city. Patients were examined using the MMSEDS (Mini mental state examination-dementia screening). The VR cognitive rehabilitation program was applied twice a week for four weeks. The functional independence measure (FIM) and Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment-geriatric population (LOTCA-G) were compared before and after applying the VR cognitive rehabilitation program. RESULTS: Subsequent of application of the VR cognitive rehabilitation program, significant increase was observed in the LOTCA-G score. The FIM score was also perceived to increase, after the intervention, but was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Application of the VR cognitive rehabilitation program as a therapy is effective in improving the visual perception, and upper extremity executive ability, especially orientation, thinking organization, attention, and concentration.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.155-171
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• 2016

Background: In this study, state-owned medical institutes, industrial accident hospitals, veteran hospitals, and private medical clinics including 16 university medical institutes in the Seoul metropolitan area were selected to examine the causality of ethical management, positive psychological capital, and organizational effectiveness. Methods: The study analyzed 1,056 valid questionnaires to which a total of 1,325 nurses, medical technicians, doctors, and administrative staff in 34 healthcare organizations answered over two months from June to August 2015. The study also utilized a 'structural equation model,' and a 'hierarchical linear model' to conduct the analysis. Results: It was first found that ethical leadership, ethical management systems, and organizational ethics values, which are the three factors of ethical management, had significant influence on organizational commitment, and behavior. These are the three factors of employee organizational effectiveness. Second, ethical management, ethical leadership, ethical management systems, and organizational ethics values had significant influence on positive psychological capital. Third, positive psychological capital had significant influence on organizational commitment, turnover intention, and organizational citizenship behavior. Positive psychological capital presented an indirect effect on the relationship between the ethical management and organizational effectiveness of employees. The effect of positive psychological capital consisting of self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism was confirmed in the healthcare organizations. Fourth, in relations among ethical management variables, ethical leadership showed a significant impact on ethical management systems, which had significant impacts on organizational ethics values, which had significant impacts on ethical leadership.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.182-187
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• 2018

Many plant derived phytochemicals have been considered as the main therapeutic strategy against Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, and the most predominant cause of dementia in the elderly. Cholinergic deficit, senile plaque/${\beta}$-amyloid ($A{\beta}$) peptide deposition and oxidative stress have been identified as three main pathogenic pathways which contribute to the progression of AD. We screened many different plant species for their effective use in both modern and traditional system of medicines. In this study, we tested that MeOH extract of the stem bark of Hopea chinensis (Merr.) Hand.-Mazz. (HCM) affects on the processing of Amyloid precursor portein (APP) from the APPswe over-expressing Neuro2a cell line. We showed that HCM reduced the secretion level of $A{\beta}42$ and $A{\beta}40$ in a dose dependent manner. We found that HCM increased over 1.5 folds of the secretion level of $sAPP{\alpha}$, a metabolite of ${\alpha}$-secretase. Furthermore, we found that HCM inhibited acetylcholinesterase activity in vitro. We suggest that the stem bark of Hopea chinensis may be a useful source to develop a therapeutics for AD.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.935-941
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• 2010

Fragrance(aroma) have many effects on body. Recently, aromatherapy was used to treat dementia, atopicdermatitis, alopecia areata, perineal disease, lymphatichydrops, and articularrheumatism. And people are interested in physical and mental effects of aroma, especially in mental. People empirically have been known the effects of aroma on soul and used aroma in life from long ago. They have had a meditation and had a sacrificial rites burning incense. Scholars also burned incense when reading books or tasting tea. Until now, there is no physiological study about recognition process and effects of aroma on body, but only many clinical studies using aromatherapy. Fragrance(aroma) is different from smell and good flavors of herbs. And it goes through nose and has effects on body in harmony on So-mun(素問). Also flavors of herbs are spreaded ki of herbs and have many effects on body. Aroma coming through the nose is recognized by co-operation of five-viscera(五臟), especially heart and lung. The nose and pectoral qi(宗氣) are related with lung. The lung opens into the nose, reflect its physiological and pathological conditions. Pectoral qi(宗氣) is the combination of the essential qi derived from food with the air inhaled, stored in the chest, and serving as the dynamic force of blood circulation, respiration, voice, and bodily movements. Because of the heart-spirit(心神), Heart is the organ can recognize the aroma, although the nose is the first organ of receiving aroma. Five spirits(五神: ethereal soul(魂), spirit(神), ideation(意), corporeal soul(魄), will(志)) and seven emotions(七情: joy(喜), anger(怒), anxiety(憂), thought(思), sorrow(悲), fear(恐), fright(驚)) are rerated with five-viscera(五臟) and essence-spirit (精神) processing steps and express of emotions. And aroma effects on five-viscera(五臟). So aroma have many effects on body, especially mentally.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.302-306
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• 2008

ChongMyeong-Tang(CMT) have been used clinically to treat patient with amnesia and dementia. In addition, CMT have been also used for examinee to improve learning ability in Korea. This experimental study was designed to investigate the effects of Gagam-ChongMeong-Tang(GCMT) to improve the retentive faculty and learning ability in terms of Cerebral blood flow(rCBF) and Mean Artery Blood Pressure(MABP) in rats. In our study, we investigated that increasing doses of GCMT (1 ug/ml, 10 ug/ml, 100 ug/ml, and 1000 ug/ml) affect the level of rCBF and MABP in rats. In our results, treatment with GCMT elevated level of rCBF in dose dependant manner. Cantraray, level of MABP was lowered by treatment with GCMT. The involved mechanisms in rCBF are guanylate cyclase pathway. During the period of cerebral re-perfusion, GCMT treated group showed stability of rCBF compared to control group. These results imply that GCMT increased rCBF through dilation of pial artery. And related mechanisms are involved in guanylate cyclase pathway.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.256-261
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• 2008

Anorexia is a common symptom in the elderly patients. Causes of anorexia in the elderly are very diverse and multifactorial. Causes include physiological changes associated with aging, mental disorders such as depression, anorexia tardive, dementia, medical diseases such as cancer(lung and gastrointestinal cancer), benign gastrointestinal disorders, cardiac disorders, pulmonary disease, thyroid disorders, infection. Medications such as digoxin, theophylline have also been implicated in the problem. No cause is found in about one quarter of patients. Management is directing at treating causes and providing nutritional support. In Oriental medicine, the appetite has close relation to Biwi. The main cause of anorexia is the insufficiency of Biwi. The physiology of Biwi is that Bi sends clarity(food essence) upward and Wi sends digested food downward. Specially if the physiologic function of Wi is disordered by various factors, Wi cannot send digested food downward. As a result, the anorexia can present by the disorder of Wi function. We experienced a case of an 74 years old female patient with ill-defined severe anorexia differentiated as Wijoongheohan. The patient was managed with fluid therapy and Jeonghyangsiche-tang. The anorexia and other symptoms improved continuously during hospitalization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.122-122
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• 1998

Propentofylline (PPF), a xanthine derivative, has been reported to be effective for the treatment of both vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The elimination half-life of PPF was ranged from 15 to 45 min in rabbit and human, and PPF was rapidly disappeared from the blood. The objective of this experiment is to investigate whether xanthine analogues have effects on the profile of plasma concentration and metabolism of PPF. Caffeine (50 mg/kg, ip) was treated to Sprague-Dawley rats for consecutive 7 days and PPF was intravenously administered to rats 2 hr after the last dose of caffeine. In the other group, PPF was intravenously administered to rats 1 hr after a single dose of pentoxifylline (50 mg/kg, iv). Control group was treated with saline vehicle for the same period as in treatment groups. Blood was withdrawn at specific time intervals. PPF and one of its metabolite (POH) in plasma were determined by gas chromatography/nitrogen phosphorus detector. Plasma concentrations and pharmacokinetic parameters were compared between groups. The area under the curve (AUC) of PPF in rats treated sub chronically with caffeine was significantly decreased compared to control rats. Caffeine treatment results in a significant increase of total body clearance. The AUC of POH was significantly decreased in the caffeine-treated group. A single dose of pentoxifylline has no effect on the phramacokinetics of PPF. Reduction of the AUCs of PPF and POH both suggests that caffeine may increase the excretion of PPF with no affecting the metabolism of PPF to POH.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.176-183
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• 2014

Cognitive impairment is a result of dementia of diverse causes, such as cholinergic dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Houttuynia cordata Thunb. (Saururaceae) has long been used as a traditional herbal medicine. It has biological activities including protective effects against amyloid beta ($A{\beta}$) toxicity, via regulation of calcium homeostasis, in rat hippocampal cells. To extend previous reports, we investigated the effects of water extracts of H. cordata herb (HCW) on tauopathies, also involving calcium influx. We then confirmed the effects of HCW in improving memory impairment and neuronal damage in mice with Ab-induced neurotoxicity. We also investigated the effects of HCW against scopolamine-induced cholinergic dysfunction in mice. In primary neuronal cells, HCW inhibited the phosphorylation of tau by regulating p25/p35 expression in $A{\beta}$-induced neurotoxicity. In mice with $A{\beta}$-induced neurotoxicity, HCW improved cognitive impairment, as assessed with behavioral tasks, such as novel object recognition, Y-maze, and passive avoidance tasks. HCW also inhibited the degeneration of neurons in the CA3 region of the hippocampus in Ab-induced neurotoxicity. Moreover, HCW, which had an $IC_{50}$ value of $79.7{\mu}g/ml$ for acetylcholinesterase inhibition, ameliorated scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment significantly in Y-maze and passive avoidance tasks. These results indicate that HCW improved cognitive impairment, due to cholinergic dysfunction, with inhibitory effects against tauopathies and cholinergic antagonists, suggesting that HCW may be an interesting candidate to investigate for the treatment of AD.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.275-283
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• 2019

Sparassis latifolia is a fungus abundant in β-glucan and amino acids and is highly valued as a medicinal mushroom. Among amino acids, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a free amino acid and has biological effects, such as increase/decrease of hypertension, improvement of cerebral blood flow, and prevention of dementia. In this study, biological elicitors were used to increase bioactive substances as a biofortification method. Sodium alginate extracted from seaweed (Sargassum horneri, Sargassum fulvellum, Sargassum fusiforme) were used as the elicitor. The levels of β-glucan and GABA in the mycelium and fruiting body grown by adding the elicitor to the medium were investigated. Addition of sodium alginate positively affected GABA production and negatively affected the β-glucan production in these fungi. Sodium alginates extracted from S. fulvellum induced the highest increase in GABA in the mycelium and fruiting bodies. Moreover, we investigated the effects of the extracts from mycelium and fruiting bodies on dendrite development in primary cortical neurons. We found that the extract from the fruiting bodies of sodium alginate treated fungi with increased levels of GABA inhibited the dendrite outgrowth of excitatory neurons, but not inhibitory neurons.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2014

In traditional Korean and Chinese medicine, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) for the treatment of central nervous system-related symptoms such as tremor, seizure, stroke and epilepsy. We investigated the effects of safflower could influence cerebral ischemia-induced neuronal and cognitive impairments. Administration of safflower for 1 day (200 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) increased the survival of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons after transient global brain ischemia. And neurological functions measured as short term memory. Post-treatment with safflower for 2 times decreased the induction/reduction - induced production of neuronal cell loss from global cerebral ischemia. Safflower markedly decreased neuronal cell death and also caused a decrease in the content of thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances (TBARS) ($55.2{\pm}9.4{\mu}mol\;mg^{-1}$) and significant improvement of activities of glutathione (GSH) ($27.2{\pm}5.0{\mu}mol\;mg^{-1}$) in hippocampus. We conclude that treatment with safflower attenuated learning and memory deficits, and neuronal cell loss induced by global cerebral ischemia. These results suggest that safflower may be a potential candidate for the treatment of vascular dementia.