• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.58 no.6
• /
• pp.619-623
• /
• 2005

Blastomycosis is a systemic pyogranulomatous disease that is caused by a thermally dimorphic fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis. it's the disease is endemic in the south-eastern and south central states of the USA, which border the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, the mid-western states and Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes as well as in a small area of New York and Canada adjacent to the St. Lawrence River. We encountered a case of blastomycosis, representing as a pulmonary manifestation after traveling around a nonendemic area and report it with a brief review of the relevant literature.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.301-316
• /
• 2022

Objectives: To compare Korean medicine (KM) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) psychotherapy for anxiety. Methods: Databases including MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE (via Elsevier), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System were comprehensively searched. Prospective clinical studies on KM or TCM psychotherapy for patients with anxiety disorder or individuals with elevated anxiety levels published up to August 3, 2022 were reviewed. Psychotherapy was divided into counselling, art therapy, and meditation according to its characteristics. Results: A total of 12 clinical studies were reviewed, including nine randomized controlled trials. The most common disorder investigated was post-traumatic stress disorder. Ten studies used TCM psychotherapy and two used KM psychotherapy. As for differences between TCM psychotherapy and KM psychotherapy, TCM psychotherapy utilized pattern identification in the procedure more actively than KM psychotherapy. In addition, some TCM studies have attempted to directly converge Western psychotherapy (i.e., hypnosis) and Eastern psychotherapy (i.e., Taoin qigong therapy). In the case of KM psychotherapy, there was an attempt to incorporate psychotherapy with Sasang constitutional medicine. Reported effects of TCM psychotherapy and KM psychotherapy on anxiety were positive. Conclusions: Research status of KM psychotherapy and TCM psychotherapy for anxiety was investigated, revealing some of their characteristics, commonalities, and differences. Findings of this review have the potential to provide a clue to the development of conventional KM psychotherapy and new medical technology for KM psychotherapy.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.119-133
• /
• 2005

Traditional herbal medicine is widely used among the Korean people, and other eastern Asian countries employ similar therapies as well. In recent years, due to increasing interest in herbal medicines, many researches have been made on the toxicity and side effects of herbal medications. Through private and public media, there have been many opinions suggesting taking herbal medicines is very harmful, especially on the liver and kidney functions. This assertion has been mainly presented by the doctors that practice western medicine, But this assertion is never based on adequate knowledge of herbal medicine. This study aims to provide the evidences that taking herbal medicines is safe on the renal functions. Four frequently used herbal medications(Sipjeondaebotang, Bojungigitang, Ojeoksan, and Yukmijihwangtang) were used to test the toxicity of herbal medicine oh the lab animal model(SD-Rat). There is no significant difference in body weight and kidney weight after herbal medication for 1 month. In all experimental groups, no abnormal findings were observed in histological study, and lab renal function index(BUN, creatinine, uric acid). These results say that four herbal multi-used-medicines, when medicated, is safe from the renal toxicity in lab animal model.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.73 no.2
• /
• pp.84-92
• /
• 2012

Background: Asian dust storms can be transported across eastern Asia. In vitro, Asian dust particle-induced inflammation and enhancement of the allergic reaction have been observed. However, the fibrotic effects of Asian dust particles are not clear. Production of transforming growth factor ${\beta}_1$ (TGF-${\beta}_1$) and fibronectin were investigated in the bronchial epithelial cells after exposure to Asian dust particulate matter (AD-PM10). Methods: During Asian dust storm periods, air samples were collected. The bronchial epithelial cells were exposed to AD-PM10 with and without the antioxidant, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). Then TGF-${\beta}_1$ and fibronectin were detected by Western blotting. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected by the measurement of dicholorodihydrofluorescin (DCF), using a FACScan, and visualized by a confocal microscopy. Results: The expression of TGF-${\beta}_1$, fibronectin and ROS was high after being exposed to AD-PM10, compared to the control. NAC attenuated both TGF-${\beta}_1$ and fibronectin expression in the AD-PM10-exposed the bronchial epithelial cells. Conclusion: AD-PM10 may have fibrotic potential in the bronchial epithelial cells and the possible mechanism is AD-PM10-induced intracellular ROS.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.432-441
• /
• 2013

Objectives Despite the treatment with antibiotics, patients with sepsis has a high mortality (80%) in the underlying disease group. The aim of this study was to report the improvement of septic condition of the cholangiocarcinoma patient after the treatment with Handayeolso-tang, Fel Tauri, and antibiotics. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records. The patient's subjective symptoms such as chilling and abdominal pain were evaluated by NRS and the performance status was evaluated by ECOG. This case was literally compared with relevant published studies on prognosis of sepsis. Results Despite poor prognostic factor(MEDS score 18), the patient's symptoms such as fever, chilling, abdominal pain, and diarrhea and ECOG(Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) improved. The patient was hemodynamically stabilized on 3rd day from the treatment, and her laboratory test results were normalized on 7th day. Conclusions A female patient of metastatic cholangiocarcinoma came to the hospital for cholangitis, later causing septic shock. Both her symptoms and laboratory tests showed significant improvement after the treatment of antibiotics, Handayeolso-tang and Fel Tauri. To our knowledge, this is the first case reporting the synergistic combination of Korean oriental medicine and Western medicine approaching to sepsis.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.723-728
• /
• 2000

Objective : Pneumonia is a frequent complication in stroke and is very important as a prognostic factor. So We had a clinical study about pneumonic patients combined with stroke in which we administered both antibiotics and oriental herbal medicine to them. Methods : The 14 cases were patients that admitted visited 31CU at neurologic department in Kyunghee medical center from the 1st of October to the 31st of November, 1998. because of stroke. We selected cases complicated pneumonia. We diagnosed stroke as brain CT or MRI and pneumonia as chest simple X-ray, fever, sputurn culture et al. We divided the group into several categories(衛分證, 氣分證, 營分證, 血分證, 正虛邪退證) and medicined them both Paerum-bang(肺炎方) and antibotics. We evaluated the results as increased signs and some tests including chest simple X-ray, GOT, GPT, BUN and Creatinine. Results : Among total 14 cases, cases of perfect cure including improvement were 10, aggravation were 2 and discontinued cases were 2. We observed 17.4 days on the average. Their functions of liver and kidney weren't aggravated as medicining both antibiotics and oriental herbal treatment. Conclusion : We suggest that eastern treatment need to improve resistance of pneumonic patients and may reduce the side effect of western antibiotics therapy.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.191-200
• /
• 2024

Background: Busan is a rapidly industrializing city with many mixed residential and industrial areas. Fine dust emissions from mobile pollution sources such as ships and vehicles are particularly high in Busan. Objectives: This study analyzed the spatial distribution of air pollutants over the past three years and identified the impact of air pollutants through mobile source data in Busan. Methods: We obtained air pollutant data on fine particulate matter (PM₁₀), ultrafine particulate matter (PM_2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfurous acid gas (SO₂), and ozone (O₃) for the last three years (source: airkorea.or.kr) and analyzed the spatial distribution using SAS 9.4 and Surfer 23. For the mobile pollutant data, we used CCTV data from major intersections in Busan to identify truck and car traffic, and visualized traffic density with QGIS. Results: The analysis of the concentration of air pollutants over three years (2020~2022) showed that all were lower than the annual environmental standards with the exception of PM_2.5. PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 were found to be highly concentrated in the western part of the area, while NO₂ was high in the port area of Busan and SO₂ was high in the western part of the area and near the new port of Busan. In the case of O₃, it was high in the eastern part of the city. The traffic volume of freight vehicles by intersection was concentrated in the West Busan area, and the traffic volume for all cars was also confirmed to be concentrated at "Mandeok Intersection" located in the West Busan area. Conclusions: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between air pollutants emitted from motor vehicles and the distribution of air pollutants in Busan. The spatial distribution of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 correlates with traffic volume, while high concentrations of SO₂ and NO₂ near the port are associated with ship emissions.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.9-17
• /
• 2017

Objectives : Comparative review was rendered to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of two common treatment approaches of treatment based on syndrome differentiation and treatment based on syndrome differentiation from disease. A typical symptom of headache from hypertension was chosen for substantial approach of this review. Methods : Pros and cons of two different approaches to disease were evaluated based on literatures and texts focusing treatment based on syndrome differentiation and treatment based on syndrome differentiation from disease. Headache can be correlated with hypertension yet it can be induced by multiple other factors, and headache may/may not accompany hypertension. Hypertension is an example of treatment based on syndrome differentiation from disease and headache can be an example of treatment based on syndrome differentiation. Results : Treatment based on syndrome differentiation can give more autonomy and flexibility in approach to the disease, Intuition, experience, and traditional medical theory can be applied with ease. However, management and eradication of diseases are difficult and standardization of treatment is not easy among practitioners. Treatment based on syndrome differentiation from disease incorporated merits of both eastern and western medicines, achieving more evidence based diagnosis and treatment. Eradication and standardization of disorders are possible with the latter approach. Conclusions : Comparing two systems of treatment based on syndrome differentiation and treatment based on syndrome differentiation from disease with emphasis on hypertension and headache yielded medical values. Treatment based on syndrome differentiation from disease appears to be superior in medical values and effectiveness, but further evaluation and interest are needed to make advancement in Korean traditional medicine.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.241-246
• /
• 2014

Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella (C.) burnetii and affects wild and domestic animals worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of C. burnetii in native Korean goat (Capra hircus coreanae) in Gyeongbuk province, Korea, using ELISA. A total of 256 goat blood samples from 56 farms in Gyeongbuk province were collected between May 2012 and March 2013. Among them, 22 (8.6%) samples from 10 (17.9%) farms were seropositive for C. burnetii by ELISA. According to regional analysis, the seroprevalences among goat farms in eastern, western, southern, and northern areas of Gyeongbuk province were 0%, 18.2%, 36.8%, and 6.3%, respectively, showing the highest seroprevalence in the southern region. Among 22 counties in Gyeongbuk province, 10 (45.5%) counties had one or more farms positive to C. burnetii antibody. Accordingly, the seroprevalence of C. burnetii in high-risk humans and animals are constantly demanded by regional investigation.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.9-21
• /
• 2011

Mankind spends a third of it's lifetime sleeping. Sleep deficiency can cause several psychological and physical complications - as well as death - if prolonged over extended periods. Therefore, sleep is a substantial part of life and essential to the preservation of human-life. In modern society, human-beings are having more difficulty with sleep than ever before. Consequently, the need for medical research on sleep has increased as well. There are no studies in current western medicine that focuses entirely on sleep alone. However, there have been ongoing research by traditional eastern medicine on sleep and sleep-related-dysfunctions since ancient times which has yielded diverse results. Undertaken a study of the sleep and sleep-related-dysfunction in traditional medicine of East-asia, I have summarized my studies into the following. 1. From ancient china to the age of the warring state(戰國時代) - ground on few data that we can get - humans have a simple and rough cognizance of sleep and sleep-related- dysfunction. But people are little removed from shamanism yet. 2. After Han(漢) dynasty, in "Huang Di Nei Jing(黃帝內經)" and "Shang Han Lun(傷寒論)" and "Jin Gui Yao Lue(金匱要略)", people present a basic physiology and pathology of sleep. 3. The theory has improved repeatedly in quality and quantity through "Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing(針灸甲乙經)" of Huang Fu Mi(皇甫謐) of Jin(晉) dynasty, "Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang(備急千金要方)" of Sun Si Miao(孫思邈) of Tang(唐) dynasty to "Tai Ping Sheng Hui Fang(太平聖惠方)" of Song(宋) dynasty.