Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) patients face a substantial unmet need for disease-modifying interventions. Potential approaches such as exercise and acupuncture have been investigated to slow PD progression. To address this unmet need, we developed a novel therapeutic approach that integrates acupuncture and exercise: the Meridian Activation Remedy System for PD patients (MARS-PD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The biological clock allows an organism to anticipate periodic environmental changes and adjust its physiology and behavior accordingly.
Objective: This retrospective cross-sectional study examined circadian gene polymorphisms and clinical characteristics associated with insulin resistance (IR).
Methods: We analyzed data from 1,404 Korean adults aged 30 to 55 with no history of cancer and cardio-cerebrovascular disease.
Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases in world. As some psychiatric symptoms degrade the quality of life of patients with PD, a novel alternative non-pharmacological treatment is required. Acupuncture appears to be an effective and safe treatment for PD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(JGT), a traditional herbal medicine, has been used to treat dizziness and vertigo in Korea and China for hundreds of years. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pharmacological properties of JGT in chronic subjective dizziness (CSD) patients. A randomized, double-blind, parallel-group and placebo-controlled trial was performed with a total of 50 CSD patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvid Based Complement Alternat Med
September 2022
Nuclear receptor-related 1 protein (Nurr1) is a nuclear hormone receptor that protects dopaminergic neurons and is a promising therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease (PD). Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), and the long-term use of conventional dopamine replacement therapies causes many side effects, highlighting the need for new treatments such as complementary and alternative medicine. Ukgansan has been used in East Asia to treat neurological disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases, and has been reported to have strong effects in treating patients with PD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective of this review is to provide a modern definition and identify potential biomarkers of blood stasis in cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases by mapping, comparing, and combining Eastern and Western concepts.
Introduction: Blood stasis is a pathological concept found in both Eastern and Western medical literature. In traditional East Asian medicine, blood stasis is a differential syndrome characterized by stagnant blood flow in various parts of the body.
is widely used in traditional Korean medicine to treat age-related disorders. In the present study, we re-prescribed (YJT), which is slightly modified from by adding more medicinal plants to evaluate its pharmacological effects on underlying mechanisms against repeated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-injection-induced neuroinflammation in the hippocampus regions. C57BL/6J male mice (16-24 weeks old) were divided into six groups: (1) the control group (DW with 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a precursor to Alzheimer's disease. It is imperative to develop a proper treatment for this neurological disease in the aging society. This observational study investigated the effects of acupuncture therapy on MCI patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvid Based Complement Alternat Med
October 2021
Background: Herbal medicine is widely recommended to treat viral infectious diseases. Over 123,000,000 individuals have been infected with the coronavirus since a worldwide pandemic was declared in March 2020. We conducted this research to confirm the potential of herbal medicine as a treatment for coronavirus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEthnopharmacological Relevance: Yuk-Mi-Jihwang-Tang (YJT) has been popularly prescribed to treat aging related disorders over than hundreds of years in East Asia countries.
Aim Of The Study: To investigate possible modulatory actions of YJT on chronic restraint stress (CRS)-induced neurodegeneration on hippocampus neuronal injuries.
Materials And Methods: Mice were orally administered with YJT (100, 200, or 400 mg/kg) or ascorbic acid (100 mg/kg) before 4 h of stress for 28 days.
As a neurotologic disorder of persistent non-vertiginous dizziness, chronic subjective dizziness (CSD) arises unsteadily by psychological and physiological imbalance. The CSD is hypersensitivity reaction due to exposure to complex motions visual stimuli. However, the pathophysiological features and mechanism of the CSD still remains unclearly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcupuncture therapy (AT) is a non-pharmacological method of treatment that has been applied to various neurological diseases. However, studies on its longitudinal effect on the neural mechanisms of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) for treatment purposes are still lacking in the literature. In this clinical study, we assess the longitudinal effects of ATs on MCI patients using two methods: (i) Montreal Cognitive Assessment test (MoCA-K, Korean version), and (ii) the hemodynamic response (HR) analyses using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Almost half of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients progress to dementia, which is associated with decreased quality of life and obstacles to independent living. Relevant management is expected to prevent MCI patients from progressing to dementia. In recent years, electroacupuncture (EA) has been used to treat various kinds of neurological disorders including MCI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of treatment with thread-embedding acupuncture (TEA) using polydioxanone in addition to usual care for patients with chronic nonspecific neck pain (CNP) compared with treatment with usual care alone.
Methods: A single-center, assessor-blinded, two-armed randomized controlled trial was performed. One hundred and six outpatients with CNP were randomly allocated into the TEA plus usual care (TU) group or the usual care (UC) group in a 1:1 ratio.
Background: Currently, there is no clearly established therapy to treat mild cognitive impairment (MCI); consequently, alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, have been attempted. In many clinical studies, the potential benefits of acupuncture for cognitive improvement have been identified in clinical outcomes; however, the mechanism remains unclear. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the therapeutic mechanism of acupuncture therapy using functional near-infrared spectroscopy and its feasibility in treating individuals with impaired cognitive function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvid Based Complement Alternat Med
January 2018
We evaluated neuropharmacological properties of Yuk-Mi-Jihwang-Tang (YJT) against scopolamine injection-induced memory impairment mice model. Mice were orally administered with YJT (50, 100, or 200 mg/kg) or tacrine (TAC, 12.5 mg/kg) for 10 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated segmental phase angles (PAs) in the four limbs using a multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis (MF-BIA) technique for noninvasively diagnosing diabetes mellitus. We conducted a meal tolerance test (MTT) for 45 diabetic and 45 control subjects stratified by age, sex and body mass index (BMI). HbA1c and the waist-to-hip-circumference ratio (WHR) were measured before meal intake, and we measured the glucose levels and MF-BIA PAs 5 times for 2 hours after meal intake.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to evaluate the protective effects of Yuk-Mi-Jihwang-Tang (YJT) against acute restraint stress-induced brain oxidative damage. A water extract of YJT was prepared and subjected to high performance liquid chromatography - diode array detector-mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS). Thirty-six heads of C57BL/6J male mice (7 weeks) were divided into six groups (n = 6/group).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Altern Complement Med
November 2016
Objectives: Ginseng saponin is known to have biological activities in maintaining homeostasis and enhancing vital energy. Enzyme-modified ginseng extract (EMGE) was designed to increase the content of its active constituents and to intensify biological activity. The present study investigated the anti-fatigue effects of EMGE in healthy adults in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvid Based Complement Alternat Med
October 2015
The medicinal plants Artemisia iwayomogi (A. iwayomogi) and Curcuma longa (C. longa) radix have been used to treat metabolic abnormalities in traditional Korean medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TKM and TCM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To preliminarily assess the effects of acupuncture on prehypertension and stage I hypertension, and to provide data for further research.
Design: A randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded study with an 8-week intervention period and a 4-week follow-up.
Interventions: Participants were patients with systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 120-159mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 80-99mmHg.
Ethnopharmacolgical Relevance: Artemisiaiwayomogi Kitamura and Curcuma longa Linne. (ACE) has been popularly used to treat atherosclerosis as well as hyperlipidemia in the Asian countries.
Objective: Antiatherosclerotic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects of ACE were evaluated at protein and gene expression level by using apoE(-/-) mice.
Healthy adults are generally recruited for first-in-human clinical trials. However, their inclusion/exclusion criteria are not easily applied to trials for the elderly. Reference values were modified by 10-20% in screening tests to investigate the usefulness of the age-adjusted inclusion/exclusion criteria.
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