• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2003

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare reliability and validity of three Korean versions of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia scale and to confirm the most reliable and validated Korean translation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale for both clinical and research purpose in Korea. The first one was a Korean version of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale developed by Lee YH et al in 1996 which was designated as TAS-20K(1996) in this study. This scale had a problem with one item due to the cultural difference regarding the word 'analyzing' between western culture and Korean culture. The second one was the revised version of TAS-20K(1996) on that point by Lee YH et al in 1996 without validation which was designated as TAS-20K(2003) in this study. The third one was a 23-item Korean version developed by Sin HG and Won HT in 1997, which was somewhat different from the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20) in the number of total item, the content of some items and the scoring method. This scale was designated as S-TAS here. Methods: 408 medical students were tested with one scale composed of all the different items randomly arranged from the three versions. We evaluated goodness-of-fit and Cronbach $\alpha$ coefficients of three scales for reliability. We used confirmatory factor analysis to compare validity. Results: TAS-20K(2003) showed that it had better internal consistency than TAS-20K(1996), which implied that the cultural difference should be considered in the Korean translation. Both TAS-20K(2003) and S-TAS replicated three-factor structures and had adequacy of fit, good internal consistency and acceptable validity. However, S-TAS had one item with poor item-factor correlation and didn't show high correlation between item 2 and factor 1 as before in 1997. Conclusion: Although S-TAS had added 3 items and changed the content of two items, it didn't show better reliability and validity than TAS-20K(2003). Therefore it is proposed to use TAS-20K (2003) as the Korean version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20K) for international communication of results of Alexithymia research. It has good internal consistency and validity and maintains original items, the same construct and scoring method as the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 2000

In order to understand the psychological charateristics of Sasang Constitution. the Korean version of 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20K) was completed by 59 sixth grade students of oriental medical college of KyungHee university who defined as one of Sasang constitution from June 2000 to August, and the mean scores of Yangin versus Eumin and Sasang constitution on TAS-20K was compared. The results of this study were as follows.1. Comparison between male and female on Means of TAS-20K ScoreMann-Whitney U test detected no significant differences between mean ranks of TAS-20K scores of male and those of female in F1, F2 and Total, but significant difference in F3(Mann-Whitney U test, t=2.493. p=.018)2. Comparison between Yangin and Eumin on Means of TAS-20K ScoreMann-whitney U test detected no significant differences between mean ranks of TAS-20K scores of Yangin and those of Eumin in F1. F3 and Total, but significant difference in F2(Mann-Whitney U test. t=-2.805. p=.008)3. Comparison among Sasang constitution on Means of TAS-20K ScoreAlthough mean of TAS-20K score of Taeyangin. Soyangin and Soeumin, there were no significant differences among Sasang constitution in F1, F2 and F3 as well as Total when mean ranks of TAS-20K scores of Sasang constitution were compaed by one-way ANOVA.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.42-50
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• 1999

Alexithymia refers to a specific disturbance in psychic functioning characterized by difficulties in the capacity to verbalize affect and to elabolate fantasies. Although it was initially described in the context of psychosomatic illness, alexithymic charateristics may be observed in patients with a wide range of medical and psychiatric disorders. This study was designed to investigate alexithymic characteristics in the patients with alcoholism using Scored Archetypal 9 Test(SAT9) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 Korea version(TAS-20K). Twenty patients with alcoholism and twenty-four normal controls completed these tests. The results were as follows. 1) Patient group with alcoholism were significantly more alexithymic than normal control group in both SAT9 and TAS-20K. 2) No significant difference in the alexithymic measures was found between genders of both group. 3) No significant correlation was found between alexithymic measures and age or education level in both group. 4) Measures between SAT9 and TAS-20K showed significant correlation in the patient group.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.472-482
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• 2019

This paper describes the stabilization of underwater TAS winch system Deploy/Recover operation performance. TAS winch installed on the stern of submarine performs to deploy/recover sensor, towing cable and rope tail which is deployed from the stern and separated from submarine itself. Also TAS winch provides transmission path of power to the sensor and data transmitting/receiving path which data are acquired from underwater environment like sound, depth and temperature. At the step of TAS winch evaluation test, sporadic standstill and rotating speed oscillation phenomenon were occurred. Winch motor provides the available torque to deploy/recover TAS and root cause analysis to the winch motor was done to find exact reason to sporadic malfunction. When winch motor was disassembled, eccentricity of rotor, slip-ring and the other composition part for winch motor were found. These might cause magnetic field distortion. To make TAS winch system more stable and block magnetic field distortion, this paper suggests methods to enhance fixing status installed in winch motor. For reliable data acquisition for TAS winch operation, the deploy/recover function of the improved type of TAS winch was verified in LBTS making similar condition with sea status. At the end of stage, improved type of TAS winch was tested on some functions not only deploy/recover function, but sustainability of TAS operation on specific velocity, steering angle of submarine in the sea trial. Improved type of TAS winch was verified in accordance with design requirement. Also, validity of suggested methods were verified by the sea trial.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.794-797
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• 2004

In this study, tensile adhesive strength(TAS) test was carreid out for evaluated the effects of temperature conditions (-20, -10, 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, $40^{\circ}C$) on the tensile adhesive characteristics about 4 type waterproofing membranes which were commercially used in bridge decks. And, failure appeariences of waterproofing systems in each temperature after TAS test were observed the sawing surfaces of waterproofing systems for whether or not damaged of waterproofing membranes. Also, correction coefficient of TAS with temperature were calculated using 4 type waterproofing membrane. It could be shown that the higher TAS and shear adhesive strength, the lower temperature, regardless of the type of waterproofing membrane. Temperature sensibility of TAS was especially remarkable in epoxy membrane. Failure type was occurred the ductile failure in $30^{\circ}C\;and\;40^{\circ}C$. From these results, it was shown that if ambient temperature above $30^{\circ}C$ maintains for a long time, waterproofing membrane will be deformed by softening. Otherwise, waterproofing membrane in temperature below $20^{\circ}C$ shown that occurred the brittle failure. From the results of visual observation of cutting surface for specimen, the thin waterproofing membranes shown indented by hot aggregate of the asphalt mixtures. Therefore, it could be known that the specification of waterproofing membrane thickness is necessary by waterproofing membrane type. As temperature change varied with pavement depth, the interface temperature was more important than ambient temperature in TAS test. Now, TAS test results were limited only in $-10^{\circ}C\;and\;20^{\circ}C$ temperature, but correction coefficient of TAS by ambient temperature could be used as a solution to deal with this problem.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.633-641
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• 2000

This study was conducted to measure the difference in the total antioxidant status(TAS) of overweight and normal weight adults, and to investigate the correlation between TAS and the nutrient intake. Anthropometric parameter, TAS, biochemical parameters and dietary intake were measured in the normal weight group(n=17, BMI 20-25, obesity index 90-110%, body fat 16-20%) and overweight group(n=13, BMI > 25, obesity index > 120%, body fat > 25%) among Korean young males. The TAS of the overweight group was significantly higher than that of the normal weight group(p < 0.01). Among biochemical parameters, the average uric acid concentration of the overweight group was significantly higher(p < 0.05) compared to that of the normal weight group indicating, the uric acid concentration reflects TAS. Usual dietary intake showed that the intakes of Ca and vitamin B$_2$, are below RDA. The average intake of vitamin C in the overweight group was significantly lower than that in the normal group(p < 0.05). There was no difference in the intake of carotene and vitamin E between groups. The diet quality of both groups was satisfactory. The result of the correlation analysis on TAS, the uric acid concentration, and the measured indexs are as follows : In the overweight group, TAS was negatively correlated with alchol drinking, and uric acid concentration was positively correlated with BMI, obesity index, and TAS. In conclusion, TAS was significantly higher in the overweight group than that of the normal group, although no association was found with nutrient intakes. Serum uric acid showed a positive relationship with TAS indicating, it is a possible determinant of the antioxidant capacity.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.56-60
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• 2002

Objective: Various psychological factors influence the occurrence of tension-type headaches. The aim of this study is to compare the level of alexithymia between tension-type headache patients and normal controls. Methods: Sixty-six subjects with tension-type headaches and 59 controls were studied. The Beck Depression Inventory and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K) were administered to the tension-type headache group and TAS-20K to the normal control group. Results: Compared with normal controls, the tension-type headache group had significantly higher alexithymia scores. There was also significant association between the level of alexithymia and the severity of the depression in tension-type headache patients. Conclusions: These findings suggest that patients with tension-type headaches have difficulty in expressing their emotions. And in patients with tension-type headaches, the more alexithymic they are, the more depressive.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 2015

Objective : The aim of the study was to investigate the difference in alexithymia between anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. The second was to evaluate the effect of alexithymia on quality of life in patients with anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. Methods : A total of 175 patients with diagnoses of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder were recruited. Demographic, psychosocial, and clinical data were analyzed, as well as results on the 20-item Toronto alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K), the Symptom Checklist-90-Re-vised (SCL-90-R), a quality of life scale, the Beck Depression scale, and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Results : As compared with the patients with anxiety disorder, patients with depressive disorder showed significantly higher total score on the TAS-20K and for factor 1 (difficulties identifying feelings) and factor 2 (difficulties describing feeling) scales of the TAS-20K and showed significantly lower scores of psychosocial well-being on the quality of life scale. Total scores on the TAS-20K correlated significantly with scores for some subscale on the quality of life scale. Conclusion : This study suggest that patients with depressive disorder had more alexithymic symptoms and worse quality of life compared with those with anxiety disorder. Also, alexithymic symptoms are found to be associated with quality of life. Therefore, clinicians should try to focus on relieving symptoms to help patients restore their psychological well-being and improve their quality of life.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.462-465
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• 2010

Sweetness plays an important role in providing calories and promoting appetite for food. Since it has been known that genetic factor(s) is involved in individual differences in taste sensitivity in humans, this study aimed to examine genetic variations of the TAS1R2 gene, one of the components for tasting sweet compounds, by using DNA sequencing analysis from 98 unrelated Korean subjects. As a result, 12 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in the hTAS1R2 gene and most of them were nonsynonymous. Also, two novel SNPs were found for the first time in this study. It was noted that the frequencies of these SNPs were common in the Korean population. 20 different haplotypes with coding SNPs (cSNPs) were also found in this study. Three out of these haplotypes were common, showing frequencies of > 10%. The repertoire and frequencies of cSNPs and haplotypes in the hTAS1R2 gene will provide information that will help identify a functional ligand receptor common in the Korean population.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.239-244
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• 2011

Objectives Schizophrenic patients have been shown to be impaired in both emotional self-awareness and recognition of others' facial emotions. Alexithymia refers to the deficits in emotional self-awareness. The relationship between alexithymia and recognition of others' facial emotions needs to be explored to better understand the characteristics of emotional deficits in schizophrenic patients. Methods Thirty control subjects and 31 schizophrenic patients completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20-Korean version (TAS-20K) and facial emotion recognition task. The stimuli in facial emotion recognition task consist of 6 emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and neutral). Recognition accuracy was calculated within each emotion category. Correlations between TAS-20K and recognition accuracy were analyzed. Results The schizophrenic patients showed higher TAS-20K scores and lower recognition accuracy compared with the control subjects. The schizophrenic patients did not demonstrate any significant correlations between TAS-20K and recognition accuracy, unlike the control subjects. Conclusions The data suggest that, although schizophrenia may impair both emotional self-awareness and recognition of others' facial emotions, the degrees of deficit can be different between emotional self-awareness and recognition of others' facial emotions. This indicates that the emotional deficits in schizophrenia may assume more complex features.