• International Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.95-107
• /
• 2011

Recent intervention studies document that mother-child dyads with higher levels of Emotional Availability (EA) report fewer child behavior problems than dyads with lower EA. This study examines possible mechanisms that lead to this result by looking at the parent-child micro-system as a whole, with multi-dimensional relationships that include individual differences in the child's cognitive level, parental stress and parent-child interaction. A total 67 children ($1{\frac{1}{2}}$ to $5\;{\frac{1}{2}}$ years of age) and their mothers were videotaped during 30-min play interactions. Interactions were coded using the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales (Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1998). Mothers completed Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, Child Behavior Checklist/$1\;{\frac{1}{2}}$ - 5, and the Ages Stages Questionnaire. The findings showed that mothers with higher levels of parenting stress were more likely to be intrusive, hostile, insensitive, and had a tendency to do less structuring in play. The children of stressed and depressed mothers demonstrated less involvement and responsiveness towards their mothers. Children who have higher dyadic EA scores experienced fewer externalizing and internalizing problems. SEM analyses results showed a mediation effect of EA on the association between maternal psychological well-being and child behavior problems. Fewer deficits in child communication skills and problem solving skills that were related with lower parenting stress and depression were associated with higher maternal non-intrusiveness. Higher non-intrusiveness was related to less internalizing and externalizing problems that indicated the indirect effect of child cognitive competence. Possible interpretations and implications of the study findings are discussed.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 2020

Objectives : Increasing evidence supports the biological and pharmacological activities of essential oils on the central nervous system such as pain, anxiety, attention, arousal, relaxation, sedation and learning and memory. The purpose of present work is to investigate the protective effect and molecular mechanism of cypress essential oil (CEO) against scopolamine (SCO)-induced cognitive impairments in C57BL/6 mice. Methods : A series of behavior tests such as Morris water maze, passive avoidance, and fear conditioning tests were conducted to monitor learning and memory functions. Immunoblotting and RT-PCR were also performed in the hippocampal tissue to determine the underlying mechanism of CEO. Results : SCO induced cognitive impairments as assessed by decreased step-through latency in passive avoidance test, relatively low freezing time in fear conditioning test, and increased time spent to find the hidden platform in Morris water maze test. Conversely, CEO inhalation significantly reversed the SCO-induced cognitive impairments in C57BL/6 mice comparable to control levels. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of memory enhancing effect of CEO we have examined the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus. CEO effectively elevated the protein as well as mRNA expression of BDNF via activation of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB). Conclusions : Our findings suggest that CEO inhalation effectively restored the SCO-impaired cognitive functions in C56BL/6 mice. This learning and memory enhancing effect of CEO was partly mediated by up-regulation of BDNF via activation of CREB.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
• /
• v.11 no.spc
• /
• pp.117-131
• /
• 2005

The present research integrated various theoretical perspectives of human unlawful behaviors in order to clarify the psychological mechanisms that underly the changes in compliance with and attitude toward law as time goes. Most well-known theories such as classical theory of crime, biosocial and evoluationary theories, and psychological perspectives including psycho-dynamic theory, personality, intellectual/moral development theories, and decision-making were discussed in their unique points in explaining human unlawful behaviors. Finally, social-learning theory and cognitive-dissonance theory has been suggested to explain the psychological mechanism of the phenomena in which people's attitude toward law and compliance with law become weaken through violation experiences of trivial lawful regulations. Especially, the logic of cognitive-dissonance theory (that people committed violation of trivial laws should experience dissonance with their original belief of compliance with law and negative arousal and try to remove the arousal by change their belief along with their behavior) were theoretically convincing to explain the phenomenon and supported by a series of experimental studies. Several practical implications for future constitutional and political activities were discussed in the basis of the cognitive dissonance theory.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.290-304
• /
• 2023

Background: Innovative Alzheimer's disease drugs received approval in the United States in 2021 and 2023. This study aims to assess the safety and efficacy of these novel treatments, elucidate their mechanisms of action, and compare their impact on cognitive function improvement with approved drugs. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of pivotal clinical studies related to Alzheimer's disease treatments in PubMed/Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases from January 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2022. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. Results: A total of 14 studies were included in this systematic review. When compared to the placebo, the new drugs did not exhibit a statistically significant effect on MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) (mean difference= -0.04, 95% confidence intervals [CIs]: -0.31, 0.23, N=3662, I²=0%). However, they demonstrated a significant impact on ADAS-cog (Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale) (standardized mean difference= -0.15, 95% CIs: -0.2, -0.1, N=6710, I²=17%). When compared to the approved drugs, the new drugs showed a statistically significantly lower effect on MMSE (test for subgroup difference Chi²=23.13, N = 5870, p<0.00001) but showed only a trend of decreased efficacy on ADAS-cog (Chi²=1.16, N = 8670, p=0.28). Conclusion: New drugs yielded diverse clinical endpoint results compared to the placebo, and in comparison to existing approved drugs, they exhibited lower efficacy in improving cognitive function. The safety profile of these new drugs, as reported in clinical trials, was generally well-tolerated.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.69-86
• /
• 2013

The recent findings proposed and found that people from Eastern cultures could experience strong cognitive dissonance only when certain conditions, such as other-related choices, normative attitudes, were fulfilled. Even though such interesting findings are intuitively convincing on the basis of common understanding of individualist and collectivist cultures, the psychological mechanisms underlying the cultural variations of cognitive dissonance remain untested. The present study examined the role of attitude importance in cognitive dissonance by using the free-choice paradigm. After completing a pretest of individualism-collectivism scales, 60 college students ranked their preference to 10 items of either beverage or traffic regulations twice. Between the two ranking tasks, they were asked to engage in behavioral selection among their 5^th and 6^th preferred items. They also rated the personal importance of the preference. The results showed that attitude importance was positively correlated with attitude change and it could play a major role in experiencing cognitive dissonance beyond cultural orientation and situational factors. The current findings were discussed in universality of cognitive dissonance across cultures.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.49-62
• /
• 2007

The higher cognitive functions of the human brain including teaming are hypothesized to be selectively distributed across large-scale neural networks interconnected to the cortical and subcortical areas. Recently, advances in functional imaging have made it possible to visualize the brain areas activated by certain cognitive activities in vivo. Neural substrates for teaming and motivation have also begun to be revealed. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides a non-invasive indirect mapping of cerebral activity, based on the blood- oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast which is based on the localized hemodynamic changes following neural activities in certain areas of the brain. The fMRI method is now becoming an essential tool used to define the neuro-functional mechanisms of higher brain functions such as memory, language, attention, learning, plasticity and emotion. Further research in the field of education will accelerate the verification of the effects on loaming or help in the selection of model teaching strategies. Thus, the purpose of this study was to review brain study methods using fMRI in science education. In conclusion, a number of possible strategies using fMRI for the study of elementary science education were suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.48 no.10
• /
• pp.25-35
• /
• 2010

This study examined the potential mediating mechanisms underlying the association between peer victimization and school adjustment. 521 children in the fifth and sixth grades were recruited from primary schools in Korea. Peer nomination and self-reports were used to measure peer victimization, cognitive representations, and school avoidance. Academic achievement records were obtained from official school records. The findings indicated that peer victimization contributed to school avoidance and academic achievement by different pathways. The association between peer victimization and school avoidance was indirectly mediated by perceptions of the self and peers. In contrast, peer victimization was directly associated with academic achievement.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.49 no.7
• /
• pp.370-375
• /
• 2016

Ras oncoproteins are small molecular weight GTPases known for their involvement in oncogenesis, which operate in a complex signaling network with multiple effectors. Approximately 25% of human tumors possess mutations in a member of this family. The Raf1/MEK/Erk1/2 pathway is one of the most intensively studied signaling mechanisms. Different levels of regulation account for the inactivation of MAP kinases by MAPK phosphatases in a cell type- and stimuli-dependent manner. In the present study, using three inducible Ras-expressing NIH/3T3 cell lines, we demonstrated that MKP3 upregulation requires the activation of the Erk1/2 pathway, which correlates with the shutdown of this pathway. We also demonstrated, by applying pharmacological inhibitors and effector mutants of Ras, that induction of MKP3 at the protein level is positively regulated by the oncogenic Ras/Raf/MEK/Erk1/2 signaling pathway.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.232-238
• /
• 2014

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease without known ways to cure. A key neuropathologic manifestation of the disease is extracellular deposition of beta-amyloid peptide (Ab). Specific mechanisms underlying the development of the disease have not yet been fully understood. In this study, we investigated effects of 4-O-methylhonokiol on memory dysfunction in APP/PS1 double transgenic mice. 4-O-methylhonokiol (1 mg/kg for 3 month) significantly reduced deficit in learning and memory of the transgenic mice, as determined by the Morris water maze test and step-through passive avoidance test. Our biochemical analysis suggested that 4-O-methylhonokiol ameliorated $A{\beta}$ accumulation in the cortex and hippocampus via reduction in beta-site APP-cleaving enzyme 1 expression. In addition, 4-O-methylhonokiol attenuated lipid peroxidation and elevated glutathione peroxidase activity in the double transgenic mice brains. Thus, suppressive effects of 4-O-methylhonokiol on $A{\beta}$ generation and oxidative stress in the brains of transgenic mice may be responsible for the enhancement in cognitive function. These results suggest that the natural compound has potential to intervene memory deficit and progressive neurodegeneration in AD patients.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.5 no.8
• /
• pp.1404-1422
• /
• 2011

In this paper, a new clear channel assessment (CCA) method: cascaded-CCA, is proposed. The primary motivation for the proposed approach is to integrate the respective advantages of two standard CCA mechanisms, energy detect and preamble detect, to arrive at a new dual threshold CCA family that can provide greater flexibility towards tuning MAC performance. Cascaded-CCA integrates energy efficiency of the energy detector (ED) and the reliability of the preamble detector (PD). The probability of detection/false alarm and power consumption of cascaded-CCA in the CCA modules of IEEE 802.11b are analyzed and compared with ED and PD as an example. The performance of cascaded-CCA is explored via MATLAB simulations that implement the CCA modules and medium access control (MAC) protocol for IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15.4. Simulation results showed that cascaded-CCA improves the energy efficiency significantly compared to ED-only or PD-only CCA. In addition, ED, PD, and cascaded CCA are applied to a cognitive network scenario to validate the effectiveness of the proposed cascaded-CCA.