• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.210-216
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• 2021

Background: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication of acute herpes zoster. The treatment of PHN remains a challenge for clinical pain management. Despite the effectiveness of anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and lidocaine patches in reducing PHN, many patients still face intractable pain disorders. In this randomized controlled study, we evaluated whether hydromorphone through intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) was effective in relieving PHN. Methods: Patients with PHN were randomly divided into two groups, one group received oral pregabalin with IV normal saline, another group received oral pregabalin with additional IV PCA hydromorphone for two weeks. Efficacy was evaluated at 1, 4, and 12 weeks after the end of the treatments. Results: Two hundred and one patients were followed up for 12 weeks. After treatment, numerical rating scale (NRS) score of patients in the hydromorphone group was significantly lower than that of the control group, and the difference of NRS scores between the two groups was statistically significant at 4 and 12 weeks after treatment. The frequency of breakthrough pain in the hydromorphone group was significantly lower than that in the control group 1 and 4 weeks after treatment. After treatment, the quality of sleep in the hydromorphone group was significantly improved compared with the control group. The most common adverse reactions in the hydromorphone group were dizziness and nausea, with no significant respiratory depression. Conclusions: IV PCA hydromorphone combined with oral pregabalin provides superior pain relief in patients with PHN, which is worthy of clinical application and promotion.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2024

Objectives: Post-operative urinary retention (POUR) is a frequent complication following surgical procedures, characterized by an acute inability to void, leading to additional complications and extended hospitalization. Acupuncture has been shown to be effective in facilitating spontaneous urination and alleviating anxiety in patients experiencing poor urination. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of electroacupuncture in the management of POUR in patients who have undergone lumbar spine surgery. Methods: This retrospective study conducted at the National Hospital of Acupuncture in Vietnam and reviewed the medical records of patients over 18 years old who underwent lumbar spine surgery and were diagnosed with POUR between January to December 2019. Electroacupuncture was administered at five specific acupuncture points: Qugu (CV2), Zhongji (CV3), Zhibian (BL54), Pangguanshu (BL28), and Kunlun (BL60). This study monitored key parameters related to the effectiveness of the acupuncture treatment, including the number of acupuncture treatment sessions required until a patient was successfully treated was recorded, with a maximum of three acupuncture treatment sessions per patient, the time elapsed until urination following the treatment (minutes), and urinary bladder volume before and after treatment (mL). Results: The study demonstrated a 93.3% success rate in treating POUR with electroacupuncture. A significant reduction in post-void residual volume was noted, and patients could void within 30 minutes post-treatment. No significant differences in treatment effectiveness were observed across difference genders and age groups. Conclusion: Electroacupuncture proved to be a highly effective treatment for POUR in patients post-lumbar spine surgery, with a rapid response time and substantial reduction in PVR. However, the retrospective nature of the study and single-center focus limit its generalizability. Future research incorporating randomized controlled trials or multi-center observational studies are recommended to validate these findings and explore the potential of acupuncture in POUR management on a broader scale.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.765-772
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• 2011

Knowledge which is represented by formal logic are widely used in many domains such like artificial intelligence, information retrieval, e-commerce and so on. And for medical field, medical documentary records retrieval, information systems in hospitals, medical data sharing, remote treatment and expert systems need knowledge representation technology. To retrieve information intellectually and provide advanced information services, systematically controlled mechanism is needed to represent and share knowledge. Importantly, medical expert's knowledge should be represented in a form that is understandable to computers and also to humans to be applied to the medical information system supporting decision making. And it should have a suitable and efficient structure for its own purposes including reasoning, extendability of knowledge, management of data, accuracy of expressions, diversity, and so on. we call it ontology which can be processed with machines. We can use the ontology to represent traditional medicine knowledge in structured and systematic way with visualization, then also it can also be used education materials. Hence, the authors developed an Shanghanlun ontology by way of showing an example, so that we suggested a methodology for ontology development and also a model to structure the traditional medical knowledge. And this result can be used for student to learn Shanghanlun by graphical representation of it's knowledge. We analyzed the text of Shanghanlun to construct relational database including it's original text, symptoms and herb formulars. And then we classified the terms following some criterion, confirmed the structure of the ontology to describe semantic relations between the terms, especially we developed the ontology considering visual representation. The ontology developed in this study provides database showing fomulas, herbs, symptoms, the name of diseases and the text written in Shanghanlun. It's easy to retrieve contents by their semantic relations so that it is convenient to search knowledge of Shanghanlun and to learn it. It can display the related concepts by searching terms and provides expanded information with a simple click. It has some limitations such as standardization problems, short coverage of pattern(證), and error in chinese characters input. But we believe this research can be used for basic foundation to make traditional medicine more structural and systematic, to develop application softwares, and also to applied it in Shanghanlun educations.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.453-462
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• 2020

Chronic joint pain due to loss of cartilage function, degradation of subchondral bone, and related conditions are common plights of an arthritis patient. Antioxidant compounds could solve the problems in arthritic condition. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-arthritic activity of D-carvone against complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis in rats. D-carvone was orally administered for 25 days at the doses of 30 and 60 mg/kg against CFA-induced arthritic rats. Changes in body weight, paw swelling, organ index, hematological parameters, oxidative stress markers, inflammatory cytokines, and histopathology were recorded. Oral treatment of D-carvone significantly improved the body weight, reduced the paw swelling, edema formation, and organ index in arthritic rats. The levels of white blood cells were reduced, red blood cells and hemoglobin levels were improved in D-carvone treated arthritic rats. Lipid peroxidation levels were lowered whereas enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants were significantly elevated by D-carvone administration against arthritic rats. D-carvone significantly modulated inflammatory cytokine levels and improved the ankle joint pathology against CFA-induced arthritic inflammation. In conclusion, D-carvone proved significant anti-arthritic activity against CFA-induced arthritis in rats.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5755-5762
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• 2015

Background: Short-course preoperative radiation (SCRT) with delayed surgery was found to increase pathologic complete response (pCR) rates in several trials. However, there was no clear answer on whether SCRT or long-course chemo-radiotherapy (LCRT) is more effective. Therefore we conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of SCRT versus LCRT, both with delayed surgery, for treatment of rectal cancer. Materials and Methods: The literature was searched from PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and clinicaltrials.gov up to November, 2014. Quality of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was evaluated according to the Cochrane's risk of bias tool of RCT. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system was used to rate the level of evidence. Review Manager 5.3 was employed for statistical analysis. Pooled risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: Three RCTs, with a total of 357 rectal cancer patients, were included in this systematic review. Metaanalysis results demonstrated there were no significantly differences in sphincter preservation rate, local recurrence rate, grade 3~4 acute toxicity, R0 resection rate and downstaging rate. Compared with SCRT, LCRT was associated with significant increase in the pCR rate [RR=0.49, 95%CI (0.31, 0.78), P=0.003]. Conclusions: In terms of sphincter preservation rate, local recurrence rate, grade 3~4 acute toxicity, R0 resection rate and downstaging rate, SCRT with delayed surgery is as effective as LCRT with delayed surgery for management of rectal cancer. LCRT significantly increased pCR rate compared with SCRT. Due to risk of bias and imprecision, further multi-center large sample RCTs were needed to confirm this conclusion.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.140-145
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• 2016

Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a natural fungus that has been valued as a health food and used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. The fungus is parasitic and colonizes insect larva. Naturally occurring O. sinensis thrives at high altitude in cold and grassy alpine meadows on the Himalayan mountain ranges. Wild Ophiocordyceps is becoming increasingly rare in its natural habitat, and its price limits its use in clinical practice. Therefore, the development of a standardized alternative is a great focus of research to allow the use of Ophiocordyceps as a medicine. To develop an alternative for wild Ophiocordyceps, a refined standardized extract, CBG-CS-2, was produced by artificial fermentation and extraction of the mycelial strain Paecilomyces hepiali CBG-CS-1, which originated from wild O. sinensis. In this study, we analyzed the in vitro immune-modulating effect of CBG-CS-2 on natural killer cells and B and T lymphocytes. CBG-CS-2 stimulated splenocyte proliferation and enhanced Th1-type cytokine expression in the mouse splenocytes. Importantly, in vitro CBG-CS-2 treatment enhanced the killing activity of the NK-92MI natural killer cell line. These results indicate that the mycelial culture extract prepared from Ophiocordyceps exhibits immune-modulating activity, as was observed in vivo and this suggests its possible use in the treatment of diseases caused by abnormal immune function.