• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.209-215
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• 2005

Recently, a large number of clinical experiments have shown that exposure of organic pollutants lead to various cancers through the abnormal cell growth. Environmental pollutants, such as 2, 3, 7, 8-Tetrachloro dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are carcinogen and are known to cause the cognitive disability and motor dysfunction in the developing of brain. The effects of these pollutants on neurodevelopmental disorder is well established, but the underlying mechanism(s) and similarity of gene expression profiles in human brain tumors with organic pollutants still remain unclear. In this study, we first examined the gene expression profiles in glioblastomas compared with meningioma that are kinds of primary human brain tumor by using human cDNA microarray. The results of cDNA microarray analysis revealed that 26 genes were upregulated (Z-ratio>2.0) and 14 genes were downregulated (Z-ratio<-2.0) in glioblastoma compared with meningioma. From the altered gene patterns, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling related genes, such as MAP2K3, MAP3K11 and jun activated domain binding protein, and transcription factors, such as UTF2 and TF12, were upregulated in glioblastoma. Also, we tried to investigate the relation between important genes up- and down-regulated in giloblastoma and various organic pollutants. Therefore, the identification of changes in the patterns of gene expression may provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in human primary brain tumors and of the relation between gene expression profiles and organic pollutants in brain tissue.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.87-94
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• 2005

Results from previous studies revealed that metal level in the body is related to certain types of diseases. For example. serum copper level with chronic heart failure, iron and transferrin in the blood serum with acute cerebral vascular diseases, Zn in the CNS, lead with neurotoxicity, hypertension, genetic damage, arsenic with cancer skin lesion, Al with neurobehavioral function (cognitive impairment and memory disorder), and etc. The rate of stroke has increased in recent years and several metals were found to be responsible for causing stroke. This study compared several blood metal concentrations between stroke and non-stroke patients. Patients with stroke (116 samples) and non-stroke (111 samples including lowback pain and others) participated in this study. Total of 227 blood samples were collected and participants completed questionnaires regarding age, gender, occupation, residence, alcohol, smoking, and etc. To be qualified into the stroke group, patients have never experienced stroke previously. Subjects only included ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage patients diagnosed by brain CT and brain MRI. Patients with high risk of metal exposure such as herbal intake and job related exposure were excluded. 10ml of blood samples were analyzed by ICP-MS method at the Center of Nature and Science at Sangji University. Metal geometric mean (SD) concentrations in blood of study subjects showed higher values, 2.64-36.12%, than WHO reference values in Mn, Ni, Hg, Se, and As. Metal concentration in blood of stroke patients non-adjusted for potential confounders was higher except for Hg and also higher except for Ni in adjusted for potential confounders. Co was significantly higher in stroke patients (p=0.002) than non-stroke patients adjusted for potential confounders. Regression coefficient values of stroke patients was 0.17-8.25 in each metals. Odd ratio of stroke patients had 0.96 (Ni)-2.68 (Co) compared to non-stroke cases. This result means that Co increase of 1 raises the risk ratio of stroke by 2.86 times. Based on the results, metal concentration in blood seems to affect incidence of stroke.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.615-621
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• 2000

A social phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme fear and phobic avoidance of social and performance situations. Medications or cognitive-behavior methods have been mainly used in treating it. These methods have some shortcomings such as being inefficient and difficult to apply to treatment. Lately the virtual rcality technology has been applied to dcal with the anxiety disorders in order to compcnsate for these defects. A virtual environment provides a patient with stimuli which cvokes a phobia. and the patient's exposure to the virtual phobic situation make him be able to overcome it. In this study, we suggested the public speaking simulator based on a personal computer for the treatment of social phobia. The public speaking simulator was composed of a position sensor. head mount display and audio system. And a virtual environment for the treatment was suggested to be a seminar room where 8 avatars are sitting. The virtual environment includes a tracking system the trace a participant's head-movement using a HMD with position sensor and 3D sound is added to the virtual environment so that he might fcel it realistic. We also made avatars' motion and facial expression change in reaction to a participant's speech. The goal of developing public speaking simulator is to apply to treat fear of public speaking efficiently and economically. In a future study. we should get more information about immergence and treatment efficiency by clinical test and apply it to this simulator.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2020

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is a rare X-linked, recessively inherited disorder of purine metabolism, caused by complete absence of the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase. This syndrome is characterized by 3 major features: neurological dysfunction, hyperuricemia, and cognitive and behavioral disturbances (e.g., self-mutilation, which begins at 2 to 3 years of age). Uncontrollable self-mutilation begins with biting of the perioral tissues and extends into patterns such as finger biting and head hitting. This report describes the case of a 31-month-old boy who was diagnosed with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome with severe lip injuries caused by self-mutilative behaviors. The behaviors were blocked with a semi-fixed lip bumper for a short period. The device was applied to the patient on the day of the visit without the requirement for an oral impression. It was easy to manage oral hygiene and adjust the device because it was detachable by clinicians and guardians. Therefore, a semi-fixed lip bumper may be useful as an interim appliance to block selfmutilative behaviors in children with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.88-92
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• 2012

Purpose: Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II or Hunter syndrome) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder caused by iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS) deficiency. MPS II causes a wide phenotypic spectrum of symptoms ranging from mild to severe. IDS activity, which is measured in leukocyte pellets or fibroblasts, was reported to be related to clinical phenotype by Sukegawa-Hayasaka et al. Measurement of residual plasma IDS activity using a fluorometric assay is simpler than conventional measurements using skin fibroblasts or peripheral blood mononuclear cells. This is the first study to describe the relationship between plasma IDS activity and clinical phenotype of MPS II. Methods: We hypothesized that residual plasma IDS activity is related to clinical phenotype. We classified 43 Hunter syndrome patients as having attenuated or severe disease types based on clinical characteristics, especially intellectual and cognitive status. There were 27 patients with the severe type and 16 with the attenuated type. Plasma IDS activity was measured by a fluorometric enzyme assay using 4-methylumbelliferyl- ${\alpha}$-iduronate 2-sulphate. Results: Plasma IDS activity in patients with the severe type was significantly lower than that in patients with the attenuated type ($p$=0.006). The optimal cut-off value of plasma IDS activity for distinguishing the severe type from the attenuated type was 0.63 $nmol{\cdot}4hr^{-1}{\cdot}mL^{-1}$. This value had 88.2% sensitivity, 65.4% specificity, and an area under receiver-operator characteristics (ROC) curve of 0.768 (ROC curve analysis; $p$=0.003). Conclusion: These results show that the mild phenotype may be related to residual lysosomal enzyme activity.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.33-50
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• 2015

Objective : This study was conducted to determine various interventions in accordance with the recovery and cognitive processes in order to improve executive function in stroke patients through a systematic review. Methods : The literature search focused on Level I-IV studies published between January 1996 and April 2015 for 20 years in electronic databases(e.g. MEDLINE, SCOPUS, RISS). The keyword search terms were 'Stroke', 'Executive function', 'Executive function deficit', 'Occupational therapy', 'Rehabilitation', 'Remedial', 'Compensatory' and 'Education'. Result : A total of 13 articles were appraised using the hierarchy of levels of evidence-based practice and 6 Level I evidence articles, 1 Level II articles, 2 Level III articles and 4 Level IV articles. Each intervention improved executive function but was different in degree of generalization. Conclusion : Through this systematic review, we found that there are a variety of applied interventions improving executive function in stroke patients and are different in effect depending on methods of interventions. This study provided evidences to occupational therapists for the clinical practice of interventions to improve executive function in stroke patients.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.93-100
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• 2014

Purpose - This study investigated the effect of the negative affect on compulsive buying and the interaction effect of the negative affect depending on the level of mindfulness. Compulsive buying is defined as chronic, repetitive purchasing that becomes an overlearned and automatic way to cope with negative feelings, and compulsive buyers may be particularly susceptible to cognitive narrowing when shopping. Mindfulness may be defined as a coordinative regulatory process to increase the level of attention by recognizing the present experiences non-judgmentally. Hence, mindfulness can be related with negative psychological results such as general mental distress, especially compulsive buying. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between compulsive buying and mindfulness. In another words, this study investigated the effect of the internal regulatory mechanism (that is, mindfulness) on the mental disorder resulting from negative affect in the area of consumption (that is, compulsive buying). Research design, data, and methodology - One hundred and twenty-five college students were recruited for this study. The subjects were classified into two groups according to the degree of the negative affect (High Negative Affect Group vs. Low Negative Affect Group) by the mean value of negative affect (=2.47). The subjects were classified into two other groups according to the degree of mindfulness (High Mindfulness Group vs. Low Mindfulness Group) by the mean value of mindfulness (= 3.47). To analyze the effect of negative affect on compulsive buying, the degree of compulsive buying of the High and Low Negative Affect Groups were compared. To examine the moderating effect of mindfulness by using factorial design, the interaction effect of the negative affect (High vs. Low) and the mindfulness (High vs. Low) were analyzed. Results - The degree of the compulsive buying was higher when the degree of the negative affect was higher than lower (3.06High Negative Affect Group vs. 2.87Low Negative Affect Group, p=.014). The difference in the degree of the compulsive buying was larger when the degree of the mindfulness was lower than higher. In other words, the interaction effect of the negative affect and the mindfulness on the compulsive buying could be found (F(1,124)=10.098, p<.01). Conclusions - The results of the current study showed that the compulsive buying is influenced by the negative affect and that the effect of the negative affect on the compulsive buying varies depending on the level of the mindfulness. These results can be interpreted to imply that consumers who are in a state of high mindfulness pay attention to every minute of experience and activate the coordinatory function and that, eventually, habitual and reflective responses such as compulsive buying are restricted. It is concluded that consumers' mindfulness can facilitate the self-regulatory responses and alleviate the influence of negative affect on compulsive buying. Based on these results, the theoretical and practical implications of this research were discussed and the limitations and future research areas were suggested.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.12
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• pp.1342-1345
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• 2008

Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC) is a rare white matter disorder, first described in the early 1990s. The brain in patients with MLC appears swollen on MRI, with diffuse white matter abnormalities; in addition, there is an invariable presence of subcortical cysts, primarily in the anterior temporal region sparing the deep white matter, basal ganglia, thalami, and cerebellum. Patients with MLC present with macrocephaly and neurological abnormalities such as motor deterioration, ataxia, spasticity, and cognitive deficits. We report a twenty-month-old boy who presented with seizures and macrocephaly, delay in development, and abnormal brain MRI findings compatible with the diagnosis of MLC. The brain MRI revealed bilateral hypersignal intense subcortical white matter regions in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes on T2-weighted images, which were not yet associated with cystic changes. During follow-up, the frequency of seizures decreased after anticonvulsant medication was started, but the head circumference remained above the 97th percentile, and the patient continued to have developmental delay.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.373-381
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to extract important problem features for care of senile dementia patients. Selected cognitive ability test (Korean Mini-Mental State Examination: K-MMSE) and survey of basic & problem characteristics were conducted on 110 hospitalized senile dementia patients and 30 normal subjects. Problem features of senile dementia patients were extracted using factor analysis. The frequency difference of problem features due to the gender and dementia severities was verified using one-way ANOVA. Twenty problem features were extracted by the factor analysis. According to the gender, there are significant differences in the frequency of problem features in violent language & confabulation, collecting behavior, and repetitive behavior. According to the dementia severities, there are significant differences in the frequency of all problem features except abnormal sexual behavior and audio-visual disorder. The result of this study is expected to be used for the development of the senile dementia patients' life-care monitoring system.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.84-96
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• 1992

The present study was designed to investigate variables associated with mother-child interaction patterns of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD), and also to evaluate short-term effects of stimulant medication on the behaviors of ADHD children and their mothers during interaction. 15 ADHD boys(ages 5${\sim}$10 years) were treated with metylphenidate(0.5mg/kg per day) for 1 month, and their behaviors as well as their mothers for the 10 minute free play and 20 minute task performance period were videotaped through one-way mirror. The childrens attention was also evaluated using the Continuous Performance Task(CPT) and ratings of their hyperactive behaviors were obtained from their mother prior to the treatment. The videotaped interaction were rated according to the Response Class Matrix developed by Mash, Terdal & Anderson(1973). Results indicated that percentage of behavior of the mother and child during interaction was highly correlated with each other, which, in turn, was highly correlated with the symptom severity of the ADHD child. That is the more severe the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of ADHD, the more negative the interaction behavior pattern was. After 4 weeks of stimulant medication the mothers as well as the ADHD children showed a significant decrease in the percentage of negative-aggressive behavior during the task performance period. The results indicated that negative interaction behavior of the mothers was in large part a response to the negative behavior of their ADHD children.