Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive disease without curative treatment. Abdominal pain is the most predominant symptom of chronic pancreatitis that initially brings most of the patients to the physician's attention. Some studies have correlated the course of pain in chronic pancreatitis in comparison with the duration of the disease, progressing exocrine and endocrine pancreatic insufficiency, and morphological changes such as pancreatic calcification and duct abnormalities. Furthermore, the course of pain has been studied after alcohol abstinence or surgery in some groups. However, there are only few well-performed and valid studies, and some of them even have produced diversing results, in part. Further controlled studies harvoring a large number of patients in a multicenter setting should be considered. Therapeutic efforts on chronic pancreatitis have focused on palliative treatment of pain which is present in about 80% of cases. Endoscopic treatment of pain in chronic pancreatitis is useful and feasible in many patients. Selecting candidate for endotherapy is mandatory. Main indication of pancreatic stent insertion in chronic pancreatitis is the presence of an obvious ductal stricture. Complications of chronic pancreatitis are also indications of endoscopic intervention. Exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies should be meticulously managed to prevent complications and to maintain good quality of life.
English Abstract ; Humans ; Pancreatitis, Chronic/*diagnosis/*therapy

Robotics are now being used in all surgical fields. Because of increased intra-abdominal articulations while operating through small incisions, robotics are increasingly being used in a large number of visceral and solid organ operations including surgery on the gallbladder, esophagus, stomach, intestines, colon, and rectum as well as for the endocrine organs. As a speciality, robotics should continue to grow. As the robotic era invades the field of general surgeon, more and more complex procedures would be able to be approached through small incision. As technology catches up with our imagination, robotic instruments and 3D monitoring will become routine, and continue to improve patient care by providing surgeons with most precise, least traumatic ways of treating surgical disease.
*Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; English Abstract ; Humans ; *Robotics

The purpose of this paper is to show the influence of Early greek medicine on Plato's Cosmology. Alcmaeon holds that health depends on proportion (equality; isonomia) or proportioned mixture of opposing factors. This notion dominated nearly all greek medicine, and also influenced Plato's cosmology greatly. Generally early greek doctors believed that man consisted of opposing factors, though these are designated differently. Alcmaeon takes powers - hot and dry, cold and hot, vitter, sweet and the rest as those factors. On the other hand, Philistion of Locri adopts the four element theory of Empedocles. He conceives that human body as a mixture of the four elements, and health consists in proportion of these opposing four element, basically as Alcmaeon. This notion is accepted by Plato. Only Plato differs from Philistion in that he does't consider the four elements as the ultimate factors. In Timaeus Plato explains that the Demiourgos constructed the four elements through introducing 'proportion' into the primitive materials (the oppositives) by means of shapes and mumbers. And Plato thinks that the cosmic body and soul was constructed basically in the same way as the four elements. This is true of the human body and soul. Also Plato explicates diseases from standpoint of proportion or symmetry. Moreover according to Philebus, the good states (i.e. 'health', 'music', 'seasons' etc) in the cosmos arises out of the right mixture of the limit and the unlimited. In other word this mixture is proportioned mixture of the oppositives by aid of ratios. In short Plato believes that both the cosmos itself and the good states is proportioned mixture of the oppositives. Thus Plato' cosmology is fundamentally based upon Alcmaeon's or Philistion's concept of Health.
English Abstract ; Greece ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; *Medicine ; Philosophy/*history

This paper is concerned not with medical theories, but with "discourses" about a famous physician, and I have addressed the subject of Hippocratic Legends as related to the Hippocratic Tradition. In this research, I pay attention to the Asclepiad guild of Cos, especially its status and privilege among Greek physicians and its role in the development of Hippocratic Tradition. In examining this issues Pseudepigrapha which are parts of the Hippocratic collections, that is Corpus Hippocraticum, are the most important texts, though they have been neglected for various reasons. It will be useful to look at some epigraphical and historical informations in comparison with the Pseudepigrapha, especially with the Presbeutikos, from which Hippocratic legends originate. In the result, it will be manifest that the Presbeutikos is a species of propaganda for the Coan Asclepiads and Pseudepigrapha's introduction into the Corpus, in the absence of biographical and historical information about Hippocrates, had much to do with the characterization of early Greek medical tradition, that became common in antiquity. In the conceptual dimension, we can and must distinguish between the idealization of Hippocrates as "the father of medicine", and the idealization of him as a respectable physician. But in reality, or historically, the ancient Hippocratic Tradition is amalgamation of these two aspects.
*Biography ; English Abstract ; Greece ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; *Medicine

Generally the originating area of ginseng is known to be in Shangdang, China. The originating time, which has been estimated according to textual and archeological outcomes, is known to be the first century B.C., during the Han dynasty era. This can be referred to as the 'Chinese origin theory of ginseng'. According to such hypothesis, the Chinese only discovered ginseng 'suddenly' during this time when it should have been self-generating for thousands of years before. However, Shangdang has been one of the historic centers of China since the ancient period and specially took prominence in terms of the beginning and development of Chinese pharmaceutics, which makes this theory largely dismissable. Moreover, there were six characters that expressed '[sim]' at the early stage and were used together with each other up to the days of Ming and Qing dynasty. Also this theory did not explain clearly about the formation of ginseng character. Hence it is fairly obvious that the 'Chinese origin theory of ginseng' do not answer appropriately to the fundamental questions of the origin of ginseng. In order to approach such mystery, perspectives need to be newly shifted to the 'outer origins' of Chinese ginseng. In this case 'outer' only points to Manchuria and Korea, since these areas are the only candidates regarding the natural circumstances of ginseng growth. So, it can be inferred that ginseng has first been identified with the locals of Manchuria and Korea, and then underwent influx to China to have been used as a medicinal stuff. Following such theory, the reason why ginseng suddenly appeared in Han China was that around this period, specially during the Han commandery epoch, it had just been introduced to China as a part of Korean culture. Also the reason there are many '[sim]' characters can be said that the sound of indigenous Korean 'sim' was considered in respect to selecting similarly-articulated words. Reaching such conclusion, the formating principle of '[sim]' can be no other than borrowing-sound character. To summarize our discussion, it is still unknown when was the actual origin of ginseng but it was far earlier than two thousand years ago as was previously accepted as the origin of this medicine plant. The originating place was not Shangdang of Shansi area of China as was commonly accepted, but Manchuria and Korea. Then ginseng must have been known and utilized by the locals of these areas. This is the 'Korean origin theory of ginseng' and simultaneously an indirect examination of the origin of 'Korean ginseng.'
China ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; Korea ; *Panax

Gastrointestinal tract is an organ for digestion, absorption and utilization of nutrients. Also it functions as an immunological organ in the human body. Patients with gastrointestinal disease are at increased risk for nutritional problem due to dietary restriction during the treatment or diagnostic examinations, anorexia or altered nutritional requirement. Clinically, it is important for gastroenterologists to be aware of the principles of nutritional therapy and the relationship between gastrointestinal diseases and the combined nutritional abnormalities. Removal of enteral feeding causes mucosal atrophy and leads to increased mucosal permeability to bacteria and endotoxin. The intestinal endotoxemia results from the translocation of bacteria and endotoxin to systemic circulation, may triggers off systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Therefore, it is crucial in critically ill patients to maintain the gastrointestinal mucosal integrity along with the intestinal flora that enables the host immunity to be maintained or enhanced. Immunonutrition is a therapeutic approach to enhance the gastrointestinal mucosal barrier with various specific nutrients. The intestinal endotoxemia and immunonutrition will also be reviewed briefly.
English Abstract ; Gastrointestinal Diseases/immunology/*therapy ; Humans ; *Nutritional Support

Hansung Physicians Association was organized in Dec. 1915. Its members were medical practitioners residing in Kyungsung(Seoul). It was apposed to Kyunsung physicians Association, of which members were Japanese. After the foundation of Hansung Physicians Association some other local physicians associations were beginning to be founded. Hansung Physicians Association's social activities were fee-free round practice and improving sanitary conditions. It was basically gathering-meeting or interest group for doctors, which is reflected in the fact that Hansung Physicians Association limited its members as medical practitioners. It is contrasted with the Chosun Medical Association which was founded in 1930. Chosun Medical Association differs from Hansung Physicians Association in the it was a academic association. The first issue of Bulletin of Hansung Physicians Association was published in August 1933. But it came to be the last issue. Hansung Physicians Association was disorganized compulsarilly in 1941 by Japanese Government-General of Korea
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Korea ; Societies, Medical/*history

Medical education in North Korea began with 2 medical colleges established during the 1930s and 1940s, and each Province came to have one medical college by the 1970s. It is presumed to exist 14 medical colleges in 1992. Apart from medical colleges, there are several kinds of medical schools. the number of medical practitioners has increased as the number of educational institutes for medicine increased. In 1996, there was 29.7 medical practitioners for 10,000 persons. They have several kinds of academic degrees in North Korea. They include: Wonsa, candidate Wonsa, doctor, vice-doctor, candidate doctor. In the university they have professor, associate professor, associate professor, lecturer, and research assistant. Academic degrees and positions are given not by the university nor research institute, but by the Government Board for Awarding Academic Degree and Position. Concerning research institutes, there is Chosen Institute for Medical Science that once was a medical research center under the Central Science Academy, and became an independent institute in 1963. Besides this institute, universities have their own research institutes, and there are also some other independent institutes.
Education, Medical/*history ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Korea

Kim Doo-jong, the founder of the history of medicine in Korea, was born on 2nd March, 1896. After finishing his primary education in his home town, he went to Seoul to receive a higher education. He entered Keijo Medical College in 1918. However, at the end of his first year, he participated in the 3 . 1 movement which protested against Japanese harsh rule over Korea. On account of his participation in the movement, he was forced to leave the college which was run by the Japanese colonial government. Then he went to Japan to enter Kyoto Municipal Medical College, from which college he graduated in 1924. After the graduation, he went to Beijing to work in a hospital run by Japanese. Having felt uncomfortable about the situation in Beijing, he moved to Manchuria, where he opened his private clinic and saw patients for 7 years. As the life as a clinician did not satisfy him, he gave up his practice, and determined to devote himself to the study of history of medicine. He was 43 years old when he started studying history of medicine at the Dong Ah Institute, an affiliated research institute of Manchuria Medical College founded by Japanese. The institute had a large and magnificent collection of ancient texts of oriental medicine. He set on historical studies on the oriental medicine from the perspective of the Western medicine. His doctorial dissertation was about anatomy in oriental medicine. He intended to continue his study on organology, myology, etc., but the sudden end of the World War II made him return to Korea. This meant that he could not make access to the large collection of the institute, and his themes of the research had to be changed. On returning to Korea, he established the Department of the History of Medicine in Seoul National University, which was the only and the first one of its kind. He wrote History of Korean Medicine, which still remains one of the most important works on the history of Korean medicine. He was very energetic and active in his academic activities even during his late years. He passed away on 18th May 1988 at the age of 92.
English Abstract ; *Historiography ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Japan ; Korea

This article explores the medical system of the Koryo Dynasty period and its social characteristics. First, the structure of medical system and roles of medical institutions during the Koryo Dynasty period will be summarized. Then, the characteristics of the medical system will be identified through exploring the principles of its formation in a view of social recognition of medical care and a view of public policy. During the Koryo Dynasty period, medical experts were trained in national education institutions from the early days of Dynasty. After trained, they were appointed to the posts at government service with their medical profession. In the meantime, they sought ways to ascend their social position. Physicians of Oriental medicine were appointed to the posts at each local government and troops to take charge of medical treatments of the common people. Also, the state tried to assume the reins of medical system by actively taking part in circulation (collection and distribution) of herb. Taeuigam and Sangyakguk represent central medical institutions of the Koryo, taking charge of medical service for the aristocracy and the bureaucracy. The Common people were treated at DongSeoDaeBiWOn, JeWuiBo, HyeMinGuk, and YakJum in SeoKyung. However, activities of these institutions became less active around the days of military officials regime, as officers became negligent and financial base went broken. The roles of medical institutions of the Koryo government were not restricted to the treatment of diseases. Policies for the common people were constituted by two main policies, the policy for encouraging agriculture and the policy for giving relief to people. Medical institutions, with other social systems, had a social responsibility to support the governing system of the Koryo and maintain the stability of the society. In this aspect, medical institutions such as DongSeoDaeBiWon and JeWuiBo, and relief institutions such as UiChang, were all related and connected organically, and they were results of, and bases of the relief policy. However, medical system for the common people was made up first for practical needs and then improved successively. Allocation of medical experts and execution of relief work were carried out by each local government, except the case of serious disaster, which central government took part in. As the Koryo Dynasty went into its latter period, temporary institutions and one - time benefits replaced permanent institutions. These four characteristics described above were systemic characteristics of medical system during the Koryo Dynasty period.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, Medieval ; Korea ; *Medicine ; Political Systems/*history