• 음성과학
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.111-118
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• 2008

We identified the characteristic impairmants of linguistic semantic memory in patients with prodromal Alzheimer's disease(AD) and mild AD. To elucidate the earliest changes of semantic language function in subjects with AD, performances on confrontation naming test and verbal fluency task were compared among patients with AD patients (n=20), mild AD patients (n=27) and healthy elderly controls (n=20). Tasks in this study included the confrontation naming test of Test of Lexical Processing in Aphasia(TLPA/Japanese) and one-minute verbal fluency task (semantic/ phonetic categories). The results were as follows: 1) Performances of the prodromal AD group showed the comparable to those of the control group on the confrontation naming test, 2) In the semantic/phonetic verbal fluency tasks, the performances of the control group were better than those of the prodromal AD and mild AD groups, but no significant differences were shown between the prodromal AD and the mild AD group.

• 생물정신의학
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.119-128
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• 2013

Objectives Memory impairment is a very important mental health issue for elderly and adults. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Early detection of the prodromal stage of patients with AD is an important topic of interest for both mental health clinicians and policy makers. Methods Electroencephalograpgy (EEG) has been used as a possible biological marker for patients with MCI, and AD. In this review, we will summarize the clinical implications of EEG and ERP as a biological marker for AD and MCI. Results EEG power density, functional coupling, spectral coherence, synchronization, and connectivity were analyzed and proved their clinical efficacy in patients with the prodromal stage of AD. Serial studies on late event-related potentials (ERPs) were also conducted in MCI patients as well as healthy elders. Even though these EEG and ERP studies have some limitations for their design and method, their clinical implications are increasing rapidly. Conclusion EEG and ERP can be used as biological markers of AD and MCI. Also they can be used as useful tools for early detection of AD and MCI patients. They are useful and sensitive research tools for AD and MCI patients. However, some problems remain to be solved until they can be practical measures in clinical setting.

• 대한한방내과학회지
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• 제42권5호
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• pp.1082-1093
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• 2021

Objective: Alzheimer's disease is characterized by progressive, irreversible brain damage and cognitive decline. Although the diagnosis and treatment of the prodromal symptoms of dementia are important, no treatment for mild cognitive impairment has been currently established. Herein, we report the case of an 80-year-old female patient with memory complaints treated with Gugijihwang-tang, a traditional Korean medicine herbal formula, as an add-on medication. Case Presentation: The patient was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment based on clinical examinations using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD), Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Scale, Global Deterioration (GDR) Scale, and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale. She was treated with Gugijihwang-tang bis in die for 12 months while continuing her original medications, including 5-mg donepezil and 590-mg acetyl-l-carnitine. The MMSE score in the Korean Version of the CERAD Assessment Packet increased from 21 to 27 during the 12-month treatment period, and the CERAD 2 score increased from 33 to 62. The instrumental ADL scale score improved from 11 to 5. Other clinical examination results also showed improvement. The patient was satisfied and experienced no significant adverse events related to the Gugijihwang-tang treatment. Conclusion: This case suggests that Gugijihwang-tang could be considered as a treatment method for patients with mild cognitive impairment.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.164-171
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• 2021

Purpose: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Brain atrophy in this disease spectrum begins in the medial temporal lobe structure, which can be recognized by magnetic resonance imaging. To overcome the unsatisfactory inter-observer reliability of visual evaluation, quantitative brain volumetry has been developed and widely investigated for the diagnosis of MCI and AD. The aim of this study was to assess the prediction accuracy of quantitative brain volumetry using a fully automated segmentation software package, NeuroQuant^®, for the diagnosis of MCI. Materials and Methods: A total of 418 subjects from the Korean Brain Aging Study for Early Diagnosis and Prediction of Alzheimer's Disease cohort were included in our study. Each participant was allocated to either a cognitively normal old group (n = 285) or an MCI group (n = 133). Brain volumetric data were obtained from T1-weighted images using the NeuroQuant software package. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to investigate relevant brain regions and their prediction accuracies. Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that normative percentiles of the hippocampus (P < 0.001), amygdala (P = 0.003), frontal lobe (P = 0.049), medial parietal lobe (P = 0.023), and third ventricle (P = 0.012) were independent predictive factors for MCI. In ROC analysis, normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala showed fair accuracies in the diagnosis of MCI (area under the curve: 0.739 and 0.727, respectively). Conclusion: Normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala provided by the fully automated segmentation software could be used for screening MCI with a reasonable post-processing time. This information might help us interpret structural MRI in patients with cognitive impairment.

• 수면정신생리
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.78-85
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• 2021

목 적 : 노년기 우울증 환자에서 우울증상이 알츠하이머병의 전구 증상으로 나타났는지를 감별하는 것은 중요한 임상적 과제이다. 본 연구에서는 정량화 뇌파(quantitative EEG) 지표가 노년기 우울증 환자의 알츠하이머병 병리를 예측할 수 있는 바이오마커로 기능할 수 있는지 확인하고자 하였다. 방 법 : 치매로 진단 받지 않은 55세 이상의 우울증 환자 63명이 본 연구에 포함되었다(여성 76.2%; 평균 연령 ± 표준편차 73.7 ± 6.87세). 연구 대상자들은 [¹⁸F] florbetabenPET 결과에 따라 아밀로이드 양성(Aβ+, n = 32)과 음성으로(Aβ-, n = 31) 분류하였다. 뇌파는 7분 간의 눈을 감은 상태(eye-closed, EC)와 3분 간의 눈을 뜬 상태(eye-open, EO)로 촬영하였으며, 푸리에 변환(Fourier transform)을 이용하여 스펙트럼 분석을 시행하였다. 선행연구 결과에 따라 안구 개폐 알파파 반응성 지표(EC-to-EO alpha reactivity index)가 노년기 우울증 환자의 아밀로이드 침착을 예측할 수 있는 신경생리학적 마커가 될 수 있는지 검증하였다. 알파 밴드 파워에서 아밀로이드 침착 여부(Aβ+ vs. Aβ-), 안구 개폐 조건(EC vs. EO), 지형학적 요인(laterality, polarity) 간의 상호작용을 확인하고 사후 분석을 시행하였다. 결 과 : Aβ+군과 Aβ-군에서 각 주파수 밴드의 평균 파워 스펙트럼 밀도 중 EO phase의 알파 밴드 파워에서만 유의미한 차이가 관찰되었다(F = 6.258, p = 0.015). 알파 밴드에서의 Group (Aβ+ vs. Aβ-) × Condition (EC vs. EO) × Laterality (Left, midline, or right) 3-way interaction이 연령, 성별, 교육 연수, 전반적 인지 기능, 약물 사용, MRI상 백질 고신호강도를 보정한 뒤에도 유의하였다(F = 3.720, p = 0.030). 하지만 대뇌 관심영역 별로 아밀로이드 침착에 따른 알파파 반응성을 비교한 사후 분석에서는 유의한 수준의 차이가 관찰되지 않았다. 결 론 : 노년기 우울증 환자에서 EO phase의 알파 밴드 파워 증가가 대뇌 아밀로이드 침착과 관련이 있었다. 하지만 본 연구에서 검증하고자 했던 안구개폐 알파파 반응성 지표는 알츠하이머병 병리를 예측하지는 못했다. 보다 많은 대상자를 포함한 추후 연구로 해당 결과를 재검증할 필요가 있다.