• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.209-213
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• 2005

Due to steady increase of childhood asthma, exposure to air toxics including PAHs have been thought as an etiology for the asthma. PAHs -involvement in airway inflammation, such as IgE production, is the potential mechanism of the PAHs-induced asthma. Cytochrome P450s (CYPs), particularly CYP1A1 is known enzyme to metabolite PAHs and to be induced by PAHs. The CYP1A1 expression has been emphasized as an biomarker for PAHs - exposure. The present study was performed to clarify the etiology of childhood asthma with PAHs-exposure using mRNA expression of CYP1A1 . The study Objects were Korean children who were asthma patients (cases) or other hospital controls (N=20; age,3 $\~$ 16; boys,56$\%$). As result, we detected expression of the CYP1A1 in all peripheral blood specimens which were collected from the subjects. Moreover, we found approx. 300 fold-higher expression of the CYP1A1 in the cases than that in the controls (p(<)0.01). When we considered age which was related to Asthma, the above significant trend was somewhat diluted, however, the relation between asthma and the Cypih i expression waL stronger than that between asthma and age (chi square,7.99 vs. 3.34). Therefore, our study supports that PAHs induce or worse childhood asthma and suggests application of expression of the CYP1A1 as an initiation or progress biomarker for PAHs - induced childhood asthma.

• 대한약침학회지
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.123-129
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• 2004

Nowadays Asthma is considered to be an inflamatory disease characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness and pulmonary eosinophilia. Hominis Placenta is the dried placenta of a healthy women. It has correspondence to the meridians of lung and kindey. Hominis Placenta acupuncture therapy has effect on invigoration of vital energy nourishing blood and tonifying the essence. It can be applied to the disease as Asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, degenerative change and cerebrovascular disease. We treated two patients of Asthma with CVA by Homins Placenta Aqua-Acupuncture. The effect of Homins Placenta Aqua-Acupuncture was assessed by analyzing the pulmonary function test(PFT) and Quality of Life Questionnaire for adult Korean Asthmatics(QLQAKA) in patients before and after treatment. Total score was increased. The patients are satisfied our treatment. But further research concerning this is still necessary.

• 대한한방내과학회지
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• 제38권6호
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• pp.955-970
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• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this observational study was to identify and analyze the patterns to compare the characteristics of asthma patients. Methods: The subjects were 40 asthma patients who had satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were divided into deficiency syndrome and excess syndrome groups, and cold syndrome and heat syndrome groups. Their quality of life was measured by the quality of life questionnaire for adult Korean asthmatics (QLQAKA) and VAS. Heart rate variability (HRV) was measured, and the degree of obesity was evaluated by body mass index (BMI). Hematological, biochemical, and immunoglobulin (Ig) E laboratory tests were included. Results: Based on pattern identification, the 40 asthma patients could be divided into two categories of groups: 1) the deficiency syndrome (N=18) and the excess syndrome (N=22) groups: 2) the cold syndrome (N=35) and the heat syndrome (N=5) groups. The mean value of HF differed significantly between the deficiency and excess syndrome groups. The mean value of IgE in blood tests of asthmatics was greater than four times the reference value. For BMI, the subjects were classified into three groups: normal weight (N=12), overweight (N=12), and obese (N=16). Conclusions: Development of a more accurate asthma-specific pattern identification tool could play a crucial role in asthma control. In addition, good control of asthma can improve the quality of life. Obesity is one of the factors associated with asthma exacerbation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제81권4호
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• pp.289-298
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• 2018

Background: Obstructive airway disease patients with increased variability of airflow and incompletely reversible airflow obstruction are often categorized as having asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap syndrome (ACOS). ACOS is heterogeneous with two sub-phenotypes: asthma-ACOS and COPD-ACOS. The objective of this study was to determine the difference in risk of exacerbation between the two sub-phenotypes of ACOS. Methods: A total of 223 patients exhibiting incompletely reversible airflow obstruction with increased variability (spirometrically defined ACOS) were enrolled. These patients were divided into asthma-ACOS and COPD-ACOS according to their physician's diagnosis and smoking history of 10 pack-years. Within-group comparisons were made for asthma-ACOS versus COPD-ACOS and light smokers versus heavy smokers. Results: Compared to patients with COPD-ACOS, patients with asthma-ACOS experienced exacerbation more often despite their younger age, history of light smoking, and better lung function. While the light-smoking group showed better lung function, they made unscheduled outpatient clinic visits more frequently. On multivariate analysis, asthma-ACOS and poor inhaler compliance were significantly associated with more than two unscheduled clinic visits during the previous year. Conclusion: Spirometrically defined ACOS includes heterogeneous subgroups with different clinical features. Phenotyping of ACOS by physician's diagnosis could be significant in predicting future risk of exacerbation.

• Allergy, Asthma & Respiratory Disease
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• 제6권6호
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• pp.279-283
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• 2018

Asthma is considered a chronic inflammatory airway disease. Mounting evidence reports that patients with asthma are at significantly higher risk of developing communicable diseases such as invasive pneumococcal disease, Haemophilus influenza, varicella, measles, pertussis and tetanus. While impaired innate immunity may play a role in increased risk of developing these infections, suboptimal adaptive immune responses have also been reported to play a role in asthmatic subjects with regard to increased risk of infections. This review discusses the currently underrecognized immunological effect of asthma on antibody to vaccines and recommends that clinicians be aware of less optimal antibody production in response to vaccines in subjects with asthma.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제85권4호
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• pp.283-288
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• 2022

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by varying and recurrent symptoms, reversible airway obstruction, and bronchospasm. In this paper, clinical important studies on asthma published between March 2021 and February 2022 were reviewed. A study on the relationship between asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis, bronchiectasis, and hormone replacement therapy was published. A journal on the usefulness of fractional exhaled nitric oxide for the prediction of severe acute exacerbation was also introduced. Studies on the effect of inhaler, one of the most important treatments for asthma, were published. Studies on the control of severe asthma continued. Phase 2 and 3 studies of new biologics were also published. As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been prolonged, many studies have explored the prevalence and mortality of COVID-19 infection in asthma patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제55권9호
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• pp.330-336
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• 2012

Purpose: Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of vital capacity ($FEF_{25-75}$) are not included in routine monitoring of asthma control. We observed changes in FeNO level and $FEF_{25-75}$ after FeNO-based treatment with inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) in children with controlled asthma (CA). Methods: We recruited 148 children with asthma (age, 8 to 16 years) who had maintained asthma control and normal forced expiratory volume in the first second ($FEV_1$) without control medication for ${\geq}3$ months. Patients with FeNO levels >25 ppb were allocated to the ICS-treated (FeNO-based management) or untreated group (guideline-based management). Changes in spirometric values and FeNO levels from baseline were evaluated after 6 weeks. Results: Ninety-three patients had FeNO levels >25 ppb. These patients had lower $FEF_{25-75}$ % predicted values than those with FeNO levels ${\leq}25$ ppb (P<0.01). After 6 weeks, the geometric mean (GM) FeNO level in the ICS-treated group was 45% lower than the baseline value, and the mean percent increase in $FEF_{25-75}$ was 18.7% which was greater than that in other spirometric values. There was a negative correlation between percent changes in $FEF_{25-75}$ and FeNO (r=-0.368, P=0.001). In contrast, the GM FeNO and spirometric values were not significantly different from the baseline values in the untreated group. Conclusion: The anti-inflammatory treatment simultaneously improved the FeNO levels and $FEF_{25-75}$ in CA patients when their FeNO levels were >25 ppb.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.107-112
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• 2000

To investigate the alteration of airway mucin in airway disease patients, immunoassay procedures were employed using monoclonal antibodies HM02 and HM03 (Hybridoma, 18,457-463, 1999). Alteration of mucin release was determined by ELISA and the integrity of mucin was determined by Western blot. In ELISA, it was found that mucin release increased from pneumonia, chronic cough, bronchiectasis, eosinophilic pneumonia, lung cancer and bronchial asthma patients. In Western blot, the increase in immunoreactivity was observed in case of pneumonia, chronic cough, bronchiectasis and bronchial asthma. In bronchial asthma, there was no obvious degradation of mucin while in other diseases, varying degree of mucin degradation was observed. The data from the present study implicate that HMO2 and HM03 are suitable for the immunological analysis of mucin in airway disease patients. The role of increased mucin release and varying degree of mucin degradation on airway diseases should be further investigated in the future.

• 대한한방소아과학회지
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.49-58
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• 2015

Objectives Asthma is an allergic disease that frequently occurs in children. This study aims to research acupuncture and acupoint-application treatment of pediatric asthma. Methods We got 53,653 search results with searching word 'child' 'children' 'pediatric' 'juvenile' 'adolescence' 'baby' 'infant' 'asthma' in Pubmed and got 147 results among them with searching word 'acupuncture' 'acupoint application'. We selected 13 articles among them which were seem to be related to this study. We classified these studies according to the type of study, the treatment methods and treatment outcomes. Results There were few studies about acupuncture and acupoint application on pediatric asthma. According to current research, conducting acupuncture and acupoint application treatment on pediatric asthma patient is recommended. Especially, acupoint application and laser acupuncture treatment were important to consider as treatment options on pediatric asthma patients for non-invasive way and less painful to children. Conclusions For the study on acupuncture and acupoint application treatment in pediatric asthma, it is necessary that we conduct research on various merit of acupuncture. More clinical data would be needed to prove the effects of acupuncture and acupoint application treatment in pediatric asthma.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.131-141
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• 2001

Objectives : Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder in which the airway smooth muscle undergoes exaggerated constriction and is abnormally responsive to external stimuli and clinically manifests dyspnea, cough, and wheezing. Recently in Korea, the number of asthma patients has tended to increase as air pollution increases and new allergens appear. This study aimed to identify the therapeutic effects of Sochongryong-tang, which has been used on asthmatic patients in Oriental Medicine for a long time. Methods : We studied 10 asthmatic patients who had visited the Division of Respiratory System, Department of Internal Medicine of Kyunghee Oriental Medical Center from February 1, 2001 to June 30, 2001, which examined the patients by the pulmonary function test (PFT) and Quality of Life Questionnaire for adult Korean Asthmatics (QLQAKA) before and after taking Sochongryong-tang for two weeks. The data was analyzed using paired t-test. Results : After treatment with Sochongryong-tang for two weeks, FEV 1.0 showed a significant increase of 14.2%, FVC a significant increase of 9.3% and PEFR a significant increase of 16.2% in results of patients examined asthmatic by PFT. In the results of QLQAKA, the mean of scores increased significantly over 0.5 points in total score, symptom domain, emotion domain, and environmental domain. Conclusions : This study shows that Sochongryong-tang has the effect of improvements of pulmonary function and quality of life in asthmatic patients.