• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.156-162
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• 2024

Nerve conduction study (NCS) is an essential test for the diagnosis and follow-up of peripheral neuropathy. NCS can objectively quantify peripheral nerve function. NCS is affected by physiological factors such as height, age, body mass index, etc. Hence, the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnosis Medicine (AANEM) is currently forming a Normal Data Task Force (NDTF) to present the normal value, but the number is significantly less. Currently, no research has been carried out on the correlation between nerve conduction speed and height and lower limb length in Koreans. Hence, this study sought to compare the nerve conduction velocity of the lower limbs according to the height and lower limb length. A total of 49 subjects were recruited. When the motor nerve conduction velocity and sensory nerve conduction velocity were compared according to the height and leg length, there was a statistically significant negative correlation of the peroneal and left tibial motor nerves with the height. Also, a statistically significant negative correlation was observed with the superficial peroneal sensory nerve and the sural nerve and the leg length. However, in this study, all the subject are in twentys age, whereas the NDTF is divided by age. Hence, additional studies involving subjects of various age groups are needed.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-13
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• 2011

Objective : Purpose of this study is to discuss benefits and implications of the clinical reasoning process and re-evaluation in the OTIPM by introducing a single case that occupational therapy intervention is provided based on the OTIPM. Methods : The case subject is a boy aged 5 years and 10 month who had diagnosed as attachment disorder and anxiety disorder from a pediatric psychiatrist before. The boy is referred to sensory integration therapy clinic and underwent occupational therapy intervention service twice a week for four month. Therapeutic activities for the intervention were consisted of sensory integration activities for restorative model, care-giver education for educational model, and performance skill training for acquisitional model. Measurements used in the initial evaluation are JSI-R, DDST-2, Social Maturity Test, KPPS-R, and observation-based performance task analysis. For the performance task analysis, performance skill items were constructed based on the Occupational Therapy Process Framework (OTPF), and those were assessed by the evaluation system of Assessment of Motor and Process Skill (AMPS) and Evaluation of Social Participation (ESI). Results : The detail process of implementing of the OTIPM in this study is reported by following four phases; 1) establish client-centered performance context; 2) establish baseline and interpret cause (initial evaluation); 3) intervention planning and implementing; and 4) recognize intervention outcome (reevaluation). Conclusion : In this case, occupational therapist could provide the client an occupation-based intervention within comprehensive performance context based on the OTIPM. Therapist could clearly identify the cause of problematic performance skills and behaviors and so provide effective intervention to improve client's occupational performance. Additionally, it was found that client's satisfaction of the intervention can be raised when the concept of 'who is the client' is expanded based on the OTIPM. From this study, it is proposed that OTIPM may be a model educible 'comprehensive' enhancement of 'specific' occupational engagement, as it considers both improvement of occupational performance and satisfaction.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2021

Purpose : This study examined the differences in occupational therapists' jobs depending on their past clinical careers using a survey of the importance of occupational therapy tasks in South Korea. This survey sought to provide fundamental data for strengthening occupational therapists' capacities and developing clinical training programs for therapists' future careers. Methods : An online survey was used to collect data from 93 South Korean occupational therapists. The subjects were divided into three groups for the analysis of the importance of occupational therapy tasks, depending on the length of their clinical careers: less than 3 years, from 4 to 6 years, and over 7 years. Results : A within-groups comparison of task importance found that "occupational therapy evaluation" was most important in all three groups. In between-groups comparisons, "patient information check", "assessment planning and establishment", "sensory function assessment", "social skills assessment", "developmental function improvement", "basic daily activities training", "social skills improvement", and "patient education" demonstrated statistically significant differences (p<.05). Each group showed different priorities. In the less-than-3-years group, "understanding of patient's needs" was most important, followed by "arm function improvement", "arm function assessment", "nerve, musculoskeletal, and motor-related functional improvement", and "basic daily activities training". In the 4-to-6-years group, "arm function assessment" was most important, followed by "basic daily activities assessment", "patient's needs", "arm function improvement", and "patient information check". In the over-7-years group, "understanding of patient's needs" was most important, followed by "patient information check", "basic daily activities assessment", "basic daily activities training", and "sensory function assessment". Conclusion : This study found that what occupational therapists consider important in their jobs varies according to their past clinical career and that occupational therapists with more than 7 years' experience are more aware of the importance of diverse fields of occupational therapy. Differentiated education that considers length of career and a range of training programs for more experienced occupational therapists will be needed in the future.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.179-186
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• 2008

This paper presents a portable tele-assessment system designed for remote evaluation of the hypertonic elbow joint of neurologically impaired patients. A patient's upper limb was securely strapped to a portable limb-stretching device which is connected through Internet to a portable haptic device by which a clinician remotely moved the patient's elbow joint and felt the resistance from the patient. Elbow flexion angle and joint torques were measured from both master and slave devices and bilaterally fed back to their counterparts. In order to overcome problems associated with the network latency, two different tele-operation schemes were proposed depending on relative speed of tasks compared to the amount of time delay. For slow movement tasks, the bilateral tele-operation was achieved in real-time by designing control architectures after causality analysis. For fast movement tasks, we used a semi-real-time tele-operation scheme which provided the clinicians with stable and transparent feeling. The tele-assessment system was verified experimentally on patients with stroke. The devices were made portable and low cost, which makes it potentially more accessible to patients in remote areas.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.66-79
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• 2017

Objective : The purpose of this study is investigate the effects of sensory integration combined with auditory treatment on the sensory processing, visual perception and attention ability of children with developmental delay. Methods : A combined treatment of auditory training and sensory integration therapy was implemented to 3 children aged 4 to 7 and diagnosed with developmental delay during 9 weeks period from December 2016 to January 2017. ABA' design which is one of single subject research designs was used in this study. Baseline A had 4 sessions, intervention B had 15 sessions, and baseline A' had 4 sessions, so 23 sessions were applied in total. During the baseline A and A 'periods, visual perception ability was measured by K-DTVP-2 (Korea Developmental Test Visual Perception-2) and sensory processing ability was evaluated by sensory profile. The maintenance time of attention was measured with the absence of intervention for the baseline period, and for the intervention period, it was measured at 10 minutes break time which was provided after the intervention. The children's attention time during a fine motor task provided were measured using video recorder with the interval recording method, and the interval for the evaluation was 30 seconds. Results : No statistically significant difference were found in the visual perception function and sensory processing scores before and after treatment. Attention of participant A enhanced significantly while that of participant B and C did not improve significantly. Conclusion : It is hard to conclude that sensory integration therapy combined with auditory perception training has positive effects on visual perception function and attention of children with developmental delays. However, there were significant increase in attention and improvements in behavior related to sensory processing for some cases in this study. In further study, longer intervention periods and valid measurement need to be applied in order to get better results. And it is proposed that more studies need to be done to enhance evidence of auditory perception training as a mean to facilitate attention and to prepare learning.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.573-597
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• 2016

Recent fMRI and EEG research for neural representations of action concepts insist that processing of action concepts evoke the simulation of sensory-motor information. Moreover, there are several behavioral studies showing that understanding of action verbs or sentences describing actions interfere or facilitate current action performance. However, it is unclear that online interaction between processing of action concepts and current action is based on the simulation of sensory-motor information, or other neural mechanisms. The present research aims to explore the underlying neural mechanism that how the perception of action language influence the performance of current action using high-spacial temporal resolution EEG and multiple source analysis techniques. For this, participants were asked to perform a cued-motor reaction task in which button-pressing hand action and pedal-stepping foot action were required according to the color of the cue, and we presented auditorily action verbs describing the responding actions (i.e., /press/, /step/, /stop/) just before the color cue and examined the interaction effect from the semantic congruency between the action verbs and the current action. Behavioral results revealed consistently a facilitatory effect when action verbs and responding actions were semantically congruent in both button-pressing and pedal-stepping actions, and an inhibitory effect when semantically incongruent in the button-pressing action condition. In the results of EEG source waveform analysis, the semantic congruency effects between action verbs and the responding actions were observed in the Wernicke's area during the perception of action verbs, in the anterior cingulate gyrus and the supplementary motor area (SMA) at the time when the motor-cue was presented, and in the SMA and primary motor cortex (M1) during action execution stage. Based on the current findings, we argue that perceived action verbs evoke the facilitation/inhibition effect by influencing the expectation and preparation stage of following actions rather than the directly activating the particular motor cortex. Finally we discussed the implication on the neural representation of action concepts and methodological limitations of the current research.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.14-24
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• 2018

Objective : The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of Interactive Metronome (IM) training on postural control and hand writing performance of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Methods : Participant was a third grade elementary school student diagnosed with ADHD. ABA design was used and a total of 30 sessions were held for 3 sessions every week for a total of 10 weeks. In the intervention period, IM training was conducted for 40~50 minutes before intervention for writing, and the writing task was carried out. We evaluated the handwriting legibility and speed. Before baseline A and within a month after A' phase, Clinical Observation of Motor and Postural Skills (COMPS) was evaluated to examine the changes in postural control of the student. Results : After the IM intervention, the postural control of the student improved in the score of slow movement, finger-nose touching, and asymmetrical tonic neck reflex. The handwriting legibility and speed has also tended to increase during the intervention period, but it has not significantly changed. Conclusion : This study could be used as an evidence that the IM training aimed at postural control and handwriting ability could enhance the ability to improve postural control and thereby provide fundamental knowledge for future studies.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.49-66
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• 2000

Pregnancy is a task of creation in which a women mobilizes her self and the resources available to her in the generation of a new person. Through the pregnancy, a mother has formed the new human relationship with a fetus. Maternal-fetal relationship is considered one of mechanism making the relationship of mother and child. It is important to well-being of mother and fetus, too. The earliest interaction between a mother and her child is during prenatal period. Maternal-fetal dyad is unique and perceived interactions with the fetus make the pregnancy real for the mother. Maternal behavior is "instinctive" and is formed in early childhood by copy of the mother. But, Rubin argues that this behavior is an open intellectual system rather than a prepackaged bundle of traits. There is openness to new learning and a high value placed on knowing which occurs with silent organization in thought. Thus, nurses and other health professionals provide prenatal care that optimally is part of the environment in which the maternal-fetal dyad develops. Thus it is appropriate for nurses to increases their understanding of the dyad and to explore ways to enhance its development. This study focusses on the interaction ability and response of fetus, and the maternal-fetal interaction. The research of fetal responses that involve physiological changes and motor movement have been shown to coccur to both external sensory stimuli and to maternal emotional states. The fetus does also have sensory capacity to be aware of some maternal behaviors, and the motor ability to respond in a way the mother can notice. Thus, very rudimentary interactions appear to be possible. Maternal awareness of fetal activity was supported by several studies. More interesting to the present study are description of maternal-fetal interaction and the finding that there appear to be levels of sensitivity to the fetus involved in maternal-fetal interactions. First, recognition comes that the fetus is separate from the maternal self. Next, the fetus engages in. Lastly, the parent may describe active interaction with the fetus, believing that mother and fetus are communicating on a meaningful level. Several interventions, developed to promote more active interaction between mother and fetus, have been reviewed. In general, the parents were taught to stimulate the fetus and to notice the fetus' responses. This type of intervention might increase the mother's sensitivity to her unborn baby, and she may have a head start toward learning how to res pond sensitivity to the newborn infant. Research In the area of maternal-fetal interaction is scarce. Sensitive behavior is construed as an appropriate and timely response to a signal of need from another person, but no such signal of need can be claimed regarding the fetus. The highest level of maternal-fetal interaction, therefore, might be based more on maternal representations of the imagined fetus than on factual evidence of fetal participation.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-19
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• 2000

Decreased equilibrium in standing and walking is a common problem associated with hemiparesis secondary to cerebral vascular accident. In patients with hemiplegia, postural sway is increased and often displaced laterally over the non-affected leg, reflecting asymmetry in lower extremity weight bearing during standing balance. Human balance is a complex motor control task, requiring integration of sensory information, neural processing, and biomechanical factors. Limits of stability (LOS) is a one of the biomechanical factors. The purposes of this study were to establish the influence of asymmetrical weight-bearing on the LOS of independent ambulatory hemiparetic patients. The subjects of this study were 29 hemiparetic patients (18 males, 11 females) being treated as admitted or out patients at Young-Nam University Hospital and Taegu Catholic University Hospital, all of whom agreed to participate in the study. Participants were asked to lean and displace their center of gravity (COG) as far as possible in directions to the sides and front of the body. The LOS and weight-bearing ratio were measured with a Balance Performance Monitor (BPM) Dataprint Software Version 5.3. In order to assure the statistical significance of the results, the independent t-test and a Pearson's correlation were applied at the .05 and .01 level of significance. The results of this study were as follows: 1) There were statistically significant differences in anteroposterior LOS according to the cause of brain demage (p<.01). 2) There were statistically significant differences in mediolateral LOS according to the hemiparetic side (p<.05). 3) There were statistically significant differences in anteroposterior and mediolateral LOS according to the brain operation (p<.01). 4) The mediolateral LOS significantly correlated with weight-bearing ratio (p<.01).

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.346-357
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• 2020

During the follow-up period after surgery for spinal dysraphism, a certain portion of patients show neurological deterioration and its secondary phenomena, such as motor, sensory or sphincter changes, foot and spinal deformities, pain, and spasticity. These clinical manifestations are caused by tethering effects on the neural structures at the site of previous operation. The widespread recognition of retethering drew the attention of medical professionals of various specialties because of its incidence, which is not low when surveillance is adequate, and its progressive nature. This article reviews the literature on the incidence and timing of deterioration, predisposing factors for retethering, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, surgical treatment and its complications, clinical outcomes, prognostic factors after retethering surgery and preventive measures of retethering. Current practice and opinions of Seoul National University Children's Hospital team were added in some parts. The literature shows a wide range of data regarding the incidence, rate and degree of surgical complications and long-term outcomes. The method of prevention is still one of the main topics of this entity. Although alternatives such as spinal column shortening were introduced, re-untethering by conventional surgical methods remains the current main management tool. Re-untethering surgery is a much more difficult task than primary untethering surgery. Updated publications include strong skepticism on re-untethering surgery in a certain group of patients, though it is from a minority of research groups. For all of the abovementioned reasons, new information and ideas on the early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of retethering are critically necessary in this era.