• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.925-940
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• 2008

As the proportion of old people in contemporary societies steadily increases, the influence on cognitive rehabilitation strategy of the memory deficit associated with normal and pathological aging grows greater as well. This paper reviewed the current memory rehabilitation techniques for older adults. In the first part of this article, human memory systems as a framework for understanding memory aging were considered. In the second part, research findings concerning memory performance in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease were reviewed. Finally, recent evidence for the kinds of memory rehabilitation procedures with proven efficacy were offered. The existent memory rehabilitation technique have focused on prompt of residual explicit memory, use of preserved implicit memory, utilization of memory external memory aids. A suggestion of memory training based on brain plasticity as a novel approach is offered.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2021

Background: The number of elderly people with comorbidities who experience dysphagia associated with geriatric disorders, such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's dementia, is increasing. Consequently, the demand for long-term prescriptions of powdered medications is expected to rise. Most patients procure repackaged prescription medications from pharmacies; however, the guidelines regarding their expiration dates are unclear. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess awareness among adults regarding the expiration dates and drug stability issues associated with repackaged prescription medications, including powdered medications. Methods: A questionnaire with 16 components was designed and distributed online (August 1-September 1, 2019) to adults aged 19 years or older. Statistical analyses, including descriptive analysis and chi-square test, were conducted on the obtained data. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Data from 254 respondents were analyzed; 191 (75.20%) respondents worked in non-healthcare-related fields. A significant number of healthcare workers recognized the stability issues associated with powdered medications (p<0.001). However, a large proportion of healthcare workers were not aware of the expiration dates (p>0.05). Conclusions: More than half of the total respondents, including healthcare workers, were not familiar with the appropriate expiration dates of repackaged prescription medications. The establishment of evidence-based guidelines regarding drug expiration dates and the dissemination of awareness among patients are required. Furthermore, clinical practices including repackaging or pulverizing medications for long-term prescriptions should be avoided owing to the associated drug stability issues.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.7414-7423
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• 2015

Subjective cognitive-linguistic complaints in older adults contribute to the diagnostic and prognostic investigation of MCI or dementia. However, the utility of subjective test for predicting cognitive-linguistic decline is controversial. Few domestic studies have included the correlation between subjective and objective tests systematically. The current study analyzed 26 studies published since 2000, and the effect sizes of their correlation coefficients between two tests were computed. The results of qualitative analysis indicated that the number of subjects ranged from 26 to 657. Subjective tests included the self-report 75.4% and the informant-report 24.6%. In objective tests, memory comprised the largest proportion, followed by global cognition, and language, etc. As a result of meta-analysis, self-report test had the predictive value for dementia, and informant-report test contributed to discriminate among 3 groups. In the elderly group, self-report test was correlated with reasoning, and informant-report test with memory and language. In MCIs, self-report test predicted several abilities including language, and informant-report test signaled the future decline of domains like global cognition. Two types of subjective tests in dementia also represented memory, language, and global cognition accurately. This study provides evidence-based information to support relationships between subjective and objective tests for cognitive-linguistic ability in 3 groups.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2023

Objectives Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in older adults, damaging the brain and resulting in impaired memory, thinking, and behavior. The identification of differentially expressed genes and related pathways among affected brain regions can provide more information on the mechanisms of AD. The aim of our study was to identify differentially expressed genes associated with AD and combined biomarkers among them to improve AD risk prediction accuracy. Methods Machine learning methods were used to compare the performance of the identified combined biomarkers. In this study, three publicly available gene expression datasets from the hippocampal brain region were used. Results We detected 31 significant common genes from two different microarray datasets using the limma package. Some of them belonged to 11 biological pathways. Combined biomarkers were identified in two microarray datasets and were evaluated in a different dataset. The performance of the predictive models using the combined biomarkers was superior to those of models using a single gene. When two genes were combined, the most predictive gene set in the evaluation dataset was ATR and PRKCB when linear discriminant analysis was applied. Conclusions Combined biomarkers showed good performance in predicting the risk of AD. The constructed predictive nomogram using combined biomarkers could easily be used by clinicians to identify high-risk individuals so that more efficient trials could be designed to reduce the incidence of AD.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.111-119
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• 2024

Purpose : This study aimed to demonstrate the effects of visiting cognitive activities using brain training on cognition, subjective memory complaints and depression among elderly participants residing in community living in Gwangmyeong city. Methods : Over a 14-month period (October 2022 to December 2023), four brain training instructors visited the homes of older adults and conducted the intervention using a brain training kit. The participants included 32 elderly individuals aged 65 years and older, who were living in Gwangmyeong city. The assessments were conducted by an occupational therapist, a nurse and a social worker at the Gwangmyeong dementia relief center. These assessments included the following the subjective memory complaints questionnaire (SMCQ), short geriatric depression scale-Korean (SGDS-K), a cognitive impairment screening test (CIST), the consortium to establish a registry for Alzheimer's disease-Korean (CERAD-K). The participants were divided into three groups (A: 20-30 points, B: 10-19 points, C: 1-9 points) based on the CIST score. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and wilcoxon signed-rank test were performed using SPSS 24.0, and the statistical level was at a=.05. Results : The results of the intervention showed that the SMCQ score of group A improved significantly (p<.05), the CIST score of group B also improved significantly (p<.05). However, the SGDS-K score of group C improved, but did not demonstrate statistical significance (p=.080). Conclusion : The visiting cognitive activities using brain training produced significant effects on cognition, depression, and subjective memory disorders, depending on the cognitive level of the elderly participants. In the future, it will be necessary to demonstrate the effects according to cognitive level in various aspects with more elderly people.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.723-739
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• 2019

This study is to verify the mediated effects of attitudes toward old people and dementia in the influence of elderly couples in the aging society amid the rapidly changing family structure and functions due to the combination of individualization, marital status and divorce rate. In order to carry out such research purposes, data were collected from students of elementary, middle and high schools in Gwangju, through self-subscribed questionnaire. For statistical analysis, the SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 18.0 programs were used and frequency, percentages, technical statistics, correlation, factor analysis, structural model validation, and the Sobel-Test were performed. The results of this study are as follows. First, family intimacy, elderly awareness, and elderly care were the highest among elementary school students, followed by middle school and high school students (P.<.001). Also, in religion, the family intimacy of teenagers with religion was higher than those without religion (p.001). Second, family intimacy directly affected elderly people's attitudes toward dementia and elderly care, old people's attitudes toward dementia and attitudes toward dementia directly affected elderly care. Third, family intimacy (parent-child) was found to be 7.8% for older adults, 20.2% for family intimacy and attitudes toward dementia, and 34.1% for elderly care (p.<.001). Fourth, it has been verified that the absolute value of attitudes toward dementia and elderly people's awareness of elderly people and attitudes between family intimacy and elderly care has been higher than 1.96 and thus acts as a mediating role. These findings are intended to contribute to the welfare of senior citizens' education to improve the quality of life for senior citizens through the resolution of conflicts between generations, as well as the resolution of positive stimulus, by developing various programs such as family friendship, elderly awareness, culture with parents, and various experiences to improve attitudes toward dementia in early adolescence.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.190-204
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• 2022

Background: In Korea, the population is rapidly aging, and the types of households for the elderly are also diversifying. The self-rated health of the elderly is a valuable health indicator that can comprehensively represent the overall quality of life along with physical, mental, and functional health. On the other hand, studies on the association between household type and self-rated health of the elderly are still insufficient. Thus, this study analyzed the association between household type and self-rated health by gender in Korean older adults. Methods: Using data from the analysis of the National Survey of Older Koreans 2017, 10,299 elderly people aged 65 and over were targeted. For the accuracy of the analysis data, 9,910 people were selected as the study sample by excluding proxy responses, those diagnosed with dementia, and non-response. And technical analysis, univariate analysis using the Rao-Scott chi-square test, and logical regression analysis involving survey characteristics were conducted by gender. Results: According to the adjusted model with all variables, in both men and women, the odds ratio of self-rated health 'bad' in 'couple (with ill spouse)' was significantly higher than 'couple (with spouse)'. It was 2.54 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.05-3.15) for men and 2.11 (95% CI, 1.70-2.62) for women. In addition, the odds ratio of self-rated health 'bad' in 'living with adult children' was 1.43 (95% CI, 1.09-1.87) for men and 1.42 (95% CI, 1.15-1.75) for women, which was more significant in women than men. Conclusion: This study states that there is an association between gender, household type, and self-rated health of the elderly, and the health of a spouse and cohabitation with children have a significant effect on self-rated health. As a result, in order to improve the health status of the elderly, health promotion and health care policies involving the characteristics of the elderly's gender and household type are needed.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.51-67
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• 2024

Objective : This study investigated trends in the use of assessment tools by occupational therapists working with adults and older adults. Methods : Occupational therapists were surveyed to gather data on general characteristics, assessment tool usage, assessment time and frequency, usage trends by area, and education. The tools were categorized by the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF) into Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), and play and leisure for occupations, and cognitive functions, motor functions, and psychosocial aspects for client factors. Data from 98 respondents were analyzed using frequency analysis and one-way ANOVA with SAS. Results : Most surveyed occupational therapists worked in university or general hospitals (40.82%). The assessment time per patient was under 30 min (62.25%), and re-assessment frequency was one~three months (68.38%). The most frequently used assessment tools by the OTPF were as follows: ADL: Modified Barthel Index (94.90%), IADL: Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (31.63%), cognitive functions: Mini-Mental Status Examination (89.80%), visual perception: Motor-free Visual Perception Test (56.12%), dementia: Global Deterioration Scale (63.27%), motor functions: Jamar Dynamometer & Pinch Gauge (59.18%), dysphagia: Video Fluoroscopic Swallowing Study (28.57%), physical examination: Range of Motion (59.18%), and psychosocial: Geriatric Depression Scale (33.67%). Conclusion : This study identified the use and rationale of assessment tools for occupational therapy in adults and older adults. These findings aim to enhance the curriculum and continuing education of occupational therapists.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.83-90
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• 2019

Recently, the need to prevent or treat cognitive impairment in older adults has been arising. In particular, they tried to diagnose MCI as an early stage of Alzheimer's disease and to delay the progression to dementia through training cognitive function. Most of cognitive function training have been manufactured to game contents which related to several cognitive function, and it needs to be verified quantitatively whether subjects are paying attention to cognitive function training. Thus in this study, we measured and analyzed EEG signals while performing attention training game contents. As an analysis method, we utilized CI, which shows how much they are focusing on, and RI, which shows how stable they are. The result of this study can be seen that all the subjects' CI were increased, which means that the subjects performed game contents with concentration.