• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.33-42
• /
• 2001

Objective : To evaluate the effect of treatment for Rheumatoid arthritis by using Bee-venom Acupuncture that is well known for anti-inflammatory effect and function of activating immune system. Methods : Evaluated the result of Bee-venom Acupuncture treatment twice in a week for patients who diagnosised as rheumatoid arthritis by 7 criteria of US Rheumatism Academy. Results : 1. If you see the distribution chart, sexual rate of male and female was 1:2.75 and age distribution shows as age ascend it shows high. 2. If you see the duration distribution, it shows chronic tendency in order of more than 6 months (59.5%), 2 to 5 months, and 1 month. 3. If you see the invaded region distribution, it shows chronic tendency in order of finger(17 cases), wrist joint(16 cases), knee joint(16 cases), ankle joint(10 cases), elbow joint(8 cases), shoulder joint(7 cases), feet(7 cases), hip joint(5 cases), low back(3 cases) and neck(2 cases). 4. If you see the result of duration distribution treatment, the improvement index is rising in order of within a month, 2 to 5 months, and over 6 months. So it shows that it has good result of treatment within a month. 5. If you see the invaded region, it shows high improvement index in order of low back, hop joint, shoulder joint, wrist joint, feet, knee joint, finger, elbow joint, ankle joint and neck. 6. If you see the result of morning stiffness time before treatment, it shows good effect of treatment in order of 2-3hrs, 30min.-an hr, an hr to 2hrs, and 0-30min. 7. If you see the patients satisfaction after Bee-venom Acupuncture treatment, Excellent is 6 cases, Good is 7 cases, and Moderate 2 cases. Conclusions : It will have greater treatment effect if herbal medicine, moxibustion, and acupuncture are used together as patients whole body condition and symptoms with Bee-venom Acupuncture for rheumatoid arthritis that is chronic inflammatory disease.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.15-20
• /
• 2016

Essential tremor is a neurological disorder with a tremor of the arms and hands. It is well known that essential tremor is characterized by the postural tremor and the action tremor. There has been no report on the quantitative difference in the characteristics of two tremor types. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible difference in tremor characteristics of postural and action tremors. Seventeen patients with essential tremor ($68.9{\pm}7.9years$, 7 men, 10 women) participated in this study. Patients performed the tasks of postural maintenance (arms outstretched) and daily actions (spiral drawing). Three-axes (pitch, roll and yaw) gyro sensors were attached on index finger, back of hand and forearm, from which the segment and the joint angular velocities were calculated. Outcome measure was the tremor amplitude defined as the root-mean-square mean of the vector-sum angular velocity at segments and joints. Two-way ANOVA showed that task and joint had main factor on the tremor amplitude (p < 0.05). Post-hoc analysis revealed that tremor amplitude at the metacarpo-phalangeal joint was not affected by task (p > 0.05). However, tremor amplitude at the wrist joint differed among the tasks (p < 0.05), and it was greater in the action tasks than in postural task. Tremor was greater at finger segments than at hand and forearm and it increased in action tasks. The results of this study would be helpful for the understanding and task-specific treatments of the essential tremor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.32 no.10
• /
• pp.865-871
• /
• 2015

This study was conducted in order to develop a finger exoskeleton system using ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) as the actuator and sensor in a hybrid structure. To use the IPMC as an actuator producing large force, a first order transfer function was obtained using results from a block force for DC excitation that applied to two IPMCs of 20mm-width, 50mm-length, and 2.4mm thickness together. After which the validation of 200gf control with anti-windup PI controller was confirmed. A 5mm-width, 50mm-length, 0.6mm-thickness of IPMC was also modeled as a sensor for tip displacement. As a result, the IPMC sensor could been utilized as a trigger role for the actuator. Finally, an IPMC sensor and actuator were installed on the joint of a single DOF exoskeleton in the hybrid structure, and test for the control of 40gf of block force and predefined sequence of motion was performed.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.95-99
• /
• 1996

The bending and compression strength properties of two types Rhus verniciflua specimens, which made of no heat-treated wood and heat-treated wood for urushiol extraction, were measured. The heat-treated specimens were finger-jointed with either resorcinol-phenol or polyurethane resin adhesives, and the vertical type bending strength property was also measured in these specimens. The results obtained are as follows ; 1. The correlation coefficient between the compression strength and specific gravity in the specimens of no heat-treated and heat-treated wood was high. However there was no difference in compression strength property as affected by heat treatment. 2 The correlation coefficient between the bending strength and specific gravity in the specimens of no heat-treated and heat-treated wood was also high. However, there was no difference in bending strength property as affected by heat treatment. 3 The bending test showed high correlation between modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture for the specimens made of no heat-treated and heat-treated wood. However, there was no difference in bending strength property between the specimens made of heat-treated and no heat-treated wood. 4. The efficiencies of bending strength test on the finger-jointed specimens of heat-treated wood with resorcinol-phenol and polyurethane resin adhesives were 0.85, 0.81. respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.862-868
• /
• 2007

The planar motion of the index finger in general human hands is usually implemented by the actuation of three joints. This task requires a technique to determine the joint combination for each fingertip position which is well-known as the inverse kinematics problem in robotics. Especially, it is an essential work for grasping and manipulation tasks by robotic and humanoid fingers. In this paper, an intelligent neural learning scheme for solving such inverse kinematics is presented. Specifically, a multi-layered neural network is utilized for effective inverse kinematics, where a dynamic neural learning algorithm is employed for fast learning. Also, a bio-mimetic feature of general human fingers is incorporated to the learning scheme. The usefulness of the proposed approach is verified by simulations.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.101-108
• /
• 2022

Objectives Most of the acupuncture or dry needling points for trigger finger were limited around the metacarpophalangeal joint, A1 pulley, and flexor muscle tendon. Thus, this study aimed to report a case of a patient with trigger thumb which improved using dry needling on additional muscle points. Methods The author has investigated why additional points are needed including what its accompanying effects are. Dry needling and electro-dry needling have been conducted based on anatomical structure. Moreover, a follow-up observation was performed twice to evaluate if the effects of this treatment have been maintained. Treatment progress was evaluated using a numeric rating scale (NRS) and Quinnell's classification of trigger finger. Results After 28 days of treatment, NRS and Quinnell's trigger grade decreased significantly without adverse effects. The treatment effect has been maintained until follow-up observation. Conclusions Additional points are recommended for the radical treatment of trigger finger.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.49 no.6
• /
• pp.750-754
• /
• 2022

Trigger wrist, characterized by a clicking or snapping sensation around the wrist joint during finger or wrist motion, and bifid or trifid median nerve, which occurs in carpal tunnel syndrome along with anatomical variation of median nerve, are rare conditions. We report the case of a patient with a thickened tendon caused by severe tenosynovitis and flexor tendon subluxation to the hamate hook due to bowing of the flexor retinaculum, thereby resulting in trigger wrist as well as an anatomical median nerve variation (bifid median nerve in the right wrist and trifid median nerve in the left wrist). A 59-year-old housewife visited our hospital with bilateral fingertip numbness, tingling sensation, and aggravated severe night cramping that began 2 months ago. She also complained about trigger wrist during small finger flexion. Based on magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasonography, and nerve conduction study, trifid median nerve and bilateral severe median nerve neuropathy of the wrist were diagnosed; therefore, transverse carpal tunnel release and exploration under wide-awake anesthesia were planned. Intraoperative findings showed trifid and bifid median nerves in left and right wrists, respectively. Additionally, bowing of flexor retinaculum and severe flexor tendon tenosynovitis were observed. Tenosynovitis with thickened flexor sheath resulted in subluxation of the small finger flexor tendon above the hamate hook. After transverse carpal ligament release with antebrachial fascia release and tenosynovectomy, subluxation of the flexor tendon was resolved. At 6 months postoperatively, the tingling and dullness in fingertips also resolved, and no trigger wrist or any other complications were noted.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.100-110
• /
• 1992

For an effective acupuncture treatment, the location of muscles around Sutaeumkyongkun and Suyangmyongkyongkun were researched and they were made contracted. The conclusion is as follows; 1. The contraction of muscles around Sutaeumkyongkun gives appearance of the postures ; free movement of thumb, abduction of extension of wrist, flexion and pronation of elbow, depression and abduction of girdle of superior limb, flexion, internal rotation and horizontal flexion of shoulder joint These postures all together consequently produces the action 'holding something in arms'. 2. The contraction of muscles around Suyangmyongkyongkun gives appearance of the postures; extension of metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joint of index finger extension and abduction of thumb, extension of wrist, extension and supination of elbow, adduction, elevation and upward rotation of girdle of superior limb, extension, abduction, adduction, internal rotation, external rotation, horizontal extension of shoulder joint, flexion and opposite rotation of neck. These postures all together consequently produces the action 'raising arms'.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.374-380
• /
• 2010

This paper proposes a wearable interface for a tendon-driven robotic hand prosthesis. The proposed interface is composed of a dataglove to measure finger and wrist joint angle, and a micro-control board with a wireless RF module. The interface is used for posture control of the robotic hand prosthesis. The measured joint angles by the dataglove are transferred to the main controller via the wireless module. The controller works for directly controlling the joint angle of the hand or for recognizing hand postures using a pattern recognition method such as LDA and k-NN. The recognized hand postures in this study are the paper, the rock, the scissors, the precision grasp, and the tip grasp. In experiments, we show the performances of the wearable interface including the pattern recognition method.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.445-450
• /
• 2009

Fingerprint recognition using a joint transform correlator (JTC) is the most well-known technology among optical fingerprint recognition methods. The JTC method optically compares the reference fingerprint image with the sample fingerprint image then examines match or non-match by acquiring a correlation peak. In contrast to the JTC method, this paper presents a new method to examine fingerprint recognition by producing a computer generated hologram (CGH) of those two fingerprint images and directly comparing them. As a result, we present some parameters to show that fingerprint recognition capability of the CGH direct comparison method is superior to that of the JTC method.