• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.129-135
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• 2018

In this study, we designed a model that can measure the level of user's concentration by measuring and analyzing EEG data of the subjects who are performing Continuous Performance Test based on visual stimulus. This study focused on alpha and beta waves, which are closely related to concentration in various brain waves. There are a lot of research and services to enhance not only concentration but also brain activity. However, there are formidable barriers to ordinary people for using routinely because of high cost and complex procedures. Therefore, this study designed the model using the portable EEG measurement device with reasonable cost and Visual Continuous Performance Test which we developed as a simplified version of the existing CPT. This study aims to measure the concentration level of the subject objectively through simple and affordable way, EEG analysis. Concentration is also closely related to various brain diseases such as dementia, depression, and ADHD. Therefore, we believe that our proposed model can be useful not only for improving concentration but also brain disease prediction and monitoring research. In addition, the combination of this model and the Brain Computer Interface technology can create greater synergy in various fields.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.138-146
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• 2022

Background and Purpose: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) helps with brain development analysis and disease diagnosis. Brain volumes measured from different ages using MRI provides useful information in clinical evaluation and research. Therefore, we trained machine learning models that predict the brain age gap of healthy subjects in the East Asian population using T1 brain MRI volume images. Methods: In total, 154 T1-weighted MRIs of healthy subjects (55-83 years of age) were collected from an East Asian community. The information of age, gender, and education level was collected for each participant. The MRIs of the participants were preprocessed using FreeSurfer(https://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/) to collect the brain volume data. We trained the models using different supervised machine learning regression algorithms from the scikit-learn (https://scikit-learn.org/) library. Results: The trained models comprised 19 features that had been reduced from 55 brain volume labels. The algorithm BayesianRidge (BR) achieved a mean absolute error (MAE) and r squared (R²) of 3 and 0.3 years, respectively, in predicting the age of the new subjects compared to other regression methods. The results of feature importance analysis showed that the right pallidum, white matter hypointensities on T1-MRI scans, and left hippocampus comprise some of the essential features in predicting brain age. Conclusions: The MAE and R² accuracies of the BR model predicting brain age gap in the East Asian population showed that the model could reduce the dimensionality of neuroimaging data to provide a meaningful biomarker for individual brain aging.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.61-67
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• 2023

Human body ages differently due to environmental, genetic and pathological factors. DNA methylation patterns also differs depending on various factors such as aging and several other diseases. The aging clock model, which uses these differences to predict age, analyzes DNA methylation patterns, recognizes age-specific patterns, predicts age, and grasps the speed and degree of aging. Aging occurs in everyone and causes various problems such as deterioration of physical ability and complications. Alzheimer's disease is a disease associated with aging and the most common brain degenerative disease. This disease causes various cognitive functions disabilities such as dementia and impaired judgment to motor functions, making daily life impossible. It has been reported that the incidence and progression of this disease increase with aging, and that increased phosphorylation of Aβ and tau proteins, which are overexpressed in this disease and accelerates epigenetic aging. It has also been reported that DNA methylation is significantly increased in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex of Alzheimer's disease patients. Therefore, we calculated the biological age using the Epi clock, a pan-tissue aging clock model, and confirmed that the epigenetic age of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease is lower than their actual age. Also, it was confirmed to slow down aging.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.207-218
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• 2022

This study, to confirm the mediating effect of knee pain on cognitive functions and depression in older adults, and as an interdisciplinary research between the physical and psychological mechanisms, confirmed the identifying group differences by gender, age, and educational attainment of older adults, and aimed to research the improvement of cognitive functions, which is a main factor of dementia's risk prediction. The analysis data was from the 8th Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) in 2020, and the research model was verified using Process macro and model #4. The main analysis results are as follows. First, depression partially mediation effect of knee pain on cognitive functions. Second, the mediation effect of depression by gender was significant, but the direct effect in the male older adults group was twice that in the female older adults; the indirect effect did not vary significantly based on gender. Third, the mediating effect of depression by age was relatively greater in the old-old aged group than in the young-old aged one. Fourth, as for the mediating effect of depression according to the classification of educational attainment, the mediating effect was not significant in the group with a college degree or higher education but was significant in the remaining three sub-groups. Based on the results, this study makes implications for the need for active intervention strategies to improve cognitive functions, focusing on group differences by gender, age, and educational attainment in the management of knee pain and depression.