Traditional medicine in china, Korea, and Japan: a brief introduction and comparison.

Background and Purpose. Traditional medicine (TM) has been widely used in China (including the Taiwan region), Korea, and Japan. The purposes of this paper are to summarize the basic data on TM systems in these three countries and to compare them in terms of overall policy, education, and insurance. Methods. Government websites, national statistics, and authoritative papers from each country were fully searched. Further data were gathered by TM experts from each country. Results. China and Korea showed similar patterns in TM systems, whereas Japan showed different patterns. In China and Korea, TM was practiced in a dual system with conventional medicine (CM), and TM education was 6-year training programs on average for TM doctors, and acupuncture, moxibustion, and cupping were completely insured. Whereas, CM was dominant in Japan, and TM was practiced by each health care worker who has received different TM education respectively, and main TM therapies were partially insured. Conclusions. TM was developed similarly or somewhat differently based on differences in cultural background and national policies in East Asia. We cautiously propose that this study could contribute to the development of TM and also be used for reference in complementary and alternative medicine systems.

Effect of Modified Yukmijihwang-Tang on Sleep Quality in the Rat.

Many plants have been used in Korean medicine for treating insomnia. However, scientific evidence for their sedative activity has not been fully investigated. Thus, this study was carried out to investigate the sedative effects of the extracts of medicinal plants, including Yukmijihwang-tang and its various modified forms through the 5-HT2c receptor binding assay, and to further confirm its sleep-promoting effects and the underlying neural mechanism in rats utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) analysis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure serotonin (5-HT) in the brain. The water extracts of modified Yukmijihwang-tang (YmP) displayed binding affinity to the 5-HT2C receptor (IC50 value of 199.9 µg/mL). YmP (50 mg/kg) administration decreased wake time and increased REM and NREM sleep based on EEG data in rats. Additionally, treatment with YmP significantly increased the 5-HT level in the hypothalamus. In conclusion, the sedative effect of YmP can be attributed to the activation of the central serotonergic systems, as evidenced by the high affinity of binding of the 5-HT2C receptor and increased 5-HT levels in the brain of the rat. This study suggests that YmP can be a new material as a sleep inducer in natural products.

Scalp acupuncture for Parkinson's disease: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of scalp acupuncture (SA), a modern acupuncture technique specialized to neurological disorders, in managing motor function and symptoms for Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. METHODS: Two independent reviewers extracted data from all of the randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that assessed the efficacy of SA for PD compared with conventional therapies (CTs). Sixteen electronic databases were searched. The risk of bias was appraised with the Cochrane Collaboration tool, and the reporting of the included studies was evaluated by the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) 2010 checklist and the revised Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA) guidelines. RESULTS: In total, 4 RCTs met the inclusion criteria. As assessed by the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS), 2 RCTs showed that SA combined with CTs proved superior to CTs alone [60 cases; weighted mean difference, -3.94; 95% confidence interval (CI), -6.05 to -1.84, P=0.01; I(2) =0%]. Based on the Webster scale, however, 3 RCTs showed no superior effect of SA when combined with CTs with high heterogeneity (154 cases; risk ratio, 1.29; 95% CI, 0.79 to 2.12, P=0.30; I(2) =84%). The Cochrane risk of bias, adherence to the CONSORT and the STRICTA checklist showed that the quality of all the included RCTs was generally low. CONCLUSIONS: The result of our systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that the effectiveness of SA for PD is promising, however, the evidence is not convincing. A sham-controlled RCT design that adheres to the CONSORT and STRICTA guidelines to overcome methodological weakness and that includes a large sample size is strongly recommended to confirm the precise effect of SA on PD.