• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.225-234
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• 2015

Neurobiological approach helps to resolve the mind-body dualism and develop new assessment and treatment approaches in psychiatry. However, it could be a problem to place too much emphasis on certain aspects of neurobiology, specifically structural neuroanatomy, because of the complexity or comorbidity of neuropsychiatric disorders. Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), for instance, is generally related to problems in motor skills and this movement disability is often related to perception. One account, two visual systems theory, relied on functional distinction in brain; ventral stream is responsible for visual recognition, and dorsal stream is responsible for the guidance of actions. However, Studies are now showing that shape perception is relevant to visually guided action, such as reaching-to-grasp an object. In this article, I reviewed fundamental findings of two-visual system theory and suggested problems of visually guided action to consider what shape perception implies for the two visual systems. Questions raised highlight possible limitations of adopting a structural neuroanatomical approach to account for perception and action effects, and by extent related psychiatric conditions such as DCD. In conclusion, neurobiological approach converging to neuropsychiatry, while useful, would be limited if it focuses too much on anatomical distinction.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.939-946
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• 2020

Stroke is one of the leading causes of neurological disability worldwide and stroke patients exhibit a range of motor, cognitive, and psychiatric impairments. GPR88 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that is highly expressed in striatal medium spiny neurons; its deletion results in poor motor coordination and motor learning. There are currently no studies on the involvement of GPR88 in stroke or in post-stroke brain function recovery. In this study, we found a decrease in GPR88 protein and mRNA expression levels in an ischemic mouse model using Western blot and real-time PCR, respectively. In addition, we observed that, among the three types of cells derived from the brain (brain microvascular endothelial cells, BV2 microglial cells, and HT22 hippocampal neuronal cells), the expression of GPR88 was highest in HT22 neuronal cells, and that GPR88 expression was downregulated in HT22 cells under oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) conditions. Moreover, pretreatment with RTI- 13951-33 (10 mg/kg), a brain-penetrant GPR88 agonist, ameliorated brain injury following ischemia, as evidenced by improvements in infarct volume, vestibular-motor function, and neurological score. Collectively, our results suggest that GPR88 could be a potential drug target for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases, including ischemic stroke.

• Korean Public Health Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.87-97
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• 2018

Background: Recently, the prevalence of obesity (body mass index [BMI] ${\geq}25kg/m^2$) has been increasing rapidly worldwide over a short period. In Korea, the prevalence of obesity has also increased rapidly due to the rapid socio-economic development and lifestyle changes, with differing patterns according to gender. This study aimed to compare the change in obesity prevalence according to gender among the adult population in Korea using representative data, the National Health Check-up Database (NHCD), to follow-up individuals who had undergone checkups during both years in Korea (2011~2013). Methods: To analyze the changes in obesity prevalence in the recent two years, data regarding men and women who had undergone health check-ups in both two years (2011, 2013) were extracted. The final study population comprised 144,934 persons: 83,604 (58%) males and 61,330 (42%) females. Chi-square test within a univariate analysis, and the level of factor difference was verified with t-test, one-way ANOVA and multiple comparison. Results: In 2011, one out of three participants was obese (BMI ${\geq}25kg/m^2$; male, 37.7%; female, 27.3%) and more than half of the subjects were overweight (BMI ${\geq}23kg/m^2$; male, 65.6%; female, 50.4%) requiring obesity management. For the two years, the BMI of the participants significantly increased (p < .0001) and the prevalence of obesity increased among both males and females. The prevalence of obesity was higher among both genders with a longer duration of smoking, more smoking, family history of hypertension, and family history of diabetes. However, residence, income level, drinking status, psychiatric disorder, disability status and severity of disability were the opposite gender. Conclusion: In the analysis of data, the prevalence of obesity among both men and women was increasing. The degree of change in the prevalence of obesity among men and women was different in each variable. Thus, it will need to consider gender in developing health policies for obesity mediation and to provide integrated healthcare and management for those people.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.103-114
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• 2001

Tourette's disorder is a disease which manifests one or more motor tics and vocal tics for more than a year. Chronic motor tic or vocal tic disorders are characterized by only one kind of tics for more than a year. We intended to investigate the clinical characteristics of the patients with chronic motor tic disorders or Tourette's disorders who had admitted from May 1, 1998 to May 1, 1999 to Seoul National University Hospital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ward. In addition, we compared the clinical characteristics of the patients in order to elucidate the relationship between the two disorders. The patients with learning disabilities were selected as controls. There was no statistically significant difference between the onsets of the patients with chronic motor tic disorders(n=13, $7.3{\pm}2.5$ years), and Tourette's disorder(n=39, $7.2{\pm}2.2$ years), but with learning disability($4.2{\pm}1.9$ years). Also, the patients with chronic motor tic disorder and Tourette's disorder showed similar age at admission($11.7{\pm}2.7$ versus $11.5{\pm}2.6$ years), duration of admission($5.7{\pm}5.4$ versus $11.0{\pm}8.7$ weeks), mothers' ages at child birth($27.3{\pm}2.9$ versus $28.3{\pm}6.7$ years old),and fathers' age at child birth($32.2{\pm}3.2$ versus $33.3{\pm}5.2$ years old). We observed that those who had learning disabilities were alike in those aspects, except for age at visit to clinic($9.8{\pm}3.2$ years old). Family history of psychiatric illnesses(24.1% versus 46.2%), recognized precipitating factors(11.1% versus 35.7%) and response to pharmacological treatments(77.8% versus 76.9%) of the patients with chronic motor tic disorders and Tourette's disorders were observed and no differences were found. Comorbid patterns of diseases were noted. Intrafamilial conflicts were more common in the patients with learning disabilities than those with chronic tic disorders or Tourette's disorders. Precipitating factors were observed more frequent in chronic tic disorder and Tourette's disorder than learning disability. Neurocognitive profiles were investigated, and verbal IQs of the patients with chronic motor tic disorder, Tourette's disorder and learning disability were $92.3{\pm}10.7$, $94.7{\pm}14.9$, $94.3{\pm}13.8$, performance IQs $93.0{\pm}20.5$, $97.5{\pm}13.0$, $95.0{\pm}16.9$ and full-scale IQs $91.9{\pm}20.1$, $95.8{\pm}14.5$, $93.9{\pm}15.1$, respectively, which were found to be not significantly different. No difference was found in structural neurological abnormalities and EEG profiles. The patients with learning disabilities showed more common Bender-Gestalt test abnormalities. In conclusion, we have not found any affirmative clues for the division of chronic motor tic disorder and Tourette's disorder in clinical perspective.