• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.708-720
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• 2012

In this study, we assessed the effects of ginsenoside Re (GRe) administration on repeated immobilization stress-induced behavioral alterations using the forced swimming test (FST), the elevated plus maze (EPM), and the active avoidance conditioning test (AAT). Additionally, we examined the effect of GRe on the central adrenergic system by observing changes in neuronal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA expression in the rat brain. Male rats received 10, 20, or 50 mg/kg GRe (i.p.) 30 min before daily exposures to repeated immobilization stress (2 h/day) for 10 days. Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to repeated immobilization was confirmed by measuring serum levels of corticosterone (CORT) and the expression of corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) in the hypothalamus. Repeated immobilization stress increased immobility in the FST and reduced open-arm exploration in the EPM test. It also increased the probability of escape failures in the AAT test, indicating a reduced avoidance response. Daily administration of GRe during the repeated immobilization stress period significantly inhibited the stress-induced behavioral deficits in these behavioral tests. Administration of GRe also significantly blocked the increase in TH expression in the locus coeruleus (LC) and the decrease in BDNF mRNA expression in the hippocampus. Taken together, these findings indicate that administration of GRe prior to immobilization stress significantly improved helpless behaviors and cognitive impairment, possibly through modulating the central noradrenergic system in rats. These findings suggest that GRe may be a useful agent for treating complex symptoms of depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.77-90
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• 2018

Behavioral studies of emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have yielded mixed results. Most of the studies focused on emotion recognition abilities with regard to ASD using stimuli with unisensory modality, making it difficult to determine difficulties in real life emotion perception in ASD. Herein, we review the recent behavioral and cognitive neuroscience studies on emotion recognition functions in ASD, including both unisensory and multisensory emotional information, to elucidate the possible difficulties in emotion recognition in ASD. In our study, we discovered that people with ASD have problems in the process of integrating emotional information during emotion recognition tasks. The following four points are discussed: (1) The restrictions of previous studies, (2) deficits in emotion recognition in ASD especially in recognizing multisensory information, (3) possible compensation mechanisms for emotion recognition in ASD, and (4) the possible roles of attention and language functions in emotion recognition in ASD. The compensatory mechanisms proposed herein for ASD with regard to emotion recognition abilities could contribute to a therapeutic approach for improving emotion recognition functions in ASD.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.161-164
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• 2016

Few preoperative extrapontine myelinolysis (EPM) cases with pituitary adenoma have been reported. No such case had long follow-up to see the outcome of EPM. We reported a 38-year-old man complaining of nausea, malaise and transient loss of consciousness who was found to have severe hyponatremia. Neurologic deficits including altered mental status, behavioral disturbances, dysarthria and dysphagia developed despite slow correction of hyponatremia. Endocrine and imaging studies revealed hypopituitarism, nonfunctional pituitary macroadenoma and extrapontine myelinolysis. Transsphenoidal surgery was performed after three weeks of supportive therapy, when neurological symptoms improved significantly. The patient recovered function completely 3 months after surgery. Our case indicates that outcome of EPM can be good even with prolonged periods of severe neurologic impairment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1489-1494
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• 2017

The use of a room-temperature gamma spectrometer is an issue in environmental radiation monitoring. To monitor radionuclides released around a nuclear power plant, suitable instruments giving fast and reliable information are required. High-pressure xenon (HPXe) chambers have range of resolution and efficiency equivalent to those of other medium resolution detectors such as those using NaI(Tl), CdZnTe, and $LaBr_3:Ce$. An HPXe chamber could be a cost-effective alternative, assuming temperature stability and reliability. The CEA LIST actively studied and developed HPXe-based technology applied for environmental monitoring. Xenon purification and conditioning was performed. The design of a 4-L HPXe detector was performed to minimize the detector capacitance and the required power supply. Simulations were done with the MCNPX2.7 particle transport code to estimate the intrinsic efficiency of the HPXe detector. A behavioral study dealing with ballistic deficits and electronic noise will be utilized to provide perspective for further analysis.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.28-37
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• 1995

Clinical neuropsychology which belongs to the necuroscience field is concerned with relationship between human behaviors and the brain structure. Clinical neuropsychology has grown to be a specialized separate field within psychology over the last twenty years. Clinical neuropsychology offers an objective methodology to consider the mind-body interaction and evaluate the behavioral consequences and functional deficits associated with brain lesions. Clinical neuropsychological assessment is composed of cognitive, perceptual, motor and emotional function through various neuropsychological examinations such as Halsted-Reitan and Luria-Nebraska batteries, and computerized neuropsychological test such as PCIS Vienna Test System and Stim. The goals of neuropsychological evaluation are to identify of neuropsychological dysfuncitions, to develop execute and monitor treatment plans, and to make rehabilitation programs. Recently, the neuropsychiatric patients are increasing in number and 15-20% of acute psychiatric patients suffer from organic mental problems. Moreover, clinical neuropsychology has an increasingly important role in both neurobehavioral foundation and clinical application. So, psychiatrists must play a major role in the development of clinical neuropsychology in psychiatry.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.189-196
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• 2011

Major depressive disorder is characterized by cellular and molecular alterations resulting in the depressive behavioral phenotypes. Preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated the deficits, including cell atrophy and loss, in limbic and cortical regions of patients with depression, which is restored with antidepressants by reestablishing proper molecular changes. These findings have implicated the involvement of relevant intracellular signaling pathways in the pathogenetic and therapeutic mechanisms of depressive disorders. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the signal transduction mechanisms related to depressive disorders, including cyclic-AMP, mitogen-activated protein kinase, Akt, and protein translation initiation signaling cascades. Understanding molecular components of signaling pathways regulating neurobiology of depressive disorders may provide the novel targets for the development of more efficacious treatment modalities.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.53-58
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• 2013

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior and interest. Sleep problems are not uncommon in children with autism spectrum disorders. Symptoms of insomnia are the most frequent sleep problems in individuals with ASD. Sleep problems can cause significant difficulties in the daily life of children with ASD and their families. Genetic factor, deregulations of melatonin synthesis, extraneous environmental stimuli and psychiatric and medical conditions may cause sleep problems. The first line treatment of sleep problems in ASD includes managements for potential contributing factors and parent education about sleep hygiene care for child and behavioral therapy. Supplementation with melatonin may be effective before considering other medications, such as risperidone, clonidine, and mirtazapine.

• Journal of mucopolysaccharidosis and rare diseases
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-41
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• 2021

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder of hyperphagia leading to severe obesity, intellectual deficits, compulsivity, and other behavioral problems. PWS is caused by the inactivation of contiguous genes on chromosome 15q11-q13, which complicates the development of targeted, effective therapeutics. Various preclinical studies have been conducted by developing mouse models that exhibit phenotypes similar to PWS. Oxytocin deficiency in PWS is associated with hyperphagia with impaired satiety and, food-seeking and behavior disorders. Here, we summarize the oxytocin study of ingestion behavior tested in the PWS mouse model and published data from clinical trials that have evaluated treatment effectiveness on ingestion behavior and social dysfunction in patients with PWS.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.594-597
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• 2008

Natural products have been used to treat many neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease. In the present study, the effects of the water extract of smoke-dried skipjack tuna (WSST), which is used as a traditional seasoning in Japan, as well as its fractions on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition in vitro and on memory in scopolamine-induced amnesia mice in vivo were evaluated. Bio-Rad P-2 gel permeation chromatography revealed the presence of 7 peaks and AChE significantly inhibited peak 3 and 5. When in vivo behavioral studies were conducted, a passive avoidance test revealed that treatment with 50 and 100 mg/kg WSST as well as with fraction 3 and 5 improved the loss in memory retention induced by scopolamine. These results suggest that skipjack tuna extract and its fractions improve memory deficits and that these substances are suitable for use in healthy foods designed to improve memory deficits induced by aging and Alzheimer's disease.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.19-35
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• 1998

Some oriental medicine turned out to have a significant clinical effect on the cure for dementia. Therefore, thorough scientific tests for physiological effect of oriental medicne are needed. This study is aimed at doing experimental studies on the effects of two medicines, Jowiseungcheongtang and hyungbangjihwangtang, on the cure for dementia.For the demonstration of the effect of the two medicines on aged rats, we perfomed a radial arm medicines on aged rats, water maze task, known for their proper learning paradigm for behavior.Previous studies on aging and dementia show that aged rats displayed significant impariments in the learning of the radial arm maze task compared with younger rats. As in experiment 1, we found that the learning of the radial arm maze task compared with younger rats. As in experiment 1, we found that the learning deficits aged rats exhibit in radial arm maze task were improved with the application of each medicine. The resutls suggest that these two medicine can be effective to patients whose working or shortterm memory is impaired. In experiment 2 we studied the effect of the two medicines on the deficit of the aged rats with the Morris water maze task known for measuring long-tern memory. We did not find significant results between the performance of the ages rats and the younger ones. Considered the different results previous studies have reported, more thorough studies are needed to investigate the effect of the medicines on long-term memory.In conclusion, the results we found in experiment 1 and 2 suggest that Jowisengcheongtang and hyungbangjihwangtang can have useful effects for the cure of age-related memory (especially for short-term memory)deficits. Recent interests in dementia urges researchers concerned to explore the effect of oriental medicine on the disease. As there have been relatively few behavioral or scientific studies on dementia using oriental medicine to date, further studies are expected are expected to continue to elucidate 'what the wisdom of the oriental medicine tells about dementia'.