• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.3 s.27
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• pp.368-379
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• 1989

The relationship between mercury level of hair and mental retardation was investigated. The 297 subjects with mental retardation were drawn from two schools providing special educational services, one, consisted of children living in an orphan home, another, children with parents. The 117 centre] subjects were drawn from whom had got average or above average academic achivement in a regular elementary school. Hair sample were taken from the nape of the neck and the mercury analysis was carried out on an atomic absorption spectrophotometer(IL 551). There was no relationship between mercury contents and age, and there was a statistically significant difference in mercury contents between male and female in the mentally retarded children living with parents. Children in the retarded group had significantly higher mercury contents compared with control group except the female group with parents. Also, the mercury levels in the retarded group living in an orphan home were significantly higher than that of the retarded group with parents. The concomitant diseases were Down's syndrome, epilepsy, cerebral palsy and autism. There were statistically significant differences in hair mercury levels in the cases of accompanying Down's syndrome and cerebral palsy in male and Down's syndrome and autism in female compared with the control group of the same sex. The most accompanying handicap was speech disturbance(40.7%) and the others were crippled, emotional disturbance etc. The percentages of double handicap were 66.7% among 6 persons exceeding 6ppm of their hair mercury contents. 10.4% among $3{\sim}6$ ppm and 15.7% among the group of 3ppm or less. The findings of this study suggest that the more opportunities of exposure to mercury in mentally retarded children may have occurred, so it can not be excluded the possibility of mercury as a contributing factor to mental retardation. Therefore, the causal relationship between mercury levels and mental retardation should be established through the examinations about their living environments, dietary pattern, eating habit etc.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.546-550
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• 2008

In this untreated classic phenylketonuria (PKU) case, mental retardation is severe; however, there have been individuals- like the mother of this case- who have escaped mental retardation and all the other potential sequelae of phenylketonuria, despite having high blood phenylalanine levels, and very poor dietary control. It appears that they have nearly normal brain phenylalanine levels despite high blood phenylalanine (Phe) levels. A number of studies have now demonstrated considerable variability in blood vs. brain phenylalanine levels in phenylketonuria patients. Outcome of phenylketonuria appears to be related to brain phenylalanine levels. We report a case of "undiagnosed" maternal phenylketonuria syndrome. A female infant had low birth weight (2,400 g) with microcephaly. We examined her family and discovered that her mother was an undiagnosed phenylketonuria patient with a borderline intelligence quotient (IQ). The infant's sister, six years old, was diagnosed with phenylketonuria at the age of four years was mentally retarded and had received an operation for cleft lip and palate. the sister had also had a low birth weight (2,300 g). Her sister and mother were compound heterozygotes (mother: R243Q/Y325X; sister: Y325X/P407S). The infant and father were heterozygous carriers (baby: R243Q/ -; father: P407S/ - ).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.2 s.26
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• pp.215-222
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• 1989

The relationship between cadmium level and mental retardation was investigated. The 297 subjects with mental retardation were drawn from two schools providing special educational services, one, consisted of children living in an orphan home, another, children with parents. The 117 control subjects were drawn from whom had got average or above average academic achivement in a general elementary school. Hair sample was taken from the nape of the neck and the cadmium and zinc analysis were carried out on an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (IL 551). Children in the retarded group had significantly higher cadmium levels compared with control but not in zinc levels. There was no relationship between metal concentrations and age except control male group, which showed significant positive linear relationship in zinc, and there was no difference between sex in both metal except the male orphan group in cadmium. In the orphan group, there was relationship between severity of retardation and cadmium concentration in both sex but not in retarded children with parents. No difference in cadmium levels between the group with Down's syndrome, one of causes of mental retardation, and the control group suggested the cadmium as a possible cause of mental retardation. In the case of accompanying autism, zinc level was significantly lower than that of other accompanying diseases. Although not establishing an etiologic relationship, findings of this study suggest that there are some influeces of cadmium on mental retardation, and call for a continuing study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.127.2-127.2
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• 2003

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.1 s.25
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• pp.125-135
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• 1989

This paper was carried out to study on correlation between mentally retardation and lead and zinc. The subjects were 297 mentally retarded children: 132 of Bomyung special school and Sunmyung, which were located in Taegu city of Korea. The former had their parents but the latter had not. The control group 63 children were randomly seleted from the Dong-in primary school near to Medical School of Kyungpook National University. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer, model IL-551 connected with CTF atomizer(IL. 655) was used for the analysis of lead and zinc. The mean value of lead in hair of mentally retarded children was $14.97{\pm}3.71ppm$ which is significantly higher than that of control group, $11.36{\pm}2.83ppm$. But the content of zinc was not significant in both groups. In the lead there was no significant correlation to age but significant negative correlation to IQ. Zinc showed significant correlation to age but not to IQ. Among the handicapped children, no signigicant correlation between orphan group and non orphan group. Handicaps of mentally-retarded children were speech impairment, emotional disturbance, double and triple handicaps, sensory impairment and abnormal dietary patterns. There were significantly higher contents of lead compared with normal group, except the latter two groups. The disease conditions of mentally retarded children were mongolism, autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and microcephaly. In comparing with mongolism, significant difference were existent only on the cerebral palsy and group of unknown etiology. We attempted to divide their past history into external etiology and internal etiology, but could not find significant difference. In view of the whole results, the relationship between mentally-retarded children and lead was presumed to be the early time exposure rather than long interval exposure during growth and the contact opportunity was considered important subject in maternal and child health care.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.37-49
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• 2023

Object : This study aimed to identify the factor structure of Korean-Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 Dysregulation Profile (K-CBCL 1.5-5 DP) in infants and toddlers with mental disorders and verify differences in K-CBCL 1.5-5 DP among the diagnosis groups. Methods : The participants were 265 mothers of infants and toddlers with mental disorders who completed K-CBCL 1.5-5 DP. The data was analyzed using AMOS 25.0 and SPSS 25.0. Results : First, the bifactor model was the most suitable for the factor structure of the K-CBCL 1.5-5 DP. Second, there were significant differences among the diagnosis groups, such as communication disorders, pervasive developmental disorders, emotional disorders, and developmental delays. It was confirmed that the pervasive developmental disorder and emotional disorder groups showed significantly higher dysregulation compared with the communication disorder group. Conclusion : This study confirmed that infants and toddlers had dysregulation problems. Using the bifactor model, the multidimensional nature of the K-CBCL 1.5-5 DP was assessed. It was also meaningful that dysregulation could contribute to onset and deepening of symptoms of pervasive developmental disorders and emotional disorders in infancy.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.668-680
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to contribute to family nursing for reducing stress and improving coping of the parents of mentally retarded children. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires during a period of 2 months between November 1994 and January 1995 in the Kyoung-in area. The subjects consist of 180 parents (90 mothers and 90 fathers) of mentally retarded children attending schools for the handicapped and 186 parents (93 mothers and 93 fathers) of normal children. The levels of general stress and of parental role stress were measured with the General stress scale and the Parental role stress scale, respectively, while the Coping scale was adopted to measure the level of coping. The data were analyzed by using Chi-square test. fisher's exact test, Repeated masured ANOVA, oneway ANOVA and Scheffe comparison test. The results were as follows ; 1. The level of general stress was significantly higher in the mothers and the fathers of the men-tally retarded than in the respective parents of the normal. Of the parents, the mothers experienced significantly greater level of general stress than the fathers did in both groups of the retarded and of the normal. 2. As for the parental role stress, the mothers and the fathers of the mentally retarded experienced significantly greater stress than respective parents of normal children did. In particular, the stress was significantly higher in the mothers than the fathers of these children in both groups. The difference in the levels of parental role stress experienced by mothers and by fathers was significantly bigger among those of the mentally retarded tnan among those of normal children. 3. No significant difference in the level of coping was observed between the mothers of both groups and the fathers of both groups. By contrast, the fathers revealed significantly greater scores in coping than the mothers in both groups. 4. General stress experienced by the fathers of the mentally retarded was different by health status, satisfaction with spouses, and the supports from their spouses. Health status, satisfaction with spouses, and monthly income Influenced parental role stress experienced by those fathers. Their level of coping was associated with their satis-faction with spouses and family life. 5. Of the mothers of the mentally retarded, the level of general stress was different by their health status, while parental role stress was related to the satisfaction with their spouses and the child's age. The level of coping among the mothers was different by the supports from their spouses. The above findings indicate that those parents of the mentally retarded did not take more coping strategies than those of the normal did, despite greater stress experienced among themselves. Hence, nursing intervention for managing stress should be given to those parents including fathers of mentally retarded children. Mothers of the mentally retarded, in particular, should receive high priority in planning nursing care, since they experience greater levels of both general stress and parental role stress than their spouses, which is most likey due to primary responsibility in child rearing given to them at home.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.165-176
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to contribute to family nursing in the areas of reducing stress and improving coping for parents of mentally retarded children. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires during a period of 2 months between November 1994 and January 1995 in the Kyoung-in area. The subjects consist of 176 parents (88 mothers and 88 fathers) of mentally retarded children attending schools for the handicapped. The levels of general stress and of parental role stress were measured with the General stress scale and the Parental role stress scale, respectively. The coping scale developed by Folkman ＆ LaZarus was adopted to measure the level of coping, and the patterns of adaptation scale developed by Damrosch ＆ Perry was adopted to measure the patterns of adaptation. The data were analyzed by a SAS program using Fisher's exact test, paired t-test, and oneway ANOVA. The results are as follows ; 1. The level of general stress was significantly higher in mothers than in fathers. Mothers experienced a significantly greater level of parental role stress than fathers did. No significant difference in the level of coping was observed between mothers and fathers. There were differences in maternal and paternal patterns of adaptation. 2. The adaptation pattern of fathers was different according to their level of general stress, parental role stress and coping. The adaptation pattern of mothers was not different according to their level of general stress and parental role stress, but was according to their level of coping. 3. General stress experienced by fathers was different according to education, health status and support from their spouses. Satisfaction with family life, satisfaction with spouse and the support from spouse influenced coping used by fathers. Their level of parental role stress was not associated with any of their general characteristics. 4. In mothers, the level of general stress was different according to their health status, the level of parental role stress was related to satisfaction with family life and satisfaction with spouse. Their level of coping was associated with the sup port from spouse. The above findings indicate that mothers did not have more coping strategies than fathers did, despite the results which showed that mothers experienced greater stress than fathers did. Especially, the adaptation pattern of mothers was different according to their level of coping. Hence, nursing interventions directed at managing stress and improving coping should be used with mothers who use adaptation pattern 1. In particular, fathers should actively participate in parenting, and support their spouses.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.20
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• pp.141-157
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• 2010

Though the education of culture and art for disabled children is very important, it has not been brisk yet until recently due to 'absence of the teaching methods suitable for disability types, levels and programs.'. In this situation, cartoon contents can be used as the most appropriate tools for culture and art education for mentally retarded children. Entertainment functions and genre features of cartoon contents can motivate the applicable children to participate more voluntarily and positively and function as teaching tools for interesting activities. Of course, since it is not proper to apply the cartoon contents for normal children to Special Education Field as they are, cartoon works should be made by understanding closely the characteristics and degrees of retardation of the applicable children and applying them to the composition of cartoons. However, for the contribution of this attempt to education field, it is thought that concrete guidelines for producing cartoon contents considering the concept of various types of disability, emotion, social behavioral traits, ability of cognition, school achievements, and the characteristics of language and physical health should be necessary, and to improve the application of the developed cartoon contents so that they will not remain as superficial results, sufficient communication with the applicable children such as application to classes in the process of development is necessary.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.369-375
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• 2005

Purpose : Many inborn errors of metabolism can be completely cured with early detection and early treatment. This is why neonatal screening on inborn errors of metabolism is implemented worldwide. In this study, a cost-benefit analysis was performed on the neonatal screening of phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism in Korea. Methods : This study included 2,908,231 neonates who took the neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism in Korea from January 1991 to December 2003. From those neonates, the incidence rates of phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism were measured. Furthermore, based on 495,000 babies born in 2002, were calculated and compared the total costs in case when neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism is implemented, and when not. Results : If the neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism is implemented, benefits far exceed costs at a ratio of 1.77 : 1 in phenylketonuria, and 11.11 : 1 in congenital hypothyroidism. In terms of wons, the present neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism will gain us more than 29 billion wons every year. Conclusion : This study only concerns the monetary aspects of the neonatal screening. Therefore, the benefits of the neonatal screening is underestimated by ignoring precious but not measurable values such as quality of life. However, the present neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism is found to be beneficial and should continue for the good of the nation as well as that of the patients.