• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.79-84
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• 2016

Objective : Nypa fruticans Wurmb. Fruit (NF) has been used as a conventional medicine to treat inflammatory peridontal diseases in Myanmar and Eastern Asia. However, the anti-inflammatory effect of NF aqueous extract on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory responses was not well-investigated. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of NF on LPS-induced inflammatory responses on RAW 264.7 cells.Methods : To induce inflammation on the macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7 cells were treated with 500 ng/mL of LPS. Water extracts of NF was treated 1 h prior to treatment of LPS. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Production of nitrite was measured with Griess assay and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukine (IL)-1β and IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In addition, we examined the inhibitory mechanisms of NF by western blot and immunocytochemistry.Result : Water Extract from NF itself did not have any cytotoxic effect at the concentration of 200 ㎍/ml in RAW 264.7 cells. Treatment of NF inhibited the production of nitrite, and pro-inflammatory cytokines inlcuding IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in a dose dependant. In addition, NF treatment inhibited the LPS-induced activation and translocation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB.Conclusion : In summary, our result suggest that treatment of NF could reduce the LPS-induced inflammatory responses via deactivation of NF-κB. This study could suggest that NF could be a beneficial drug or agent to prevent inflammation.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.17-27
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• 2010

Objectives: Cocaine has been well known as a representative drug of abuse for its strong reinforcing effect linked to the mesolimbic reward system including dopamine, and such reinforcement leads to the addiction. Acupuncture has been used widely in eastern Asia for the treatment of various diseases including mental disorders and psychiatric problems, and is gathering more interest as one of the complementary and alternative medicines in western countries. In a previous study, we demonstrated that acupuncture at HT7 could affect dopamine release in the mesolimbic system of rats sensitized to alcohol and morphine. This study was designed to investigate whether acupuncture at HT7 could attenuate cocaine intake or not. Material & Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 270-300 g at the start of experiment were trained to self-administer food pellets under a fixed ratio 1 schedule. After the success of acquisition of 100 pellets within 3 h for 3 consecutive days, animals were subjected to surgery whereby Silastic tubing was implanted into right jugular vein and secured with mesh under the anesthetization using pentobarbital injection (50 mg/kg, i.p.). Following recovery, rats were trained to self-administer cocaine (0.25 mg/kg) in daily 2 h sessions under fixed ratio 1 schedule over 10 days. Each treatment was performed on the next day of each establishment of baseline. Results: Results show that acupuncture at HT7, but not at control points, reduced cocaine intake significantly. Acupuncture at HT7 decreased selectively active lever response from $63.15{\pm}3.35$ to $51.46{\pm}3.99$ corresponding $82.12{\pm}5.31%$ compared to basal level. Also, it was demonstrated that the effect of acupuncture was mainly occurred at the half period. Nevertheless, acupuncture at HT7 did not influence the food taking behavior. Conclusions: From the results of this study, it may be suggested that acupuncture at HT7, at least in part, could contribute to the treatment of cocaine abuse.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.583-590
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• 2007

The significance of Han medicine (韓醫學), the Korean traditional medicine, that has lasted throughout the past couple millenniums relies upon Han Philosophy distinguished by its uniqueness. In brief, the specificity of Han medicine is characterized by unity of spirit and body, part and whole. According to this theory, when curing a frozen shoulder, it is usually cured by acupuncturing the area around the part that aches, but also doing so on the area that is totally different from the aching part such as the opposite part of the body. In fact, this can be pursued only through aspects that enable one to realize the unity of part and whole, and a ground for this possibility bases upon the crux of Eastern Philosophy, I-ching(역), such as theory of Five Elements (음양오행) and Three Pillars(삼재). In Western set theory, the issues of Class(부류) and elements(요원), whole and part were independently discussed in the area of mereology, and the question of part and whole was encountered with aporia and paradox since Greek ancient philosophy. At the turn of this century, many philosophers endeavored to pursue academic inquiry to resolve this paradox, especially by Russell and Whitehead through ${\ll}$Principia Mathematica${\gg}$ at the beginning of this century. in the process, there came out a phrase 'Russell's Paradox'. Russell himself proposed a typological resolution as an answer to the inquiry. However, 'Russell's Paradox' still remains as an aporia even till present days. During medieval period, this inquiry was even considered as 'insolubia'. Throughout this paper, 1 attempt to provide an analytic aspect on 'Russell's Paradox' from an unique thinking method and perspective of Han medicine that embodies the concept of 'unity of part and whole'. To do so, 1 suggest a physiological model in the first place depicted by diagrams of Circle 원, Quadrangle 방, Triangle 각(CQT) that portray the logic of Hado or Hotu 하도 which is 'the pattern from the river Ho'. That is to suggest that CQT원방각 of Hado can De a logical foundation that explains the notions of spirit (정신,뇌), internal organs(장부), and meridian system which functions as a solution to the question of 'Russell's Paradox'. There are precedent academic works examining the issue from philosophical aspect such as Sangil Kim's ${\ulcorner}$Han medicine과 러셀역설 해의${\lrcorner}$ Han Medicine and Resolution of Russell's Paradox(2005), and this analysis will further attempt to critically examine such works from a perspective of Han medicine.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.144-151
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• 2012

Chronic gastritis is the disease that is occuring in one in every 10 persons in Korea. In western medicine, endoscopy is needed to diagnose chronic gastritis, but it causes patients a pain and budget of expense. According to the TEM (Traditional Eastern Medicine), on the other hand, the 'Guan' position of the right wrist is related to a stomach. Thus we can diagnosis chronic gastritis by analyzing of pulse signal. However, pulse signal diagnosis is depended on oriental doctor's knowledge and experience. In this study, a systematic approach is proposed to analyze the computerized pulse signal. The pulse signals are firstly pre-processed, Gaussian model is adopted to fit the pulse signal, and then some related parameters are extracted from the model. Consequently, disease-sensitive parameters are selected by T-test and statistical difference. Finally, the selected parameters are entered into a Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm for classification. Classification results show that healthy persons and chronic gastritis patients are 95% and 87%, respectively.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 1999

Sero-epidemiologic survey has been carried out to establish serologically the presence of hantavirus in areas of South Africa. The survey was oriented to search natural infection in both of humans and wild rodents and involvement of human disease. The normal human sera were collected from the residents in urban and rural areas of Western Cape, and rural area of Eastern Cape province. The rodent sera came from various species of rodents trapped in Northern Cape and Western Free provinces. The patient sera were selected from the patients of renal failure, pulmonary syndrome and pyrexia of unknown origin (PUQ) according to diagnostic chart among the patients hospitalized in major hospitals of Cape Town area. The sera were screened and titrated by IFA test using antigens of Hantaan (HTN), Seoul (SEO), Puumala (PUU), and Prospect Hill (PH) viruses primarily. Positive cases were subjected to differential IFA test using HTN, PUU and PH antigens and plaque reduction neutralization test for further confirmation. Anti-hantavirus antibodies were detected from 2 of 352 rural, 1 of 172 urban residents of E. Cape, and 5 of 118 rural, 5 of 368 urban residents of W. Cape. The antibody was also demonstrated from 5 of 221 wild rodents, and it was appeared that 2 different species, Aethomys namaquensis and Tatem leucogaster, are involved. Among 318 patients tested, 3 who were diagnosed as chronic renal failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and glomerulonephritis were proved to be positive. The reaction patterns obtained from all of these positive sera were distinct from hantaviral sero-patterns ever established. This result suggests that new viruses may exist in this area and play an possible etiologic role in human disease. The feature of serologic survey on anti-hantavirus antibody demonstrable newly from African wild rodents which are different from reservoir species in other continents elicits a conjecture that the virus may be different from known hantaviruses ever found. This fact also suggests that an expanded role in etiologic involvement with other unknown human diseases by newly emerging hantaviruses may be possible in this areas.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.259-265
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• 2018

To investigate the infection status of zoonotic trematode metacercariae in yellowfin goby, Acanthogobius flavimanus, from coastal areas of the Republic of Korea (Korea), we examined total 344 gobies from 21 localities with an artificial digestion method from 2013 to 2017. The metacercariae of Stictodora lari were most frequently detected in 45.3% goby from 7 localities, i.e., Taean-gun (Chungcheongnam-do), Gochang-gun (Jeollabuk-do), Muan-gun, Shinan-gun, Haenam-gun (Jeollanam-do), Hadong-gun and Goseong-gun (Gyeongsangnam-do). Their infection rates were 90.0%, 66.7%, 46.7%, 8.0%, 3.3%, 26.7%, and 86.7% and intensities were 1,090, 6.2, 1.6 1.0, 2.0, 2.0, and 7.2 metacercariae per fish infected respectively. Heterophyopsis continua metacercariae were found in 38.2% goby from 6 localities, i.e., Gochang-gun, Muan-gun, Shinan-gun, Gangjin-gun, Boseong-gun (Jeollanam-do) and Goseong-gun, and their intensities were relatively low, 1-21 metacercariae. Stictodora fuscata metacercariae were detected in 61.3% goby from 4 localities, i.e., Taean-gun, Gochang-gun, Hadong-gun and Goseong-gun. Their infection rates were 90.0%, 53.3%, 5.9%, and 73.3% and intensities were 1,081, 3.1, 3.0, and 10.2 metacercariae per fish infected respectively. Heterophyes nocens metacercariae were found in 55.0% goby from Muan-gun and Shinan-gun. Total 3 metacercariae of Isthmiophora hortensis were detected in 2 (8.0%) gobies from Shinan-gun. Total 15 metacercariae of Centrocestus armatus were detected in 5 gobies (33.3%) from Gyeongpo-ho (ho means lake) in Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do. The present study suggests that yellowfin goby, A. flavimanus, acts as the infection sources of zoonotic intestinal flukes in western and southern coastal areas than in eastern coastal areas of Korea.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2013

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of cosmetic products containing concentrated ginseng using novel methods based on Traditional Korean medicine (TKM). In TKM, inspection of facial skin was an important method to diagnose symptoms and body condition of patients. Doctors in oriental medicine examined a patient as observing symptoms on the face and skin related to inner organs. This was called "mang-jin. In this study, eleven female, who have been using the cosmetic products containing concentrated ginseng for the last 5 years, and eleven healthy controls, who have never used the same product, were recruited. Three doctors in oriental medicine evaluated 17 inspection factors on facial skin. And 7 non-invasive skin bioengineering factors were assessed by various instruments at the same time. In results, 7 factors of the inspection were better in using the product than in controls. And sebum, roughness, pigmentation and wrinkle depth were significantly lower in using the product than in controls. So, this results propose that the cosmetic product containing concentrated ginseng has a good anti-aging effect on skin. And it is suggested that the novel evaluation method combined, Traditional Korean medicine and modern bioengineering technique, has to be developed for holistic concept of Hanbang cosmetics.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2023

Objectives : Neuroinflammation is a common pathological mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases, and the development of therapeutic agents is urgently needed. Red ginseng has been known to be good for the immune stimulation in Eastern Asia. Although the immuno-stimulatory activity of red ginseng are already known, the neuro-protective effects of cultivated red ginseng with fermented complex mushroom-cereal mycelium (RGFM) have not been conducted. Thus, in this study, we tried to investigate the anti-neuroinflammatory effect of RGFM water extract on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated BV2 cells. Methods : BV2 cells were pretreated with RGFM 1 h prior to LPS exposure. To determine the neuro-protective effects of RGFM water extract, we measured the expression of inflammatory mediators including inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and nitric oxide (NO) and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1𝛽, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-𝛼 in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. In addition, to find out the regulatory mechanism of RGFM water extract, we assessed the protein levels of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and inhibitory 𝜅B𝛼 (I𝜅B𝛼) by western blotting. Results : In our study, treatment of RGFM reduced the mRNA expression of iNOS and COX-2 and suppressed NO production in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. Additionally, the secretion of IL-1𝛽 and TNF-𝛼 but not IL-6 was significantly inhibited by RGFM. Furthermore, RGFM water extract inhibited the phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Conclusions : Taken together, these findings suggest that RGFM water extract has a protective effect on neuroinflammation through inhibition of JNK.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.spc1
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• pp.220-223
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• 2006

Mugwort, Artemisia princeps Pampanini, has been used as natural medicine traditionally in the far east countries including Korea. This study was performed with the object of provoding basic data an leaf quality improvement in mugwort. The 210 mugwort were collected in 48 locations from 2004 to 2006, leaves of 210 genotypes collected were analyzed for eupatilin, jaceosidin and sesamin content. The eupatilin content was averaged to 43.8mg (100 g leaves) and ranged from 0 to 228.0 mg. The average jaceosidin and sesamin contents were 12.8 mg and 3.58 mg and the ranges of those were 0 to 73.8 mg and 0 to 6.56 mg, respectively. The eupatilin content of mugwort harvested in the western region was higher compared with those harvested in the resemble altitude of the southern and eastern of Korea.

• CELLMED
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.27.1-27.5
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• 2014

Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth. (Scrophulariaceae) is a traditional Ayurvedic herb known as Kutki. It is used as a remedy for diabetes by tribes of North Eastern Himalayan region of India. Present study was conducted to explore the mechanism of antidiabetic activity of standardized aqueous extract of Picrorhiza kurroa (PkE). PkE (100 and 200 mg/kg/day) was orally administered to streptozotocin induced diabetic rats, for 14 consecutive days. Plasma insulin levels were measured and pancreas of rat was subjected to histopathological investigations. Glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT-4) protein content in the total membrane fractions of soleus muscle was estimated by Western blot analysis. Plasma insulin level was significantly increased along with concomitant increase in GLUT-4 content of total membrane fractions of soleus muscle of diabetic rats treated with extract. There was evidence of regeneration of ${\beta}$-cells of pancreatic islets of PkE treated group in histopathological examinations. PkE increased the insulin-mediated translocation of GLUT-4 from cytosol to plasma membrane or increased GLUT-4 expression, which in turn facilitated glucose uptake by skeletal muscles in diabetic rats.