• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.249-261
• /
• 2019

Purpose: The neural processing of children with overweight/obesity (CWO), may affect their eating behavior. We investigated the visual information processing of CWO under response control condition, by event-related potential (ERP) study, an electrophysiologic study for cognitive mechanism. Methods: Seventeen CWO (mean age: $10.6{\pm}1.9$), and 17 age-matched non-obese children (NOC), participated in the study. Neurocognitive function tests and visual ERP under Go/NoGo conditions, were implemented. Area amplitudes of major ERP components (P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3) from four scalp locations (frontal, central, parietal, and occipital), were analyzed. Results: For Go and NoGo conditions, CWO had significantly greater occipital P1, frontocentral N1, and P2 amplitudes compared with NOC. P2 amplitude was significantly greater in CWO, than in NOC, at the frontal location. N2 amplitude was not significantly different, between CWO and NOC. For CWO and NOC, Go P3 amplitude was highest at the parietal location, and NoGo P3 amplitude was highest at the frontal location. In Go and NoGo conditions, P3 amplitude of CWO was significantly less than in NOC. Conclusion: The greater P1, N1, and P2 suggested hyper-vigilance to visual stimuli of CWO, but the smaller P3 suggested insufficient mental representation of them. Such altered visual processing, may affect the eating behavior of CWO.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.69-77
• /
• 2023

Background and Purpose: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) has been known as a screening test for detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) better than Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). However, in previous domestic studies, no significant difference was found in the discriminability between MoCA and MMSE. Researchers have suggested that this might be because older Koreans are less educated than older Westerners. This study was conducted to examine the effect of education on the discriminability of MoCA compared to the MMSE. Methods: Participants were 123 cognitively normal elderly, 118 with vascular MCI, 108 with amnestic MCI, 121 with vascular dementia, and 113 with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. The Korean-MoCA (K-MoCA) and Korean-MMSE (K-MMSE) were administered. Multiple regression analyses and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed. Results: In all participants, education significantly affected both K-MoCA and K-MMSE scores along with age. The effect of education was re-examined by subgroup analysis after dividing subjects according to the level of education. Effect of education on K-MoCA and K-MMSE was only shown in the group with <9 years of education. ROC curve analyses revealed that the discriminability of K-MoCA to differentiate between vascular MCI and normal elderly was significantly higher than that of K-MMSE. When re-examining subgroups divided by education level, however, this higher discriminability of K-MoCA disappeared in the group with <9 years of education. Conclusions: These results indicate no difference in discriminating cognitive deficits between K-MoCA and K-MMSE in Korean elderly with <9 years of education.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.79-85
• /
• 2016

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze genetic mutations, clinical manifestations, and treatment of patients with benign HPA in Korea. Methods: This case series study involved ten HPA patients who were referred to our hospital because of high phenylalanine concentration. We investigated their demographic features, clinical manifestations, and mutations of the PAH gene through direct DNA sequencing. Results: Among ten patients with benign HPA, two pairs of patients were related (father-daughter, mother-daughter relationship) cases, and all of them showed no specific clinical manifestations or notable past history. Their plasma phenylalanine levels ranged between 1.2 and 4.2 mg/dL. In the tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) loading test, all patients were nonresponsive to BH4. In the confirmation test of PAH mutation analysis, we identified eleven different alleles out of twelve. The most common allele was R53H (c.158G> A). In addition, two novel PAH gene mutations, V423A (c.1268T>C) and V51A (c.152T>C), were identified. Although the patients did not receive any pharmacologic treatment or continuous phenylalanine restriction dietary therapy, their neurocognitive development was normal. Moreover, on serial outpatient follow-up tests, all patients maintained phenylalanine levels below 6 mg/dL. Conclusion: This study is the first in Korea to analyze benign HPA patients. All patients with benign HPA could maintain phenylalanine levels below 6 mg/dL with normal neurocognitive development, without continuous therapy. Therefore, performing mutation analysis and distinguishing benign HPA from phenylketonuria (PKU) are important to help improve life quality in patients with benign HPA by avoiding unnecessary lifelong therapy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Neurocognitive Rehabilitation
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.9-18
• /
• 2018

The research has sought to examine the effect of cognition training using smart device application games on the cognition function of traumatic brain injury patients. The research was conducted to the seventeen traumatic brain injury patients with slight symptoms who were treated with occupational therapy. The patients were divided into the two groups, nine for the experimental group and eight for the control group. The experimental group was assigned to conduct cognition training using smart device application games and traditional cognition training for fifteen minutes each, and the control group has conducted the traditional cognition training for 30 minutes. All arbitrations were conducted for 30 minutes a day, five times a week and for four weeks. To assess the cognitive function, Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), Lowenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) and visual memory 1 and 2 of Motor-free Visual Perception Test-3 (MVPT-3) were measured before and after the intervention. In the comparison of the change between the two groups, the experimental groups showed a significant improvement in the visual memory of Motor-free Visual Perception Test-3 and remembrance section of the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (p<.05). The result of this research has confirmed that the cognition training using the smart device application game can make the positive change to the visual memory of the traumatic brain injury patients more than the traditional cognition training.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.12 no.12
• /
• pp.5715-5721
• /
• 2011

This research analyzed the cognitive factors affecting stroke patient's activity of daily living performance and suggests the approaches which can contribute to the effective activity of daily living performance in the rehabilitation treatment of stroke patients. In this study, Seoul Computerized NeuroCognitive Function Test (SCNT) and MBI have been performed for 21 patients under extensive rehabilitation treatments, hospitalized in the rehabilitation clinic of A hospital after being diagnosed as a stroke caused by cerebrovascular disorders. To assess the effectiveness of the cognitive factors which affect the stroke patient's activity of daily living performance, activity of daily living performance values were set as dependent variables and 10 cognitive factors were included in the model to carry out analysis of the multiple regression analysis. The results show that stroke patient's activity of daily living performance have statistically significant correlations with divided attention, motor control and selectivir attention. In addition, cognitive factors explained 69.8% of the stroke patient's activity of daily living performance. Consequently, if divided attention and motor control are considered as a focal point of training in the rehabilitation treatment of stroke patients, we can effectively promote the improvement of the activity of daily living performanceroutine activities.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.27-36
• /
• 2010

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to find out cognitive function of the patients with subjective memory complaint. Material and Methods : From March 1st 2005 to May 31st 2009, 155 normal individuals without any medical illness who visited Yeungnam University Hospital to undergo medical checkup with neurocognitive test was enrolled, and checked by using Cognitive Assessment & Reference Diagnostic System. Results : 107 of the patients had normal cognitive function, 21 patients (about 15%) were diagnosed with dementia, and 10 patients (about 7%) were diagnosed with considerable psychiatric illness, such as depression, anxiety disorder, adjustment disorder. In amnesia, agnosia, aphasia, attention, calculation, dysexecution, Dementia group and Psychiatric illness group has worse score than Normal individuals group. But, in apraxia, Dementia group has worse score than Psychiatric illness group and Normal individual group. Conclusion : Because the patients with subjective memory complaint can be diagnosed as any psychiatric illness as well as dementia, sensitive screening test and early psychiatric approach is needed.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 2019

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between insufficient sleep and visuospatial memory in adolescents using a computerized neurocognitive function test. Methods: A total of 103 high school students (26 males and 77 females; mean age $17.11{\pm}8.50years$) without a serious psychiatric problem was recruited. All subjects were requested to complete a self-report questionnaire about weekday total sleep time and weekend total sleep time. The epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) and the beck depression inventory (BDI) were administered to measure daytime sleepiness and symptoms of depression. Seven subsets of the Cambridge Neuropsychological test automated battery were examined to assess visuospatial memory. Results: After controlling for age, sex, ESS, and BDI, longer weekend total sleep time was correlated with poor performance on delayed matching to sample (r = -0.312, p = 0.002) and immediate recall on pattern recognition memory (r = -0.225, p = 0.025). Increased weekend catch-up sleep time was correlated with poor performance of delayed matching to sample (r = -0.236, p = 0.018), immediate recall on pattern recognition memory (r = -0.220, p = 0.029), and delayed recall on pattern recognition memory (r = -0.211, p = 0.036) after controlling for age, sex, ESS, and BDI. Conclusion: This study showed that increased weekend catch-up sleep time reflecting insufficient weekday sleep were associated with poor performance in delayed recall tasks of visual memory. This finding suggests that insufficient sleep during adolescence might produce a decline of visuospatial memory.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.129-137
• /
• 2001

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of 38-hour sleep deprivation on fine motor performance. The Motor Performance Series (MPS) in the Vienna Test System (computerized neurocognitive function tests) was used in this study. Methods: Twenty four subjects participated in this study. Subjects had no past history of psychiatric disorders and physical illness. Subjects had normal sleep-waking cycle without current sleep disturbances and were all right-handed (Annett's Hand Preference Questionnaire: above +9 points). To minimize the learning effects, familiarization with the Vienna Test System was performed one day before the study. Subjects were to get up at 6:00 in the morning after getting enough sleep according to his or her usual sleep-wake cycle. After awakening, subjects remained awake for 38 hours under continuous surveillance. During two consecutive study days, the subjects tested MPS at 7 AM and 7 PM each day, which means the MPS was done four times in total. During the experiment, anything that could affect the subjects' sleep such as coffee, tea, alcohol, a nap, tiring sports, and all medications were prohibited. Results: In MPS, the fine motor functions of both hands decreased after 38 hours of sleep deprivation. The decrement in motor performance was prominent in the dominant right hand. In the right hand, the total number of tapping was reduced (p<.005), and the number of misses (p<.05) and the length of misses (p<.05) of line tracking, the total length of inserting a short pin (p<.01), the total length of inserting a long pin (p<.05), and the number of misses in aiming (p<.05) increased. Such performance decrement was distinct in the morning sessions. Conclusions: These results suggest that fine motor performance decrement during sleep deprivation is predominant in the right hand, which exerts maximal motor function. The finding of decrement in motor function in tapping during sleep deprivation also suggested that the time required for exhaustion of muscles is shortened during sleep deprivation. More deterioration of motor performance was shown in the morning, which could be explained as circadian rhythm effects.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.148-158
• /
• 2011

Objectives The eye movement (EM) has been reported to play a role in enhancing the retrieval of episodic memories and reducing effects of fearful episodes in the past and worries for the futures. However, it is still unclear in the mechanism of EM in normal subjects. We examined the horizontal eye movement (HEM) effect using an aiding apparatus on mental health indices including negative and positive psychological factors, and psychophysiological measures such as heart rate variability and quantitative electroencepaholography (qEEG) in healthy subjects. Methods Twenty eight healthy subjects were recruited and randomly allocated into two groups : active HEM group and control group. The active HEM group conducted the HEM training with usual stress management audio-intervention using the apparatus inducing eye movement once a day for 14 days. The control group also conducted the same training once a day for 14 days, however, the saccadic eye movement was not included in this training. Psychological measurements, neurocognitive function tests, heart rate variability measurement and qEEG were conducted before and after the training in both groups. Results In the active HEM group, sleep status using Sleep Quality Scale (SQS) positive factors significantly increased after the training. By contrast, scores on the negative items of Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS), and negative items of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) were significantly decreased after the training. The percentage of delta amplitude (1-3 Hz) in qEEG significantly decreased after the HEM training. The percentage of alpha amplitude (8-12 Hz) significantly increased after HEM training. The change of delta amplitude in the active HEM group was positively correlated with the change of sleep satisfaction of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and the change of alpha amplitude was negatively correlated with depression of VAS, anxiety of VAS and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Conclusions The HEM training improved sleep quality and well-being, and sense of optimism. The HEM training also increased alpha amplitude and decreased delta amplitude in qEEG. The qEEG changes were well correlated with subjective improvement of mental health indices in healthy subjects. These results suggest some evidences that HEM training using the apparatus that induces EM would be helpful in improving subjective mental health in healthy subjects. Further study with larger samples size would be needed.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.223-232
• /
• 2015

Objectives In this study, the authors evaluated the correlation between levels of serum lipid, homocysteine, and folate with volumes of hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum, and in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) type. Methods The study recruited patients who visited the dementia clinic of Haeundae Paik Hospital in Korea between March 2010 and June 2014. Among those, patients who had taken the neurocognitive test, brain magnetic resonance imaing, tests for serum lipid, homocysteine, folate, and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping and diagnosed with aMCI or AD were included for analysis. Bilateral hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, amygdala and corpus callosum were selected for region of interest (ROI). The cross-sectional relationships between serum lipid, homocysteine, folate and ROI were assessed by partial correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. Results In patients with aMCI, old age (> 80) and APOE ${\varepsilon}4$ carrier were associated with AD [odds ration (OR) : 12.80 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) : 2.25-72.98 and OR : 4.48 ; 95% CI : 1.58-12.67, respectively]. In patients with aMCI or AD, volumes and thickness of ROI were inversely correlated with levels of serum lipid and homocysteine. In multiple linear regression analyses, higher total cholesterol level was related to lower left, right hippocampus volume and left amygdala volume ; higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was related to lower right entorhinal cortex thickness ; higher homocysteine level was related to lower corpus callosum volume. Conclusions Higher serum lipid and homocysteine levels are associated with decreased volume of hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum and entorhinal cortex thickness in patients with aMCI or AD. These findings suggest that serum lipid and homocysteine levels are associated with AD as a modifiable risk factor.