• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.53-68
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• 2009

Objectives: This study demonstrates the neurological effects of Bojungikki-tang and Bojungikki-tang-gamibang on the focal cerebral ischemia of rats with ischemic damage caused by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Methods: Rats were treated with Bojungikki-tang and Bojungikki-tang-gamibang extracts for about five days after MCAO, and the size and volume of cerebral infarction and the ratio of cerebral edema were observed. From the immunohistochemical view, significant changes of outbreak of Bax, Bcl-2, c-Fos, HSP72, and iNOS were observed in the brain tissues. Results: Bojungikki-tang repressed only brain edema and iNOS revelation led by focal cerebral ischemia, when considering significance. In contrast, Bojungikki-tang-gamibang demonstrated significant suppression of cerebral infarction, brain edema, Bax, c-Fos, HSP72, and iNOS induced by focal cerebral ischemia. Conclusions: Bojungikki-tang is considered functional treatment for cerebral ischemic damage; it can be effective to relieve secondary brain edema and immune response. Bojungikki-tang-gamibang can have a direct function to alleviate brain infarct and to control the natural death of nerve cells which cerebral ischemic damage brings about.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2005

From the RT-PCR amplifications using mRNA templates isolated from Sprague-Dawley rat brains, we isolated a cDNA fragment of 1,524 bp which covered the full coding information of the rat brain CYP2El. Its nucleotide sequence was identical to the previously reported rat liver CYP2El mRNA except for the difference of one base (A to C at the nucleotide position 73). This difference also altered the amino acid Lys to GIn. However, no insertion or deletion of nucleotide(s) which could alter the reading frame was found within the structure of this rat brain CYP2El. This study should provide the molecular basis regarding the pathophysiological function of CYP2El in the brain.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.89-92
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• 2005

The effects of acupuncture are complex and how it works is not entirely clear. Research suggests that the needling process, and other modalities used in acupuncture, may produce their complex effects on a wide variety of ways in the brain and the body. For example, it is theorized that stimulated nerve fibers transmit signals to the spinal cord and brain, thus activating parts of what is called the central nervous system. The spinal cord and brain then release certain hormones responsible for making us feel better overall and, more specifically, feel less pain. In fact, a study using images of the brain confirmed that acupuncture increases our pain threshold, which may explain its ability to produce long-term pain relief. Also, acupuncture may increase blood circulation and body temperature. It may also affect white blood cell activity (responsible for our immune function).

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.48-53
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• 2017

Background and Purpose Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) is a well-known and commonly used measure of creativity. However, the TTCT-induced creative hemodynamic brain activity is rarely revealed. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the neural correlates of creative thinking in the setting of a modified version of the figural TTCT adapted for an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. Methods We designed a blocked fMRI experiment. Twenty-five participants (11 males, 14 females, mean age $19.9{\pm}1.8$) were asked to complete the partially presented line drawing of the figural TTCT (creative drawing imagery; creative). As a control condition, subjects were asked to keep tracking the line on the screen (line tracking; control). Results Compared to the control condition, creative condition revealed greater activation in the distributed and bilateral brain regions including the left anterior cingulate, bilateral frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital regions as shown in the previous creativity studies. Conclusions The present revealed the neural basis underlying the figural TTCT using fMRI, providing an evidence of brain areas encompassing the figural TTCT. Considering the significance of a creativity test for dementia patients, the neural correlates of TTCT elucidated by this study may be valuable to evaluate the brain function of patients in the clinical field.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.172-177
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• 2023

BEST family is a class of Ca²⁺-activated Cl- channels evolutionary well conserved from bacteria to human. The human BEST paralogs (BEST1-BEST4) share significant amino acid sequence homology in the N-terminal region, which forms the transmembrane helicases and contains the direct calcium-binding site, Ca²⁺-clasp. But the cytosolic C-terminal region is less conserved in the paralogs. Interestingly, this domain-specific sequence conservation is also found in the BEST1 orthologs. However, the functional role of the C-terminal region in the BEST channels is still poorly understood. Thus, we aimed to understand the functional role of the C-terminal region in the human and mouse BEST1 channels by using electrophysiological recordings. We found that the calcium-dependent activation of BEST1 channels can be modulated by the C-terminal region. The C-terminal deletion hBEST1 reduced the Ca²⁺-dependent current activation and the hBEST1-mBEST1 chimera showed a significantly reduced calcium sensitivity to hBEST1 in the HEK293 cells. And the C-terminal domain could regulate cellular expression and plasma membrane targeting of BEST1 channels. Our results can provide a basis for understanding the C-terminal roles in the structure-function of BEST family proteins.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.23.1-23.14
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• 2024

Adipose tissue, well known for its endocrine function, plays an immunological role in the body. The inflamed adipose tissue under LPS-induced systemic inflammation is characterized by the dominance of pro-inflammatory immune cells, particularly neutrophils. Although migration of macrophages toward damaged or dead adipocytes to form a crown-like structure in inflamed adipose tissue has been revealed, the neutrophilic interaction with adipocytes or the extracellular matrix remains unknown. Here, we demonstrated the involvement of adhesion molecules, particularly integrin α6β1, of neutrophils in adipocytes or the extracellular matrix of inflamed adipose tissue interaction. These results suggest that disrupting the adhesion between adipose tissue components and neutrophils may govern the accumulation of excessive neutrophils in inflamed tissues, a prerequisite in developing anti-inflammatory therapeutics by inhibiting inflammatory immune cells.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.63-77
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• 2015

Objectives The combination extract of four kinds of herbs, Gastrodia elata, Liriope platyphylla, Dimocarpus longan, and Salvia miltiorrhiza, has shown to have memory improving effects in mice. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of the herbal mixture for improving working memory as well as microstructural changes in white matter integrity in individuals with subjective memory complaints. Methods Seventy-five individuals with subjective memory complaints were assigned to receive either placebo (n = 15) or herbal mixture (low-dose group, n = 30 and high-dose group, n = 30) supplementation in an 8-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Changes in working memory performance and fractional anisotropy (FA) values reflecting white matter integrity from baseline to 8-week endpoint were assessed. Results The herbal mixture group showed an increase in working memory performance compared to the placebo group (p for interaction = 0.001). In addition, the herbal mixture group showed an increase in FA values in the temporo-parietal regions (corrected p < 0.05), which are crucially involved in working memory function and are among the most affected regions in patients with cognitive impairments. Conclusions Findings from this study indicate that the herbal mixture may be a promising therapeutic option for individuals with subjective memory complaints.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.635-644
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• 2011

This research analyzed the brainwave activities and brain hemispherity to find out any implications to design the connections between the activities of the brain function and the computerized arithmetic addition in two difficulty levels: easy: 1-5 vs. hard: 6-9. Thus, in developing the brain based math learning for the computer education by implicit association test(IAT) indicated the significant results for the exclusive brain location and the brain hemispherity on the theta, alpha, low alpha, beta brainwaves by QEEG analysis. The results of this study physiologically supported the theoretical background for the computerized math learning skills as well as the math learning material development. It shows the difficulty levels of math information education and the brain activities on cognitive process of the learner continued on the possible investigation of the brain science.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2005

First, the author reviewed the relationship between human brain development and cognitive functions such as attention, perception, memory, and language. And then Luria's neurodevelopmental theory and its application on the Neuropsychological test battery for children were reviewed. Finally, various assessment tools to evaluate attention, intellectual function, visual-perception, visual-motor coordination, and executive function were examined.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1992.06a
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• pp.3-8
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• 1992

The theory of subjective preference with temporal and spatial factors which include sound signals arriving at both ears is described. Then, auditory evoked potentials which may relate to a primitive subjective response namely subjective preference are discussed. According to such fundamental phenomena, a workable model of human auditory-brain system is proposed. For eample, important subjective attributes, such as loudness, coloration, threshold of preception of a reflection and echo distrubance as well as subjective preference in relation to the initial time delay gap between the direct sound and the first reflection, and the subsequent reverberation time are well described by the autocorrelation function of source signals. Speech clarity, subjective diffuseness as well as subjective preference are related to the magnitude of inter-aural crosscorrelation function (IACC). Even the caktail party effects may be eplained by spatialization of human brain, i.e., independence of temporal and spatial factors.