• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.121-130
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• 2008

Objectives : Cupping therapy is a stimulation therapy similar to acupuncture and moxibustion with effects that differ depending on the degree of stimulus. To make the strength of the skin objective in cupping therapy for this study, we measured negative pressure in the cupping jar and calculated the expansion rate of the skin. Subjects and Methods : In this study, we experimented with cupping therapy jars made for sale and used in clinics. We studied the pressure in the jars and the changes on the skin surface by measuring properties. We used commercial jars of four different volumes and diameters and tried to discover the properties on the size of the jar. Results : The results of experiment with the cupping therapy are as follows: 1. The lowest pressure in a jar was measured at $-600{\sim}610mmHg$, and the number of operating of vacuum pump for reaching lowest pressure was increased recording where the volume of the jar would be big, but the lowest pressure was not increased recording where the size of that would be big. 2. As the vacuum pump continued to operate, the pressure gradient in the jar got smaller which shows that the expansion rate of the skin was not linear. The pressure gradient shows different operational numbers on the vacuum pump near 0mmHg/operation unrelated to jar volume. 3. When negative pressure worked on the jar, air in the jar decreased. The percentage of air gradually reduced as the negative pressure acted in the jar. For example, the percentage of skin was 37-66% when the negative pressure, reatched -500mmHg. According to out results, different test areas generate different percentages of air in the jar, presumably related to skin elasticity. This phenomenon was most pronounced with the smallest jars. 4. At -500mmHg, the expansion rate of the skin was 1.57-1.9 on the abdomen, and $1.52{\sim}1.68$ on the back. The expansion rate of the skin appeared greater when the jar was relatively small, and it appeared smaller when the jar volume was relatively large relatively.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.67-79
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• 2009

Objectives : The study on Acupotomy therapy has recently become a popular academic field as proven to be an great alternative to the limitation of Western medical treatment. However, there has been little study examining acupotomy therapy on treating Cervical Herniated Intervertebral Disc. Thus, this study aims to investigate the sense of improvement and satisfaction from the Cervical Herniated Intervertebral Disc patients treated with acupotomy therapy. Methods : A total of 23 subjects that consists of Cervical Herniated Intervertebral Disc patients were participated in this study. They were treated with acupotomy therapy and acupuncture. All the subjects were asked to answer Odom's degree, VAS(visual analogue scale), NDI(neck disability index) and JOA score before and after the treatment. Results : The results of the Odom's degree, VAS, NDI and JOA score of analysis groups, show that the improvement of neck pain in acupotomy and acupuncture treatment group is significantly effective. Conclusions : It is suggested that acupotomy therapy has development-effectiveness on Cervical Herniated Intervertebral Disc.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.125-130
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• 2005

Background and purpose: We evaluated the reliability of two electrodermal measurement devices on meridian skin areas; Electro Acupuncture according to Dr. Voll (EAV) method and newly developed MIR-1. Methods: Eighteen volunteers were tested repeatedly on the same condition with each device. To explore the intra-rater, inter-rater, and test-retest reliabilities, one rater tested each subject twice in succession, then the other rater tested the subject in a row. Finally, retests on the subjects with each device were performed 1 week later. The reliability was determined by Pearson correlation and intraclass correlation statistics. Results: EAV method showed poor reliability, while MIR-1 showed good reliability. Conclusion: It is suggested that further research on the reliability and useful device in both fields of clinical practice and biomedical research.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.192-196
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• 2013

We have investigated the changes of electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) under pulsed magnetic field (PMF) and acupuncture stimulus on acupoint PC9. In order to compare quantitatively the effect of PMF and acupuncture stimulus, the difference of alpha activities are calculated from EEG spectra, and the spectrum curves of ECG were analyzed in the frequency domain of heart rate variability (HRV). The increase of alpha activities after both stimuli could be explained that the impulse of stimulus on PC9 might pass through sensory nerve following meridian and approach the cerebral cortex, causing the central nervous system (CNS) to be activated for pacifying emotion and calming the mind. The decrease in sympathovagal activity of HRV after both stimuli indicates that parasympathetic nerves were activated and the sympathetic nerves were in constrained condition. These findings suggest that PMF could be patient-friendly alternative non-invasive medical treatment for influencing human physiology, in comparison with acupuncture inserting the needle and inducing nervous and anxious state to subject.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.90-96
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• 2014

The magnetic field variation by the permanent magnet fluctuation positioned on a "Chwan" of wrist according to the movement of radial artery was generated. The clip-type pulsimeter equipped with a Hall device sensing magnetic field pulse movement analyzed the characteristics of pulse wave as output signals. The magnetic field curve and pulse waveform simulated by the finite element method were compared and analyzed with each other. Also, the variation of magnetic field distribution one permanent magnet investigated by the fabrication of clip-type pulsimeter simulator. This result suggests that the clip-type pulsimeter can be used the reproducible and efficacious oriental diagnostic medical instrument.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.242-254
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• 2023

Although upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are common diseases, there have been no studies of their relationship with the indices obtained from tongue image analyses. The purpose of this study was to identify a tongue index through an analysis of tongue images (TIs) showing significant changes before and after treatment in patients with URTIs. A computerized tongue image acquisition system was developed to acquire TIs from subjects in the same environment. An image was taken from each of 39 URTI patients and 39 healthy controls. For the patients, images were acquired before and after treatment to identify changes. The tongue area was classified into a tongue body and a tongue coating, and the coating ratio between the two areas, the average value of the colour of each area, and teeth marks were calculated. No significant difference was observed in age or sex between the URTI patients and control participants. Heart rates were slightly different. The analysis of TIs showed that the luminance of the tongue coating and the coating area ratio were decreased, while the reddish value of the tongue body at the centre area increased as the treatment progressed. Tongue coating and body in URTIs had different colour and shape from those in the normal. It is expected that this result will contribute not only to the objectification of traditional Chinese medicine but also to diagnostic methods that do not involve face-to-face physician visit during the pandemic.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.354-361
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• 2023

Most of spinal diseases are diagnosed based on the subjective judgment of a specialist, so numerous studies have been conducted to find objectivity by automating the diagnosis process using deep learning. In this paper, we propose a method that combines segmentation and feature extraction, which are frequently used techniques for diagnosing spinal diseases. Four models, U-Net, U-Net++, DeepLabv3+, and M-Net were trained and compared using 1000 X-ray images, and key-points were derived using Douglas-Peucker algorithms. For evaluation, Dice Similarity Coefficient(DSC), Intersection over Union(IoU), precision, recall, and area under precision-recall curve evaluation metrics were used and U-Net++ showed the best performance in all metrics with an average DSC of 0.9724. For the average Euclidean distance between estimated key-points and ground truth, U-Net was the best, followed by U-Net++. However the difference in average distance was about 0.1 pixels, which is not significant. The results suggest that it is possible to extract key-points based on segmentation and that it can be used to accurately diagnose various spinal diseases, including spondylolisthesis, with consistent criteria.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.10-18
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• 2009

Objectives : To review to determine difference in the effect of age, gender, location of electrode, test meal and period of recording that influence Electrogastrography (EGG) parameters and to study its oriental medical application. Methods : We investigate the research results through internet search engines, Pub Med, Karger, Mary Ann Libert and Pro Quest. Results : Age and gender influence postprandial Dominant Frequency Instability Coefficient (DFIC). Body mass index (BMI) influence fasting and postprandial EGG parameters. Menstrual cycle phase influence fasting Dominant Frequency (DF). Test meal volume and composition influence postprandial EGG parameters. But reduced-calorie test meal have no effect on EGG parameters. Conclusions : Because the amplitude of surface-recorded SW(slow wave) is very weak, EGG is influenced by many factors. Age, gender, BMI, menstrual cycle phase, test meal volume and test meal composition influence EGG parameters. but reduced-calorie test meal have no effect on EGG parameters.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.491-493
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• 2017

본 논문에서는 PCM 알고리즘을 적용하여 한국인 고유의 신체적 특성에 맞는 한의학 기반의 한방 자가 진단 시스템을 제안한다. 제안된 방법은 사용자로부터 입력받은 각 증상들에 가중치를 설정한다. 입력받은 증상의 개수가 많아질 경우에는 해당되지 않는 질병이 도출되기 때문에 각 증상 클러스터의 가중치를 낮게 설정하여 적은 입출력 변화에도 전체 결과의 신뢰도에 영향을 주지 않도록 한다. 입력 데이터와 가중치를 기반으로 하여 이미 학습된 질병의 증상과 비교한 후, 유사도가 높은 상위 5개의 질병을 도출한다. 도출된 상위 5개의 질병과 도출된 질병의 원인과 민간요법을 제공한다. 질병과 증상에 대한 데이터베이스는 여러 한의학 서적을 통해 구축한 후, 한의학 전문의의 검증을 거쳐 구현하였다. 제안된 한방 자가 진단 시스템은 진료 기록을 바탕으로 증상을 학습함으로써 기존의 질병 진단 시스템 보다 다양한 증상에 대한 질병 정보를 제공할 수 있는 것으로 확인되었다.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.168-174
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• 2017

To improve and downsize the KIOM-Pulse Analysis System(KIOM-PAS), which has been traditionally used in clinical trials, a miniaturized PAS(M-PAS) with a pneumatic pump has been developed. M-PAS is composed of a measurement module and an arm-mounting module, on which an arm can be placed. The measurement module is equipped with a pressing component and sensor, which is a wearable wristband. The arm-mounting module includes a pneumatic motor, data acquisition board and valves. In addition, the measurement module is divided into a fixing module of band type for attachment to a pulsation site and a sensing module, which includes a sensor and a tube. The fixing module and sensing module are constructed independently, and the detachable fastening method improves the posture convenience of the subject during measurement. M-PAS has been reduced to 1/6 the size of KIOM-PAS, and the measurement time is shortened by 22%. Using a simulator, the difference between the waveforms measured by the two devices exhibited a high degree of similarity of within 3.65%. M-PAS represents improvements in size and convenience compared with KIOM-PAS, and it is expected to be widely used in clinics in the future because it improves the attachment method of the fixing module.