• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2016

Criminology has been understood within a sociological framework until the emergence of neurocriminology, which describes, understands and predicts criminal behaviors from a neurobiological point of view. Not only using biological factors including genes and hormones to understand criminal behaviors, but also using neuroimaging techniques, the field of neurocriminology aims to delve into both structural and functional differences in the brain of individuals with aggression, antisocial personalities, and even the criminals. Various studies have been conducted based on this idea, however, there still are limitations for the knowledge from these studies to be used in the court. In this review article, we provide an overview of the various research in neurocriminology, and provide insight into the future direction and implication of the field.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.108-122
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• 2000

Background: Models of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) that have proposed a hypodopaminergic state resulting in hypofunction of the prefrontal circuitry have assumed a unitary dopamine system, which largely ignores the distinct functional differences between mesocortical dopamine system and nigrostriatal dopamine system. Purpose: The author's goal was to develop a pathophysiological model for ADHD with greater explanotory power than dopaminergic hypofunction hypothesis in prefronal circuitry. Material and Methods: Published clinical findings on ADHD were integrated with data from genetic, pharmacological, neuroimaging studies in human and animals. Results: Molecular genetic studies suggest that three genes may increase the susceptibility to ADHD. The three candidate genes associated with ADHD are each involved in dopaminergic function, and this consistent with the neurobiologic studies implicating catecholamines in the etiology of ADHD. Pharmacological data also provide compelling support for dopamine and noradrenergic hypothesis of ADHD. Neuroimaging studies lend substantial support for the hypothesis that right-sided abnormalities of prefrontal-basal ganglia circuit would be found in ADHD. Conclusions: The present hypothesis takes advantage of the major differences between the two pertinent dopamine systems. Mesocortical dopamine system, which largely lacks inhibitory autoreceptors, is ideally positioned to regulate cortical inputs, thus improving the signal-to-noise ratio for biologically valued signals. In this circuit, therapeutic doses of stimulants are hypothesized to increase postsynaptic dopamine effects and enhance executive functions. By contrast, symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity in ADHD are hypothesized to be associated with relative overactivity of nigrostriatal circuit. This nigrostriatal circuit is tightly regulated by inhibitory autoreceptoors as well as by long distance feedback from the cortex, and slow diffusion of therapeutic doses of stimulant via oral administration is hypothesized to produce a net inhibition of dopaminergic neurotransmission and improves hyperactivity.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2002

Objectives:Abnormalities in the frontal lobe have been consistently suggested in the pathophysiology of depression. The purpose of this review is to discuss the relationship between the frontal lobe and depression. Methods:Recent researches on the frontal lobe in depression were reviewed and abnormalities in this region were considered within the context of modern functional neuroanatomy. Results:This paper reviewed evidence strongly implicating the frontal lobe as a key brain structure in depression. Conclusion:Taken together, these abnormalities in the function of the frontal lobe implicate interconnected neural circuits in depression and offer suggestions for the themes of future research and treatment. Further research is needed to investigate the association between emotion and the brain in the paradigm of "affective neuroscience".

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.10
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• pp.497-503
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• 2021

Reading disability (dyslexia) refers to an unexpected difficulty with reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader. Dyslexia is most commonly caused by a difficulty in phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language), which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell. In this paper, I describe reading disabilities by focusing on their underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Neurobiological studies using functional brain imaging have uncovered the reading pathways, brain regions involved in reading, and neurobiological abnormalities of dyslexia. The reading pathway is in the order of visual analysis, letter recognition, word recognition, meaning (semantics), phonological processing, and speech production. According to functional neuroimaging studies, the important areas of the brain related to reading include the inferior frontal cortex (Broca's area), the midtemporal lobe region, the inferior parieto-temporal area, and the left occipitotemporal region (visual word form area). Interventions for dyslexia can affect reading ability by causing changes in brain function and structure. An accurate diagnosis and timely specialized intervention are important in children with dyslexia. In cases in which national infant development screening tests have been conducted, as in Korea, if language developmental delay and early predictors of dyslexia are detected, careful observation of the progression to dyslexia and early intervention should be made.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.81-86
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• 2014

Objectives Total intracranial volume (TIV) is a major nuisance of neuroimaging research for interindividual differences of brain structure and function. Authors intended to prove the reliability of the atlas scaling factor (ASF) method for TIV estimation in FreeSurfer by comparing it with the results of manual tracing as reference method. Methods The TIVs of 26 normal children and 26 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were obtained by using FreeSurfer reconstruction and manual tracing with T1-weighted images. Manual tracing performed in every 10th slice of MRI dataset from midline of sagittal plane by one researcher who was blinded from clinical data. Another reseacher performed manual tracing independently for randomly selected 20 dataset to verify interrater reliability. Results The interrater reliability was excellent (intraclass coefficient = 0.91, p < 7.1e-07). There were no significant differences of age and gender distribution between normal and ADHD groups. No significant differences were found between TIVs from ASF method and manual tracing. Strong correlation between TIVs from 2 different methods were shown (r = 0.90, p < 2.2e-16). Conclusions The ASF method for TIV estimation by using FreeSurfer showed good agreement with the reference method. We can use the TIV from ASF method for correction in analysis of structural and functional neuroimaging studies with not only elderly subjects but also children, even with ADHD.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2008

NIRS (Near-infrared Spectroscopy) and DOI (Diffuse Optical Imaging) are relatively new, non-invasive, and non-ionizing methods that measure or image optical properties (Scattering and Absorption Coefficient) and physiological properties (Water Fraction, concentration of Oxy-, Deoxy-Hemoglobin, Cytochrome Oxidase, etc) of biological tissues. In this paper, three different types of NIRS systems, mathematical modeling, and reconstruction algorithms are described. Also, recent applications such as functional brain imaging, optical mammography, NIRS based BMI (Brain-Machine Interface), and small animal study are reviewed.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.128-140
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• 2014

Anxiety disorders are characterized by dysregulation of neuroendocrine, neurotransmitter and neuroanatomical functions. Substantial advances in research method offered new insights into the neurobiologic mechanisms in anxiety disorders. Advances in molecular biology have enabled illumination of hormone and neurotransmitters that have important roles in anxiety. The neuroanatomic circuits related to anxiety are also being elucidated by improvements in neuroimaging technology such as structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging. This article reviews the research data in relation to the neurobiology underlying fear and pathologic anxiety and discusses their implications for development of biological treatments for anxiety disorders.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.351-353
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• 2021

자폐 스펙트럼 장애는 이질적인 신경 발달 장애로, 뇌기능영상에 기반한 기능적 연결성 행렬을 이용해 연구가 활발하게 진행된다. 기능적 연결성 행렬을 분석하기 위해 주성분 분석방법을 이용하며, 이를 통해 뇌의 기능적 경향성 패턴을 확인할 수 있다. 이 때, 서로 다른 연결성 성분 비율과 주성분 벡터를 이용해서 다양한 기능적 경향성 패턴을 얻을 수 있다. 패턴에 따른 랜덤 포레스트 분류 모델의 성능이 달라지는데 이를 비교해본 결과, 상위 50%의 성분을 이용하여 만든 기능적 경향성 패턴 1 이 데이터의 설명 비율도 높고, 우수한 분류 성능을 보이는 것을 확인했다.

• Journal of International Society for Simulation Surgery
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.58-63
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• 2015

Image-guided neurosurgery (IGN) is a technique for localizing objects of surgical interest within the brain. In the past, its main use was placement of electrodes; however, the advent of computed tomography has led to a rebirth of IGN. Advances in computing techniques and neuroimaging tools allow improved surgical planning and intraoperative information. IGN influences many neurosurgical fields including neuro-oncology, functional disease, and radiosurgery. As development continues, several problems remain to be solved. This article provides a general overview of IGN with a brief discussion of future directions.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.68-74
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• 2014

Recent research on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has shown that cognitive and memory decline in this disease is accompanied by disruptive changes in the brain functional network. However, there have been no graph-theoretical studies using $^{11}C$-PIB PET data of the Alzheimer's Disease or mild cognitive impairment. In this study, we acquired $^{18}F$-FDG PET and $^{11}C$-PIB PET images of twenty-four normal aging control participants and thirty individuals with MCI from ADNI (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative) database. Brain networks were constructed by thresholding binary correlation matrices using graph theoretical approaches. Both normal control and MCI group showed small-world property in $^{11}C$-PIB PET images as well as $^{18}F$-FDG PET images. $^{11}C$-PIB PET images showed significant difference between NC (normal control) and MCI over large range of sparsity values. This result will enable us to further analyze the brain using established graph-theoretical approaches for $^{11}C$-PIB PET images.