• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.153-162
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• 2015

A descriptive research is studied to identify the physical factors affecting to cognitive function among elderly residents over 65 years old in a community. The data were collected from 352 participants as part of a health-related survey by home visits in Seoul in 2010-2012. Their cognitive function was measured using the Korean form of Hasegawa Dementia Scale(HDS-K) and the collected data were analyzed by using t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. From the analysis, the prevalence rate of cognitive impairment was 13.6%. Elderly residents in a community showed different cognition levels by the status of age, change of weight, change of BMI, walking and flexibility exercise. Especially, the lowest cognition level was found in the normal BMI group with decreased BMI change by over 3. The factors influencing on cognition level of the elderly with normal BMI were age, change of weight, change of BMI, and walking exercise. The variance indicated 12.2% as their cognition level. Therefore, for preventing the cognitive impairment of the elderly that were rapidly decreased of BMI, we need the program to manage their nutrition and walking exercise.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.93-114
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• 2012

Objective : This study aimed to review the performance of traditional herbal prescriptions for treating dementia and present a strategy for research on dementia therapy utilizing herbal medicine. Methods : A definition was made to clarify the technology regarding the development of herbal prescriptions for treating dementia. The queries were compounded based on the initial keywords provided by experts in the field, then applied to the Web of Science database search engines from January 1986 to September 2011 to search related scientific articles. Before performing the analysis, papers were extracted from the initial search reviewed by experts and 80 articles were selected. Then, the selected papers were analyzed in terms of publish year, country, and type of herbal prescriptions. Furthermore, the research performance evaluation for treating dementia by herbal prescriptions was also created in terms of country and organization based on forward citation analysis. In addition to, for the evaluation regarding research quality, we classified and reviewed papers into two types: clinical studies and experimental studies. Results : According to the quantitative information analysis of 80 articles, the number of papers has increased by 21.9% per the yearly mean from 1995, and Japan had the largest portion within this research field. There were 34 kinds of traditional herbal prescriptions, among them Ukgansan had the highest number of studies followed by Jodeungsan, Dangkisoosan and so on. In addition, quality index as calculated by cites per paper is higher than average in Switzerland, Turkey and Japan. In the view of the evaluation on quality there were 12 clinical studies, 8 RCT reported that herbal prescriptions had efficacy at cognition, behavioral & psychological symptoms (BPSD) and activity of daily life (ADL) in various type of dementia. In experimental studies most of the studies were performed using animal models. The studies using Ukgansan were aimed at improving BPSD. The papers studied with Jodeungsan and Dangkisoosan targeted vascular dementia. Conclusions : In this study, research to develop traditional herbal prescriptions for treating dementia has the potential to improve symptoms since herbal medicines work as both multi-function and multi-target in dementia with multiple pathological or neurotoxic pathways. Therefore, the results of the research should be used in order to establish strategies to develop technology for treating dementia with traditional herbal prescriptions in the future.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.39-49
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• 2011

Objectives : Vascular dementia is the second common cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. It assumed that the ratio of prescription drugs on vascular dementia are quite different from each hospital in Western medicine or Oriental medicine, respectively. The aim of this research is to collect and analyze the ratio of prescription drugs on vascular dementia in Western medicine or Oriental medicine in university hospitals. Methods : We collected and analyzed the data related to prescriptions on vascular dementia in the department of neurology in three university hospitals(A, B, C) and in the department of internal medicine in two Oriental medicine hospitals(Daegu Haany Oriental Hospital, Dong Eui Oriental Hospital). Results : In the department of neurology in A university hospital, donepezil(69.1%), memantine(14.0%), rivastigmine(12.3%), galantamine(4.5%) were prescribed in order. In B university hospital, galantamine(57.8%) donepezil(33.3%), rivastigmine(6.7%), donepezil with memantine(4.4%) were prescribed. In C university hospital, donepezil(62.0%), rivastigmine(25.0%), galantamine(7.0%) memantine(6.0%) were prescribed. The average frequencies of prescribed medication in the department of neurology in A, B, C university hospitals were donepezil(54.8%), galantamine(23.1%), rivastigmine(14.7%), memantine(7.4%). In Oriental medicine hospitals, various prescriptions have been used for vascular dementia. Among them, Ansincheongnoetang (安神淸腦湯) and Gamijihangeumja(加味地黃飮子) were often prescribed in Daegu Haany Oriental Hospital, and Bojungikgitang(補中益氣湯) in Dong Eui Oriental Hospital, too. Conclusions : Cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and NMDA receptor inhibitor like memantine have been used as a drug of choice for vascular dementia in all surveyed university hospitals. In oriental hospitals, various prescriptions have been used for vascular dementia.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2008

In the present study, we assessed the effects of white ginseng and red ginseng extract on the learning and memory impairments induced by scopolamine. The cognition-enhancing effect of ginseng extracts was investigated using the Morris water maze and Y-maze test. Drug-induced amnesia was induced by treating animals with scopolamine (2 mg/kg, i.p.), an antagonist of muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor. Tacrine was used a positive control. Ginseng extract (200 mg/kg, p.o.), tacrine (10 mg/kg, p.o.) administration significantly reduced the escape latency during training in the Morris water maze (p<0.05). At the probe trial session, scopolamine significantly increased the escape latency on day 5 in comparison with control (p<0.01). The effect of ginseng extracts on spontaneous alternation in Y-maze was similar to that of scopolamine treated group. In addition, numbers of arm entries were similar in all experimental groups. Moreover, red ginseng extract significantly inhibited acetylcholinesterase activity in the cortex and serum (p<0.05). Brain ACh contents of ginseng extract treated groups increased more than that of scopolamine group, which did not show statistically significant. These results suggest that ginseng extract may be useful for the treatment of cognitive impairment.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2020

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease that can be described by the occurrence of dementia due to a decline in cognitive function. The disease is characterized by the formation of extracellular and intracellular amyloid plaques. Amyloid beta (Aβ) is a hallmark of AD, and microglia can be activated in the presence of Aβ. Activated microglia secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, S100A9 is an important innate immunity pro-inflammatory contributor in inflammation and a potential contributor to AD. This study examined the effects of metformin and α-LA on the inflammatory response and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in Aβ- and S100A9-induced BV-2 microglial cells. Metformin and α-LA attenuated inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). In addition, metformin and α-LA inhibited the phosphorylation of JNK, ERK, and p38. They activated the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway and the NOD-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Moreover, metformin and α-LA reduced the marker levels of the M1 phenotype, ICAM1, whereas the M2 phenotype, ARG1, was increased. These findings suggest that metformin and α-LA are therapeutic agents against the Aβ- and S100A9-induced neuroinflammatory responses.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2008

Delirium is an organic psychiatric syndrome characterized by an acute onset, prominent disturbance of consciousness and cognitive impairment with fluctuating course. Although there is not a clear consensus concerning the optimal classification system for delirium subtypes, Lipowski(1983) firstly classified delirium by psychomotor activity, namely hyperactive, hypoactive, and mixed. According results of several following studies, prevalence of hypoactive delirium were not less than that of hyperactive delirium. But a diagnosis of hypoactive delirium often missed, which is most frequently misdiagnosed as depression and dementia. Hyperactive delirium can be caused by alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal, would be related with excessive dopamine and cholinergic deficiency, and is more responsive to high-potency antipsychotics therapy. Hypoactive delirium would be caused by metabolic encephalopathy, and tends to present a less responsiveness to antipsychotics and poorer overall prognosis with a prolonged duration of admission than hyperactive delirium. Delirium is not a homogenous syndrome. Because of different subtypes, it may have dissimilar underlying pathogenetic pathways. So different treatment strategies between various subtypes may be needed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.469-476
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• 2017

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and naming tests have been used clinically as screening and diagnostic tools for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Researches in other countries have reported that residential areas would affect one's cognitive abilities. In Korean, however, there was no systematic studies on geographical influences to cognitive ability among a sample of urban/rural residents. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of urban/rural locality of residence on cognitive tests in normal elderly Korean. Residents aged 65 years and older (N=108) were administered the K-MMSE, confrontation/generative naming tests, and medical/socio-demographic interview. When comparing the total number of correct responses between urban residents and rural residents, the performances of rural group were significantly worse than those of the urban group in K-MMSE. Based on the results, our finding suggests that a factor of residential locality should be considered to examine the function and explain the cognitive decline in rural community-dwelling elders.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.312-320
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• 2013

This study was to examine usefulness of MoCA-K by comparing the correlation between LOTCA-G, MMSE-K and MoCA-K, regarding detecting elderly people's mild cognitive function in local community. The experiments in which the three different evaluation methods were employed, of this study were conducted on 50 elderly people. While the score of MoCA-K and MMSE-K was $22.72{\pm}5.85$ out of 30 and $25.08{\pm}3.78$ out of 30 respectively, the result of LOTCA-G was $96.28{\pm}6.82$ out of 104. Observing each result of the three cognitive function assessment tools towards general characteristics showed no significant differences in gender. However, they were at considerable variance with age and education level of the example group. As all the three results of the assessment methods showed high correlation, it is reasonable to believe that MoCA-K is an appropriate evaluation tool to assess the cognitive function of old people.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.101-113
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• 2011

Objectives : Trend of R&D of herbal medicine for dementia treatment was examined based on the quantitative information analysis for establishing the national strategy of research on dementia treatment with oriental medicine. Methods : Definition was made to clarify the technology for development of herbal medicine for dementia treatment. Based on the initial keyword provided by experts in the field, queries were compounded to conduct search in the search engines of WoS and DWPI. The raw data (papers or patents) extracted from the initial search were examined by expert-review before objects of analysis were determined. Then, the accumulated data was analyzed in terms of year, country and organization, which led to examination of the trend of R&D. And the research performance evaluation for dementia treatment technologies was also made in terms of country, organization and researcher based on the forward citation analysis. The international cooperation intensity was examined on the basis of analysis of network by researcher before analysis results were put together to select lead researchers. Results : According to the quantitative information analysis of 1,330 articles that were selected as analysis objects, the number of papers on natural products research for dementia treatment has increased by around 4.6 times in recent five years. This indicates that the intensive studies have been underway recently. It was found to be the US that had the highest level in research filed of herbal medicine for dementia treatment and the highest capacity of international cooperation for that purpose. On the contrary, Korea had the share of papers at 5.1%, the number of countries in cooperation research at 8, and the article quality index at 0.40, showing that the qualitative level was insufficient, compared to the quantitative outcome. In particular, Korea was found to have no intensity of international cooperation among researchers. In case of patent, the results of information analysis of 305 patents selected as analysis objects demonstrated that China had the highest share while Korea had the very low frequency of patent application quantitatively. Conclusions : In this study, the research to develop herbal medicine for dementia treatment has recently drawn much attention that has spread around the globe. Therefore, these results suggest establishing the strategy to develop technology for dementia treatment with oriental medicine in the future based on quantitative information analysis.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2014

Objectives: Depression, sleep complaints and cognitive impairments are commonly observed in the elderly. Elderly subjects with depressive symptoms have been found to show both poor cognitive performances and sleep disturbances. However, the relationship between sleep complaints and cognitive dysfunction in elderly depression is not clear. The aim of this study is to identify the association between sleep disturbances and cognitive decline in late-life depression. Methods: A total of 282 elderly people who underwent nocturnal polysomnography in a sleep laboratory were enrolled in the study. The Korean version of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery developed by the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-K) was applied to evaluate cognitive function. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the geriatric depression scale (GDS) and subjective sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburg sleep quality index (PSQI). Results: The control group ($GDS{\leq}9$) when compared with mild ($10{\leq}GDS{\leq}16$) and severe ($17{\leq}GDS$) depression groups, had significantly different scores in the Trail making test part B (TMT-B), Benton visual retention test part A (BVRT-A), and Stroop color and word test (SCWT)(all tests p<0.05). The PSQI score, REM sleep duration, apnea-hypopnea index and oxygen desaturation index were significantly different across the three groups (all indices, p<0.05). A stepwise multiple regression model showed that educational level, age and GDS score were predictive for both TMT-B time (adjusted $R^2$=35.6%, p<0.001) and BVRT-A score (adjusted $R^2$=28.3%, p<0.001). SCWT score was predicted by educational level, age, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and GDS score (adjusted $R^2$=20.6%, p<0.001). Poor sleep quality and sleep structure alterations observed in depression did not have any significant effects on cognitive deterioration. Conclusion: Older adults with depressive symptoms showed mild sleep alterations and poor cognitive performances. However, we found no association between sleep disturbances (except sleep apnea) and cognitive difficulties in elderly subjects with depressive symptoms. It is possible that the impact of sleep disruptions on cognitive abilities was hindered by the confounding effect of age, education and depressive symptoms.