• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.246-249
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics between EMG timing of muscle contraction and motor impairment in chronic hemiplegic stroke patients. Delay time and co-contraction of 4 patients who had stroke less than 3 years were measured during isometric wrist flexion and extension along the 3 seconds beep signal. Onset and offset of muscle contraction were significantly delayed on the more affected sides than control sides. Offset was significantly delayed than the onset on the affected sides in wrist flexion. Also, recruitment of antagonist was larger than agonist on the affected sides. Co-contraction ratio on the affected side was significantly smaller than control sides in wrist flexion. In affected sides, Fugl-Meyer motor assessment(FMA) shows the correlation of onset delay in wrist flexion and extension. However, co-contraction ratio correlated with FMA in wrist flexion. EMG assessment is likely to be useful outcome measure and provide insights into mechanism for motor recovery in stroke patients.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.751-757
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• 2007

Objectives : The aim of this study was to provide basic background information on stroke by evaluating various etiological factors on the basis that the onset time of cerebral infarction varies according to its cause. Methods : We studied hospitalized patients within 4 weeks after their ictus who were admitted at Kyunghee OMC, Kyungwon OMC, or Donguk Ilsan OMC from [month] $1^{st}$, 2005 to June $30^{th}$, 2007. We compared the general characteristics of acute stroke patients according to onset time. Results : Regardless of the onset time, the distribution of cerebral infarction patterns showed high SVO. The onset time did not show significant difference for average age, height, weight, BMI, waist measurement, hip measurement, or waist/hip ratio between onset during sleep and awakening. Patients whose stroke occurred while awake were more likely to have a past history of HTN, DM, ischemic heart disease, or atrial fibrillation but did not show significant difference according to their onset time. Conclusions : The above results show that the overall tendency of acute stage cerebral infarction patients varies according to their onset time. This study was carried out on the basis of previous findings that cerebral infarctions that occurred during sleep were more likely to have been caused by cerebral thrombosis, and strokes that occurred while awake were more likely to have been caused by cerebral embolism. However, there were no statistically relevant results, so a larger study group is needed to research the tendency of stroke patients.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2001

Background : Tremor is uncommon manifestation of stroke. Therefore a few cases have been reported until now. There is still uncertainty about the characteristics of post-stroke tremor. Furthermore the pathogenesis and responsible structures of post-stroke tremor are not precisely known. We have recently experienced 34 cases of post-stroke tremor for the past 6 years. We analysed the clinical features and electrophysiologic findings of post-stroke tremor to evaluate the general characteristics and to analogize the possible pathogenetic mechanisms of post-stroke tremor. Methods : The clinical characteristics of post-stroke tremor were summarized in according to the onset time, involved body parts, types, tremor frequencies, neuroradiologic findings, and associated symptoms. The tremor frequencies were recorded by using a gyroscope. The spectral analysis of tremor frequencies were done automatically with Motus I soft ware. Results : Tremor onset were remarkably varied. Some patients showed a tremor appearing at the onset of a stroke and other patients showed delayed-onset tremor 10 years after a stroke. Tremor frequencies were also much varied. The range of hand tremor frequencies were from 1.5 to 12 Hz. Lesions were found in 31 cases(infarction 27, hemorrhage 4) on neuroimaging. In the cases of cerebral infarctions, 7 cases showed multiple small vessel diseases and 20 cases showed cerebral vessel lesions. The most commonly involved cerebral vessel lesion was the middle cerebral artery territory Several different clinical patterns of post-stroke tremor were identified. Conclusions : There are some evidences from the data summarized here to suggest that several pathogenetic mechanisms including central oscillators could be involved for the development of tremors and that tremor generating neural circuits could be more complex than previously suggested neural circuits.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.19-33
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• 2006

The purpose of this paper was to examine acoustical characteristics of phonatory offset-onset mechanism in the connected speech of female adults with stuttering and normal nonfluency. The phonatory offset-onset mechanism refers to the laryngeal articulatory gestures. Those gestures are required to mark word boundaries in phonetic contexts of the connected speech. This mechanism included 7 patterns based on the speech spectrogram. This study showed the acoustic features in the connected speech in the production of female adults with stuttering (n=1) and normal nonfluency (n=3). Speech tokens in V_V, V_H, and V_S contexts were selected for the analysis. Speech samples were recorded by Sound Forge, and the spectrographic analysis was conducted using Praat. Results revealed a stuttering (with a type of block) female exhibited more laryngealization gestures in the V_V context. Laryngealization gesture was more characterized by a complete glottal stop or glottal fry both in V_H and in V_S contexts. The results were discussed from theoretical and clinical perspectives.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2587-2592
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• 2016

Background: Early onset sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) is a biologically and clinically distinct entity hypothesized to exhibit differences in histological features and microsatellite instability (MSI) as compared to typical onset CRC. This study compared the MSI status, mismatch repair enzyme deficiency and clinicopathological features of early onset (aged ${\leq}45$ years) with controls (>45 years). Materials and Methods: A total of 30 cases and 30 controls were analyzed for MSI status using the Bethesda marker panel. Using antibodies against hMLH1, hMSH2 and hMSH6, mismatch repair protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Molecular characteristics were correlated with clinicopathological features. Results: The early onset sporadic CRCs were significantly more poorly differentiated tumors, with higher N2 nodal involvement and greater frequency of signet ring phenotype than the typical onset cases. MSI was observed in 18/30 cases, with 12/18 designated as MSI-high (MSI-H) and 6/18 designated as MSI-low (MSI-L). In the control group, 14 patients exhibited MSI, with 7 MSI-H and 7 MSI-L. MSI tumors in both cases and controls exhibited loss of hMLH1, hMSH2 and hMSH6. MSS tumors did not exhibit loss of expression of MMR proteins, except hMLH1 protein in 3 controls. No statistically significant difference was noted in MSI status or expression of MMR proteins in cases versus controls. Conclusions: Microsatellite status is comparable between early and typical onset sporadic CRC patients in Pakistan suggesting that differences in clinicopathological features between these two subsets are attributable to other molecular mechanisms.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.694-702
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• 2007

The adaptation effect originating from the chemical synapse between auditory nerve and inner hair cell gives advantage in accurate representation of temporal cues of incoming speech such as speech onset. Thus it is expected that the modification of conventional speech processing strategies of cochlear implant(CI) by incorporating the adaptation effect will result in considerable improvement of speech perception performance such as consonant perception score. Our purpose in this paper was to evaluate our new CI speech processing strategy incorporating the adaptation effect by the observation of auditory nerve responses. By classifying the presence or absence of speech from the auditory nerve responses, i. e. spike trains, we could quantitatively compare speech onset detection performances of conventional and improved strategies. We could verify the effectiveness of the adaptation effect in improving the speech onset representation characteristics.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2008

It is well known that temporal information, i.e speech onset, about input speech can be represented to the response nerve signal of auditory nerve better depending on the adaptation effect occurred in the auditory nerve synapse. In addition, the performance of a speech processor of cochlear implant can be improved by the adaptation effect. In this paper, we observed the emphasis characteristic of speech onset in the recently proposed adaptation algorithm, analyzed the characteristic of performance change according to the variation of parameters and compared with transient emphasis spectral maxima (TESM) is the previous typical strategy. When observing false peaks which are generated everywhere except speech onset, in the case of the proposed model, the false peak were generated much less than in the case of the TESM and it is more distinguishable under noise.

• Journal of the Korean Child Neurology Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.197-204
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• 2018

Purpose: West syndrome is a severe form of age-specific epilepsy that typically affects infants younger than 2 years of age with mitochondrial disease. We aimed to examine age-specific characteristics of the syndrome in these patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 54 patients with West syndrome diagnosed with mitochondrial disease between March 2006 and March 2016. We compared treatment strategies and diagnostic and clinical variables between patients with early-onset (<6 months of age) and late-onset (${\geq}6$ months of age) seizures. Results: Seizure was the first symptom in 30 (90.9%) and 13 (65%) patients of the early-onset and late-onset groups, respectively (P=0.046). Delayed development was observed in 3 (9.1%) and 7 (35%) patients of the early-onset and late-onset groups, respectively (P=0.023). Lactate levels were normal in 17 patients (55%) of the early-onset group and 5 (25%) of the late-onset group (P=0.036), while initial brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings were normal in 23 (67.6%) and 8 (40%) patients of the early-onset and late-onset groups, respectively. Final MRI findings were abnormal in 32 patients (94.1%) of the early-onset group and 18 (90%) of the late-onset group (P=0.036). Although ketogenic diets reduced seizure frequency in both groups, the difference was not significant. Conclusion: There is no significant difference in epilepsy-related variables when patients are divided based on a cut-off age of 6 months. However, differences in the first symptom at onset and MRI findings were observed. Although lactate levels were not of significant diagnostic value in the early-onset group, they may be in the late-onset group.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2011

Purpose: To investigate the clinical characteristics of late-onset epilepsy combined with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the relationship between certain types of electroencephalography (EEG) abnormalities in ASD and associated neuropsychological problems. Methods: Thirty patients diagnosed with ASD in early childhood and later developed clinical seizures were reviewed retrospectively. First, the clinical characteristics, language and behavioral regression, and EEG findings of these late-onset epilepsy patients with ASD were investigated. The patients were then classified into 2 groups according to the severity of the EEG abnormalities in the background rhythm and paroxysmal discharges. In the severe group, EEG showed persistent asymmetry, slow and disorganized background rhythms, and continuous sharp and slow waves during slow sleep (CSWS). Results: Between the two groups, there was no statistically significant difference in mean age (P=0.259), age of epilepsy diagnosis (P=0.237), associated family history (P=0.074), and positive abnormal magnetic resonance image (MRI) findings (P=0.084). The severe EEG group tended to have more neuropsychological problems (P=0.074). The severe group statistically showed more electrographic seizures in EEG (P=0.000). Rett syndrome was correlated with more severe EEG abnormalities (P=0.002). Although formal cognitive function tests were not performed, the parents reported an improvement in neuropsychological function on the follow up checkup according to a parent's questionnaire. Conclusion: Although some ASD patients with late-onset epilepsy showed severe EEG abnormalities, including CSWS, they generally showed an improvement in EEG and clinical symptoms in the longterm follow up. In addition, severe EEG abnormalities tended to be related to the neuropsychological function.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.483-493
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine late-onset hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, depression, and quality of life among middle-aged male workers. Methods: The subjects included 343 men aged between 40 and 64, responded to self-report questionnaires on general characteristics, late-onset hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, depression, and quality of life. Data were collected from May 16, 2012 to October 9, 2012 and analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, $x^2$-test, hierarchical multiple regression. Result: The prevalence rate of late-onset hypogonadism was 63.8% with high points in reduction of libido, energy, physical strength and endurance, and erectile function. There were significant differences in late-onset hypogonadism according to age($x^2$=8.98, p=.048) and in erectile dysfunction according to age(F=11.03, p<.001), monthly income(F=2.84, p=.024) and smoking( t=2.96, p=.018). Significant differences were also found in depression according to educational level(F=8.12, p<.001) and in quality of life according to monthly income(F=7.21, p<.001). The factors which influenced quality of life were late-onset hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, depression, marital status and religion. Conclusion: Symptoms of erectile dysfunction can be improved by smoking cessation education program. In order to improve the life quality of middle-aged men, nursing intervention programs that would both provide proper knowledge on climacteric syndrome and alleviate symptoms should be designed while, at the same time, other programs to evaluate, prevent and control depression are developed.