• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.82-91
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• 2018

Objectives: Synchronous electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to explore sleep stage dependent functional brain networks. Despite a growing number of sleep studies using EEG-fMRI, few studies have conducted network analysis on whole night sleep due to difficulty in data acquisition, artifacts, and sleep management within the MRI scanner. Methods: In order to perform network analysis for whole night sleep, we proposed experimental procedures and data processing techniques for EEG-fMRI. We acquired 6-7 hours of EEG-fMRI data per participant and conducted signal processing to reduce artifacts in both EEG and fMRI. We then generated a functional brain atlas with 68 brain regions using independent component analysis of sleep fMRI data. Using this functional atlas, we constructed sleep level dependent functional brain networks. Results: When we evaluated functional connectivity distribution, sleep showed significantly reduced functional connectivity for the whole brain compared to that during wakefulness. REM sleep showed statistically different connectivity patterns compared to non-REM sleep in sleep-related subcortical brain circuits. Conclusion: This study suggests the feasibility of exploring functional brain networks using sleep EEG-fMRI for whole night sleep via appropriate experimental procedures and signal processing techniques for fMRI and EEG.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2018

Backgrounds : In 2017, National Health Insurance implemented the pilot insuring project for Chuna manual therapy(CMT). 65 Korean Medicine(KM) hospitals and clinics were selected in the project to monitor the provision of insured CMT. Objectives : This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CMT for low back pain provided in the real world setting. Methods : Patients with low back pain who agreed to participated in the study were enrolled and requested to complete questionnaires. Patients who received CMT regardless of receiving other KM therapies were classified to Chuna group, and patient who received KM therapies without CMT to KM group. Pain(pain-VAS) and back function(KODI, Oswestry disability index-Korean version), quality of life were assessed at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks. Additionally, patients who received CMT twice and more, and who's pain-VAS 20 and over were included, and patients who used pain injection were excluded in the analysis. Results : Of 371 patients who completed all questionnaire (mean age=42.6years, SD=12.45; 61% female), 96 were excluded, 170 were in Chuna group, and 105 were in KM group. Proportions of patients who had low back pain for more than twelve weeks in the Chuna group and KM group were 57.7% and 24.8%, respectively. Pain and back function were significantly improved on 4weeks and 8weeks in both groups, but there was no difference between two groups. For the patients in the sub-acute and chronic stage(>=12 weeks), change of total KODI scores in the Chuna group was higher than KM group(p=0.013) at 4weeks. Conclusions : CMT with other KM therapies can improve back function in the sub-acute and chronic patients. For insurance policy decision, economic evaluation of CMT is needed.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.151-163
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of herbal medicine for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in cases and to find the general tendency of herbal medicine treatment and to establish the primary treatment direction of Atopic dermatitis. Methods : In the domestic databases, Oriental medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System(OASIS), Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal(KTKP), National Discovery for Science Leader(NDSL), Research Information Sharing Service(RISS), we selected among the papers published in the last 20 years using search terms related to "Atopic dermatitis & Cases". Reports based on Sasang constitutional medicine and Six meridian pattern identification were excluded and a total of 21 papers were finally selected. Results : 113 herbal medicines were retrieved from 21 papers. The most commonly used herbs are Scutellariae Radix(黃芩), Rehmanniae Radix(地黃), and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma(甘草). Atractylodis Rhizoma(蒼朮), Akebiae Caulis(木通), Smilacis Rhizoma(土茯?), Paeoniae Radix(芍藥) used mostly when Oozing exists, Trichosanthis Radix (瓜蔞), Asparagi Radix(天門冬), Persicae Semen(桃仁), Carthami Flos(紅花) used mostly when Dryness, Lichenification, and Pigmentation exist. The average score of SCORAD index was improved after Herbal medicine treatment. Conclusion : Through this study, we could find out the tendency of herbal medicine to treat Atopic dermatitis along with Symptoms.

• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.27-33
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• 2022

Sleep is an essential factor for living a healthy life, but most modern people complain of poor sleep. For these people, as the need for a means to simply evaluate and manage the quality of sleep increases, devices that can check the sleep state at home without monitoring by an examiner are being developed. The smart sleep mask, which is the subject of this usability test, provides bio-signal monitoring while sleeping so that you can conveniently measure and manage your sleep state for yourself. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usability and safety of the smart sleep mask, to find and prevent potential factors related to errors in use that may occur, and to develop the comfort and safety of this product. As a result of the formative evaluation of the sleep mask prototype, it was reported that it was difficult to turn on the power and check the results, and that the sleep mask was not comfortable to wear. Different opinions were presented on the size and weight of the sleeping mask by people in different age groups.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2021

Objectives: We studied for the adjustment of the patterns of 'The Diagnostic Tool for Climacteric and Postmenopausal Syndrome Pattern Identification (hereinafter CaPSPI)' (studyI) and the correlation between CaPSPI and Korean medicine doctors' diagnosis which was carried out without knowing the results of CaPSPI (studyII). Methods: The studyI followed the previous study method in 2018 (2018-3). The studyII was conducted from June 1, 2019 to July 10, 2020 with ◯◯ University Korean Medicine Hospital IRB's approval (2019-4). Doctors' diagnosis was conducted face-to-face with the subjects. Doctors' diagnosis was carried out based on the Kupperman's questionnaire, 'Diagnosis System of Oriental Medicine (hereinafter DSOM)' and four examinations (四診) records. The diagnosis was marked with 0 for 'no', 1 for 'somewhat', 2 for 'yes' and 3 for 'very yes'. The correlation between CaPSPI and the mean of doctors diagnostic scores were investigated statistically. Results: The studyI showed that heart-heat (心火) pattern was added. The Factor loading coefficient for heart-heat was 0.551 to 0.789, and the Cronbach's coefficient was 0.896. The studyII showed that the diagnosis (Kappa statistic) of two doctors showed statistically significant concordance (all eight patterns), with correlation of them were 0.3 or higher. And the correlation between the CaPSPI score and the mean of doctors' diagnostic score showed a statistically significant correlation, with liver qi depression (肝鬱) being the highest at 0.552 and dual deficiency of the heart-spleen (心脾兩虛) being the lowest at 0.301. Conclusions: Since the diagnosis results of CaPSPI showed a significant correlation with the diagnosis of Korean traditional medicine experts, it was believed that the CaPSPI results can be trusted and used for clinical purposes.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2022

Purpose: The standard tool for the pattern identification is used for identifying patterns in patients using a questionnaire. The purpose of this study is to reorganize the standard tool for the pattern identification of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) developed in 2017 and to analyze the reliability and validity of the standard tool for pattern identification by applying it to GERD patients. Methods: To reorganize the standard tool for the pattern identification of GERD developed in the previous study, we searched the literature in the main databases, OASIS (Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System) and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure). We added the search results to the data used in the previous study and went through the reorganizing courses, such as evaluating the validity of the translation, the Delphi technique, and a small survey. After reorganization, the patients who visited the Kyunghee University Korean Medicine Center for GERD symptoms were provided the questionnaire, including the reorganized standard tool for pattern identification. We analyzed the survey results to evaluate their reliability and validity. Results: Fifty patients completed the questionnaire. Reliability analysis results showed a pattern identification match rate of 86%, Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.834, and intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.907. The Mann - Whitney U test and logistic regression were implemented to check the relations between the survey questions and pattern identification results; the Pearson correlation, compared with other scales, showed a moderate score. Conclusion: We reorganized the standard tool for the pattern identification of GERD to be updated on current issues and so that it is easily used. The analysis results of the questionnaire showed that the reorganized standard tool had high reliability and moderate validity.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2022

Since Traditional Korean medicine (TKM) doctors use various knowledge systems during treatment, diagnosis results may differ for each TKM doctor. However, it is difficult to explain all the reasons for the diagnosis because TKM doctors use both explicit and implicit knowledge. In this study, an upgraded random forest (RF)-based evaluation tool was proposed to extract clinical knowledge of TKM doctors. Also, it was confirmed to what extent the professor's clinical knowledge was delivered to the trainees by using the evaluation tool. The data used to construct the evaluation tool were targeted at 106 people who visited the Sasang Constitutional Department at Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital at Gangdong. For explicit knowledge extraction, four TKM doctors were asked to express the importance of symptoms as scores. In addition, for implicit knowledge extraction, importance score was confirmed in the RF model that learned the patient's symptoms and the TKM doctor's constitutional determination results. In order to confirm the delivery of clinical knowledge, the similarity of symptoms that professors and trainees consider important when discriminating constitution was calculated using the Jaccard coefficient. As a result of the study, our proposed tool was able to successfully evaluate the clinical knowledge of TKM doctors. Also, it was confirmed that the professor's clinical knowledge was delivered to the trainee. Our tool can be used in various fields such as providing feedback on treatment, education of training TKM doctors, and development of AI in TKM.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.553-561
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• 2022

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a slowly progressing hematopoietic cell disorder. Sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1) plays established roles in tumor initiation, progression, and chemotherapy resistance in a wide range of cancers, including leukemia. However, small-molecule inhibitors targeting SPHK1 in CML still need to be developed. This study revealed the role of SPHK1 in CML and investigated the potential anti-leukemic activity of hirsuteine (HST), an indole alkaloid obtained from the oriental plant Uncaria rhynchophylla, in CML cells. These results suggest that SPHK1 is highly expressed in CML cells and that overexpression of SPHK1 represents poor clinical outcomes in CML patients. HST exposure led to G2/M phase arrest, cellular apoptosis, and downregulation of Cyclin B1 and CDC2 and cleavage of Caspase 3 and PARP in CML cells. HST shifted sphingolipid rheostat from sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) towards the ceramide coupled with a marked inhibition of SPHK1. Mechanistically, HST significantly blocked SPHK1/S1P/S1PR1 and BCR-ABL/PI3K/Akt pathways. In addition, HST can be docked with residues of SPHK1 and shifts the SPHK1 melting curve, indicating the potential protein-ligand interactions between SPHK1 and HST in both CML cells. SPHK1 overexpression impaired apoptosis and proliferation of CML cells induced by HST alone. These results suggest that HST, which may serve as a novel and specific SPHK1 inhibitor, exerts anti-leukemic activity by inhibiting the SPHK1/S1P/S1PR1 and BCR-ABL/PI3K/Akt pathways in CML cells, thus conferring HST as a promising anti-leukemic drug for CML therapy in the future.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.29.1-29.12
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• 2022

Several studies have shown associations between irinotecan toxicity and UGT1A genetic variations in colorectal and lung cancer, but only limited data are available for gastric cancer patients. We evaluated the frequencies of UGT1A polymorphisms and their relationship with clinicopathologic parameters in 382 Korean gastric cancer patients. Polymorphisms of UGT1A1*6, UGT1A1*27, UGT1A1*28, UGT1A1*60, UGT1A7*2, UGT1A7*3, and UGT1A9*22 were genotyped by direct sequencing. In 98 patients treated with irinotecan-containing regimens, toxicity and response were compared according to the genotype. The UGT1A1*6 and UGT1A9*22 genotypes showed a higher prevalence in Korean gastric cancer patients, while the prevalence of the UG1A1*28 polymorphism was lower than in normal Koreans, as has been found in other studies of Asian populations. The incidence of severe diarrhea after irinotecan-containing treatment was more common in patients with the UGT1A1*6, UGT1A7*3 and UGT1A9*22 polymorphisms than in controls. The presence of the UGT1A1*6 allele also showed a significant association with grade III-IV neutropenia. Upon haplotype and diplotype analyses, almost every patient bearing the UGT1A1*6 or UGT1A7*3 variant also had the UGT1A9*22 polymorphism, and all severe manifestations of UGT1A polymorphism-associated toxicity were related to the UGT1A9*22 polymorphism. By genotyping UGT1A9*22 polymorphisms, we could identify high-risk gastric cancer patients receiving irinotecan-containing chemotherapy, who would experience severe toxicity. When treating high-risk patients with the UGT1A9*22 polymorphism, clinicians should closely monitor them for signs of toxicity such as severe diarrhea or neutropenia.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1017-1025
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• 2022

Bone homeostasis is regulated by constant remodeling through osteogenesis by osteoblasts and osteolysis by osteoclasts and osteoporosis can be provoked when this balance is broken. Present pharmaceutical treatments for osteoporosis have harmful side effects and thus, our goal was to develop therapeutics from intrisincally safe natural products. Fucoidan is a polysaccharide extracted from many species of brown seaweed, with valuable pharmaceutical activities. To intensify the effect of fucoidan on bone homeostasis, we hydrolyzed fucoidan using AMG, Pectinex and Viscozyme. Of these, fucoidan biotransformed by Pectinex (Fu/Pec) powerfully inhibited the induction of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity in osteoclasts differentiated from bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) by the receptor for activation of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL). To investigate potential of lower molecular weight fucoidan it was separated into >300 kDa, 50-300 kDa, and <50 kDa Fu/Pec fractions by ultrafiltration system. The effects of these fractions on TRAP and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities were then examined in differentiated osteoclasts and MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts, respectively. Interestingly, 50-300 kDa Fu/Pec suppressed RANKL-induced osteoclasts differentiation from BMMs but did not synergistically enhance osteoblasts differentiation induced by osteogenic agents. In addition, this fraction inhibited the expressions of NFATc1, TRAP, OSCAR, and RANK, which are all key transcriptional factors involved in osteoclast differentiation, and those of Src, c-Fos and Mitf, as determined by RT-PCR. In conclusion, enzymatically low-molecularized 50-300 kDa Fu/Pec suppressed TRAP by downregulating RANKL-related signaling, contributing to the inhibition of osteoclasts differentiation, and represented a potential means of inducing bone remodeling in the background of osteoporosis.