• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.49-66
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• 2016

This study investigated the song-induced autobiographical memory of patients with early Alzheimer's Dementia (AD) by comparing the effects of patient-selected songs (M-AD) versus music therapist-selected songs (M-MT). A total of 19 patients with early AD participated in this study. In the M-AD and M-MT conditions, each participant listened to a song and was instructed to recall memory. The time to recall memory, the specificity of the memory, mood changes, and the type of recalled memory were measured. Perceived familiarity and preference of the used songs and association of the song with the recalled memory were also analyzed. The results of the study showed that the M-AD condition elicited more specific memory and positive mood change than the M-MT condition. In addition, AD patients reported a higher level of familiarity with and preference of songs in the M-AD condition, compared to the M-MT condition. These results indicate that patient-selected songs, which have a personal meaning to an individual, could be effectively used for intervening with memory of this population, which would support music therapists to make better decision with regard to song selection. Further studies would be needed to deepen the understanding of autobiographical memory in older population with cognitive impairment and to propose more effective music therapy strategies for intervening with memory.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.142-148
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• 1996

Aloe(Aloe arborescens M$_{ILL}$) has been used as a home medicine for the past several thousand in the world, and has been studied on anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activities, hypotension, atherosclerosis, myocardiac infartion, apoplexy, diabetes as a chronic digenerative disease, tumors, gastrointestinal tract, liver and pancreas' diseases, and genitourinary tract etc. SAMP8 as a learing and memory impairment animal model were fed basic and/or experimental diets with 1.0% freezing dried(FD)-aloe for 8 months. The passive avoidance tests such as acqusition trial and retention test were significantly higher in aloe group than in control group. Grading score of senescence resulted in a marked decreases in aloe group compared with control group. Acetylcholinesterase(AChE) activity was remarkably increased in aloe group compared with control group. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine(DA) and serotonin(5-HT) almost did not change by the feeding of aloe-added diet, but their metabolites such as homovanillic acid(HVA) and 5-hydroxy-indole acetic acid(5-HIAA) in aloe group were significantly increased compared with control group. Therefore, the ratios of HVA/DA and 5-HIAA/5-HT as a ratio of metabolite on neurotransmitter were significantly increased by the feeding of aloe-added diet. These results suggest that aloe vara may be activated acetylcholinesterase, the metabolite of neurotransmitter, and ratios of metabolite on neurotransmitter, resulting ina greater prevention of learning and memory impairments such as Alzheimertype dementia.

• Design Convergence Study
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.143-164
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• 2014

In this study, we suggest a tablet-PC based application as an instrument for self-examination of dementia and aim to evaluate its usability for the practical use. The tool for the self-diagnosis of dementia is testing a person's sentence comprehension, which is investigated by the accuracy of a sentence-picture matching task, and the result of the test can differentiate individuals with dementia of Alzheimer's type from normal aging population. According to its use for diagnosis of dementia, we developed a new version of sentence-picture matching task by a cooperative study with NABLE(Neurogenic communication And Brain Lab at Ewha) and applied to the application as a main function. Targeting the New Silver who are preliminary aged people in Korea, this application can provide them with three values: 'self-', 'easy', and 'simple'. When using this application, users can gain these values by an instruction manual with the recorded guide voice, easy-to-use functions and the simplified menu structure of it. After prototyping, we conducted the usability test and it was proved as a result that the New Silver users can easily operate the application by themselves.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.442-452
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• 1993

Previous experimental and clinical investigations suggest a possible role of new nootropic drug, oxiracetam, in improving cognitive performances in patients affected by organic brain syndrome. In this study, the cognitive and behavioral effects of oxiracetam treatment in patients with clinical symptoms of organic brain syndrome were evaluated. Sixty-six patients were enrolled and assigned to either oxiracetam or placebo, according to a randomized, double-blind design between two patient-groups. Either oxiracetam or placebo was orally given bid for 8 weeks ; daily dose of oxiracetam was 1600mg. All the patients, enrolled in this study, were diagnosed as having mild to moderate cognitive dysfunction as defined by a baseline Mini Mental State ExaminationKorean version (MMSE-K) score between 14 and 25. The patients under-went, at baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after, routine laboratory study (CBC, SMA12, U/A, EKG) and the following neuropsychological tests ; MMSE-K, modified Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale(MKWIS), Nurses' Observation Scale for Geriatric patients(NOSGER). Fifteen patients of whom were dropped out or excluded from the analysis because of poor compliance or violation of the protocol. Fiftyone patients (aged 54~78 years, male 25, female 26) were analyzed (vascular dementia, 30 ; senile dementia of Alzheimer type, 9 ; mixed type, 5 ; other cause, 7). Statistical analysis of the data demonstrated that the two groups were comparable at baseline. At the end of each study period the oxiracetam group scored significantly better on the majority of the tests evaluating cognitive function, psychometricity and the improvement rating scale of subjective symptoms than placebo group, in which worsening trends or no changes were seen on the whole. No side effects were noted during oxiracetam treatment. The present study, showing positive clinical findings after oxiracetam therapy, confirmed that this drug can be useful pharmacological treatment in organic brain syndrome.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.6728-6738
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• 2014

This study investigated the relationship among pain, depression and activities of daily living in nursing home residents. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire survey of residents at 4 nursing homes in S city. The measures were the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and Discomfort Scale-Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (DS-DAT) for self-reported and observational pain, Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form-Korea Version (GDSSF-K) for depression, Barthel Activities of Daily Living (BADL) scale for ADL. The data were analyzed using the Pearson's correlation coefficient and hierarchical multiple regression using the SPSS/PC 20.0 program. The analysis results of the relationship of pain, depression and activities of daily living, both DS-DAT and NRS showed a significant negative correlation with the activities of daily living and a positive correlation with depression. Finally, gender, arthritis, depression, and activities of daily living explained 28.1% of the variance in pain using NRS, whereas depression and activities of daily living explained 21.5% of the variance in pain using DS-DAT. The results highlight the need to develop a pain management program that reduces the depression and promotes the activities of daily living in nursing home residents; hence, a differentiated approach as non-pharmacological interventions is required.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2005

The use of titanium alloys as biomaterials is increasing due to their superior biocompatibility and enhanced corrosion resistance compared to conventional stainless steels and cobalt-based alloys. Ti-6Al-4V ($\alpha+\beta$type) alloy instead of pure titanium ($\alpha$type) is being widely used as biomaterials has some characteristics such as high fatigue strength, tensile strength and corrosion resistance. But it has been reported recently that the vanadium element expresses cytotoxicity and the aluminium element is related with dementia of Alzheimer type and neurotoxicity. In order to overcome their detrimental effects, $\beta$-phase stabilizer Nb was chosen in the present study. This paper was described the influence of phase changes of Ti-Nb alloys on mechanical properties. Ti-3wt.%Nb($\alpha$type),Ti-20wt.%Nb($\alpha+\beta$type) and Ti-40wt.%Nb($\beta$type) alloys were melted by vacuum arc furnace. The specimens were homogenized at 1050$^{\circ}C$ for 24hr and were then hot rolled to 50% reduction. Each alloys were solution heat treated at $\beta$ zone and $\alpha+\beta$ zone after homogenization and then were aged. The mechanical properties of Ti alloys were analysed by hardness test, tensile test, elongation test and SEM test. The results can be summarized as follows: 1) The higher hardness value of $\alpha+\beta$type alloy was obtained compared to the, $\alpha,\beta$type alloys. 2) The aged treated showed better hardness compared to the solution heat treated, homogenized. 3) In the case of solution and aging treatment at $\beta$region, the $\alpha+\beta$type alloy showed the most highest tensile strength and $\beta$type alloy showed the best elongation.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.302-310
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• 2023

Background: The most common type of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), is marked by the formation of extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques. The impairments of axons and synapses appear in the process of Aβ plaques formation, and this damage could cause neurodegeneration. We previously reported that non-saponin fraction with rich polysaccharide (NFP) from Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) showed neuroprotective effects in AD. However, precise molecular mechanism of the therapeutic effects of NFP from KRG in AD still remains elusive. Methods: To investigate the therapeutic mechanisms of NFP from KRG on AD, we conducted proteomic analysis for frontal cortex from vehicle-treated wild-type, vehicle-treated 5XFAD mice, and NFP-treated 5XFAD mice by using nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS. Metabolic network analysis was additionally performed as the effects of NFP appeared to be associated with metabolism according to the proteome analysis. Results: Starting from 5,470 proteins, 2,636 proteins were selected for hierarchical clustering analysis, and finally 111 proteins were further selected for protein-protein interaction network analysis. A series of these analyses revealed that proteins associated with synapse and mitochondria might be linked to the therapeutic mechanism of NFP. Subsequent metabolic network analysis via genome-scale metabolic models that represent the three mouse groups showed that there were significant changes in metabolic fluxes of mitochondrial carnitine shuttle pathway and mitochondrial beta-oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Conclusion: Our results suggested that the therapeutic effects of NFP on AD were associated with synaptic- and mitochondrial-related pathways, and they provided targets for further rigorous studies on precise understanding of the molecular mechanism of NFP.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.91-101
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• 2002

Purpose : The aim of this study was to identify the brain areas in which reductions of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were correlated with decline of general mental function, measured by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Materials and Methods : Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT was peformed in 9 probable AD patients at the initial and follow-up periods of 1.8 years (average) after the first study. MMSE scores were also measured in both occasions. The mean MMSE score of the initial study 16.4 (range: 5 - 24) and the mean MMSE score of the follow-up was 8.1 (range: 0 - 17). Each SPECT image was normalized to the cerebellar activity and a correlation analysis was peformed between the level of rCBF in AD patients and the MMSE scores by voxel-based analysis using SPM99 software. Results : Significant correlation was found between the blood-flow decrease in left inferior prefrontal region (BA 47) and left middle temporal legion (BA 21) and the MMSE score changes. Additional areas such as anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, precuneus, and bilateral superior and middle prefrontal regions showed the similar trends. Conclusions : A relationship was found between reduction of regional cerebral blood flow in left prefrontal and temporal areas and decline of cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease(AD) patients. This voxel-based analysis is useful in evaluating the progress of cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.698-702
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• 1998

Propentofylline (PPF, 3-methyl-1-(5-oxohexyl)-7-propylxanthine) has been reported to be effective for the treatment of both vascular dementia and dementia of the Alzheimer type. The pharmacological effects of PPF may be exerted via the stimulation of nerve growth factor, increased cerebral blood flow, and inhibition of adenosine uptake. The objectives of this experiment are to determine the kinetic behavior of PPF, to identify, and to quantify its metabolite in human. Blood samples were obtained from human volunteers following oral administration of 200mg of PPF tablets. For the identification and quantification of the metabolite, 3-methyl-1-(5-hydroxyhexyl)-7-propylxanthine (PPFOH), PPFOH was synthesized and identified by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) and $^1H$-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The molecular weight of synthesized metabolite is 308 dalton. The PPF and PPFOH in plasma were extracted with diethyl ether and identified by electron impact GC/MS. The plasma concentrations of PPF and PPFOH were determined by gas chromatography/nitrogen phosphorus detector in plasma and their pharmacokinetic parameters were determined. The mean half-life of PPF was 0.74 hr. The areas under the curve (AUCs) of PPF and PPFOH were 508 and 460ng.hr/ml, respectively. $C_{max}$ of PPF was about 828.4ng/ml and the peak concentration was achieved at about 2.2 hr ($T_{max}$). These results indicate that PPF is rapidly disappeared from blood due to extensive metabolism into PPFOH.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2005

Ti6Al4V alloy have been mainly used as implant materials. Ti-6Al-4V alloy instead of pure Ti is being widely used as biomaterials has some characteristics such as high fatigue strength, tensile strength. But it has been reported recently that vanadium component expresses cytotoxicity and carcinogenicity and aluminium component is related with dementia of Alzheimer type. In order to overcome their detrimental effects, $\beta$-phase stabilizer Nb was chosen in the present study, in addition Ta and Hf were added to Ti-40wt.%Nb alloy to improve its mechanical properties. This paper was described the influence of heat treatment of Ti-40Nb alloys with 2wt%Ta, 2wt%Hf on the mechanical properties. Specimens of Ti alloys were melted in vacuum arc furnace and homogenized at 1050$^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr. and then were aged after solution heat treat at $\alpha+\beta$ and $\beta$ regions. The mechanical properties of Ti alloys were analysed by hardness test, tensile test, elongation test and SEM test. The results can be summarized as follows: 1. The mechanical properties Ti-40wt.%Nb were improved when 2wt.% Ta and 2wt.%Hf were added. 2. The higher tensile strength value and elongation at solution heat treat was higher than solution heat treat and then were aged.