• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.23-32
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• 2010

Background : There has been increased global interest in traditional medicine. Ayurveda and Korean medicines are most world-widely spread as Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM). Objectives : This review gives an overview of basic principles and commonalities of Ayurveda, Tibetan and Korean medicine. Method : I have summarized the results of the research into the following categories: basic theoies, history, physiology and pathogenesis. Result : 1. Ayurveda is the medical science that grasps individual constitution through Tridosha, a combination of five primary elements(space, wind, fire, water, and earth), and systematically explains physiological and pathological phenomena which reveal according to the constitution. 2. The theoretical basis forming the Tibetan Medicine is the substance of phlegm, bile, and wind each of which is divided into five kinds. These physiological substances can be transformed into pathological factors when certain environment is formed. 3. Ayurveda, Tibetan and Korean medicine, three main axes of the traditional medicine arouse western medical researchers' interest by their peculiar views of the disease and the system of their medical theories. And they are expected to render services to human health. Conclusions : We can expect the potential of the approaching between Ayurveda, Tibetan and Korean medicine.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze clinical studies on effectiveness of herbal medicine in refractory nephrotic syndrome (RNS). Methods We searched the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with herbal medicine treatment on RNS from the Pubmed, CNKI, OASIS, NDSL, J-stage, and CiNii. The demographic data, duration of illness, intervention, treatment period, outcome, adverse events, and composition of herbal medicine were analyzed for this study. Results 11 RCT studies were selected and analyzed. The children in the control group were given western medicine therapy, and the treatment group was given herbal medicine along with the same western medicine of the control group. The most commonly used herbal medicines were the prescriptions to treat 'Kidney Deficiency with Blood Stasis (腎虛兼瘀血)' which composed of 'Promoting blood circulation (化瘀)', 'Diuresis-inducing (利水)', or 'Heating Yang (溫陽)' medicine based on 'Replenishing Kidney or Spleen (補腎, 補脾)' medicine. In the treatment group, proteinuria and serum lipid was significantly decreased, serum albumin was significantly increased, and total effective rate was significantly higher than the control group. Hypercoagulation and relapse rate was also significantly reduced. Adverse events were significantly lower in the treatment group. Conclusions Herbal medicine treatment on pediatric RNS can be suggested as a new treatment for children who have less response to the conventional therapy. It can also supplement the limitations of the western medicine by reducing adverse events from the steroids and immuno-suppressive agents, and lower the relapse rate as well.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.131-139
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• 2019

Introduction: Mastalgia is the most common benign breast disorder during the fertility period of women. So far a wide range of natural or complementary medicines is used to cure mastalgia. Sanitary organizations need complete and suitable details to help women, for making the proper decision for alternative treatment based on the evidence. The aim of the present study is to introduce medicinal plant-based treatments about mastalgia and summarizes clinical trials about this disorder. Method: The articles were provided using mixture of keywords including cyclic pain, breast, treatment, therapeutics, therapy, clinical trial, herbal, drug, mastalgia and all the probable terms, in national and international databases SID, Iran Medex, Magiran, PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Science direct and Cochrane library, in both Persian and English languages. All cross-sectional and review articles about herbal treatment of mastalgia until 2018 November were studied. Results: Nineteen articles from all of the available articles (45 cases) and a sample size about of (1987 cases) were included in our study. The articles were clinical trials. The results revealed that mastalgia could be healed by Nigella sativa, Vitex agnus-castus, curcumin, Hypericum perforatum, Citrus sinensis, wheat germ, and Ginkgo biloba. Conclusion: Most of the evaluated medicinal plants possessing antioxidant compounds with anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, exhibited healing effects in the treatment of mastalgia. Thus, medicinal plants can be considered in the treatment of mastalgia; however, further investigations are needed to obtain more details about their probable side effects.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.165-175
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• 2021

Background: Many herbal medications have been used to treat various liver diseases. But the concerns of herbal medicine induced liver injury also existed. In this respect, we would like to report several cases with imporved elevated liver aminotransferase after treating herbal medicine including Artemisia capillaris. Case Reports: We report four patients with elevated aminotransferase levels (ATLs), which indicate hepatocellular damages. After receiving herbal medicines therapy containing Artemisia capillaris as principal component (HMA), the patients' ATLs were improved. In the first case, the patient's ATLs decreased into normal range after administration of HMA, although they have not been improved with hepatotonics for a long period. In the second case, the patient's ATLs have been elevated after taking anticoagulants. The ATLs were improved with HMA without stopping anticoagulants. In the other two cases, the patients' ATLs were also improved after taking HMA. In addition, there were no changes of previous drugs for treating the corresponding underlying diseases and no adverse events during HMA applications. Result and Conclusion: The four patients received the herbal medicine containing Artemisia capillaris as principal component and showed improvement of ATLs. These cases suggest that HMA can be considered as alternative or complementary remedies to improve various liver diseases.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.57-74
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• 2020

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze clinical studies on the efficacy and safety of herbal medicine in vitiligo by analyzing randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods Three electronic databases including the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane library were used to search for randomized controlled trials, by using specific key words and criteria up to January 4^th, 2020. Data in regards to years of publication, nation, demographic information, disease characteristics, duration of diseases, treatment methods, treatment period, outcome measures, results and adverse events were collected for this study. Results A total of 11 randomized controlled trials were selected and analyzed. The total effective rate of the treatment group treated with herbal medicine was significantly higher than that of the control group. In the other outcome measures, the treatment group also showed statistically significant differences in improving the outcome measures compared to the control group, or showed similar treatment effects to the control group. The most commonly used herbal medicines were Carthami Flos (紅花), Angelicae Gigantis Radix (當歸), Angelica dahurica Bentham et Hooker f. (白芷), Astragali Radix (黃芪), Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (甘草), Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix (丹參), Persicae Semen (桃仁), Araliae Continentalis Radix (獨活), Tribuli Fructus (白蒺藜), Psoraleae Semen (補骨脂) etc. Hardly any severe adverse events were reported from the trials selected. Conclusions Based on the results of the clinical studies, herbal medicine treatment could be an effective and safe option for vitiligo treatment and symptom improvement.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.143-146
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• 2011

Some of men have been suffered from the insufficient secretion of testosterone causing by physical factors, social and psychological factors. Testosterone is an essential steroid hormone controlling male reproductive function. Alternative medicines in plants, fungi, and insects have been studied to enhance sexuality. $Cordyceps$ species including $Cordyceps$ $sinensis$ (CS) and $C.$ $militaris$(CM) has been used as for the enhancement of sexual functionfor hundreds of years in Far East Asian. In the present study, we determined the effect of fruiting bodies of $C.$ $militaris$ which cultured on bee drone medium (CMD) and brown rice medium (CMB) on testosterone concentration in Sprague-Dawley rats. Eighteen rats per group were housed to regular diet or diet supplemented with CMB and CDD, respectively for 4 weeks. Serum was collected from 6 rats per group. Results showed that changes of the body weight, food and water intake of the rats were not observed in this study. However, both CMB and CDD increased the serum testosterone concentration in rats. Furthermore, CMD significantly stimulated testosterone production (p <0.05) compared to the control. Hence, it suggests that $C.$ $militaris$ fruiting bodymight be developed as a complementary medicine to improve sexual hormones.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9655-9660
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• 2014

Background: Nigella Sativa (NS) is an herb from the Ranunculaceae family that exhibits numerous medicinal properties and has been used as important constituent of many complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs). The ability of NS to kill cancer cells such as PC3, HeLa and hepatoma cells is well established. However, our understanding of the mode of death caused by NS remains nebulous. The objective of this study was to gain further insight into the mode and mechanism of death caused by NS in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Materials and Methods: Human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) were treated with a methanolic extract of NS, and a dose- and time-dependent study was performed. The $IC_{50}$ was calculated using a Cell Titer $Blue^{(R)}$ viability assay assay, and evidence for DNA fragmentation was obtained by fluorescence microscopy TUNEL assay. Gene expression was also profiled for a number of apoptosis-related genes (Caspase-3, -8, -9 and p53 genes) through qPCR. Results: The $IC_{50}$ of MCF-7 cells was $62.8{\mu}L/mL$. When MCF-7 cells were exposed to $50{\mu}L/mL$ and $100{\mu}L/mL$ NS for 24h, 48h and 72h, microscopic examination (TUNEL assay) revealed a dose- and time-dependent increase in apoptosis. Similarly, the expression of the Caspase-3, -8, -9 and p53 genes increased significantly according to the dose and time. Conclusions: NS induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells through both the p53 and caspase pathways. NS could potentially represent an alternative source of medicine for breast cancer therapy.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.83-95
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• 2005

Arriving in the '90s, the worldwide trend of longing for naturalism and popularity of complementary and alternative medicine in America has caused traditional Oriental Medicine and medicinal plants markets to develop rapidly. And China has been pursuing the globalization policy of Chinese medicine by the initiation of the society of traditional Chinese medicine. Under this situation, it is a time for us to think about in a serious manner whether existing organization and system of Oriental medicine and the department of Oriental medicine at the schools in Korea reflects reality or whether we should turn it to some different direction. The purpose of this research is to compare the educational systems in relation to the traditional medicine between Korea and China, and to seek and look into its implication, and also to make a contribution to further developments and changes of direction for Oriental medicine education in Korea. 1. I investigated carefully the educational system of the colleges of traditional Chinese medicine, and results from this survey revealed that the academic institutions for the medicinal training in China consists of varied systems, such as 7-year program for medicinal training linking with master degree course, 6-year program, 5-year program (more than 90%), 4-year program, and so on, so then China has been raising the specialists in their traditional medicine arena through those varied academic programs. Such an educational system as the department of Chinese medicine in order to educate and produce specialists or pharmacists specializing in traditional Chinese medicine is operated only by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in terms of 7-year academic program for medicinal major that linked with master degree course, and the rest of schools run 5-year program or 4-year program (more than 90%). And other human resources required for cultivation of medicinal plants and manufacturing herbal medicines are mostly trained at 3-year course colleges or 2-year course vocational schools. 2. In connection with traditional Chinese medicine, there are a variety of departments in the schools in China other than Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology: i.e. Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Tuina, Preclinical Medicine, Pharmaceuticals, Materials of Medicine, Phrenology and Law, Languages and Literature, etc. Therefore, these programs constitute multi academic system and also an appropriate educational base that fits in varied needs of market. Particularly, the university having 7-year program emphasize, English proficiency so that it can be considered that this academic program is a specialized course in order to achieve globalization of Chinese medicine. 3. In Korea, there are only 11 Oriental medicine schools with 6-year program which have been established by the private foundations and 3 departments of Oriental medicine at 4-year university. Therefore, we need to establish varied departments related to branches of our traditional medicine like China. 4. It is necessary to establish varied new departments related to Oriental Medicine that will be able to take a professional role in the course of pursuing the strategic goals such as scientification, globalization, standardization of Oriental Medicine, also that will meet needs of the world alternative and complementary medicine and herbal medicine markets. In order to achieve such strategic goals, we need to organize an academic system that will be different from existing systems and programs, also we are required to research further on the educational and training programs.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.224-232
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• 2008

The health benefits associated with tea consumption have resulted in the wide inclusion of green tea extracts in botanical dietary supplements, which are widely consumed as adjuvants for complementary and alternative medicines. Tea contains polyphenols such as catechins or flavan-3-ols including (-)-epicatechin (EC), (-)-epigallocatechin (EGC), (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG), and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), as well as the alkaloid, caffeine. The contents of catechins and caffeine in green tea are considered as a standard of quality evaluation of green tea. Therefor, the purpose of this study was to investigate the most suitable HPLC condition for simultaneous determination of catechins and caffeine in green tea extracts. The efficient HPLC analytical condition of catechins and caffeine contained green tea extracts was developed. The gradient elution employed a $250\;mm\;{\times}\;4.6\;mm$ i.d. YMC-pak ODS-AM 303 column. The gradient system was used two mobile phases. A gradient elution was performed with mobile phase A, consisting of 0.1% aqueous phosphoric acid, and mobile phase B, comprising 100% MeOH, and delivered at a flow rate of 1 mL/min as follows: $0{\sim}25\;min$, 80% A; $26{\sim}50\;min$, $80{\sim}70%$ A; 51 min, 80% A. $51{\sim}55\;min$, 80% A. The UV detection wavelength was set at 280 nm. The limit of detection (LOD) for catechins and caffeine standards were under 50 ng/mL.

• 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.