The Sasang typology, traditional Korean personalized medicine, divides people into four Sasang types and suggests type-specific medical herbs and acupuncture for more safe and effective treatment. The main idea of Sasang typology seems relatively simple; however, the Sasang type diagnosis and type-specific treatment in clinical situation has been difficult for the clinicians and researchers. This study provided clinical procedures of type-specific Tae-Geuk Acupuncture (TGA) therapy along with basic understandings on Sasang typology and clinical indices for Sasang type differentiation. The TGA therapy would be useful for psychosomatic complaints and chronic pains by restoring the balance of Yin–Yang. The clinical application of TGA, its related biological mechanisms, and implications for further prospective clinical study were discussed.

The purpose of this study was to review the pharmacognostic characteristics of Sasang type-specific medical herbs and suggest biological mechanisms that might be related to the personalized treatment of the East.Major compounds and their pharmacological activities of medical herbs for each Sasang types were systematically reviewed. The pharmacognostic characteristics of its main compounds were systematically analyzed with previous studies and three web-based databases.Sasang type-specific medical herbs were selected, and biological effects of their phytochemicals were reviewed from the pathophysiological features of each Sasang types. Phenolics were dominant in Tae-Yang type-specific herbs, iridoids and triterpenes with antipyretic and diuretic effects were in So-Yang type-specific, saponins (triterpene saponins and steroidal saponins) with antitussive effects were in Tae-Eum type-specific, and monoterpene and sesquiterpenes with stomachic effect were in So-Eum type-specific herbs.Pharmacognostic understandings on Sasang type-specific medical herbs with consideration of type-specific pathophysiological features were provided for the first time. This study would contribute to in-depth understandings on the pathophysiology of Sasang typology and integration of East-Asian and Western personalized medicine.

Objectives. A review on studies related to the use of Mori folium, the leaves of Morus alba, was conducted with the goal of identifying new clinical applications in Korean medicine. Methods. Global literature search was conducted using three electronic databases up to January 2015 with the term Morus alba and its Korean terms. KM literatures including textbooks and standard pharmacopoeia were separately hand-searched and reviewed to provide comparison. Data were extracted according to predetermined criteria, and clinical uses were standardized with ICD-10 categories. Results. 159 potentially relevant studies were identified, and 18 articles including 12 ethnopharmacologic and 6 clinical studies were finally included in this analysis. Ethnopharmacologic studies from 8 countries provided 17 clinical uses. We found that five out of six clinical trials were related to diabetes and suggested a moderate short-term to mild long-term effect. And 43 Korean texts also provided 156 clinical uses in 35 categories including ocular and respiratory disorders. Discussion and Conclusions. Though majority of the clinical uses were also found in Korean medicine literature, treatment of infertility, jaundice, cognitive disorder, and hyperpigmentation was found to be effective and diabetes with Morus alba was recognized to have clinical importance.