• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.242-255
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• 1997

Characteristics of attention deficit of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) were investigated by administering six computerized attention tests of Vienna Test System and four neuropsychological tests to children aged 6-12, with ADHD(n=21) and age-matched normal control children(n=22). The findings indicated that ADHD children show lower level of vigilance, more decline of performance in vigilance task on time, and impaired preparedness to response. They also have selective attention deficit on monitoring tasks, but did not have sustained attention deficit compared with normal control children. On the tasks wich overload their information processing capacity, ADHD children show more impulsive response pattern than normal control children. The performance of ADHD was worse than control on the neuropsychological tests sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction. The presense 'These' attention deficits supports the theory that the defect of ADHD is due to the dysfunction of more than one brain region, including brain stem reticular formation and frontal lobe.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.110-117
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• 2018

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the relationship between depressive and anxiety symptoms and tardive dyskinesia (TD) and reveal the association of cognitive function and TD in patients with schizophrenia. Methods We recruited 30 schizophrenia patients with TD and 31 without TD from a national mental hospital in South Korea. To assess depressive and anxiety symptoms, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were conducted. Using the five-factor structure of the BDI-II and BAI, somatic anxiety, cognitive depression, somatic depression, subjective anxiety, and autonomic anxiety were assessed. Computerized neurocognitive function test (CNT) was performed to assess levels of cognitive functions. We compared the clinical characteristics, levels of cognitive functions, and depressive and anxiety symptoms between schizophrenia patients with TD and without TD. Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test and Mann Whitney U test were conducted to compare two groups. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate relationships among the abnormal involuntary movement scale (AIMS), BDI-II, BAI, somatic anxiety, cognitive depression, somatic depression, subjective anxiety, and autonomic anxiety. Results The subjects with TD had significantly lower score on the cognitive depression than those without TD (t = -2.087, p = 0.041). There were significant correlations between the AIMS score and the BDI-II score (r = -0.386, p = 0.035) and between the AIMS score and cognitive depression score (r = - 0.385, p = 0.035). Conclusions Our findings suggest the inverse relationship between severities in TD and depression and support the assumption that there is an inverse relationship between the pathophysiology of TD and depression.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.61-67
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with cognitive and behavioral impairments receiving dental treatment under general anesthesia (GA-dental treatment). From August 2007 to April 2014, information was collected from 475 patients who received GA-dental treatment at the Clinic for Persons with Disabilities, Seoul National University Dental Hospital. The demographic factors (gender, age, disability, medication, GA history, residency type, caregiver, meal type, oral hygiene maintenance, and cooperation level) and dental status (operating duration, DMFT, malocclusion, periodontal disease, tooth defect, and treatment protocol) of the patients were evaluated. DMFT and malocclusion levels were compared among the patients with ANOVA and Sheffe's post-hoc test, and chi-square test, respectively. The correlation between the demographic characteristics and dental status of the patients were analyzed with the Pearson's correction test. The mean age of the patients was 27.1 (7 - 83) years and they had intellectual disabilities (55.4%), developmental disorders (17.9%), brain disorders (16.6%), neurocognitive disorders (4.6%), or others (5.5%). The mean DMFT (DT) was 8.6 (5.2) with a significant difference among the disability types (p<0.05). The incidence of malocclusion was higher in patients with intellectual disabilities and brain disorders than in the other types (p<0.05). The operation time ($191.4{\pm}91.2min$) was correlated with decayed or endodontically-treated teeth (p<0.05). Special needs patients requiring GA-dental treatment showed unfavorable oral conditions. Dental practitioners experience time restrictions and additional costs under a GA setting. Treatment planning and decision-making can be efficiently facilitated by evaluating the clinical characteristics of the patients.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.283-292
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• 2015

Objectives: The study aimed to test the validity and reliability of the questionnaire for cold-heat & deficiency-excess pattern identification of dementia and establish a new version of the questionnaire. Methods: Mean, standard deviation, skewness, internal consistency, correlation and t-test of the 26 items derived from previous study was analyzed in 20 dementia patients. The items with Cronbach-${\alpha}$ coefficient below 0.7 were modified. Thus, we established a new version of the questionnaire consisting of 20 items. Results: Cronbach-${\alpha}$ of each cold, heat, deficiency and excess questionnaire was 0.662, -0.229, 0.722 and 0.778, respectively. The correlation coefficient between cold, heat, deficiency and excess was less than 0.4 and correlation coefficient between dementia and cold, deficiency was 0.518. On t-test, the t-value of cold, deficiency and dementia was -2.196. Conclusions: The results indicated that cold-heat, deficiency-excess questionnaires showed satisfactory discriminant validity. In addition, there was correlation between dementia and cold, deficiency. Finally, we established a new version of the questionnaire for cold-heat, deficiency-excess pattern identification that consisted of 20 items.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2009

Background: Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is characterized by severe neuropathic pain and disability, which can result in psychological and behavioral dysfunction. The goal of the present study was to evaluate neurocognitive disability, and to assess the relationship between clinical variables and neuropsychological features in CRPS patients. Methods: We investigated the neuropsychological features of 15 CRPS I patients. The neuropsychological tests that we made comprised of a full intelligence quotient, memory quotient, trail-making test A, trail-making test B (TMT-B), and MMPI (Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory). Results: The results showed severe disability in performance on TMT-B. There was no significant correlation between specific cognitive variables and MMPI scales. Conclusions: Decreased performance on TMT-B which shows mental flexibility in the prefrontal lobe exists independently from depressive disorders in CRPS patients.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.100-109
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• 2018

Background and Purpose: Although the clock drawing test (CDT) is a widely used cognitive screening instrument, there have been inconsistent findings regarding its utility with various scoring systems in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. The present study aimed to identify whether patients with MCI or dementia exhibited impairment on the CDT using three different scoring systems, and to determine which scoring system is more useful for detecting MCI and mild dementia. Methods: Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI), mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild vascular dementia (VaD), and cognitively normal older adults (CN) were included. All participants were administered the CDT, the Korean-Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), and the Clinical Dementia Rating scale. The CDT was scored using the 3-, 5-, and 15-point scoring systems. Results: On all three scoring systems, all patient groups demonstrated significantly lower scores than the CN. However, while there were no significant differences among patients with aMCI, VaMCI, and AD, those with VaD exhibited the lowest scores. Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curves revealed that the three CDT scoring systems were comparable with the K-MMSE in differentiating aMCI, VaMCI, and VaD from CN. In differentiating AD from CN, however, the CDT using the 15-point scoring system demonstrated the most comparable discriminability with K-MMSE. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that the CDT is a useful cognitive screening tool that is comparable with the Mini-Mental State Examination, and that simple CDT scoring systems are sufficient for differentiating patients with MCI and mild dementia from CN.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.48-53
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• 2017

Background and Purpose Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) is a well-known and commonly used measure of creativity. However, the TTCT-induced creative hemodynamic brain activity is rarely revealed. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the neural correlates of creative thinking in the setting of a modified version of the figural TTCT adapted for an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. Methods We designed a blocked fMRI experiment. Twenty-five participants (11 males, 14 females, mean age $19.9{\pm}1.8$) were asked to complete the partially presented line drawing of the figural TTCT (creative drawing imagery; creative). As a control condition, subjects were asked to keep tracking the line on the screen (line tracking; control). Results Compared to the control condition, creative condition revealed greater activation in the distributed and bilateral brain regions including the left anterior cingulate, bilateral frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital regions as shown in the previous creativity studies. Conclusions The present revealed the neural basis underlying the figural TTCT using fMRI, providing an evidence of brain areas encompassing the figural TTCT. Considering the significance of a creativity test for dementia patients, the neural correlates of TTCT elucidated by this study may be valuable to evaluate the brain function of patients in the clinical field.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.104 no.4
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• pp.657-667
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• 2015

This study examined the effectiveness of 'Forest Therapy (FT)' from the biological, neurocognitive and psychosocial perspectives. Adolescents who were classified as potential internet addicts took part in a FT program for two (once or twice) or three days. Before and after participating the program, Serum Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Comprehensive Attention Test (CAT), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and State Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were measured. It was found that FT led to positive consequences, indicated by increased serum BDNF, improved CAT performance, reduced internet use desire, greater resilience, and better social relationship. In addition, FT was partially effective in alleviating state anxiety level, when the participants were classified in accordance with FT exposure lengths. Overall, this study provides evidence that FT reduces symptoms related to internet addiction and promotes various qualities required for well-being.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.351-359
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• 2019

Neurocognitive testing commonly uses the MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) to evaluate the overall cognitive function of patients at outpatient clinics, but the MMSE has recently been extensively used in the SNSB II (Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery II) for making diagnoses. We retrospectively investigated the results of routine neurocognitive tests and the results of the blood tests of 120 elderly patients who had been referred to a South Central Medical Center from 2017 to 2018 and who had been examined at a public health center. These subjects' space-time capability was high on the sub-region of the global deterioration scale (GDS). GDS showed a significant increase as the Na decreased on the electrolyte analysis. The subjects' concentration, their language-based orientation for space and time, their memory, and their scores for the frontal lobe function on GDS showed statistically significant reductions (P<0.001) For the normal and abnormal groups according to the ALT and creatinine levels, the frontal/execute function areas showed statistically significant differences (P<0.001) as well as negative correlation between GDS and ALT (P<0.01). In conclusion, this study provides basic information to develop test items that are important for patient screening and diagnosis, and several routine blood chemistry factors provide basic information for diagnosing and assessing the status and progress of cognitively impaired patients.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.54-70
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• 1998

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of structural and functional changes of the brain in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Methods : The authors measured the regions of interest on the magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in 20 patients with paranoid schizophrenia(15 men and 5 women) and 23 control subjects(15 men and 8 women). We also assessed the neurocognitive functions with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Benton Neuropsychological Assessment, and the Weschler IQ test-Korean version, soft neurologic signs, and psychiatric symptoms in the patient group. Results : In the patient group, all ventricles and basal ganglia including caudate nucleus and globus pallidus were significantly enlarged. Although there were no significant differences between the two groups in the values of right frontal lobe and left temporal lobe, there was a tendency of decrease in the values of right frontal lobe and left temporal lobe. There were significant positive correlations between the values of ventricles and the frequency of previous hospitalization. However, there were no significant correlations between other values of regions of interest and clinical data. The value of the right frontal lobe was significantly correlated with the score of soft neurologic signs, which is suggestive of the neurodevelopmental abnormalities. There were significant correlations between the value of frontal lobe and the scores of the various subscales of Benton Neuropsychiatric Inventory. In contrast, the value of left amygdala and putamen showed significant correlation with the score of verbal IQ on the Weschler IQ test. Structural changes of the temporal lobe areas were related with the positive and general symptom scores on PANSS, while those of the basal ganglia were related with the negative symptom scores. Conclusions : These results suggest that the structural changes of the brain in the patients with schizophrenia show the dual process, which is suggestive that the enlarged ventricle show the neurodegenerative process, while enlarged basal ganglia, and shrinked right frontal and left temporal lobe show the neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Among these changes, structural changes of the frontal lobe related with various neuropsychological deficits, while those of left temporal lobe related with language abnormality. Relative to the relation between structural changes and psychiatric symptoms, structural changes of the temporal lobe areas were related with the positive and general symptoms, while those of the basal ganglia were related with the negative symptoms.