• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2013

Objectives: Cognitive impairment in restless legs syndrome (RLS) patients can be affected by sleep deprivation, anxiety and depression, which are common in RLS. The objective of this study is to investigate relationship between cognitive impairment and RLS in the non-medicated Korean elderly with controlling for psychiatric conditions. Method: The study sample for this study comprised 25 non-medicated Korean elderly RLS patients and 50 age-, sex-, and education- matched controls. All subjects were evaluated with comprehensive cognitive function assessment tools- including the Korean version of Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Packet (CERAD-K), severe cognitive impairment rating scale (SCIRS), frontal assessment battery (FAB), and clock drawing test (CLOX). Sleep quality and depression were also assessed with Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and geriatric depression scale (GDS). Results: PSQI and GDS score showed no difference between RLS and control group. There was no significant difference between two groups in nearly all the cognitive function except in constructional recognition test, in which subjects with RLS showed lower performance than control group (t=-2.384, p=0.02). Subjects with depression ($GDS{\geq}10$) showed significant cognitive impairment compared to control in verbal fluency, Korean version of Mini Mental Status Examination in the CERAD-K (MMSE-KC), word list memory, trail making test, and frontal assessment battery (FAB). In contrast, no difference was observed between subjects who have low sleep quality (PSQI>5) and control group. Conclusions: At the exclusion of the impact of insomnia and depression, cognitive function was found to be relatively preserved in RLS patients compared to control. Impairment of visual recognition in RLS patients can be explained in terms of dopaminergic dysfunction in RLS.

• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.60-70
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• 2017

Glaucoma is characterized by a slow and progressive degeneration of the optic nerve, including retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons in the optic nerve head (ONH), leading to visual impairment. Despite its high prevalence, the biological basis of glaucoma pathogenesis still is not yet fully understood, and the factors contributing to its progression are currently not well characterized. Intraocular pressure (IOP) is the only modifiable risk factor, and reduction of IOP is the standard treatment for glaucoma. However, lowering IOP itself is not always effective for preserving visual function in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. The second messenger cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) regulates numerous biological processes in the central nervous system including the retina and the optic nerve. Although recent studies revealed that cAMP generated by adenylyl cyclases (ACs) is important in regulating aqueous humor dynamics in ocular tissues, such as the ciliary body and trabecular meshwork, as well as cell death and growth in the retina and optic nerve, the functional role and significance of cAMP in glaucoma remain to be elucidated. In this review, we will discuss the functional role of cAMP in aqueous humor dynamics and IOP regulation, and review the current medications, which are related to the cAMP signaling pathway, for glaucoma treatment. Also, we will further focus on cAMP signaling in RGC growth and regeneration by soluble AC as well as ONH astrocytes by transmembrane ACs to understand its potential role in the pathogenesis of glaucoma neurodegeneration.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.435-443
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• 2011

Fahr disease (FD) is a rare neurological disorder characterized by presence of abnormal and associated cell loss in certain areas of the brain, mostly in basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum and subcortical areas. Approximately two-thirds of the patients are symptomatic. The most common neurological manifestations include movement disorders, cognitive impairment, cerebellar signs and speech disorders. We report one case of estimated FD through brain computed tomography (bilateral calcifications of basal ganglia, thalamus, centrum semiovale, subcortical white matter of occipital lobes, cerebellum). At the first time of treatment, he complained of tremors in his upper limbs. We diagnosed the patient as deficiency of qi (氣) and movement of phlegm-heat-wind (痰熱風動) type according to symptoms and treated by herbs and acupuncture of oriental medicine. During treatments, we evaluated how well the oriental medical treatments were working using visual analogue scale (VAS) and amplitude of hands. After the oriental medical treatments about tremor, VAS dropped from 10 to 2 and amplitude of hands from 20 mm to 2 mm, but the ratio of brain calcifications was not changed. This study suggests that oriental medical treatments can be applicable to improve FD.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2020

PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the most effective feedback condition for static balance in elderly subjects. METHODS: Thirty-eight elderly subjects (12 men and 26 women with a mean age of 77.21 years) participated in this study. They each completed a questionnaire on their general characteristics, excluding personal identification codes. The static balance ability of the participants was evaluated using a Wii Balance Board and the Balancia program (version 2.0). The following three feedback conditions were considered: condition 1 (tactile feedback), condition 2 (visual feedback), and condition 3 (no feedback). One-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was used for the comparisons according to sway length and sway velocity. The statistical significance level was set to α = .05 for all variables. RESULTS: Significant differences in the sway length and sway velocity were observed between the three conditions (p < .05). Significant differences in the sway length were noted in the order of conditions 1, 2, and 3 (p < .05), and significant differences in the sway velocity in the order of conditions 3, 2, and 1 (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Significant differences in static balance ability were observed between the three conditions. In this study, tactile feedback was found to be the most effective feedback for balance training. Owing to aging and impairment of the senses, such as that observed in the tactile receptors, visual receptors, and proprioceptors, it is recommended that elderly subjects participate in balance training.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.65-73
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• 2014

Objectives This study aimed to identify the differences and the profiles of cognitive deficits in remitted patients with schizophrenia and first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands. Methods A total of 26 remitted states of schizophrenia patients were included in the study and the same number of unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands and healthy controls were matched for age, sex, years of education. Cognitive function of all participants was measured by using the Digit span test, the Continuous performance test, the Rey auditory & visual learning test, the Complex figure test, the Verbal fluency test, the Wisconsin card sorting test and the Finger tapping test. The effects of subsyndromal symptomatology and general intelligence score were controlled. Results Schizophrenia patients' group showed more significant impairment than other groups in verbal memory (learning, immediate recall, delayed recall), visual memory (copy, immediate recall, delayed recall) and cognitive flexibility domains. The family group and the patient group commonly performed significantly worse than healthy controls in working memory and verbal fluency (category) tests. There were no differences in sustained attention, psychomotor performance. Conclusions Our research shows that the deficit in working memory and verbal fluency could be strong candidates of endophenotypic marker in schizophrenia.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.120-127
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• 1998

Background : This study is to identify preoperative patient characteristics associated with a lack of improvement on one or more measures peri operatively, postoperative 3-4 months, and postoperative 12 months. Methods : For the assessment, prospective study was performed with 92 patients who had undergone either one eye or both eye cataract surgery by 3 ophthalmologists practicing at a university hospital. The criteria of improvement were (1) Snellen visual acuity, (2) a cataract-related symptom score(possible range: 0, 0 of 6 symptoms present or bothersome, to 18, all 6 symptoms very bothersome), and (3) VF-14 score - a measure of functional impairment in patient with cataract - (possible range: 0, inability to perform any of the applicable activities, to 100, no difficulty in performing any of the applicable activities). Results : Although 14 patients (15.2%) failed to improve on one or more of the outcome measures assessed, no one failed to improve on all three measures. Both eyes of surgery than one eye, preoperative cataract symptom score of 1-4, 5 or higher than 0 were associated independently with the increased likelihood of improvement (odds ratio 8.95, 7.16, 8.87 respectively). And the preoperative level of Snellen visual acuity was not associated with the likelihood of improvement Conclusion : We conclude that specific preoperative characteristics (both eyes, cataract symptom score) are independent predictors of patient outcome after cataract surgery.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.391-394
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• 2017

Persons with low vision impairment refers to visual and visual impairments that can not be remedied by medical or optical methods due to inherited or acquired eye disease. People with low vision impairments account for more than 240 million people in the world and have only a few remaining eyesight. We will discuss the improvement of information accessibility of low visually impaired people and future research methods through research on Web UI/UX in mobile web environment for low visibility handicapped in the environment where information can be accessed through existing screen reader (TTS) and screen enlargement function.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.191-199
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• 2021

This study aims to present the need to supplement the driver's license renewal test for elderly drivers. In Korea, the proportion of elderly drivers is increasing as the elderly population increases rapidly. Overall the traffic accident rate is decreasing but the traffic accident and death rate from traffic accidents are increasing in older drivers. In this study the assessments and education conducted when renewing the driver's license for elderly drivers conducted in Korea were conducted to find out the necessary tests compared to the current situation of foreign countries. Although it is appropriate to evaluate the three key functional areas of vision, cognition, motor and somatosensory, we currently evaluate visual acurity in vison area. While MMSE-K and Clock drawing tests are not recognizable for mild cognitive impairment in cognitive areas. The motor and somato sensory function to perform driving are not evaluated at all. Therefore for safe driving of older drivers, the test to be conducted during renewal of the driver's license will need to supplement that the visual field and contrast sensitivity in vision area, cognitive function from mild cognitive impairments, and the endurance, functional range of motion and proprioception in motor function area.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.418-425
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• 2018

Amyloid brain positron emission tomography (PET) images are visually and subjectively analyzed by the physician with a lot of time and effort to determine the ${\beta}$-Amyloid ($A{\beta}$) deposition. We designed a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that predicts the $A{\beta}$-positive and $A{\beta}$-negative status. We performed 18F-florbetaben (FBB) brain PET on controls and patients (n=176) with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). We classified brain PET images visually as per the on the brain amyloid plaque load score. We designed the visual geometry group (VGG16) model for the visual assessment of slice-based samples. To evaluate only the gray matter and not the white matter, gray matter masking (GMM) was applied to the slice-based standard samples. All the performance metrics were higher with GMM than without GMM (accuracy 92.39 vs. 89.60, sensitivity 87.93 vs. 85.76, and specificity 98.94 vs. 95.32). For the patient-based standard, all the performance metrics were almost the same (accuracy 89.78 vs. 89.21), lower (sensitivity 93.97 vs. 99.14), and higher (specificity 81.67 vs. 70.00). The area under curve with the VGG16 model that observed the gray matter region only was slightly higher than the model that observed the whole brain for both slice-based and patient-based decision processes. Amyloid brain PET images can be appropriately analyzed using the CNN model for predicting the $A{\beta}$-positive and $A{\beta}$-negative status.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.73-92
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• 2020

This article addresses the possibility of developing a new art appreciation method using olfaction, which was not previously considered an important sense in expanding the cultural enjoyment of visually impaired people. The human olfactory system is a faculty that is not considered very important in modern society; however, this is due to cultural factors, and from a biological point of view, the human sense of smell has sufficient potential for practical application. In this study, it is assumed that when various types of scent are perceived through this sense of smell, each has its own unconscious relation to color and concept, which researchers have termed "color directivity" and "concept directivity." Through experiments, the researchers found that some specific scents have color directivity and concept directivity, and in using these scents, they succeeded in delivering information about colors used in artworks to the visually impaired. Based on this study, we hope to continue our research on the use of color-concept directional scents that can convey the brightness and saturation of colors and more diverse hues.