• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.517-551
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• 2012

We are imitating animals. True imitation can be defined as a learning to do an act from seeing it done by others. We have been building culture by imitating others' skills and knowledge with high fidelity. In this regard, it is important to ask how the faculty of imitation has evolved and how imitation behaviors develop ontogenetically. It is also interesting to see whether nonhuman animals can imitate truly or not and how different imitation learning is among human and non-human animals. In this paper, first I review empirical data from imitation studies with human and nonhuman animals. Comparing different species, I highlight their different levels of copying fidelity and explain the reason why they are showing the difference. Then I review recent studies on neurobiological mechanisms underlying imitation. The initial neurobiological studies on imitation in humans suggested a core imitation circuitry composed of mirror neuron system [inferior parietal lobule(IPL) and inferior frontal gyrus(IFG)] and the posterior part of the superior temporal sulcus(pSTS). More recent studies on the neurobiology of imitation, however, has gone beyond the studies on the core mechanisms. Finally, I try to find out implications of psychology and biology of imitation for cultural evolution. I argue for a memetic approach to cultural evolution, along the lines with a recent study on measuring memes by mirror neurons system.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.378-385
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• 2002

Oxidant radicals are implicated as a causal factor in the pathogenesis of neurobiological disorders and neuro-degenerative diseases. The objective of this study was to investigate the antioxidant activity of edible plants against oxidative stress in bovine brain tissue. Fifty five kinds of edible plants grown in Korea were dried either by freeze-drying or hot-air drying (7$0^{\circ}C$), and evaluated for their antioxidant activity by measuring TBARS (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances) in brain homogenates subjected to Fe$^{+2}$_mediated lipid peroxidation with or without the addition of botanical extracts. Heat-drying decreased the antioxidant activity of most plant extracts by 10~81%, compared with freeze-drying. However, Aruncus americanus, Ligularia stenocephala, Artemisia princceps var. orientalis, Petasites japonicus and Aster scaber showed very strong antioxidant activities regardless of processing, with or without heat treatment. The $IC_{50}$/ values of the methanol extracts from these edible plants were in the range of 0.093~0.379 mg/$m\ell$, which was lower than that of ascorbic acid (0.79 mg/$m\ell$). Thermal processing of some edible plants enhanced their antioxidant activity.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2005

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between genetic studies on atopic dermatitis. sasang constitution, and sasang constitional study on atopic dermatitis. Methods: We retrieved data on PubMed for the papers of genetic study on atopic dermatitis. And for the papers on genetic study of sasang constitution and sasang constitional study of atopic dermatitis, we referred to papers have reported on domestic medical journal and domestic korean medicine journal. And we investigated correlations among the studies. Results: 1. There are two studies on genetic study on atopic dermatitis. One has been performed to find out genes related to atopic dermatitis by case-control study. The other has been to investigate the correlation between atopic dermatitis and the genes their functions were well-known. 2. Gene study on sasang constitution was performed to observe the distribution of the genes which is related with characteristics of sasang constitution, but there was no significant maldistribution of the genes. 3. There was no correlation between genetic study on atopic dermatitis and genetic study on sasang constitution. Conclusion & Discussion: In the Sasang constitutional study of atopic dermatitis, it seems that further studies on genes related to characteristics of skin, character affecting on behavior, and neurobiological difference among Sasang constitution are required as well as studies on distribution of genes related atopic dermatitis.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 1995

This study was to investigate the anatomical evidence of anxiety. MRI was used to study 11 patients with panic disorder and 15 patients with complex partial seizure, and 21 controls. The regions of interest in the MRI were measured with computer-assisted planimetry using the AutoCad and digitizer. The following results were obtained ; 1) The mean age was 49.7(12.4) years in patients with panic disorder and 30.1(7.5) years in patients with complex partial seizure. 2) There were na signi ficant differences between 3 groups in the values of cerebral area, temporal lobe, caudate nucleus, hippocampus, parahippocampus, amygdala, third ventricle and VBR. The right parahippocampal region which attracted most attention in neurobiological studies regarding anxiety, tended to be larger in both study groups compared to the control group, but with no statistical significance. 3) There was lett-right reversal of temporal lobes in both study groups. And these are mainly due to asymmetrical increase in area of the temporal lobe on right side. These results suggest that temporal lobe, especially right temporal, is the anatomical correspondence of anxiety and functional activation of temporo-limbic system may be accompanied by the structural change of temporal lobe.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.20-28
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• 2016

Internet addiction (IA) has become a widespread and problematic phenomenon as smart devices pervade society. Moreover, internet gaming disorder leads to increases in social expenditures for both individuals and nations alike. Although the prevention and treatment of IA are getting more important, the diagnosis of IA remains problematic. Understanding the neurobiological mechanism of behavioral addictions is essential for the development of specific and effective treatments. Although there are many databases related to other addictions, a database for IA has not been developed yet. In addition, bioinformatics databases, especially genetic databases, require a high level of security and should be designed based on medical information standards. In this respect, our study proposes the OAuth standard protocol for database access authorization. The proposed IA Bioinformatics (IABio) database system is based on internet user authentication, which is a guideline for medical information standards, and uses OAuth 2.0 for access control technology. This study designed and developed the system requirements and configuration. The OAuth 2.0 protocol is expected to establish the security of personal medical information and be applied to genomic research on IA.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Phenomenology has been developed by philosophers like Kant and Husserl since the late 18th century. Jaspers, a German psychiatrist, adopted it into psychopathology studies and accumulated data by closely observing and recording the patients' symptoms and signs. Among descriptions done even before the psychopathology or diagnostic criteria of disorders in the field of child psychiatry was established, we can find exact and valuable descriptions matching the autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The diagnostic criteria of modern childhood psychiatric disorders were established based on these grounds. Phenomenological/descriptive methods in various psychiatric fields lead to medical study methods for social phenomenon such as oiettolie, hikikomori, and internet game addiction. Since Romanian orphans were adopted to the western world, descriptive studies along with neurobiological studies on the influence of stimulus deprivation on emotional and physical development are being conducted. While phenomenology, which was adopted by Jaspers to verify psychopathology, was developed mainly by observation and description, recent studies are explaining such descriptive phenomena even at the synapse level due to advances in neurobiology. Although phenomenological/descriptive psychiatry, describing precise and detailed experiences of patients, is less applied nowadays among modern study methods, we must remember that such descriptions may lead to biological studies and provide evidence to improve the accuracy of choosing and applying treatment methods.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.349-356
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• 2019

Behavioral analysis in mice provided important contributions in helping understand and treat numerous neurobehavioral and neuropsychiatric disorders. The behavioral performance of animals and humans is widely different among individuals but the neurobehavioral mechanism of the innate difference is seldom investigated. Many neurologic conditions share comorbid symptoms that may have common pathophysiology and therapeutic strategy. The forced swim test (FST) has been commonly used to evaluate the "antidepressant" properties of drugs yet the individual difference analysis of this test was left scantly investigated along with the possible connection among other behavioral domains. This study conducted an FST-screening in outbred CD-1 male mice and segregated them into three groups: high performers (HP) or the active swimmers, middle performers (MP), and low performers (LP) or floaters. After which, a series of behavioral experiments were performed to measure their behavioral responses in the open field, elevated plus maze, Y maze, three-chamber social assay, novel object recognition, delay discounting task, and cliff avoidance reaction. The behavioral tests battery revealed that the three groups displayed seemingly correlated differences in locomotor activity and novel object recognition but not in other behaviors. This study suggests that the HP group in FST has higher locomotor activity and novelty-seeking tendencies compared to the other groups. These results may have important implications in creating behavior database in animal models that could be used for predicting interconnections of various behavioral domains, which eventually helps to understand the neurobiological mechanism controlling the behaviors in individual subjects.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.679-688
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• 2018

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental disorders that share behavioral features, the results of numerous studies have suggested that the underlying causes of ASDs are multifactorial. Behavioral and/or neurobiological analyses of ASDs have been performed extensively using a valid model of prenatal exposure to valproic acid (VPA). Abnormal synapse formation resulting from altered neurite outgrowth in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) during embryonic brain development has been observed in both the VPA model and ASD subjects. Although several mechanisms have been suggested, the actual mechanism underlying enhanced neurite outgrowth remains unclear. In this study, we found that VPA enhanced the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), particularly mature BDNF (mBDNF), through dual mechanisms. VPA increased the mRNA and protein expression of BDNF by suppressing the nuclear expression of methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2), which is a transcriptional repressor of BDNF. In addition, VPA promoted the expression and activity of the tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which induces BDNF maturation through proteolytic cleavage. Trichostatin A and sodium butyrate also enhanced tPA activity, but tPA activity was not induced by valpromide, which is a VPA analog that does not induce histone acetylation, indicating that histone acetylation activity was required for tPA regulation. VPA-mediated regulation of BDNF, MeCP2, and tPA was not observed in astrocytes or neurons. Therefore, these results suggested that VPA-induced mBDNF upregulation was associated with the dysregulation of MeCP2 and tPA in developing cortical NPCs.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.173-180
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• 2004

Over the last decade, EMDR(Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) has emerged as a promising new treatment for trauma and other anxiety-based disorders. However, neurobiological mechanism of EMDR has not been well understood. Authors report SPECT findings of two patients of PTSD before and after EMDR. Brain 99mTc-ECD-SPECT was performed before and after EMDR treatment. To evaluate the significance of changes in the regional cerebral perfusion, t-test was conducted on the resulting images using SPM99. In addition, clinical scales(CAPS, CGI, STAI) were employed to asses the changes in the clinical symptoms of the patients. After EMDR treatment, each showed significant improvement in clinical symptoms. The cerebral perfusion increased in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and decreased in the temporal association cortex. The differences in the cerebral perfusion between patients after treatment and normal controls decreased. These changes appeared mainly in the limbic area the and the prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that EMDR may show the therapeutic effect through 1) improvement in the emotional control by increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, 2) inhibited hyperstimuli on amygdala by deactivation of the association cortex, 3) inhibition on past trauma related memory, and 4) keeping the functional balance between the limbic area and the prefrontal cortex. This case report needs further replication from studies with larger sample.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.119-125
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• 2016

Sexual addiction is accompanied with anxiety, psychological and physical dependence. Also, sexual addict want to make their presence through sexual adventures and seem sexually obsessed. In this study, we examined the changes of brain activity related to sexual addiction by utilizing the developed multi-sensory therapy after 4-weeks sex offender treatment program. We analyzed the electroencephalogram (EEG) activity changes in the subjects and regions of brain. As a result, the theta wave significantly increased after treatment than before (p < 0.001). The absolute alpha wave was increased whereas the relative alpha waves were decrease significantly (p < 0.001). The results could conclude that multi-sensory therapy on sex offender shows more stable status against sexual stimulations. Moreover, the reduction of the relative alpha waves in parietal lobe of sex offender is correlated to the less attention on sexual stimulations. The multi-sensory therapy not only provides a neurobiological explanation, but also can be used for clinical implications, i.e. prevention and treatments, for sex addiction.