| The purpose of this study was to investigate the current state of clinical studies of qigong therapies for cognitive impairment using neuroimaging method. We searched for clinical trials of qigong therapies for cognitive impairment using neuroimaging method in the MEDLINE (Pubmed) and CNKI on October 18, 2024. Once the online search was finished, studies were selected manually by the inclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of selected articles and reviewed the neural substrates of qigong therapies in cognitive impairment. Total six studies were included in this study. The most frequently utilized modality was functional MRI. The qigong therapies applied in the study were Tai chi and Baduanjin. Looking at the selected studies, there were many cases that the control group included controls who did not perform any interventions other than health education and an active control group that performed brisk walking. It was confirmed that Qigong therapy can improve cognitive function more broadly, including MoCA scores, compared to the general control group or walking group. Moreover, several studies revealed that qigong therapies could regulate brain activation centered on medial temporal lobe, frontal areas, parietal lobes, attention-related brain networks, and brainstem including neurotransmitter-related nuclei. Through the analysis, we demonstrated that neuroimaging techniques could explore the neural mechanisms of qigong therapies on cognitive impairment. We hope that this perspective on the effectiveness of qigong therapy using neuroimaging methods would be helpful in performing future clinical researches on the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease in the traditional Korean medicine. |
| This study is designed to analyze the effectiveness of pharmacopuncture therapy for non-specific neck pain. We will search 11 databases, including 5 Korean databases (KoreaMed, ScienceON, KMBASE, Korean Studies Information Service System [KISS], OASIS) and 6 international databases (EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Citation Information by NII [CINII], WanFang data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI]). Participants will be patients diagnosed with non-specific neck pain, regardless of the duration of illness, severity of illness, race, age, or sex. The intervention will be pharmacopuncture, while the comparisons will be with treatments other than pharmacopuncture. The primary outcome will be assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) or Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Additionally, adverse events related to pharmacopuncture will also be assessed. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on pharmacopuncture for non-specific neck pain will be included in this study. The quality of the RCTs will be assessed using Cochrane's risk of bias tools. The data from the RCTs will be analyzed as continuous variables using the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Heterogeneity across studies will be assessed using Higgins' I² test. Cochrane’s Review Manager 5.4 will be used to synthesize the data for the meta-analysis. This study will contribute to establishing a higher level of evidence for the use of pharmacopuncture therapy in the treatment of non-specific neck pain in the future. |
| Network pharmacology is a research field based on system biology by combining computational analysis with molecular biological experiments to discover drug targets and molecular biological mechanisms. Therefore, a variety of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) databases and tools are developed and used in Korean medicine research study. In this review, we conducted a comparative study of characteristics of TCM databases, focusing on several representative network pharmacology scenarios. We selected 10 TCM related databases from Database Commons and Pubmed based on their publication year and citation numbers. We analyzed source of data, characteristics, service components such as analytical functions of them. Also, we introduced several representative scenarios for exploring the efficacy of herb or herbal formula based on papers related to system biology. Our findings suggest that researchers can use network pharmacology based scenarios to explore the therapeutic mechanisms and targets between disease and herb or herbal formula. In conclusion, this review aims to provide researchers with ideas for selecting appropriate databases for Korean medicine research. |
| This scoping review aimed to examine the current status of research utilizing heart rate variability (HRV) for diagnosis in Korean Medicine (KM) and traditional East Asian medicine, and to explore its potential for objectifying KM diagnostic methods. A systematic search was conducted in Medline and Embase databases. Studies published in English that used HRV for diagnostic purposes in KM or traditional East Asian medicine were included. Data extraction and analysis were performed according to predefined criteria. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The research designs were categorized into five types: TEAM Pattern and Symptom Analysis, Comparative Analysis, Diagnostic Tool Development, HRV Pattern Development for Specific Conditions, and Physiological Indicator Correlation Analysis. The studies revealed significant relationships between HRV parameters and various concepts in traditional East Asian medicine, including constitution types, symptoms, and pattern identifications. Several studies demonstrated the potential of HRV in objectifying and modernizing traditional diagnostic methods. This review suggests that HRV analysis has significant potential as a tool for objectifying KM diagnosis. It can provide a bridge between traditional medical theories and modern physiological measurements. Further research is needed to standardize HRV measurement protocols in KM and to develop more robust diagnostic tools based on HRV analysis. |
