• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.437-446
• /
• 2021

Background: Non-invasive painless signaling therapy (NPST) is an electro-cutaneous treatment that converts endogenous pain information into synthetic non-pain information. This study explored whether pain improvement by NPST in failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) patients is related to cerebral modulation. Methods: Electroencephalography (EEG) analysis was performed in 11 patients with FBSS. Subjects received daily NPST for 5 days. Before the first treatment, patients completed the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and Beck Depression Inventory and underwent baseline EEG. After the final treatment, they responded again to the BPI, reported the percent pain improvement (PPI), and then underwent post-treatment EEG. If the PPI grade was zero, they were assigned to the ineffective group, while all others were assigned to the effective group. We used standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) to explore the EEG current-source distribution (CSD) associated with pain improvement by NPST. Results: The 11 participants had a median age of 67.0 years, and 63.6% were female. The sLORETA images revealed a beta-2 CSD increment in 12 voxels of the right anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) and the right medial frontal area. The point of maximal CSD changes was in the right ACG. The alpha band CSD increased in 2 voxels of the left transverse gyrus. Conclusions: Pain improvement by NPST in FBSS patients was associated with increased cerebral activity, mainly in the right ACG. The change in afferent information induced by NPST seems to be associated with cerebral pain perception.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.179-186
• /
• 2006

Background : Recently the demand was increasing on the data describing treatment rates and the outcome of Androgenetic Alopecia using Oriental Medicine. Thus this study was designed to observe androgenetic Alopecia treatment using Oriental Medicine including acupuncture and herb because there has been no such statistics. Objectives : Our purpose was determine whether oriental medicine treatment leads to clinical improvement in men with androgenetic alopecia. Methods : Eighty two Men, 17 to 53 years of age, with male pattern hair loss according to a modified Norwood/Hamilton classification scale(II to VI) were enrolled in this study. Patients were treated with multidisciplinary Korean oriental medicine treatment (herbal acupuncture, acupuncture, herb, chuna therapy) at twice a week for 6 months to 12 months. Efficacy was evaluated by patient and investigator assessment, and global photographic review. Results : Oriental medicine treatment improved scalp hair by all evaluation. Patient self assessment demonstrated that Oriental medicine treatment slowed hair loss, increased hair growth, and improvement appearance of hair. These improvements were corroborated by investigator assessments and assessments of photographs. Conclusion : Oriental medicine treatment has significant effects on the androgenetic alopecia. Longer follow up studies are needed to examine whether its effects last long enough for the patients with androgenetic alopecia.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.69-73
• /
• 2006

Objective : The purpose of this study is to estimate the effects of spiral taping treatment on temporomandibular disorder. Methods : 22 temporomandibular disorder patients were treated with spiral taping, and no other treatments such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, herbal acupuncture, and chiropractic therapy were added. We evaluated the improvement by temporomandibular pain and mouth opening range. Results : 11 patients felt no pain or inconvenience of daily life and 4 patients showed improvement of pain or symptom after 1 month of spiral taping theraphy. 3 patients had normal opening size of mouth and convenience of daily life, and 2 patient showed improvement of opening size of mouth as 35mm-40mm after 1 month of spiral taping theraphy. Conclusion : These results suggest spiral taping treatments contribute to the improvement of temporomandibular disorders. Further study is needed for the confirmation of this effect of spiral taping treatments on temporomandibular disorders.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.609-614
• /
• 2014

Researcher of this study improved conventional circle secondary settling basin, through the way such as extend of inlet pipe length, introduction of device for inducting uniforming of flow, keeping of height of sludge interface. Also, we compared conventional circle settling basin to improved circle settling basin the water treatment efficiency. Result of research, when SVI is average 117, improvement rate of SS and BOD were 51.0%, 37.0% approximately compared to conventional settling basin. And when SVI is average 178, improvement rate of SS and BOD were 22.7%, 36.0% approximately. Also when SVI is average 196, improvement rate of SS and BOD were 24.7%, 30.3% approximately. When it's winter, improvement rate of SS, BOD, COD, TN and TP were 20.6%, 17.9%, 13.9%, 13.5%, 12.4% approximately. Therefore, we can be the judge, this improved settling basin can be used as the final settling basin in the waste water treatment plant.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.190-199
• /
• 2000

We had studied the relationship between the difference of average temperature of Meridian points of left and right face taken by DITI on 1st hospital day and the improvement degree of facial mucles on the patients of Bell's palsy after 10 days treatment. The clinical data and thermographic imaging were analyzed on the 42 cases of Bell's palsy who were treated in the Chunju Oriental Medicine Hospital of Wonkwang University from May to November 1999, and we selected 29 cases within 10 day-onset and the following results were obtained. 1. Assuming the difference of the muscle scores' sums very attending day from after 10 days treatment is improvement degree, and presuming the improvement degree is y, and the mean difference of average temperature between normal and abnormal facial side is x, we can infer the equation of the first degree as following [ y = 2.62 + 2.16 x ]. 2. This means that the higher temperature of nerve falsy side than normal side, the better consequence of treatment we can obtain.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.55-64
• /
• 2008

In this study, the management and improvement of public small-scale sewage treatment facilities was investigated. In order to improve the effective management of the operation of small-scale sewage treatment facilities, treatment methods and the problems associated with sewage treatment were carefully addressed based on the data and literature. The investigation results showed that sewer pipes in rural areas should be repaired to prevent sewage from leaking and small-scale operations should be required to have effective management for pollutant loads less than 50%. Also, new methods should be developed for low concentrations of sewage. A law associated with FRP treatment facilities should be established and local governments need to supervise these operations to avoid insufficient and faulty construction. It is recommended that new facilities are built with advanced treatment techniques when the old facility can not comply with nitrogen and phosphorous discharge limits. Moreover, the study shows that nutrient and coliform treatment efficiency improves when abandoned facilities are renovated with the installation of nitrification/denitrification and disinfection processes or another advanced process.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.35-44
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of heat therapy, stretching exercise and to verify which method was most effective for lumbar flexibility improvement. Subjects were 20 apparantly healthy person(male10, female10) who did not have any medical problem. They were randomly divided and assigned into 2 groups: heat therapy, stretching exercise. For testing flexibility, trunk flexion, bunk extension, and Schober-test were performed. Pre-test was done prior to the each group's treatment. Test was done at 2nd week, 4th week and 6th week. There were no significant difference in improvement of trunk flexion and trunk extension after 6 weeks treatment among 2 methods. However in all 2 groups, there were statically significant improvement in flexibility as time go on. The rate of improvement was highest at 2nd week, while this was attenuated afterwards. The Schober-test score changed significantly from pre-test to the mid-test and to the post-test, while there were no significant difference among 2 methods of treatment. With the results above, it was concluded that heat therapy, stretching-exercise were all effective for improving flexibility without any significant priorities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.44-50
• /
• 2007

Background and Objectives: The 585-nm pulsed dye laser (PDL) has recently been adopted by otolaryngologists because of its epithelial-sparing properties. Many authors have reported the use of PDL for treatment of various vocal cord lesions. This purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of 585-nm PDL in the treatment of vocal polyp. Materials and Methods: Eight patients with vocal polyp were treated with 585-nm PDL from Sep. 2006 to Nov. 2006 in Yong-dong Sevrance hospital. 5 of them went through local anesthesia and 3 of them went through general anesthesia. In order to control laser fiber, flexible digital transnasal laryngoscope was applied under local anesthesia and general anesthesia using LMA, and micromanipulator was used under general anesthesia using endotracheal tube. The evaluations of vocal function was done at pre-and postoperation. Results: All patients improved in the perceptual evaluation of voice after PDL surgery. The aerodynamic study revealed that 5 of 8 patients showed improvement in maximal phonation time, and 6 of 8 showed improvement in mean airflow rate during phonation. The acoustic analysis revealed that all patients showed improvement in Jitter and Shimmer, and 7 of 8 showed improvement in noise to harmony ratio. Conclusion: This study demonstrates promising results in the efficacy of 585-nm PDL for the treatment of vocal polyps, and it illustrates a new option for vocal polyp treatment as well as the advantage of PDL surgery.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.123-127
• /
• 2017

Background and Objectives : Contact granuloma is granulation tissue that occurs mainly in the vocal process of arytenoid cartilage. Among several etiological factors, gastric acid reflux is known to be an important cause. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical characteristics of contact granuloma and analyze the effectiveness of proton pump inhibitor in the treatment of contact granuloma. Materials and Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 40 patients who were treated with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) for contact granuloma from January 2011 to December 2015. Reflux finding score (RFS), reflux symptom index (RSI) and size of granuloma were evaluated before and after treatment serially to assess the effectiveness of proton pump inhibitor. Results : Of 40 patients, 25 patients (62.5%) and 10 patients (25%) showed improvement and partial improvement of granuloma, respectively. Five patients showed no response. The mean times of partial improvement and improvement were $2.08{\pm}2.23$ months and $4.60{\pm}2.77$ months, respectively and mean duration of PPI treatment was $6.8{\pm}5.2$ months. Conclusion : Proton pump inhibitors is effective in the treatment of contact granuloma.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.284-294
• /
• 2012

Objectives: The anterior open bite with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) is one of the most challenging cases both orthodontically and surgically. We introduce an intermaxillary traction treatment for patients with anterior open bite and TMD using a skeletal anchorage system (SAS). Materials and Methods: This study was comprised of 52 patients with anterior open bite and TMD. A total of four mini-screws were inserted, two screws each into the maxilla and mandible, to obtain a class II pattern of elastic application with 120-200 g force. Adjunctive muscle relaxation treatments, such as splint therapy, medication, and botulinum toxin injection were applied during or before intermaxillary traction. At least one treatment among adjunctive muscle relaxation treatment, mentioned above, was applied to 96.2% of patients. We evaluated the clinical characteristics of patients, TMD symptom changes, amount of open bite improved. The degree of open bite improvement was compared between the open bite-reduced group (21 patients) and not-reduced group (5 patients). Results: TMD symptoms (muscle/joint pain, joint sound, mouth opening) remained or improved in most patients, and worsened in about 10% of patients for each items. Anterior open bite was improved by a mean of 1.75 mm (P<0.01) during treatment. The open bite-reduced group exhibited a significant open bite improvement compared to the not-reduced group (P<0.05), with 37% of open bite improvement occurring during the first 3 months of treatment. Conclusion: The intermaxillary traction technique using SAS is a valid modality for correction of anterior open bite and improvement of TMD symptoms.