• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2022

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have been attracting significant attention in modern society, owing to the increased incidence rate of various diseases along with population growth. EDCs are found in many commercial products, including some plastic bottles and containers, detergents, liners of metal food cans, flame retardants, food, toys, cosmetics, and pesticides. EDCs have a hormonal effect on the human body, which disrupts the endocrine system, notably affecting sexual differentiation and normal reproduction, and can trigger cancer as well. Recently, the association between neurological diseases and EDCs has become a hot topic of research in the field of neuroscience. Considering that EDCs negatively affect not only neuronal proliferation and neurotransmission but also the formation of the neuronal networks, EDCs may induce neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as well as neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. In light of these potentially deleterious outcomes, important efforts have been underway to minimize the exposure to EDCs through appropriate regulations and policies around the world, but chemicals that have not yet been associated with endocrine disrupting properties are still in wide use. Therefore, more epidemiological investigations and research are needed to fully understand the effects of EDCs on the nervous system.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.62-66
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• 2008

Purpose : In addition to epileptic seizures (ES), a variety of physiologic, organic and psychogenic disorders can manifest as paroxysmal behavioral events. Paroxysmal nonepileptic events (PNEs) are quite encountered in infants, young children, and adolescents. In a substantial proportion of cases, a careful history and examination will elucidate their nature. However, in other cases, it is necessary to differentiate PNEs from ES by video-electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring. We report our experiences with PNEs in a group of children and adolescents who underwent video-EEG monitoring. Methods : From September, 2004 to June, 2006, one hundred thirty patients were monitored in the Pediatric Epilepsy Monitoring Units of Korea University Guro and Ansan hospitals. Their hospital charts were reviewed and video records of these events were analyzed. We observed all patients after video-EEG monitoring for more than 3 months. Results : Typical spells occurred during monitoring in 33 patients, not associated with a seizure pattern on EEG recordings. Two patients were diagnosed as frontal lobe epilepsy on basis of typical semiology and clinical characteristics, so 31 patients were documented to have PNEs finally. The mean age of patients was $7.2{\pm}5.8\;years$. The male to female ratio was 15 (48.4%) to 16 (51.6%). Among 31 patients, fifteen patients had associated disorders such as epilepsy, developmental delay, cerebral palsy, gastric ulcer, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or depressive disorder. Somatoform disorder and factitious disorder was frequently seen in children more than 5 years old (P<0.05). Psychogenic disorder was more frequent in female (n=6) than in male (n=2) but there was no statistical significance (P>0.05). Conclusion : Our study suggests that video-EEG monitoring is an important diagnostic tool in the evaluation of paroxysmal behavioral events. With correct diagnosis of the PNEs, several unnecessary treatment could be avoided.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.92-109
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• 1996

The objectives of the present study were to provide comprehensive assessment of the impact of epilepsy on the psychological well-being of children with epilepsy and to identify the neurological factors associated with the psychopathology. The participant patients were recruited from the population of children and adolescent aged 7 to 16 attending the OPD of department of pediatric neurology in Seoul National University Hospital in Korea. We exclude mental retardation, pervasive developmental disorder and brain organic pathology. As control group, formal students were chosen and their sex, age, achievement, socioeconomic status were matched to patients. The first author interviewed the children and their family members and obtained the developmental history and family information. We used the following 10 scales for assessing psychological and behavioral problems in patients and their family member. The scales were standardized and their validity and reliability were confirmed before. Parent rating scales : Yale children's inventory, Disruptive behavior disorder scale, Parent's attitude to epilepsy questionnaire, Family environment scale, Symptom check-list-90 revision, Children behavior check-list. Children's self rating scales : Children's depression inventory, Spielberger's state-trait anxiety anxiety, Piers-Harris self-concept inventory and Self-administered Dependency questionnaire for Mother. The result showed the risk factors associated depression were early onset, complex partial seizure, lateralized temporal focal abnormality on EEG, Drug polypharmacy, high seizure frequency and sick factors associated anxiety were old age of patient, lateralized temporal focal abnormality EEG, Drug polypharmacy, high seizure frequency. Also the result of this present study indicated that risk factors associated oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were young age, male, early onset, lateral temporal EEG abnormality and high seizure frequency. According to these results, common risk factors associated psychological and behavioral problems were lateralized EEG temporal abnormality, high seizure frequency in neurological factors.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.70-81
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• 2006

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences of the cognitive performance, emotional and behavioral problems among the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) groups that show the difference between visual and auditory attention. Method : Using 'ADHD Diagnostic System(ADS)', visual attention and auditory attention of 98 children diagnosed as ADHD were measured. According to the omission and commission error of ADS, they were divided into three groups ; 1) the group whose each visual omission and commission error scores were higher than each auditory omission and commission error scores(VV group), 2) the group whose each auditory omission and commission error scores were higher than each visual omission and commission error scores(AA group), 3) the group that was the rest of VV and AA group(M group). And the results of both the subscales of Korean Educational Development Institute-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children(KEDI-WISC) and the subscales of Korean Child Behavior Checklist(K-CBCL) among three groups were compared. Finally, the correlation between the visual omission, visual commission, auditory omission, auditory commission error and the results of KEDI-WISC, K-CBCL were investigated. Results : The results were as follows ; 1) In 98 ADHD children, the number of VV group(N=56) was higher than that of AA (N=10) and M group (N=32). 2) All mean scores of the subscales of KEDI-WISC of VV group were higher than those of M and AA group. The score of verbal IQ(p=.039) of VV group was significantly higher than that of AA group and the scores of block design(p=.015), Kaufman's factor 2(p=.045), performance IQ(p=.004) were significantly higher than those of M group. The score of full IQ(p=.004) were significantly higher than that of M and AA group. 3) The mean scores of all K-CBCL subscales of VV group were higher than those of M and AA group, except the score of Somatic complaint subscale. The score of Social subscale(p=.041) of VV group was significantly higher than that of AA group. The score of Withdrawn subscale(p=.021) of AA group was significantly higher than that of VV group. 4) There were no significant correlation between the scores of visual omission/commission error and those of each subscale of KEDI-WISC. But, there were many significant correlations between the scores of auditory omission/commission error and those of each subscale of KEDI-WISC. 5) There were significant correlation between the score of the visual omission error and that of Thought problem subscale(r=.205, p=.043) of K-CBCL. There were significant correlation between the scores of the auditory omission error and those of Social subscale(r=-.319, p=.001), Social problems subscale(r=.206, p=.042), Thought problem subscale(r=.235, p=.021). Finally, there were significant correlation between the scores of auditory commission error and those of Social subscale(r=-.241, p=.017), Thought problem subscale(r=.235, p=.020). Conclusion : The ADHD children whose auditory attention ability were higher than visual attention ability had relatively better cognitive performance and less emotional/behavioral problems than the others. The more comprehensive experiment will be needed about the cognitive performance, emotion and behavior problems of the ADHD children showing the difference between visual and auditory attention.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.4 s.44
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• pp.628-649
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• 1993

This study was conducted to investigate the factors related to the poor school performance of the elementary school children. Two schools in Taegu, one in the affluent area and the other in the poor area, were selected and a total of 175 children whose school performance was within low 10 percentile (poor performers) and 97 children whose school performance were within high 5 percentile (good performers) in each class of 2nd, 4th and 6th grades were tested for the physical health, behavioral problem and family background. Each child had gone through a battery of tests including visual and hearing acuity, anthropometry (body weight, height, head circumference), intelligence (Kodae Stanford-Binet test), test anxiety (TAI-K), neurologic examination by a developmental pediatrician and heavy metal content (Pb, Cd, Zn) in hair by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A questionnaire was administered to the mothers for prenatal and prenatal courses of the child, family environment, child's developmental history, and child's behavioral and learning problems. Another questionnaire was administered to the teachers of the children for the child's family background, arithmatic & language abilities and behavioral problem. The poor school performance had a significant correlation with male gender, high birth order, broken home, low educational and occupational levels of parents, visual problem, high test anxiety score, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), poor physical growth (weight, height, head circumference) and low I.Q. score. The factors that had a significant correlation with the poor school performance in multiple logistic regression analysis were child's birth order (odds ratio=2.06), male gender(odds ratio=5.91), broken home(odds ratio=9.29), test anxiety score(odds ratio=1.07), ADHD (odds ratio=9.67), I.Q. score (odds ratio=0.85) and height less than Korean standard mean-1S.D.(odds ratio=11.12). The heavy metal contents in hair did not show any significant correlation with poor school performance. However the lead and cadmium contents were high in males than in females. The lead content was negatively correlated with child's grade(P<0.05) and zinc was positively correlated with grade (P<0.05). among the factors that showed a significant correlation with the poor school performance, high birth order, short stature and ADHD may be modified by a good family planning, good feeding practice for infant and child, and early detection and treatment of ADHD. Also, teacher and parents should restrain themselves from inducing excessive test anxiety by forcing the child to study and over-expecting beyond the child's intellectual capability.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.25-50
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• 2001

Using Fourier transformation and wavelet analysis, we compared the auditory event-related potentials of the patients with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorders(abbr. ADHD, 13 boys) and normal control children(8 boys). Amplitudes of the event-related potentials which were calculated via Fourier transformation were compared between the groups and between conditions(non-target versus target) in each group. To the non-target stimuli, the patients with ADHD showed significantly greater amplitudes across almost all of the electrode sites and frequencies. To the target stimuli, the incidents which ADHD patients showed much higher amplitudes than normal controls significantly decreased, while those of the reverse results increased significantly. These results were consistent with the comparison results about negative difference wave(abbr. Nd wave) using Fourier transformation. In summary, it was proved that non-target stimulus which should be ignored elicited more robust electrical response from the patients with ADHD than normal children, but the target stimulus which reguired active processing did much less electrical activity in the patients. For the patients, they showed much inhibited electrical response to the target stimuli in some electrodes and frequency ranges. Normal children were more strongly stimulated by the target stimuli in almost all electrodes and frequency ranges than the patients, but less in prefrontal leads and frontal leads. Wavelet analysis results proved that early responses(0-300msec) to the nontarget stimuli of the patients were significantly greater than the normal controls in prefrontal, anterior frontal, some parts of temporal, and occipital lobes and that late response(300-370msec) were significantly lesser than normal children in parietal and central electrodes. Target stimuli elicited significantly higher electrical activity in both group than non-target stimuli did. Prefrontal and frontal lobes showed stronger responses in the patients than normal children irrespective of stimulus condition, but parietal and temporal lobes did higher activities in normal children than the patients only to the target stimuli. In conclusion, the patients with ADHD showed much greater responses to the stimuli which should be ignored, but failed to activated the necessary processes to the target stimuli. Also, we found that the frequency-dimension analysis and wavelet analysis were useful for the signal processing such as event related potentials.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.139-152
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• 2002

Objectives：This study was conducted to compare the clinical and neuropsychological characteristics by DSM-IV subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) patients who did not have comorbid psychiatric disorders. Methods：5-15 year old children with ADHD were recruited at psychiatric outpatient clinic of Yeungnam University hospital and the patients with comorbidity or neurological abnormalities were excluded. Finally, total 404 children with ADHD were selected for this study. There were 234 subjects of ADHD-C(57.9%), 156 subjects of ADHD-I(38.6%) and 14 subjects of ADHD-HI(3.5%), who fulfilled the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. The mean age of the total subjects was 9.63±2.49 years old. The psychopathology, IQ, behavioral problems, neuropsychological executive function were evaluated before pharmacological treatment. The measures were Korean Personality Inventory of Child(K-PIC) for psychopathology, 4 behavioral check lists(ADDES-HV, ACTeRS, CAP, SNAP) for behavioral symptoms of ADHD, K-ABC and KEDI-WISC for IQ and Conner's CPT, WCST, SST for neuropsychological executive functions. Results：1) The prevalence of subtypes was ADHD-C, ADHD-I, ADHD-HI in decreasing order. There was no sex difference of prevalence among three subtypes. The mean age of ADHD-I was older than other subtypes. 2) There was significant differences of psychopathology among subtypes, the ADHD-C and ADHD-HI had higher than the ADHD-I in the scores of delinquent, hyperactivity and psychosis；the ADHD-C had higher than the ADHD-I in the scores of family relation and autism, the scores of ego resilience were lower than the ADHD-I. However, there was no difference in anxiety, depression and somatization scores among them. 3) The results of behavioral symptom check lists, the ADHD-C had higher the score of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity than the ADHD-I. Meanwhile the results of ACTeRs, which rated by the teachers, were different. 4) There were significant differences of sequential processing scale and arithmetics among subtypes in IQ using K-ABC, but there was no significant difference between the ADHD-C and the ADHD-I after excluding the ADHD-HI due to small numbers. 5) There was numerical difference among subtypes but did not reach statistical significance in three neuropsychological executive function tests. Conclusion：In conclusion, our results revealed that there was significant difference in clinical features among three subtypes but, no significant difference in executive functions.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.165-178
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• 2001

In order to elucidate the biological etiology and the relationship between the ontogenesis of serotonin system and psychopathology in ADHD, plasma serotonin(5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid(5-HIAA) were measured and the correlation between the plasma levels of 5-HT and 5-HIAA and age were evaluated in 46 ADHD patients and 18 control subjects. The ADHD patients were composed of 16 combined type, 10 inattentive type, and 20 hyperactive-impulsive type and the control subjects were communication disorders. The results are summarized as follows：1) There was significant difference in plasma 5-HT levels among combined, inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive and control subjects(ANOVA F=4.33, df 3, 60, p<0.05), and post-hoc test using Scheffe method showed significant difference between the combined type and control group. But, post-hoc tests showed no significant differences between combined and inattentive, combined and hyperactive-impulsive, hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive and control and inattentive and control groups. 2) There was no significant differences in plasma 5-HIAA levels among the combined, hyperactive- impulsive, inattentive and control groups(ANOVA F=2.08, df 3, 60, p>0.05). 3) Significant difference in 5-HT level was found between the whole ADHD group(N=46) and the control group(N=18)(T=3.10, df 62, p<0.05). But no significant difference in 5-HIAA level was found between the whole ADHD group and the control group(T=1.90, df 62, p>0.05). 4) Plasma 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels showed no significant correlation with TOVA findings(5-HT：omission pearson correlation 0.10, commision 0.23, reaction time 0.01, variability in attention 0.11, all p>0.05, 5-HIAA：omission 0.21, commision 0.15, reaction time 0.09, variability in attention 0.15, all p>0.05). 5) Plasma 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels showed no significant correlation with attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity based on DSM-IV criteria. 6) Plasma 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels showed no significant correlation with age both in ADHD and control group. These findings show that decreased plasma 5-HT level may play a role in the genesis of ADHD, but this finding has no significant correlation with the psychopathology of ADHD. And we could not find any significant differences in ontogenetic processes in 5-HT. Future studies should be focused on the drug effects, family history and prognosis based on the biochemical subtypes(high and low 5-HT group).

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.124-130
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• 2006

Objectives : The objective of this study was to evaluate the differences in patterns of temperament and character, as assessed by the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (JTCI), between the children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the control group in a community sample. In addition, we examined the potential differences on JTCI profiles according to the ADHD subtypes. Methods : Parents of 185 ADHD subjects (mean age $9.0{\pm}1.7$ years), as diagnosed by the DISC-IV, and 185 age- and gender-matched comparison children have completed the parent's version of the JTCI. Results : The ADHD group scored significantly higher in Novelty Seeking and lower in Persistence than the comparison group on JTCI. However, there were no significant differences in the temperament or character profiles by the ADHD subtypes. Conclusion : The results of this study suggest that the temperamental factors of higher Novelty Seeking and lower Persistence are related to ADHD. The temperament or character profiles in this study do not provide support for the distinctiveness of the ADHD subtypes.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.162-168
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• 2011

Objectives: Alcohol problems of parents have an influence on not only their psychological problems but also on their children's psychosocial adaptation. The purpose of this study was to compare the emotional and behavioral problems, including school bullying and social skills, between children of alcoholics (COAs) and children of non-alcoholics (non-COAs). Methods: We recruited $4^{th}$ grade children (n=741) from 7 primary schools in Seoul and their parents as subjects. The self-rated psychiatric symptoms were assessed with the Korean version of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST-K), the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale (RSES), the School Bullying Scale, the Social Skill Rating Scale and the Korean version of Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire-Adolescent (AEQ-A). The Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale-IV (ARS) was completed by the parents. Results: 518 children were non-COAs and 223 were COAs. The COAs showed higher CDI and ARS-IV scores and lower RSES scores than the non-COAs. Especially, the COAs also showed higher school bullying scale scores and lower cooperative scale scores on the social skill rating scales. But there was no difference of alcohol expectancy between the COAs and non-COAs. Conclusion: It was plausible that the COAs had more behavioral & psychosocial problems than the non-COAs among the school aged children. It is important to identify and intervene to solve the problems of peer relationships of school age COAs in order to prevent victimization by bullying and to improve psychosocial adaptation.