• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 2018

Objectives : Depression is a common mental illness and a major cause of suicide. Although serum lipids have been associated with depression and suicide, there has been much debate. In this study, we investigated the relationship between depression, suicide, and serum lipids in patients admitted with depressed mood. Methods : A total of 134 subjects were divided into 86 non-suicide patients and 48 suicide attempters. The serum lipid levels and sub-scores of the Korean Symptom Checklist-95 (KSCL95) were compared. We also investigated the relationship between serum lipids and sub-scores of KSCL95 and investigated whether serum lipids were risk factors for suicide attempts. Results : There was no difference in serum lipids between the two groups. Among the sub-items of KSCL95, obsession was higher in non-suicide group. Triglyceride showed positive correlations with anxiety, phobic anxiety, agoraphobia, schizophrenia, and self-regulation problem. High triglyceride was a risk factor for suicide attempts. Conclusions : Triglyceride is associated with depression, anxiety, and self - regulation, and high serum triglyceride levels may be a risk factor for suicide attempts.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.201-219
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• 2017

This study was performed to test the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) with Korean adults. According to SST, perceiving their life as limited, people are motivated to enhance their mood by regulating their mood in such a way to maximize the positive emotions and weaken the negative ones. Being founded on the dialectical constructs which assume the positive and negative sides of emotional experience coexist, Korean adults were supposed to be less motivated to maximize positive emotions and weaken negative emotions. Thus the elderly koreans might regulate emotions not in the direction of maximizing the positive emotions and weakening the negative ones, but in the direction of not being highly aroused. 166 youth, middle-aged, and elderly were asked to rate the frequencies of 31 positive and negative emotions they had experienced during the last month. In addition, they were asked to judge whether they weaken / adapt / maximize their emotions after experiencing positive and negative events. The elderly experienced less positive emotions as well as negative emotions than youth. Youth experienced emotions of high arousal more often than those of low arousal, but the elderly experienced emotions of high arousal less often. The responses of weakening their negative emotions and their positive emotions were largest in the elderly group. On the other hand, the response of maximizing their positive emotions were largest in the youth group. These results show that the elderly maintains emotional stability by weakening both positive and negative emotions of high arousal.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2020

Objective : There have been limited scientific studies differentiating those who attempt suicide from those who think about suicide but do not attempt suicide. Altered event-related potential (ERP) performance, such as GoNogo ERP has been regarded as the neurocognitive processes associated with behavioral inhibition and poor impulse control. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between Nogo ERP and suicide attempt. Methods : A total of 63 participants (33 participants with suicide ideation and 30 with suicide attempt) were recruited, and performed GoNogo tasks during the electroencephalogram measurement. Depression, anxiety, emotional regulation and impulsivity were evaluated by self-rating scales. The clinical measures and Nogo P3 component were compared between the groups. The correlational analyse was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the clinical characteristics and the Nogo P3 component. Results : Participants with suicide attempt significantly decreased the Nogo P3 amplitudes at the frontal-central electrode than participants with suicide ideation (p=0.004, FDR adjusted p=0.032). In the correlation analysis, the Nogo P3 amplitude at frontal-central electrode was correlated with the total score of the Barrett impulsivity scale (r=-0.383, p=0.002), attentional impulsivity (r=-0.365, p=0.003) and motor impulsivity (r=-0.389, p=0.002) subscales of the Barrett impulsivity scale. Conclusion : These findings suggest that the decreased Nogo P3 amplitude may be one of the candidates of biological marker for poor impulse control in those who attempt suicide.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2017

Objective : The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a school-based character education program on the character development of elementary school students. Methods : A total of 1,325 elementary school students participated in the study. Pre-post changes in eight character virtues (self-esteem, self-regulation, honesty, sincerity, communication & caring, citizenship, justice, responsibility/cooperation) and student satisfaction were assessed. A paired t-test was performed to determine the effects of the program. Results : Of the students who participated in the program, the 4th and 5th grade students showed significantly increased scores on all eight character virtues ; whereas, the 6th grade students showed significantly increased scores on five character virtues. Conclusion : Despite the differences in effect based on the grade levels, the study results supported the effectiveness of a school-based socio-emotional character education program. This study could provide a basis for future research on the development of effective character education programs.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.389-396
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• 2020

Valproic acid is a clinically used mood stabilizer and antiepileptic drug. Valproic acid has been suggested as a teratogen associated with the manifestation of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as fetal valproate syndrome and autism spectrum disorders, when taken during specific time window of pregnancy. Previous studies proposed that prenatal exposure to valproic acid induces abnormal proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells, presumably by inhibiting histone deacetylase and releasing the condensed chromatin structure. Here, we found valproic acid up-regulates the transcription of T-type calcium channels by inhibiting histone deacetylase in neural progenitor cells. The pharmacological blockade of T-type calcium channels prevented the increased proliferation of neural progenitor cells induced by valproic acid. Differentiated neural cells from neural progenitor cells treated with valproic acid displayed increased levels of calcium influx in response to potassium chloride-induced depolarization. These results suggest that prenatal exposure to valproic acid up-regulates T-type calcium channels, which may contribute to increased proliferation of neural progenitor cells by inducing an abnormal calcium response and underlie the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders.

• Journal of the Korean society of biological therapies in psychiatry
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.129-141
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• 2018

Suicide is a behavior that is intended to cause death by itself and requires medical treatment, resulting in suicidal attempt or completion. Suicide causes loss of life, damages the body, costs a lot of medical expenses, and causes families to fall into sorrow and suffering therefore this suicide is a huge loss to family and society. There have been attempts to reduce and prevent suicide by understanding the mechanism of suicide. The mechanism of suicide can be thought of as psychological mechanism and biological mechanism. In the past, if we considered the psychological and biological mechanisms separately, the development of neuroscience now connects and integrates these two. Psychological factors affect biological factors and biological temperaments also affect perception or thinking about the situation and increase psychological vulnerability. Distant factors in suicidal behavior-such as childhood adversity and family and genetic predisposition-increase the lifetime risk of suicide. They alter the response to stress and other processes through changes in gene expression and regulation of emotional and behavioral characteristics. Distant factors affect the biological system and consequently changes in these systems can increase the risk of suicide. In other words, the distal factor does not directly induce suicidal behavior but rather acts indirectly through developmental or mediating factors. These mediating factors are impulsive aggressive and anxious trait, and chronic use of substances. The mechanism of this disorder is the abnormality of the serotonin system and the abnormality of the lipid level. Proximal factors are associated with the onset of suicide events and include changes in the major neurotransmitter systems, inflammatory changes, and dysfunction of glial cells in the brain. A series of studies, including a variety of research methods and postmortem and in-vivo imaging studies, show the impairment of the serotonergic neurotransmitter system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress response system for suicidal behavior. These disorders lead to suicidal behavior due to difficulty in cognitive control of mood, pessimism, reactive aggression, abnormality in problem solving abilities, excessive response to negative social signals, severe emotional distress, and cognitive dysregulation of suicidal ideation.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2019

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the individual and job related factors as risk factors for mental health of firefighters. Methods : The data of 202 fire-fighters was analyzed by using a multinomial logistic regression analysis. All participants completed self-reported questionnaires including demographics (sex, age, work duration), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Ways of Coping Checklist, the Colleague related traumatic events, the Korean occupational stress scale, the Korean Perceived Stress Scale-10, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Participants were divided into three groups according to the level of stress and depressive symptom scores: Low Stress-Low Depression (LS-LD), High Stress-Low Depression (HS-LD), and High Stress-High Depression (HS-HD). Results : A job related factor-organizational injustice-was a significant factor related to HS-LD, while individual factors such as active coping level and childhood trauma experience and a job related factor-difficult physical environment-were significantly associated with HS-HD. Conclusion : These results imply the need to take both individual and environmental approaches into account when managing the stress and depression of firefighters. More specifically, psycho-education to facilitate active coping strategy and adaptive emotional regulation at the individual level and the improvement of physical work environment of firefighters should be supported.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2023

Objectives This study aims to develop valid experimental models for depression through chronic reserpine exposure to zebrafish (Danio rerio). Methods The effect of chronic reserpine on zebrafish behavior in the novel tank was examined. Changes of gene expression on telencephalon were also investigated. Results Chronic reserpine (40 mg/L, 7 days) induced overt behavioral effects, but markedly reduced activity, resembling motor retardation in depression. In telencephalon of zebrafish, gene expression associated with monoamine oxidase and norepinephrine transporter was decreased. Expression of serotonin transporter gene was increased. Conclusions Our results show that the pharmacological model of depression in zebrafish can induce not only behavioral changes, but also monoamine changes in the homology of human mood regulation centers.

• Korean Journal of School Psychology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.379-403
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• 2011

This study examined coping strategies and perceived changes of the Chinese international students in South Korea. A total of 56 Chinese students participated and data was analyzed using the concept mapping method. The results showed that Chinese international students adopted developing language proficiency and using social networks as important coping strategies. They also perceived a wide range of changes including changes in the cultural and personal self. However, the perception of these coping strategies and changes differed by the length of stay. Chinese international students who stayed longer reported using specific coping strategies for mood regulation, which was distinctive from the coping strategies used by students who stayed for a shorter period of time. Students who stayed longer perceived negative changes as well as positive changes, while students who stayed for a shorter period reported predominantly positive changes. The findings indicate that university staff needs to understand and sensitively respond to the distinctive experiences of Chinese international students which vary across time.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.2
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• pp.196-203
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• 2017

Quarrying industry is typical industry that troubled between the market and government regulations in the forestry. Especially, it is difficult to consider aspects of economics and environment, landscape, disaster at the same time. Therefore, Quarrying industry need revised statutes according to regulatory reform and mitigation. This study conducted to provide basic data for regulatory reform and mitigation in quarrying industry. We surveyed 22 article of mountainous districts management act and lower statutes to employers and business interests on quarry 55 places in the Republic of Korea. As a result, fulfillment status of environmental damage reduction and disaster prevention were satisfactory. But fulfillment status of landscape damage reduction were not applicable. This result is due to the social mood that emphasizes the forest landscape. But there is need to improve the efficiency of grit chamber through present standard on effluent(water pollution prevention). In conclusion, policies should be established for realistic regulation and developed industry to quarrying industry.