From the year 2001 to April 2004, the price medicines had got the tendency to increase. From May 2001 to Dec. 2002 the price seemed to be stable or changed no much, from 2003 the price tended to in crease, especially in March and April, then increased continously in early 2004 with an average rate of 30% from March 2003 to March 2004 due to the variation of the value of currency, particularly the euro, the shortage of management of medicinal supply the monopolist of foreign firms, the asynchronized state of law
Pharmaceutical Preparations ; Social Marketing ; Medicine

Amid the modernization and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), the safety of TCM has attracted much attention. At the moment, the government, scientific research teams, and pharmaceutical enterprises have made great efforts to explore methods and techniques for clinical safety evaluation of TCM. Although considerable achievements have been made, there are still many problems, such as the non-standard terms of adverse reactions of TCM, unclear evaluation indicators, unreasonable judgment methods, lack of evaluation models, out-of-date evaluation standards, and unsound reporting systems. Therefore, it is urgent to further deepen the research mode and method of clinical safety evaluation of TCM. Based on the current national requirements for the life-cycle management of drugs, this study focused on the problems in the five dimensions of clinical safety evaluation of TCM, including normative terms, evaluation modes, judgment methods, evaluation standards, and reporting systems, and proposed suggestions on the development of a life-cycle clinical safety evaluation method that conformed to the characteristics of TCM, hoping to provide a reference for future research.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional/adverse effects* ; Social Change

Social medicine is recognized as one of medical specialties in many countries. However, social medicine has never been formally introduced to Korea, presumably because the term and its principles were not accepted for some years in the past in American medicine, which has strongly influenced Korean medicine. This paper describes the origins and evolution of social medicine and briefly discusses contemporary social medicine in Korea. Social medicine was initiated in France and Germany in 1848. Since then, it has expanded globally and developed in diverse ways. Included in core principles of social medicine is that social and economic conditions have important effects on health and disease, and that these relationships must be subjected to scientific investigation. The term ‘social medicine’ is rarely used in Korea, but many of its subject matters are incorporated into preventive medicine which, besides prevention, deals with population health that is inescapably social. However, the Korean preventive medicine directs little attention to the basic concepts and principles of social medicine, upon which systematic development of social medicine can be based. Thus, it is necessary to supplement the social medicine contents of preventive medicine through formalizing the linkages between the two fields. One way of doing so would be to change the title of ‘preventive medicine’ course in medical colleges to ‘preventive and social medicine,’ as in many other countries, and to adjust the course contents accordingly.
France ; Germany ; Korea* ; Preventive Medicine ; Republic of Korea ; Social Medicine*

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions regarding the care of individual patients. This concept has gained popularity recently, and its applications have been steadily expanding. Nowadays, the term "evidence-based" is used in numerous situations and conditions, such as evidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice, evidence-based health care, evidence-based social work, evidence-based policy, and evidence-based education. However, many anesthesiologists and their colleagues have not previously been accustomed to utilizing EBM, and they have experienced difficulty in understanding and applying the techniques of EBM to their practice. In this article, the author discusses the brief history, definition, methods, and limitations of EBM. As EBM also involves making use of the best available information to answer questions in clinical practice, the author emphasizes the process of performing evidence-based medicine: generate the clinical question, find the best evidence, perform critical appraisal, apply the evidence, and then evaluate. Levels of evidence and strength of recommendation were also explained. The author expects that this article may be of assistance to readers in understanding, conducting, and evaluating EBM.
Education ; Evidence-Based Medicine* ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Humans ; Social Work

BACKGROUND: A rapid growth of socioeconomic status in Korea has triggered health information resolution of unprecedented magnitude among the general population. Despite its obvious benefits, the increase in the amount of information could also result in many potentially harmful effects on both consumers and professionals who do not use it appropriately. METHODS: This study was performed to evaluate health information in the television news from June 2003 through January 2004. We evaluated the quality and the accuracy of health information provided in the night news. We reviewed the health information for quality using the evidence-based medicine tools which evaluate the accuracy required to understand the text. RESULTS: A total of 85 types of information were identified. Among them, 34 (40.0%) contained inaccurate or misleading statement based on evidence-based medicine. These included confusing surrogate outcome with an end outcome (15.3%), extrapolating nonhuman results to human (8.2%), exaggerating results in conclusion (12.9%), incorrect words (7.1%), indefinite study methods (2.4%) In broadcasting stations A, B and C, the rate of error were 55.6%, 38.2% and 42.4%, respectively. The rate of error were higher in information of Korean source compared to those of international sources (65.8% and 27.3%). CONCLUSION: Many inaccurate medical information exist in the television news.
Evidence-Based Medicine ; Humans ; Korea ; Social Class ; Television*

Facing the complicated life phenomemon, both metabonomics and pharmaco-metabonomics take an organic conception of the human body, which conforms to the way of thinking of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The application of metabonomics and pharmaco-metabonomics in the modernization of TCM will deepen the evaluation of the therapeutic effects of TCM, the study of intrinsic quality of TCM syndrome and the treatment by differentiation of syndrome, facilitate the integration of TCM with modern biological science and technology, promote the modernization of TCM, and provide a new space for the development of TCM.
Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; trends ; Metabolomics ; Social Change

The pharmacology of Chinese medicine is an academic discipline that studies the interaction between Chinese medicine and organism(including pathogens) by modern science and technology under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) theories. However, the pharmacology of Chinese medicine is mainly guided by the theories, techniques, and methods of modern medicine in the development, and TCM theories have been ignored to a certain extent, which does not conform to the action characteristics of Chinese medicine in essence. Since systematic research ideas, strategies, methods, and technologies that conform to the characteristics of TCM have not been established, it is unable to reveal the scientific connotation of TCM in the prevention and treatment of diseases. Therefore, according to the trend of the modern development of TCM and the research status of pharmacology of Chinese medicine, this study put forward the concept of pharmacology of combination of disease and syndrome and expounded the relevant background, content, methods, and significance of this concept. It is expected to improve the standardization of pharmacology of combination of disease and syndrome, guide the safe medication, provide new references for the scientific development of pharmacology of Chinese medicine, and promote the development of the modernization of Chinese medicine.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Social Change ; Syndrome

In his influential treatise System einer vollstandigen medizinischen Polizey, Johann Peter Frank(1745-1821) made significant contributions to the establishment of the concept of medical police, which has been understood as the forerunner of social medicine. Cameralism, the German version of mercantilism, became the very basis on which Frank and other German writers developed the framework of medical police. 'Medical reform' was the catchword of German medical men in the 1840s. The medical reform movement of 1848 was partially caused by a deep political, economic, and social crisis. Although Industrial Revolution began in Germany later than in England and France during the first half of the nineteenth century, by 1848 the formation of German industrial working-class made medical reformers recognize the causal relationships between social and health problems. The outstanding figures in the German medical reform movement of this period were Rudolf Virchow(1821-1902), Solomon Neumann and Rudolf Leubuscher. In his famous Report on the Typhus Epidemic in Upper Silesia, Virchow proposed several radical measures that could be used against the epidemic: the absolute separation of the schools from the church, the establishment of self-government in the state and community, unlimited democracy, road building, and the improvement of agriculture and horticulture. The progressive German medical reformers of the 1840s held to several principles through their action for the enhancement of public hygiene: (1) the health of the people is a matter of direct social concern, (2) social and economic conditions have an important effect on health and disease, (3) steps taken to promote health and to combat disease must be social as well as medical. The 1848 Revolution was defeated. To most Germans after 1870s, the 1848 movement was something from a strange past. The German intellectuals and the middle class accepted social policy of Bismarck. As Bismarck launched national health insurance in 1883, more emphasis in social medicine was given on better health care rather than on social hygiene. The ideologically-oriented social medicine of 1848 was transformed into more administrative one and began to include the insurance concept in health care.
English Abstract ; Germany ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; Public Health/*history ; Social Medicine/*history

In his influential treatise System einer vollstandigen medizinischen Polizey, Johann Peter Frank(1745-1821) made significant contributions to the establishment of the concept of medical police, which has been understood as the forerunner of social medicine. Cameralism, the German version of mercantilism, became the very basis on which Frank and other German writers developed the framework of medical police. 'Medical reform' was the catchword of German medical men in the 1840s. The medical reform movement of 1848 was partially caused by a deep political, economic, and social crisis. Although Industrial Revolution began in Germany later than in England and France during the first half of the nineteenth century, by 1848 the formation of German industrial working-class made medical reformers recognize the causal relationships between social and health problems. The outstanding figures in the German medical reform movement of this period were Rudolf Virchow(1821-1902), Solomon Neumann and Rudolf Leubuscher. In his famous Report on the Typhus Epidemic in Upper Silesia, Virchow proposed several radical measures that could be used against the epidemic: the absolute separation of the schools from the church, the establishment of self-government in the state and community, unlimited democracy, road building, and the improvement of agriculture and horticulture. The progressive German medical reformers of the 1840s held to several principles through their action for the enhancement of public hygiene: (1) the health of the people is a matter of direct social concern, (2) social and economic conditions have an important effect on health and disease, (3) steps taken to promote health and to combat disease must be social as well as medical. The 1848 Revolution was defeated. To most Germans after 1870s, the 1848 movement was something from a strange past. The German intellectuals and the middle class accepted social policy of Bismarck. As Bismarck launched national health insurance in 1883, more emphasis in social medicine was given on better health care rather than on social hygiene. The ideologically-oriented social medicine of 1848 was transformed into more administrative one and began to include the insurance concept in health care.
English Abstract ; Germany ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; Public Health/*history ; Social Medicine/*history

Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) is unique because of its efficacy and its theranostic feature in the era of precision medicine. So far, introduction of new TRT has not been going well in Japan due to several reasons including strict regulations, shortage of facilities for TRT, and insufficient reimbursement for TRT in clinic. Japanese community had several strategies to develop TRT in these 10 years, including the establishment of the National Conference for Nuclear Medicine Theranostics in which physicians, scientists, patients, people supporting patients, and industrial people gather. To promote TRTwith supports from the government, the preparatory committee for the establishment of Japan Foundation of Medical Isotope Development (JAFMID) was launched. I would like to call TRT “Precision Nuclear Medicine.” When we can add genomic information here, we can put it to new stage of cancer therapy. It is time for us.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Japan ; Nuclear Medicine ; Precision Medicine ; Social Control, Formal ; Theranostic Nanomedicine