• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.348-360
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• 2015

Objectives From observing the tongue of a patient, one can assess the health status; this method has been frequently used in traditional Korean Medicine (KM) clinics. In particular, KM posits that the color of the tongue is highly related to digestive functions. In this study, the color of tongue and heart rate variability (HRV) were compared between chronic dyspepsia (CD) patients and healthy subjects. Methods Healthy subjects and CD patients with functional dyspepsia (FD), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or chronic gastritis (CG) were enrolled for the study. Profile view images of the tongue were acquired by using a computerized tongue image acquisition system (CTIS). The color of the tongue body was extracted from the non-coated region on the tongue images. Results Color differences in CIE L*a*b* color space between the three sub-types of CD patients and healthy subjects were analyzed by using multiple linear regression analysis with age and sex as the factors. The variable b* was significantly lower in GERD patients than in the controls (p=0.017). Variable a* was significantly lower in CG than in the controls (p=0.03). No significant difference was seen between FD and controls. In GERD, the tongue body seems to be intense red in color; in CG, pale red. Frequency domain analysis showed that HF was significantly lower in GERD patients than in the controls (p=0.041). Conclusions The color of the tongue body and HF of HRV can be used for diagnosing digestive functions in health care.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.683-687
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• 2013

Evacuation disorder(ED) is frequently observed in the elderly people. In this study, we investigated the tongue color properties in the elderly. 327 subjects were participated in this study and classified into normal group (n=95) and ED group (n=23) by two Korean Oriental Medicine doctors. The tongue images were acquired by using computerized tongue diagnosis system, and its color were linearly corrected base on CIE $L^*a^*b^*$ values of 12 color samples. The tongue region was segmented from acquired image and divided into two regions along the vertical direction. In order to estimate color properties of the tongue, a color histogram was calculated for the root region based on the CIE $L^*$ and $a^*$ values, and differences of color histogram values between normal and ED groups were computed based on the Mann-Whitney U test. As results, pixels corresponding to typical colors of the pale tongue and thin tongue coating were significantly more distributed in ED than those in normal group(p<0.05). The tongue color of the root region in ED was revealed to be different from those in healthy subjects.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.322-333
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• 2019

The purpose of this thesis is to show the historical context of tongue-viscera correspondence scheme based on as wide investigation as possible. For this purpose, we collected and investigated 35 books related to tongue diagnosis. As a result, we faound the following: There were some tentative trials to associate viscera or viscera meridians with tongue areas since shown in the Effective formulae of inherited medical works (世醫得效方, 1337). The main stream of tongue-viscera correspondence scheme was the form in which the apex, the center, and the root of tongue are associated with Heart, Spleen (and Stomach), and Kidney. On the viscera correspondence to the sides of tongue, there had been two streams. The first one is originated from the Upper-most Book on Shanghan (傷寒第一書, 1780), in which the sides of tongue are assumed to be associated with Liver and Gall-bladder. The second one is originated from the Ikeda Family's Chant on the Tongue (池田家舌函口訣, 1807), in which the left side and the right side of tongue are assumed to be associated with Liver and Lung separately. The former type have been accepted as the standard form in modern traditional Asian medicine education. In addition to the above types, three other correspondence schemes were also existed, but have disappeared now. These days, some new correspondence schemes are being suggested based on new approaches.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.826-832
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• 2016

In this paper, we propose a tongue diagnosis system for determining the presence of specific taste crack area as a first step in the digital tongue diagnosis system that anyone can use easily without special equipment and expensive digital tongue diagnosis equipment. Training DB was developed by the Haar-like feature, Adaboost learning on the basis of 261 pictures which was collected in Oriental medicine. Tongue candidate regions were detected from the input image by the learning results and calculated the average value of the HUE component to separate only the tongue area in the detected candidate regions. A tongue area is separated through the Connected Component Labeling from the contour of tongue detected. The palate regions were divided by the relative width and height of the tongue regions separated. Image on the taste area is converted to gray image and binarized with each of the average brightness values. A crack in the presence or absence was determined via Connected Component Labeling with binary images.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.97-102
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• 2008

The tongue diagnosis is a diagnostic method in the oriental medicine that uses shape, substance, coating, and movement of the tongue to determine the condition of health and disease characteristics in human. Since this information, however, could be affected by subjective sense and visual information, it is difficult to obtain the objective and reproducible results. This research aims at building a reproducible tongue diagnosis system using color chart that is attached close to the face contact region. The picture of color chart is taken simultaneously with a tongue and applied to color revision. The system, in addition, is focused on providing a clear tongue image through securing a sufficient photographing distance with a surface coating mirror. The lightning part which can suppress the reflection by sputum in maximum is implemented for the objectification and quantification of the tongue diagnosis system. The face contact region is designed for consideration of a testee's convenience. To evaluate the reproducibility of the system, the CVs (coefficient of variance, %) of $L{\ast}$, $a{\ast}$ and $b{\ast}$ of red, green and blue regions in color chart are calculated, respectively. The results of all CVs shows that the tongue diagnosis system is re liable and those consequences contribute to the objectification and quantification of the tongue diagnosis system.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1971-1975
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• 2014

Background: Tongue cancer is still a major health problem in most developing countries around the world. Statistics shown the number of tongue cancers, especially in early age, to be increasing, with poor survival. Objective: To analyze the characteristic profile of tongue cancer patients in Indonesia as well as the survival rate. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Dharmais National Cancer Hospital by collecting general, clinical, and survival data of tongue cancer patients from medical records for January 2009 to April 2012. Results: Tongue cancer incidence increased year by year. The average age of tongue cancer patients was 47.5 years, and males predominated, accounting for 64.5% of cases. Most patients presented at an advanced stage (69.6%). The histopathology type was squamous cell carcinoma in the vast majoriy (96.8%). The therapies applied were surgery (45.6%), radiation (63.6%) and chemotherapy (57.6%). The survival rate after one year is 60.6% and after two years was 12.1%. In addition, median survival of tongue cancer patients was 20 months (95% confidence interval 9.07-30.9). The significant factor affecting survival was size of tumor with a hazard ratio of 3.18 (95% CI, 1.02-9.93; p 0.046) for largest versus smallest categories. Conclusions: In each year, the number of tongue cancer incidents in Indonesia is increasing. The age of tongue cancer patients in Indonesia is younger compared to other countries. Moreover, the survival rates are not high.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1371-1374
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• 2015

Background: Tongue cancer is one of the leading sites of cancer in our population. Aim: To evaluate the socio-demographic profiles and stages at diagnosis of oral tongue (OT) and base of tongue (BT) cancers, and identify any possible variations in characteristics. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on tongue cancer cases, divided into OT and BT, registered at the hospital cancer registry of North-East India during January 2010 to May 2013. Cases were analyzed for age, gender, residential status and different levels of education for patients, the stage at diagnosis and presence of distant metastasis. Results: A total of 1,113 cases of tongue cancers were registered, 846(76.1%) of BT and 267(23.9%) of OT. While 33.9% of BT cancer patients were above 65 years of age, the figure for OT cancers was 18.4%, stages III and IV accounting for 90.8% and 77%, respectively. The relative risk for distant metastasis in OT cancers was 3.3 (95% CI 1.08-10.1, p=0.03). Conclusions: In the subsites of tongue cancers in our population, the majority arose from the base of tongue, these tending to occur in older individuals and presenting at late stage.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.54-58
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• 2019

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation between tongue pain and tenderness of tongue by digital palpation (DP) in Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) patients. Methods: One hundred thirty-four consecutive patients (60 BMS with tongue pain and 74 non-BMS) who attended the Department of Oral Medicine (Chosun University Dental Hospital, Gwangju, Korea) from January 2018 to December 2018 were included in this study. The examined sites were anterior, lateral (right and left) and central part of the tongue. The pain sites were reported by the patients and the tender points on DP test were recorded by the clinicians. DP test was performed by well-trained clinicians with palpation of the tongue with 0.5 kg pressure using the thumb and index finger. Obtained results for BMS and non-BMS group were compared using t-test (p<0.05). Results: 1. The BMS group had higher tender score on DP test of the tongue and there was a significant difference between the BMS and non-BMS groups. 2. The accuracy of the pain site and the tender point was shown to be 0.68 total (anterior 0.68; right lateral 0.69; left lateral 0.70; central 0.61). Conclusions: This study suggests that the tenderness to DP of the tongue could be related to the painsites in the BMS patients. Further study is needed to confirm the usefulness of DP test of the tongue to examine the BMS patients.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.96-106
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• 2019

Background: Factors affecting oral function include tooth number, oral muscle strength, and oral diseases. This study aimed to investigate the relationship among oral environment, muscle, and microbiology. Methods: Fifty-six elderly individuals in a day care center were included in the study. The survey regarding tongue and lip muscle strength and oral microorganisms was conducted from November to December 2018. Results: Tongue and lip muscle strength were greater in men than women (p>0.05). Tongue muscle strength was greater in the ${\leq}80-year-old$ group ($34.94{\pm}9.85$) than the ${\geq}90-year-old$ group ($25.57{\pm}7.54$) (p<0.05). Tongue muscle strength and lip muscle strength were greater in the ${\geq}15$ functional teeth group ($34.08{\pm}9.31$ and $9.25{\pm}1.63$, respectively) than in the <15 functional teeth group ($28.08{\pm}7.53$ and $7.76{\pm}1.51$, respectively) (p<0.05). Age was significantly correlated with functional tooth number, denture use, and tongue muscle strength. The number of functional teeth was positively correlated with tongue muscle strength, lip muscle strength, and oral microorganisms. Denture use was negatively correlated with tongue and lip muscle strength. Tongue muscle strength was significantly correlated with lip muscle strength. The number of Eubacterium nodatum was higher in men than women. The number of Parvimonas micra and Enterococcus faecalis was higher in the groups with ${\geq}15$ functional teeth, denture use, and greater tongue and lip muscle strength. The number of Lactobacillus casei was higher in the group that uses dentures and with greater tongue strength. Conclusion: Oral microbiology is more important in oral environment and management than oral muscle function. The correlation between oral muscle and oral microorganism requires further study. Therefore, oral care training should be conducted to improve the oral care practice of elderly individuals, maintain oral health through oral care, and prevent the decrease in saliva secretion by aging.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.15-24
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• 2012

Objective : I would define the differences of sentences that 'A tongue can detect five basic tastes' and 'A mouth can perceive the five cereals' in Youngchu Macdo(靈樞 脈度). Methods : 1. I refer to literatures for the sentences in Youngchu Macdo 2. I look into the symptoms which may be caused by heart and pancreas troubles, respectively. Result : Human being can not detect a specific taste on his heart trouble. That is, acid, bitter, sweet, hot, and saltness can be all one. Human being may lose his appetite on his pancreas trouble. Even though the viscera and the tongue are connected to on-meridians, the function of a tongue is managed and controlled by a heart. Such a tongue perceives five basic tastes. Conclusion : A healthy tongue appreciates five basic tastes clearly and a healthy mouth may stimulate his appetite.