• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.149-163
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• 2009

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to review RCTs on pharmacopuncture treatment for musculoskeletal diseases and to establish standards of pharmacopuncture treatment model. Methods : We searched articles up to date of March 2009 via computerized databases of Pubmed, The Journal of Korean Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Journal of Korean institute of Herbal Acupuncture, Journal of Oriental Rehabilitation and Journal of Korean Oriental Medicine. Only Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) concerning the effects of pharmacopuncture on musculoskeletal diseases. The pharmacopuncture treatment methods were assessed based on STRICTA and items considering the feature of pharmacopuncture. And the methodological quality of the trials was assessed by FEAS and modified Jadad score. Results : Eighteen trials of pharmacopuncture on musculoskeletal diseases were analyzed. Except for 4 trials comparing the effect of SBV and BV, positive outcome was reported in ten trials. Among eighteen trials; most of the trials were about Bee Venom acupuncture, and most of the trials used about five acupuncture points, mainly local acupuncture points. But, the amount of injection to each point and total injection were various. And most of trials were lack in the information about method of stimulation. The adjusted FEAS score ranged from 0 to 12, and modified Jadad scoreranged from 1 to 5. Conclusions: To standardize pharmacopuncture treatment, we need more well-designed, high quality clinical trials. And methodological assessment tools designed for pharmacopuncture treatment are also needed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.420-430
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• 2013

Purpose: The aim of this study was to review the literature to determine whether intensive pelvic floor muscle training during pregnancy and after delivery could prevent urinary and fecal incontinence. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCT) of low-risk obstetric populations who had done Kegel exercise during pregnancy and after delivery met the inclusion criteria. Articles published between 1966 and 2012 from periodicals indexed in Ovid Medline, Embase, Scopus, KoreaMed, NDSL and other databases were selected, using the following keywords: 'Kegel, pelvic floor exercise'. The Cochrane's Risk of Bias was applied to assess the internal validity of the RCT. Fourteen selected studies were analyzed by meta-analysis using RevMan 5.1. Results: Fourteen RCTs with high methodological quality, involving 6,454 women were included. They indicated that Kegel exercise significantly reduced the development of urinary and fecal incontinence from pregnancy to postpartum. Also, there was low clinical heterogeneity. Conclusion: There is some evidence that for antenatal and postnatal women, Kegel exercise can prevent urinary and fecal incontinence. Therefore, a priority task is to develop standardized Kegel exercise programs for Korean pregnant and postpartum women and make efficient use of these programs.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.8-36
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• 2017

Objectives : The aim of this study is to review the methodology of clinical trials conducted with the acupuncture and moxibustion treatment on functional dyspepsia. Methods : We searched four international databases and three Korean databases including English, Korean and Chinese, through March 2016 for randomized controlled trials(RCT) and non-randomized case-control trials(CCT) that evaluated the effects of the acupuncture and moxibustion on functional dyspepsia. We abstracted the designs of the trials and the method of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment according to the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture. Results : A total 117 papers were reviewed. The 106 studies were conducted in China. There were 111 RCTs(95%), and 6 CCTs(5%). Sixty eight studies(59%) were conducted with the manual acupuncture, 29 studies of electro-acupuncture(25%), 11 studies of moxibustion(9%), 5 studies of acupoints embedding therapy(4%), 4 studies of acupoint injection therapy(3%) were conducted. ST36, CV12, ST25 were most frequently used for acupoints to treat functional dyspepsia. In 59 studies(50%), western medication was used in the control group, and the effects of acupuncture and moxibustion were evaluated with the symptoms in most studies. Conclusions : These results suggest that it is necessary to develop more detailed reporting standards about acupuncture and moxibustion treatment method as the method of acupuncture and moxibustion is getting more diverse, and more objective tools are needed in evaluating functional dyspepsia.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.114-125
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• 2020

Objectives : The aim of this study is to review the topical anesthetic effect of herbal medicine. Methods : Using domestic database(OASIS, RISS) and foreign database(Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane library, CNKI), clinical studies about efficacy of herbal medicine as topical anesthetics were searched. Only randomized controlled trials(RCT) were selected and analyzed. Results : Total 647 studies were searched. After screening process, 5 articles were selected. 2 were from Chinese database and 3 were from English database. Articles were about clinical use of herbal medicine as topical anesthetics and compare their efficacy with conventional topical anesthetics. Out of 5 articles, 4 articles used pain rating scales recorded by subjects as outcome measurement. All studies showed lower pain score in herbal medicine using groups. 4 studies showed that there was no statistically significant difference in pain score between herbal medicine using group and conventional topical anesthetics using group. Conclusions : The results suggest that topical anesthetics using herbal medicine is as effective as or maybe even more effective than conventional topical anesthetics. However, experimental design and composition of intervention were all different, which provides inaccuracy when comparing the experimental results. Also, sample sizes were small and the number of RCTs were insufficient to identify full list of herbs that have potentials to be used topical anesthetics. Further studies need to be conducted to find out potentials of herbal medicine as topical anesthetics.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.8-20
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• 2015

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of pharmacopuncture in the treatment of acute peripheral facial paralysis (APFP) through a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to assess the clinical evidence for pharmacopuncture as a treatment for PFP. Methods: Literature was searched using databases. The search terms used were "pharmacopuncture," "sweet BV," "apipuncture," "apitoxin," "injection acupuncture," and "herbal acupuncture" in English and "bongchim," "bongyakchim," and "yakchim" in Korean. The RevMan 5.2 program was used for meta-analysis. Results: In all, 1902 studies were screened and the full texts of 219 articles were reviewed. Of these, nine studies were included in the systematic review and nine studies were included in the meta-analysis. Treatments utilizing bee venom, sweet bee venom (SBV), Soyeom, Calculus Bovis Fel Ursi Moschus (BUM), Hominis Placenta, and Suseunghwagang (SSHG) were observed in nine RCTs. In the forest plot, the diamond favors the PA treatment against the control treatment. (95% CI: 0.34 [0.08, 0.60], Z = 2.57, P = 0.01), which Our meta-analysis in RevMan 5.2 confirmed the significant efficacy of PA in treating APFP. Conclusion: Our systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that treatments using Soyeom, bee venom, and BUM are effective in APFP and they reduce the duration of postauricular pain occurring at the acute stage of APFP. However, due to small effect size, further investigation is needed.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

Purpose: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a leading cause of death with a prevalence rate of 12.4% in South Korea. Self-management is crucial for patients with DM, because many studies have reported that self-management intervention based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) is effective. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current state of HBM based intervention studies and the components and effects of the theories used in the study for diabetes patients. Methods: A systematic review was conducted using the Pubmed, Cochrane Library and Embase databases from January 2009 to May 2019. We reviewed characteristics of intervention based on the HBM in randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs), quasi-experimental study intervention. Results: Eight studies published in English between 2009 and 2019 were included in this review. The key components of the health behavior promotion program applied to the DM patients were perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and self-efficacy. The intervention based on these components has reported to significantly increase the health behavior change, likelihood of taking health action and improve physiological indicators (HbA1c, and fasting blood sugar etc.). Conclusion: This study highlighted the importance of intervention programs based on the HBM for DM patients.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.11-21
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• 2016

Objectives : To determine the effectiveness of Chuna manual therapy for neck pain Methods : We searched 7 electronic databases(OASIS, NDSL, Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-EMBASE, Cochrane library, AMED, CNKI) to find all Randomized controlled trials that used Chuna manual therapy as a treatment for neck pain. The methodological quality of each RCT was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results : 7 RCTs met our inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis of 7 studies showed favorable results for the use of Chuna manual therapy. High risk of bias were observed for performance bias and detection bias. Conclusions : Our systematic review found favorable results using Chuna manual therapy for neck pain. But there are several limitations in our study due to lack of well-designed RCT. To obtain stronger evidence, further clinical trials would be needed.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.69-79
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• 2021

Objectives : In clinical practice, there are many cases of co-administration of herbal medicine and synthetic drugs. This study tried to identify whether the combined administration of herbal medicine and synthetic drugs including amoxicillin increases Helcicobacter pylori eradication rate compared to the single administration of synthetic drugs or the combined administration of synthetic drugs and placebo herbal medicine through systematic review. Methods : Relevant randomized controlled trials were searched in PubMED database. The risk of biases was assessed through the Cochrane Risk of Bias criteria. Three reviewers were extracted the characteristics and outcomes of each study. Meta-analysis of eradication rate and adverse event was conducted. Results : Four RCTs were selected. In meta-analysis, the combination of herbal medicine and synthetic drugs showed eradication effect, but it was not statistically significant (Odds Ratio [OR] 0.46; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.17 to 1.24; p=0.13; I²=56%) than administration of synthetic medicine alone. Combination of herbal medicine and synthetic medicine did not increased the incidence of adverse event(OR 1.07; 95% CI 0.72 to 1.59; p=0.68, I²=0%) compared to single administration of synthetic medicine. Conclusion : Although no significant difference was observed between the two groups in the eradication rate and the incidence rate of adverse events, it was difficult to draw a clear conclusion due to the heterogeneity between studies and the low quality of reporting. A number of studies that have overcome these limitations in the future will lead to definite conclusions.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.207-217
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• 2021

Objectives: The objective of this study was to perform a scoping review to describe clinical study trends on Qigong in order to identify further directions of Qigong in Korean medicine. Methods: Under the Arksey and O'Malley methodological framework, PubMed was searched to identify articles published from January 1, 2019 to June 28, 2021. A total of 224 articles were retrieved. Results were systematically filtered by two independent reviewers based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. Publication information, disease, intervention and research results of a total of 153 articles were extracted and analyzed. Results: Asia had the largest number of Qigong studies (82 studies, 65%). Most research studies were conducted in the academic field of Medicine (n=109, 86.5%), including Complementary and Alternative Medicine (n=35), Medicine (miscellaneous) (n=15), and Oncology (n=15). Based on ICD-10 classification, Mental and Behavioral Disorder (n=25, 19.8%) was the most frequently analyzed decease, followed by Neoplasm (n=24) and Disease of the Nervous system (n=12). Almost half of all studies were Systematic Reviews. RCTs only accounted for 25.4%. Interventions were very diverse and inconsistent. Sixty (47.6%) studies analyzed Qigong as a single intervention. In 66 cases, Qigong was analyzed as part of a large category such as Mind-Body intervention. Most studies designed a Donggong (動功) program. The age of the population was relatively high as 47.1% of all studies were conducted on middle aged or older adults. Conclusions: These findings suggest that further standardized research on Qigong, especially Junggong (靜功), needs to be conducted by developing research protocols and practice programs to verify effects of Qigong and utilize Qigong as a medical intervention in Korean Medicine.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2021

Objective: The aim of this review is to analyze the studies using syndrome differentiation questionnaire in cancer patients. Methods: We searched electronic databases including Pubmed, google scholar, Cochrane library, CNKI, KISS, RISS and OASIS. Key words used for searching were cancer, Korean medicine, pattern identification, and questionnaire. Studies using a symptom differentiation questionnaire to cancer patients were selected. Results: 35 studies were enrolled. A total of 17 questionnaires was used. Most of the types of included studies were observational studies, followed by randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and validation studies. The purposes of using questionnaires were rrelation analysis, outcome measurement, evaluating adverse events, subgroup analysis, and questionnaire development. The most used questionnaire was Body Constitution Questionnaire (BCQ), and it was used 8 times, Questionnaire for the Sasang Constitution Classification II (QSCC II) was used 5 times, Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ), TCM-Symptom Complex Differentiation Questionnaire (TCM-SCDQ), Yin Deficiency Questionnaire were used 4 times, and Qi Blood Yin Yang Deficiency Questionnaire was used twice. BCQ is a questionnaire diagnosing and evaluating yang deficiency, yin deficiency, and blood stasis. It has high reliability, validity, and optimal cut-off value. Conclusion: BCQ is the most used syndrome differentiation questionnaire in cancer-related studies. So, BCQ could be recommended in syndrome differentiation-related cancer studies.