• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.4 s.44
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• pp.628-649
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• 1993

This study was conducted to investigate the factors related to the poor school performance of the elementary school children. Two schools in Taegu, one in the affluent area and the other in the poor area, were selected and a total of 175 children whose school performance was within low 10 percentile (poor performers) and 97 children whose school performance were within high 5 percentile (good performers) in each class of 2nd, 4th and 6th grades were tested for the physical health, behavioral problem and family background. Each child had gone through a battery of tests including visual and hearing acuity, anthropometry (body weight, height, head circumference), intelligence (Kodae Stanford-Binet test), test anxiety (TAI-K), neurologic examination by a developmental pediatrician and heavy metal content (Pb, Cd, Zn) in hair by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A questionnaire was administered to the mothers for prenatal and prenatal courses of the child, family environment, child's developmental history, and child's behavioral and learning problems. Another questionnaire was administered to the teachers of the children for the child's family background, arithmatic & language abilities and behavioral problem. The poor school performance had a significant correlation with male gender, high birth order, broken home, low educational and occupational levels of parents, visual problem, high test anxiety score, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), poor physical growth (weight, height, head circumference) and low I.Q. score. The factors that had a significant correlation with the poor school performance in multiple logistic regression analysis were child's birth order (odds ratio=2.06), male gender(odds ratio=5.91), broken home(odds ratio=9.29), test anxiety score(odds ratio=1.07), ADHD (odds ratio=9.67), I.Q. score (odds ratio=0.85) and height less than Korean standard mean-1S.D.(odds ratio=11.12). The heavy metal contents in hair did not show any significant correlation with poor school performance. However the lead and cadmium contents were high in males than in females. The lead content was negatively correlated with child's grade(P<0.05) and zinc was positively correlated with grade (P<0.05). among the factors that showed a significant correlation with the poor school performance, high birth order, short stature and ADHD may be modified by a good family planning, good feeding practice for infant and child, and early detection and treatment of ADHD. Also, teacher and parents should restrain themselves from inducing excessive test anxiety by forcing the child to study and over-expecting beyond the child's intellectual capability.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.54-66
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• 1998

Objectives：This study was to investigate the impact of parental psychiatric disorder on offspring's depression, anxiety, self concept, perception of familial relationship compared with offspring of normal control. In offsprings of parents with psychiatric disorder, this study explored whether their psychopathology, self concept, and perception of familial relationship were influenced by parent’s sex, onset time of parent’s psychiatric disorder and parent’s psychiatric diagnosis. Methods：52 offsprings aged 10-18 years of 39 psychiatric outpatient were surveyed from June, 1997 to April, 1998 and completed several questionnaaire, including Korean from of the Family Environment Scale, Korean form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Korean form of Kovac’s Children’s Depression Inventory, and Korean form of Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale. Their score was compared with offsprings’ of normals. In offsprings of parents with psychiatric disorder, they were compared according to parent’s sex, onset time of parent's psychiatric disorder and parent’s psychiatric diagnosis. Results：The results were as follows：1) Offsprings of parents with psychiatric disorder reported higher level of state anxiety and lower level of the FES expressive subscale than offsprings of normals(p<0.05). But they reported higher level of PHCSCS intellectual & school status subscale and popularity subscale than normals(p<0.05). 2) There were no differences in anxiety, depression, self concept, and perception of familial relationship between patient’s sex. 3) Offsprings less than 3 years old when parent’s psychiatric disorder had developed showed higher level of trait anxiety and lower level of FES control subscale than offsprings more than 3 years old (p<0.05). 4) There were no diferences in anxiety, depression, self concept, and perception of familial relationship between patient’ diagnostic groups(schizophrenia spectrum disorder-mood disoderneurosis). Conclusion：The finding indicated that self reported scale of anxiety and depression showed no significant difference between offsprings of psychiatric patients and offsprings of normals. In offsprings of parents with psychiatric disorder, parent’s sex and psychiatiric diagnosis had no influence on offspring’s psychopathology. But the offspring’s age(before 3 years old) when the parent’s psychiatriric disorder developed had influence on higher level of offspring’s trait anxiety. For further high risk group study, direct interview and evaluation of parent-child agreement or teacher-child agreement will be needed in longitudinal study.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2021

Purpose: Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) is caused by genetic and epigenetic alteration in the GNAS locus, and characterized by the resistance to multiple hormones and the Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO) phenotype. This study investigated the phenotypic characteristics and molecular features of PHP. Methods: Eight patients who diagnosed as PHP were enrolled at Pusan National University Children's hospital and clinical features, biochemical and genetic findings were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Of a total of 8 patients, 5 were diagnosed with PHP1a, and 3 were diagnosed with PHP1b. Patients with PHP1a had three different mutations in the GNAS gene, and patients with PHPIb had imprinting defect in differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of the GNAS locus. Two novel GNAS variants were identified in patients with PHP1a, including c.313-2A>T and c.1094G>A. All patients with PHP1a displayed AHO features; short stature (80%), brachydactyly (80%), a round face (80%), obesity (40%), heterotopic ossification (60%), and intellectual disability (60%), whereas only one patient (33.3%) with PHP1b showed AHO feature such as a round face. When phenotypic features between PHP1a and PHP1b patients were compared, patients with PHP1b showed a tendency of higher current height standard deviation scores (SDS) compared to patients with PHP1a, (-3.2±2.1 vs.-1.1±0.8; P=0.06) Conclusions: This study summarizes the phenotypic and genetic features of the PHP patients. Although we found considerable clinical overlap between PHP1a and PHP1b, further long-term follow-up is needed to evaluate the growth and development of children with PHP, as well as the effects of end-organ resistances to endocrine hormones.