Acupuncture at acupoints GB34 and LR3 has been reported to inhibit nigrostriatal degeneration in ... more Acupuncture at acupoints GB34 and LR3 has been reported to inhibit nigrostriatal degeneration in Parkinsonism models, yet the genes related to this preventive effect of acupuncture on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system remain elusive. This study investigated gene expression profile changes in the striatal region of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)induced Parkinsonism models after acupuncture at the acupoints GB34 and LR3 using a whole transcript genechip microarray (Affymetrix genechip mouse gene 1.0 ST array). It was confirmed that acupuncture at these acupoints could inhibit the decrease of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine transporter in the nigrostriatal region of the MPTP model while acupuncture at the non-acupoints could not counteract this decrease. Genechip gene array analysis (fold change cutoff 1.3 and P \ 0.05) showed that 12 of the 69 probes up-regulated in MPTP when compared to the control were down-regulated by acupuncture at the acupoints. Of these 12 probes, 11 probes (nine annotated genes) were exclusively down-regulated by acupuncture only at the acupoints; the Gfral gene was excluded because it was commonly down-regulated by acupuncture at both the acupoints and the non-acupoints. In addition, 28 of the 189 probes down-regulated in MPTP when compared to the control were up-regulated by acupuncture at the acupoints. Of these 28 probes, 19 probes (seven annotated genes) were exclusively up-regulated by acupuncture only at the acupoints while nine probes were commonly up-regulated by acupuncture at both the acupoints and the nonacupoints. The regulation patterns of representative genes in real-time RT-PCR correlated with those of the genes in the microarray. These results suggest that the 30 probes (16 annotated genes), which are affected by MPTP and acupuncture only at the acupoints, are responsible for exerting in the striatal regions the inhibitory effect of acupuncture at the acupoints on MPTP-induced striatal degeneration.
Objective: This systematic review assessed clinical evidence for the use of acupuncture as an add... more Objective: This systematic review assessed clinical evidence for the use of acupuncture as an add-on treatment in patients with depression and schizophrenia and for its underlying working mechanisms. Data Sources: Four databases (Medline, Scopus, ERIC, and the Cochrane Library) were searched with a cutoff date of March 31, 2014. Study Selection: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of acupuncture treatment for depression and schizophrenia were considered for inclusion. The scarcity of acupuncture research involving schizophrenia led to the inclusion of randomized controlled trials and case studies. Data Extraction: The primary and secondary aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of acupuncture in treating patients with depression or schizophrenia and the possible working mechanisms underlying acupuncture through a systematic literature review. Data Synthesis: The overall clinical results on using acupuncture to treat depression are promising, but only limited evidence for its effectiveness in treating schizophrenia was found. Acupuncture improves the quality of life, particularly that of sleep, in psychiatric patients. Brain research has revealed that acupuncture has a modulating and normalizing effect on the limbic-paralimbic-neocortical network (LPNN), including the default mode network. Because the LPNN is related to sleep and emotions, this might explain the improved qualities of life and sleep after acupuncture. Conclusions: From the evidence found in this study, acupuncture seems to be an effective add-on treatment in patients with depression and, to a lesser degree, in patients with schizophrenia, but large well-designed studies are needed to confirm that evidence.
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Dec 16, 2016
Background: Many animal experimental studies have been performed to investigate the efficacy of a... more Background: Many animal experimental studies have been performed to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Sex differences are a major issue in all diseases including PD. However, to our knowledge, there have been no reviews investigating sex differences on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for animal PD models. The current study aimed to summarize and analyze past studies in order to evaluate these possible differences.
Method: Each of 7 databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, 3 Korean medical databases, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure) was searched from its inception through March 2015 without language restrictions.
Results: We included studies of the use of acupuncture treatment in animal models of PD. A total of 810 potentially relevant articles were identified, 57 of which met our inclusion criteria. C57/BL6 mice were used most frequently (42 %) in animal PD models. Most of the studies were carried out using only male animals (67 %); only 1 study (2 %) was performed using solely females. The further 31 % of the studies used a male/female mix or did not specify the sex.
Conclusions: The results of our review suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for animal PD models, but there is insufficient evidence to determine whether sex differences exist. Future studies of acupuncture treatment for PD should use female animal models because they reflect the physiological characteristics of both males and females to fully evaluate the effect and the safety of the treatment for each sex.
Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-aim-10.1177_0964528420920290 for Effects of acupuncture on cardio... more Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-aim-10.1177_0964528420920290 for Effects of acupuncture on cardiovascular risks in patients with hypertension: a Korean cohort study by Hyejin Jung, Sujung Yeo and Sabina Lim in Acupuncture in Medicine
Objectives: Although the cause of neuronal death of Parkinson`s disease remains unclear, increasi... more Objectives: Although the cause of neuronal death of Parkinson`s disease remains unclear, increasing evidence points to the role of inflammatory processes. And the hallmark of brain inflammation is the activation of microglia. This study was performed to prove the effect of acupuncture on inhibiting microglial activation. Methods: The rat models which were injected with 6-hydroxydopamine were treated with acupuncture once a day on LR3 (太衝) and GB34 (陽陵泉). To prove the effect of inhibiting microglial activation, we examined the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunopositive neurons and CD11b immunohistochemistry in the substantia nigra. Results: There were 18% (third day), 32% (seventh day) loss of TH-positive cell bodies in the control group and 23% (third day), 26% (seventh day) in the acupuncture group, whereas 3% (third day), 10% (seventh day) in vehicle group. The difference of optical density in substantia nigra was evaluated by subtracting log inverse gray value of contralateral side...
Objective: In recent years, many investigators have questioned whether the analgesic effect of ac... more Objective: In recent years, many investigators have questioned whether the analgesic effect of acupuncture is simply related to the stress-induced analgesia (SIA). However, there has been Lack of studies on this issue. In this study, the stress Levels induced by manual acupunctures are compared with the stress in animal experiment models. The experiments have been carried out with Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. Method: For stress Level evaluation, Hot plate test has been used. Maximum Possible Effect (MPE) has been measured by checking the pre-test time and post-test time. Cortisol and corticosterone concentrations in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: In the hot plate test, MPE values of post-test time were significantly decreased after 10 minutes than after 5 minutes. Therefore, optimal time interval was chosen as 10 minutes. There was significant difference of MPE values between Suspension group and all other treatment groups. However, there wer...
In a recent article of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Hack et al. (2019) argue that linguist... more In a recent article of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Hack et al. (2019) argue that linguistic ability rather than multilingualism is a significant predictor of dementia. In their longitudinal study, they investigated 325 religious sisters who were older than 75 years of age. Self-reports were used in order to determine multilingualism. They found that speaking two or three languages did not delay the onset of dementia. However, they did find that individuals speaking four or more languages were less likely to suffer from dementia than those speaking only one language and concluded that having linguistic ability was a more significant predictor of dementia than being multilingual. However, more research is needed in order to identify the characteristics of multilingualism most salient for the risk of dementia. In this commentary, we raise several important methodological and statistical issues that are likely to have affected the findings of Hack et al.'s study. As a result, although their study makes an important contribution to the research field, drawing a conclusion at this time that linguistic ability is more a predictor of dementia than multilingualism would be premature; moreover, their preliminary results cannot be generalized to the general population.
Meteorin-like (metrnl) is a recently identified adipomyokine that has beneficial effects on gluco... more Meteorin-like (metrnl) is a recently identified adipomyokine that has beneficial effects on glucose metabolism. However, its underlying mechanism of action is not completely understood. In this study, we have shown that a level of metrnl increase in vitro under electrical-pulse-stimulation (EPS) and in vivo in exercise mice, suggesting that metrnl is an exercise-induced myokine. In addition, metrnl increases glucose uptake through the calcium-dependent AMPK pathway. Metrnl also increases the phosphorylation of HDAC5, a transcriptional repressor of GLUT4, in an AMPK-dependent manner. Phosphorylated HDAC5 interacts with 14-3-3 proteins and sequesters them in the cytoplasm, resulting in the activation of GLUT4 transcription. The intraperitoneal injection of recombinant metrnl improves glucose tolerance in mice with high fat-induced obesity or type 2 diabetes (db/db), but this is not seen in AMPK β1β2 muscle-specific null mice (AMPK β1β2 MKO). In conclusion, we have demonstrated that me...
Treatment non-adherence is a common problem in patients suffering from schizophrenia and depressi... more Treatment non-adherence is a common problem in patients suffering from schizophrenia and depression. This study investigated the possible relationships between symptom severity, quality of sleep, and treatment adherence. Methods: Thirty outpatients with schizophrenia and 58 outpatients with depression were enrolled in this study. The beck depression Inventory-II, the positive and negative syndrome scale, and the pittsburgh sleep quality index were used to assess symptom severity and quality of sleep, and sleep log data were used to measure treatment adherence. Results: The preliminary results showed no significant relationship between symptom severity and treatment adherence or between quality of sleep and treatment adherence in patients with depression. However, a significant positive relationship was found between negative symptoms and treatment adherence and a significant negative relationship between quality of sleep and treatment adherence in patients with schizophrenia. Conclusion: The present exploratory study revealed a positive relationship between symptom severity and treatment adherence and a negative relationship between quality of sleep and treatment adherence in patients with schizophrenia, but no significant relationships in patients with depression were found. Future studies are needed in order to gain a better understanding of possible risk factors related to treatment non-adherence.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of dopamine... more Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), reducing dopaminergic levels in the striatum and affecting motor control. Herein, we investigated the potential relationship between integrin α7 (ITGA7) and α-synuclein (α-syn) in the muscle of methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6 tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mice and C2C12 cells. To characterize the pathology of PD, we examined the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the SN of the midbrain. Compared with the control group, MPTP-treated mice showed a significant decrease in TH expression in the SN, accompanied by a significant decrease in muscle ITGA7 expression. Compared with the control group, α-syn expression was increased in the MPTP group. Furthermore, the pattern of α-syn expression in the MPTP group was similar to the ITGA7 expression pattern in the control group (linear forms). To determine the relationship between ITGA7 and PD, we examin...
Objectives : It aims to establish a basic rule in Korean translation of the pathway of lung merid... more Objectives : It aims to establish a basic rule in Korean translation of the pathway of lung meridian in Miraculous Pivot • Meridian vessel. Based on the rule, We tried to make standard translation of the pathway of lung meridian in Miraculous Pivot • Meridian vessel. Methods : Books needed for this study were collected through searching Kyunghee University Library(http:// khis.khu.ac.kr). Keywords included "Miraculous Pivot of Huangdi's Internal Classic". We also include the book which is generally used as a textbook in Colleges of Korean Medicine. Results : In five Chinese books, the word-spacing was used differently in four phrases. Six Korean-translated books had the different translation in three phrases. We suggested a standard Korean translation of the pathway of lung meridian in Miraculous Pivot • Meridian vessel. Conclusions : This result of the study would be expected to not only be published in Korean Journal of Acupuncture but be studied more about Korean translation by experts in this field.
Acupuncture has been shown to have therapeutic effects on many mental disorders such as depressio... more Acupuncture has been shown to have therapeutic effects on many mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse in human and animal studies. Maternal separation (MS) is a risk factor in the development of mood-related disorders such as depression. This study investigated the effects of acupuncture during MS by evaluating locomotion as behavioral markers of depression and by observing changes in c-Fos expression in the limbic system (hippocampus, amygdala and cingulate cortex) to elucidate the mechanism of the therapeutic effect. The employed acupoint, Shinmun (HT7), has been clinically used to treat mental disorders. MS for 7 days beginning on postnatal day 14 induced a significant decrease in locomotion, while acupuncture treatment at acupoint HT7 resulted in a significant increase in locomotion. c-Fos immunoreactive cells in area dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus were increased in the MS group, but significantly decreased in the acupuncture group. These findin...
Pharmacological treatment is still the key intervention in the disease management of long-term pa... more Pharmacological treatment is still the key intervention in the disease management of long-term patients with schizophrenia; however, how it affects sleep and whether gender differences exist remains unclear. Forty-six long-term outpatients with schizophrenia entered the study. The numbers of antipsychotics, sleep medications, antidepressants, and anxiolytics were analyzed. Moreover, all patients were tested using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Correlation analyses were conducted between the medication used and the scores on the two subjective sleep inventories. A large variability, ranging from 0 to 8, in the total number of psychiatric drugs per person was found between the patients. Despite ongoing pharmacological treatment, the patients scored high on the PSQI, but not on the ESS; this indicates that they report problems with sleep, but not with daytime sleepiness. A significant positive correlation between the use of antipsychot...
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronically progressive neurodegenerative disease, with its mai... more Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronically progressive neurodegenerative disease, with its main pathological hallmarks being a dramatic loss of dopaminergic neurons predominantly in the Substantia Nigra (SN), and the formations of intracytoplasmic Lewy bodies and dystrophic neurites. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn), widely recognized as the most prominent element of the Lewy body, is one of the representative hallmarks in PD. However, the mechanisms behind the increased α-syn expression and aggregation have not yet been clarified. To examine what causes α-syn expression to increase, we analyzed the pattern of gene expression in the SN of mice intoxicated with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), where down-regulation of dopaminergic cells occurred. We identified serum- and glucocorticoid-dependent kinase 1 (SGK1) as one of the genes that is evidently downregulated in chronic MPTP-intoxication. The results of Western blot analyses showed that, together with the down-regula...
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-No... more This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Abstract Introduction The purpose of this preliminary clinical trial was to investigate whether a... more Abstract Introduction The purpose of this preliminary clinical trial was to investigate whether acupuncture has a positive influence on sleep and symptomatology in patients with schizophrenia or depression. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted. One hundred participants were recruited: 40 outpatients with schizophrenia, 40 with depression, and 20 healthy controls. All completed a depression inventory, and the positive and negative symptoms of the patients with schizophrenia were evaluated by their psychiatrists. All participants were asked to complete a sleep log for two weeks. For the psychiatric patients, a randomized design with experimental (three months of acupuncture treatment) and control (waitlist) conditions was used, after which all measurements were conducted once more. Results Before treatment, patients with depression were awake longer during the night, needed more time to fall asleep, evaluated their sleep as less relaxed, felt more exhausted, and reported a lower average performance level compared with healthy controls. Moreover, patients with depression slept less and felt more exhausted than patients with schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia reported a lower average performance level compared to healthy controls. Acupuncture slightly improved sleep and depressive symptoms in patients with depression, but did not affect sleep nor influence positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Conclusion These preliminary data suggest that acupuncture can be used in order to reduce symptoms and improve sleep to some extent in patients with depression, but due to the lack of comparative data, it is impossible to reliably say anything about its effects for patients with schizophrenia.
Acupuncture at acupoints GB34 and LR3 has been reported to inhibit nigrostriatal degeneration in ... more Acupuncture at acupoints GB34 and LR3 has been reported to inhibit nigrostriatal degeneration in Parkinsonism models, yet the genes related to this preventive effect of acupuncture on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system remain elusive. This study investigated gene expression profile changes in the striatal region of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)induced Parkinsonism models after acupuncture at the acupoints GB34 and LR3 using a whole transcript genechip microarray (Affymetrix genechip mouse gene 1.0 ST array). It was confirmed that acupuncture at these acupoints could inhibit the decrease of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine transporter in the nigrostriatal region of the MPTP model while acupuncture at the non-acupoints could not counteract this decrease. Genechip gene array analysis (fold change cutoff 1.3 and P \ 0.05) showed that 12 of the 69 probes up-regulated in MPTP when compared to the control were down-regulated by acupuncture at the acupoints. Of these 12 probes, 11 probes (nine annotated genes) were exclusively down-regulated by acupuncture only at the acupoints; the Gfral gene was excluded because it was commonly down-regulated by acupuncture at both the acupoints and the non-acupoints. In addition, 28 of the 189 probes down-regulated in MPTP when compared to the control were up-regulated by acupuncture at the acupoints. Of these 28 probes, 19 probes (seven annotated genes) were exclusively up-regulated by acupuncture only at the acupoints while nine probes were commonly up-regulated by acupuncture at both the acupoints and the nonacupoints. The regulation patterns of representative genes in real-time RT-PCR correlated with those of the genes in the microarray. These results suggest that the 30 probes (16 annotated genes), which are affected by MPTP and acupuncture only at the acupoints, are responsible for exerting in the striatal regions the inhibitory effect of acupuncture at the acupoints on MPTP-induced striatal degeneration.
Objective: This systematic review assessed clinical evidence for the use of acupuncture as an add... more Objective: This systematic review assessed clinical evidence for the use of acupuncture as an add-on treatment in patients with depression and schizophrenia and for its underlying working mechanisms. Data Sources: Four databases (Medline, Scopus, ERIC, and the Cochrane Library) were searched with a cutoff date of March 31, 2014. Study Selection: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of acupuncture treatment for depression and schizophrenia were considered for inclusion. The scarcity of acupuncture research involving schizophrenia led to the inclusion of randomized controlled trials and case studies. Data Extraction: The primary and secondary aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of acupuncture in treating patients with depression or schizophrenia and the possible working mechanisms underlying acupuncture through a systematic literature review. Data Synthesis: The overall clinical results on using acupuncture to treat depression are promising, but only limited evidence for its effectiveness in treating schizophrenia was found. Acupuncture improves the quality of life, particularly that of sleep, in psychiatric patients. Brain research has revealed that acupuncture has a modulating and normalizing effect on the limbic-paralimbic-neocortical network (LPNN), including the default mode network. Because the LPNN is related to sleep and emotions, this might explain the improved qualities of life and sleep after acupuncture. Conclusions: From the evidence found in this study, acupuncture seems to be an effective add-on treatment in patients with depression and, to a lesser degree, in patients with schizophrenia, but large well-designed studies are needed to confirm that evidence.
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Dec 16, 2016
Background: Many animal experimental studies have been performed to investigate the efficacy of a... more Background: Many animal experimental studies have been performed to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Sex differences are a major issue in all diseases including PD. However, to our knowledge, there have been no reviews investigating sex differences on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for animal PD models. The current study aimed to summarize and analyze past studies in order to evaluate these possible differences.
Method: Each of 7 databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, 3 Korean medical databases, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure) was searched from its inception through March 2015 without language restrictions.
Results: We included studies of the use of acupuncture treatment in animal models of PD. A total of 810 potentially relevant articles were identified, 57 of which met our inclusion criteria. C57/BL6 mice were used most frequently (42 %) in animal PD models. Most of the studies were carried out using only male animals (67 %); only 1 study (2 %) was performed using solely females. The further 31 % of the studies used a male/female mix or did not specify the sex.
Conclusions: The results of our review suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for animal PD models, but there is insufficient evidence to determine whether sex differences exist. Future studies of acupuncture treatment for PD should use female animal models because they reflect the physiological characteristics of both males and females to fully evaluate the effect and the safety of the treatment for each sex.
Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-aim-10.1177_0964528420920290 for Effects of acupuncture on cardio... more Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-aim-10.1177_0964528420920290 for Effects of acupuncture on cardiovascular risks in patients with hypertension: a Korean cohort study by Hyejin Jung, Sujung Yeo and Sabina Lim in Acupuncture in Medicine
Objectives: Although the cause of neuronal death of Parkinson`s disease remains unclear, increasi... more Objectives: Although the cause of neuronal death of Parkinson`s disease remains unclear, increasing evidence points to the role of inflammatory processes. And the hallmark of brain inflammation is the activation of microglia. This study was performed to prove the effect of acupuncture on inhibiting microglial activation. Methods: The rat models which were injected with 6-hydroxydopamine were treated with acupuncture once a day on LR3 (太衝) and GB34 (陽陵泉). To prove the effect of inhibiting microglial activation, we examined the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunopositive neurons and CD11b immunohistochemistry in the substantia nigra. Results: There were 18% (third day), 32% (seventh day) loss of TH-positive cell bodies in the control group and 23% (third day), 26% (seventh day) in the acupuncture group, whereas 3% (third day), 10% (seventh day) in vehicle group. The difference of optical density in substantia nigra was evaluated by subtracting log inverse gray value of contralateral side...
Objective: In recent years, many investigators have questioned whether the analgesic effect of ac... more Objective: In recent years, many investigators have questioned whether the analgesic effect of acupuncture is simply related to the stress-induced analgesia (SIA). However, there has been Lack of studies on this issue. In this study, the stress Levels induced by manual acupunctures are compared with the stress in animal experiment models. The experiments have been carried out with Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. Method: For stress Level evaluation, Hot plate test has been used. Maximum Possible Effect (MPE) has been measured by checking the pre-test time and post-test time. Cortisol and corticosterone concentrations in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: In the hot plate test, MPE values of post-test time were significantly decreased after 10 minutes than after 5 minutes. Therefore, optimal time interval was chosen as 10 minutes. There was significant difference of MPE values between Suspension group and all other treatment groups. However, there wer...
In a recent article of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Hack et al. (2019) argue that linguist... more In a recent article of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Hack et al. (2019) argue that linguistic ability rather than multilingualism is a significant predictor of dementia. In their longitudinal study, they investigated 325 religious sisters who were older than 75 years of age. Self-reports were used in order to determine multilingualism. They found that speaking two or three languages did not delay the onset of dementia. However, they did find that individuals speaking four or more languages were less likely to suffer from dementia than those speaking only one language and concluded that having linguistic ability was a more significant predictor of dementia than being multilingual. However, more research is needed in order to identify the characteristics of multilingualism most salient for the risk of dementia. In this commentary, we raise several important methodological and statistical issues that are likely to have affected the findings of Hack et al.'s study. As a result, although their study makes an important contribution to the research field, drawing a conclusion at this time that linguistic ability is more a predictor of dementia than multilingualism would be premature; moreover, their preliminary results cannot be generalized to the general population.
Meteorin-like (metrnl) is a recently identified adipomyokine that has beneficial effects on gluco... more Meteorin-like (metrnl) is a recently identified adipomyokine that has beneficial effects on glucose metabolism. However, its underlying mechanism of action is not completely understood. In this study, we have shown that a level of metrnl increase in vitro under electrical-pulse-stimulation (EPS) and in vivo in exercise mice, suggesting that metrnl is an exercise-induced myokine. In addition, metrnl increases glucose uptake through the calcium-dependent AMPK pathway. Metrnl also increases the phosphorylation of HDAC5, a transcriptional repressor of GLUT4, in an AMPK-dependent manner. Phosphorylated HDAC5 interacts with 14-3-3 proteins and sequesters them in the cytoplasm, resulting in the activation of GLUT4 transcription. The intraperitoneal injection of recombinant metrnl improves glucose tolerance in mice with high fat-induced obesity or type 2 diabetes (db/db), but this is not seen in AMPK β1β2 muscle-specific null mice (AMPK β1β2 MKO). In conclusion, we have demonstrated that me...
Treatment non-adherence is a common problem in patients suffering from schizophrenia and depressi... more Treatment non-adherence is a common problem in patients suffering from schizophrenia and depression. This study investigated the possible relationships between symptom severity, quality of sleep, and treatment adherence. Methods: Thirty outpatients with schizophrenia and 58 outpatients with depression were enrolled in this study. The beck depression Inventory-II, the positive and negative syndrome scale, and the pittsburgh sleep quality index were used to assess symptom severity and quality of sleep, and sleep log data were used to measure treatment adherence. Results: The preliminary results showed no significant relationship between symptom severity and treatment adherence or between quality of sleep and treatment adherence in patients with depression. However, a significant positive relationship was found between negative symptoms and treatment adherence and a significant negative relationship between quality of sleep and treatment adherence in patients with schizophrenia. Conclusion: The present exploratory study revealed a positive relationship between symptom severity and treatment adherence and a negative relationship between quality of sleep and treatment adherence in patients with schizophrenia, but no significant relationships in patients with depression were found. Future studies are needed in order to gain a better understanding of possible risk factors related to treatment non-adherence.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of dopamine... more Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), reducing dopaminergic levels in the striatum and affecting motor control. Herein, we investigated the potential relationship between integrin α7 (ITGA7) and α-synuclein (α-syn) in the muscle of methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6 tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mice and C2C12 cells. To characterize the pathology of PD, we examined the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the SN of the midbrain. Compared with the control group, MPTP-treated mice showed a significant decrease in TH expression in the SN, accompanied by a significant decrease in muscle ITGA7 expression. Compared with the control group, α-syn expression was increased in the MPTP group. Furthermore, the pattern of α-syn expression in the MPTP group was similar to the ITGA7 expression pattern in the control group (linear forms). To determine the relationship between ITGA7 and PD, we examin...
Objectives : It aims to establish a basic rule in Korean translation of the pathway of lung merid... more Objectives : It aims to establish a basic rule in Korean translation of the pathway of lung meridian in Miraculous Pivot • Meridian vessel. Based on the rule, We tried to make standard translation of the pathway of lung meridian in Miraculous Pivot • Meridian vessel. Methods : Books needed for this study were collected through searching Kyunghee University Library(http:// khis.khu.ac.kr). Keywords included "Miraculous Pivot of Huangdi's Internal Classic". We also include the book which is generally used as a textbook in Colleges of Korean Medicine. Results : In five Chinese books, the word-spacing was used differently in four phrases. Six Korean-translated books had the different translation in three phrases. We suggested a standard Korean translation of the pathway of lung meridian in Miraculous Pivot • Meridian vessel. Conclusions : This result of the study would be expected to not only be published in Korean Journal of Acupuncture but be studied more about Korean translation by experts in this field.
Acupuncture has been shown to have therapeutic effects on many mental disorders such as depressio... more Acupuncture has been shown to have therapeutic effects on many mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse in human and animal studies. Maternal separation (MS) is a risk factor in the development of mood-related disorders such as depression. This study investigated the effects of acupuncture during MS by evaluating locomotion as behavioral markers of depression and by observing changes in c-Fos expression in the limbic system (hippocampus, amygdala and cingulate cortex) to elucidate the mechanism of the therapeutic effect. The employed acupoint, Shinmun (HT7), has been clinically used to treat mental disorders. MS for 7 days beginning on postnatal day 14 induced a significant decrease in locomotion, while acupuncture treatment at acupoint HT7 resulted in a significant increase in locomotion. c-Fos immunoreactive cells in area dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus were increased in the MS group, but significantly decreased in the acupuncture group. These findin...
Pharmacological treatment is still the key intervention in the disease management of long-term pa... more Pharmacological treatment is still the key intervention in the disease management of long-term patients with schizophrenia; however, how it affects sleep and whether gender differences exist remains unclear. Forty-six long-term outpatients with schizophrenia entered the study. The numbers of antipsychotics, sleep medications, antidepressants, and anxiolytics were analyzed. Moreover, all patients were tested using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Correlation analyses were conducted between the medication used and the scores on the two subjective sleep inventories. A large variability, ranging from 0 to 8, in the total number of psychiatric drugs per person was found between the patients. Despite ongoing pharmacological treatment, the patients scored high on the PSQI, but not on the ESS; this indicates that they report problems with sleep, but not with daytime sleepiness. A significant positive correlation between the use of antipsychot...
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronically progressive neurodegenerative disease, with its mai... more Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronically progressive neurodegenerative disease, with its main pathological hallmarks being a dramatic loss of dopaminergic neurons predominantly in the Substantia Nigra (SN), and the formations of intracytoplasmic Lewy bodies and dystrophic neurites. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn), widely recognized as the most prominent element of the Lewy body, is one of the representative hallmarks in PD. However, the mechanisms behind the increased α-syn expression and aggregation have not yet been clarified. To examine what causes α-syn expression to increase, we analyzed the pattern of gene expression in the SN of mice intoxicated with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), where down-regulation of dopaminergic cells occurred. We identified serum- and glucocorticoid-dependent kinase 1 (SGK1) as one of the genes that is evidently downregulated in chronic MPTP-intoxication. The results of Western blot analyses showed that, together with the down-regula...
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-No... more This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Abstract Introduction The purpose of this preliminary clinical trial was to investigate whether a... more Abstract Introduction The purpose of this preliminary clinical trial was to investigate whether acupuncture has a positive influence on sleep and symptomatology in patients with schizophrenia or depression. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted. One hundred participants were recruited: 40 outpatients with schizophrenia, 40 with depression, and 20 healthy controls. All completed a depression inventory, and the positive and negative symptoms of the patients with schizophrenia were evaluated by their psychiatrists. All participants were asked to complete a sleep log for two weeks. For the psychiatric patients, a randomized design with experimental (three months of acupuncture treatment) and control (waitlist) conditions was used, after which all measurements were conducted once more. Results Before treatment, patients with depression were awake longer during the night, needed more time to fall asleep, evaluated their sleep as less relaxed, felt more exhausted, and reported a lower average performance level compared with healthy controls. Moreover, patients with depression slept less and felt more exhausted than patients with schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia reported a lower average performance level compared to healthy controls. Acupuncture slightly improved sleep and depressive symptoms in patients with depression, but did not affect sleep nor influence positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Conclusion These preliminary data suggest that acupuncture can be used in order to reduce symptoms and improve sleep to some extent in patients with depression, but due to the lack of comparative data, it is impossible to reliably say anything about its effects for patients with schizophrenia.
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Method: Each of 7 databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, 3 Korean medical databases, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure) was searched from its inception through March 2015 without language restrictions.
Results: We included studies of the use of acupuncture treatment in animal models of PD. A total of 810 potentially relevant articles were identified, 57 of which met our inclusion criteria. C57/BL6 mice were used most frequently (42 %) in animal PD models. Most of the studies were carried out using only male animals (67 %); only 1 study (2 %) was performed using solely females. The further 31 % of the studies used a male/female mix or did not specify the sex.
Conclusions: The results of our review suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for animal PD models, but there is insufficient evidence to determine whether sex differences exist. Future studies of acupuncture treatment for PD should use female animal models because they reflect the physiological characteristics of both males and females to fully evaluate the effect and the safety of the treatment for each sex.
Method: Each of 7 databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, 3 Korean medical databases, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure) was searched from its inception through March 2015 without language restrictions.
Results: We included studies of the use of acupuncture treatment in animal models of PD. A total of 810 potentially relevant articles were identified, 57 of which met our inclusion criteria. C57/BL6 mice were used most frequently (42 %) in animal PD models. Most of the studies were carried out using only male animals (67 %); only 1 study (2 %) was performed using solely females. The further 31 % of the studies used a male/female mix or did not specify the sex.
Conclusions: The results of our review suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for animal PD models, but there is insufficient evidence to determine whether sex differences exist. Future studies of acupuncture treatment for PD should use female animal models because they reflect the physiological characteristics of both males and females to fully evaluate the effect and the safety of the treatment for each sex.