• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.51 no.5
• /
• pp.248-256
• /
• 2018

Objectives: Several studies have investigated the effects of serum uric acid (SUA) levels on chronic kidney disease (CKD), with discrepant results. The effect of SUA levels on CKD development was studied in the Korean rural population. Methods: A total of 9695 participants aged ${\geq}40years$ were recruited from 3 rural communities in Korea between 2005 and 2009. Of those participants, 5577 who participated in the follow-up and did not have cerebrovascular disease, myocardial infarction, cancer, or CKD at baseline were studied. The participants, of whom 2133 were men and 3444 were women, were grouped into 5 categories according to their quintile of SUA levels. An estimated glomerular filtration rate of < $60mL/min/1.73m^2$ at the time of follow-up was considered to indicate newly developed CKD. The effects of SUA levels on CKD development after adjusting for potential confounders were assessed using Cox proportional hazard models. Results: Among the 5577 participants, 9.4 and 11.0% of men and women developed CKD. The hazard ratio (HR) of CKD was higher in the highest quintile of SUA levels than in the third quintile in men (adjusted HR, 1.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 to 2.51) and women (adjusted HR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.14 to 2.15). Furthermore, CKD development was also more common in the lowest quintile of SUA levels than in the third quintile in men (adjusted HR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.15 to 2.90). The effect of SUA was consistent in younger, obese, and hypertensive men. Conclusions: Both high and low SUA levels were risk factors for CKD development in rural Korean men, while only high levels were a risk factor in their women counterparts.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.59-67
• /
• 2021

Objectives: We aimed to compare the external herbal dispensary (EHD) evaluation criteria for pharmacopuncture and the Korea Good Manufacturing Practice (KGMP) sterile medicine standards to contribute to the establishment of quality control criteria for pharmacopuncture. Methods: We obtained the KGMP standards from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the pharmacopuncture certification criteria from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea. The EHD evaluation items were classified into three categories: facilities, quality control, and validation. The evaluation items were compared with the KGMP sterile medicine criteria to determine their conformance with each other, followed by a discussion among the committee of six experts and their consensus to suggest the items to complement the EHD evaluation criteria. Results: Among the KGMP sterile medicine criteria, 44 were related to the management of the facilities, and 32 pharmacopuncture evaluation items corresponded to these KGMP items (66.7%). Fifty-eight KGMP criteria were related to quality management, and 42 pharmacopuncture evaluation items corresponded to these KGMP items (72.4%). Twentyfive KGMP sterile medicine criteria were related to validation, and 11 pharmacopuncture evaluation items corresponded to these KGMP items (44.0%). Sixteen items under the pharmacopuncture EHD criteria corresponded to the KGMP sterile medicine criteria based on the consent of the experts. Among these, 4 were related to facility management, 6 were related to quality control, and 6 were related to validation. Conclusion: For the safety and quality control of pharmacopuncture, there is a need to select the criteria for the mandatory items among the proposed pharmacopuncture-EHD criteria laws and systems to ensure that the pharmacopuncture materials are produced under the pharmacopuncture-EHD in compliance with the relevant requirements. More studies are needed to secure the safety level of pharmacopuncture materials corresponding to that of conventional medicine.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.281-290
• /
• 2018

Background: Lung cancer, the most common malignant disease worldwide, is the predominant cause of cancer deaths, particularly amongst men. Therefore, various researchers have focused on the growth inhibitory effects of medicinal plants used in traditional Korean medicine. This study aimed to investigate the growth inhibitory effects of ethanol extracts of Rubiae radix, Inulae flos, Nelumbinis receptaculum, Astilbe radix, and Lagerstroemia flos on NCI-H1229 cells. Method and Results: The viability of NCI-H1229 cells was evaluated in vitro using an MTS assay. Treatment with the ethanol extracts of the selected medicinal plants at $500{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ reduced NCI-H1229 cell viability and increased apoptotic cell death and caspase-3 activation. In addition, treatment with ethanol extracts of Inulae flos and Astilbe radix increases DNA fragmentation, as measured by the TUNEL assay. Conclusions: These results indicated that ethanol extracts of Rubiae radix, Inulae flos, Nelumbinis receptaculum, Astilbe radix, and Lagerstroemia flos exhibited growth inhibitory effects, inducing apoptotic cell death, DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 activation in NCI-H1229 cells. Therefore, these medicinal plant extracts may be used in the development of natural medicines to inhibit the growth of lung cancers. However, further study is needed to determine the active ingredients of the ethanol extracts from medicinal plants that are reposible for the inhibitory effect on lung cancer cell grwoth.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.136-142
• /
• 2019

Background: Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb has been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of hematuresis and uterine bleeding in Korea. It has been reported to have anti-obesity, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammaotry effect by regulating the inflammatory signaling pathway. However, the preventive effect of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb on gastritis has not been elucidated. Thus, in the present study, we evaluated the effects of the water extract of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb (APW) using HCl/EtOH-induced gastritis rat models. Method and Results: Gastritis was induced in rats by HCl/EtOH administration. The rats in each group were orally administered with two doses of APW (100 and 500 mg/kg). Omeprazole was used as a positive control drug. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) levels in stomach. The treatment with 500 mg/kg APW reduced the gastric ulcer area. The APW treatment prevented a decreased in $PGE_2$ concentration induced by HCl/EtOH in rats. In the micronucleus test, the ratio of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes to polychromatic erythrocytes showed no significant change in the APW-treated group compared with the control group. Conclusions: These results indicate that APW could be used to prevent the gastritis caused by the HCl/EtOH-induced damage to stomach lining. In addition, the APW treatment showed no significant change in results of the micronucleus test. However, further experiments are required to determine how APW influenced the secretion of mucus and gastric acid using the chromosome aberration test and bacterial reverse mutation assay.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.282-289
• /
• 2019

Gastritis is an inflammatory disease involving the stomach and is caused by several factors, including stress, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, liquor, and Helicobacter pylori. In Korea, Leonurus japonicus Houttuyn (LJW) has been used as traditional medicine for vaginal bleeding, hematuria, and bruise. Previous studies have reported that LJW exhibited hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and anti-hyperlipidemic effect. However, the effect of the water extract of LJW on gastritis was not elucidated. Thus, we evaluated the anti-gastric effect and genotoxicity of LJW. LJW effectively prevented the degeneration of surface mucous cells and glandular epithelial cells and vascular congestion induced by HCl/EtOH. Micronucleus assay indicated that the rate of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes/polychromatic erythrocytes was not significantly different compared that of the control. Further experiments are required to determine the role of LJW in the gastric injury process such as cyclooxygenase signaling pathway and the secretion of mucus in the stomach.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.57-62
• /
• 2019

Objective : Gastritis is a major complication of gastrointestinal disease. Lonicera japonica is used in folk medicine to treat different diseases such as exopathogenic wind-heat, epidemic febrile diseases, sores, carbuncles and some infectious diseases. Therefore, this study examined the effects of Lonicera japonica water extract (LJE) on HCl/ethano-linduced acute gastric ulceration and anti-oxidants properties. Methods : LC-ESI-IT-TOF MS was employed for rapid identification of major compound from LJE. The antioxidant activities were evaluated through total polyphenol and flavonoid contents and radical scavenging assays and superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity. SD rats were randomly divided into five different groups including the normal group, ulcer group, positive group (20 kg/mg of omeprazole, ip), and experimental groups (100 kg/mg and 500 kg/mg of LJE, ip). Results : 4,5-Dicaffeoyl quinic acid, loganic acid, secologanic acid, sweroside, loganin, vogeloside were identified based on the detection of the molecular ion with those of literature data. The LJE was possessed free radical scavenging activities such as DPPH (IC₅₀=189.7 ㎍/㎖), ABTS (IC₅₀=164.5 ㎍/㎖), and SOD-like activity (IC₅₀=405.02 ㎍/㎖). Macroscopic and histological analyses showed LJE treated group were significantly reduced to an extent that it allowed leukocytes penetration of the gastric walls compared with the ulcer group. In addition, an ulcer inhibition rate and prostaglandin E₂ levels were increased in rats treated with LJE. Conclusion : The present study has demonstrated the antioxidantive and gastroprotective effect of LJE, these findings suggested that LJE has the potential for use in treatment of gastric disorders.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.39-47
• /
• 2019

Galgeun-tang (GGT) is a traditional herbal medicine generally used to treat cold, fever, headache, migraine and convulsion. To investigate the difference of ingredient and efficacy of GGT according to production method, mix extract powder and decoction, the quantities of index components, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of two kinds of GGT formulation were compared. The contents of ten index components were simultaneously analyzed with HPLC. A HPLC method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination. The GGT mix extract powder contained higher puerarin and daidzin content than the decoction, while the GGT decoction contained higher cinnamic acid and glycyrrhizic acid content than the mix extract powder. But ingredient of GGT mix extract powder and decoction was statistically very similar (r=0.8335). GGT decoction showed higher antioxidant effect than GGT mix extract powder, but the difference was low. The patterns of productions for NO, iNOS, COX-2, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 were decreased along the increasing dose of GGT formulation in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. The inhibitory effects on NO, iNOS, COX-2, IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 in Raw 264.7 cell were very similar to each other. The results obtained in this study could be used as fundamental data for verifying the equivalence and effectiveness of the herbal medicines.

• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.31-38
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of cognitive development and motor development in children with developmental delays. Subjects were 43 children with a mean corrected age of 19.19 month (SD=7.48). The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and the Bayley Scale of Infant Development-second edition (BSID-II) were administered to the total children. Statistical analysis was done by paired t-test and Pearson correlation, using SPSS software. The results were as follows: 1) Most of the children with developmental delays showed statistical delays on the mental scale rather than on the motor scale. 2) The correlation coefficients of cognitive performance and motor performance were ranged between r=.38 and r=.83 in children with developmental delays. 3) Lower motor performance showed significant association with lower cognitive score. The findings suggest that cognitive and motor performance in children with developmental delays was significantly correlated.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.223-227
• /
• 2008

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) contribute to the progression of micro and macrovsacular complication of diabetes and therefore present a promising target for therapeutic agents. In this study, 40 Korean herbal medicines have been investigated with an in vitro evaluation system using AGEs inhibitory activity. Of these, 21 herbal medicines $(IC_{50}<50{\mu}g/ml)$ exhibited an inhibitory activity against AGEs formation compared with anminoguanidine $(IC_{50}=72.12{\mu}g/ml)$. Particularly, 7 herbal medicines, Actinidia arguta (root and stem), Crataegus pinnatifida (twig), Camellia japonica (whole), Kalopanax pictus (bark), Lagerstroemia indica (leaf-stem), Reynoutria sachalinensis (root) showed more potent inhibitory activity (approximately 3-10 fold) than the positive control aminoguanidine.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.210-213
• /
• 2006

A 4,5-dioxoaporphine type alkaloid, cepharadione B (1), a phenolic acid, protocatechuic acid (2), and flavonols, quercetin (3), afzelin (4), and quercitrin (5), were isolated from the EtOAc-soluble extract of the whole plants of Houttuynia cordata. All the isolates (1-5) were subjected to in vitro bioassays to evaluate advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation and rat lens aldose reductase (RLAR) inhibitory activity. The three flavonols 3-5 exhibited a significant inhibitory activity on AGEs formation with $IC_{50}$ values of 66.9, 58.9, and $32.3{\mu}M$, respectively. While the two flavonol rhamnosides 4 and 5 showed a remarkable inhibitory activity against RLAR with $IC_{50}$ values of 0.81 and $0.16{\mu}M$, respectively.