• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.435-443
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• 2022

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disease that develops following exposure to a traumatic event and is a stress-associated mental disorder characterized by an imbalance of neuroinflammation. Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) is the herbal supplement that is known to be involved in a variety of pharmacological activities. We aimed to investigate the effects of KRG on neuroinflammation as a potential mechanism involved in single prolonged stress (SPS) that negatively influences memory formation and consolidation and leads to cognitive and spatial impairment by regulating BDNF signaling, synaptic proteins, and the activation of NF-κB. Methods: We analyzed the cognitive and spatial memory, and inflammatory cytokine levels during the SPS procedure. SPS model rats were injected intraperitoneally with 20, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day KRG for 14 days. Results: KRG administration significantly attenuated the cognitive and spatial memory deficits, as well as the inflammatory reaction in the hippocampus associated with activation of NF-κB in the hippocampus induced by SPS. Moreover, the effects of KRG were equivalent to those exerted by paroxetine. In addition, KRG improved the expression of BDNF mRNA and the synaptic protein PSD-95 in the hippocampus. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that KRG exerts memory-improving actions by regulating anti-inflammatory activities and the NF-κB and neurotrophic pathway. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that KRG is a potential functional ingredient for protecting against memory deficits in mental diseases, such as PTSD.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.3-9
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• 2022

The concept of "public health care (public health and medical services)" as discussed in South Korea is used in an unclear sense, with a meaning unlike the terminology used worldwide. The terms "public health care (public health and medical services)" and "health care (health and medical services)" have the same legal definition in Korea. Globally, "public health care (public health and medical services)" refers to medical services provided to the public that are operated as publicly funded resources, but in Korea, this term is confined to limited medical services prescribed by the government. The following considerations regarding "public health care (public health and medical services)" in Korea are proposed: All medical services performed by the state, regional governments, health care institutions, or health care workers to protect and promote the health of the people should be clearly established as "public health care (public health and medical services)" by definition. The financial burden borne by the state through national health insurance should be increased to an appropriate level to clarify the state's responsibility. Improving public health is an urgent priority in Korea, and this goal can be achieved by improving regional public health through systematic relationships between the state and regional governments, establishing a Ministry of Health, and efficiently allocating public health doctors who are important for providing regional medical care in rural and remote areas. It will be possible to actively deal with infectious diseases at the national level through establishment of a Ministry of Disease Control and Prevention.

• Mood & Emotion
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.57-63
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• 2011

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of depression within two weeks after stroke. Methods : A total of 362 stroke patients were recruited. Depression (major and minor depressive disorders) was diagnosed by applying DSM-IV criteria. Data on socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, marital state, living state, religion, occupation, income, life event, and social support), stroke severity (NIHSS), disability (BI), stroke hemisphere and location, vascular risk and disease, and previous history of stroke and depression were obtained. Results : Depression was present in 90 (24.9%) patients: major depression 29 (8%) and minor depression 61 (16.9%) patients. In the univariate analyses, depression was associated with older age, higher number of stressful life event, poorer social support, severe disability, anterior stroke location, previous history of stroke and depression. In the multivariate analyses, depression was independently associated with higher number of stressful life events and poorer social support. Conclusion : Depression was common and was determined by premorbid levels of stress and social support in stroke patients at acute stage. More intensive psychiatric care and intervention is needed for the high risk group.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1-22
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• 2023

Purposes: The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the factors that affect patients reusing non-face-to-face treatments at tertiary general hospitals. Methodology: We retrospectively analyzed a patient's reuse of non-face-to-face treatment from February 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021, at a tertiary general hospital in Seoul within one year of the first non-face-to-face treatment. A frequency analysis was conducted to identify the study subjects' demographic characteristics, treatment type characteristics, disease characteristics, and hospital use type characteristics. Also, across-analysis was conducted to verify the difference in non-face-to-face treatment reuse according to the characteristics a multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the factors affecting the reuse of non-face-to-face treatment by non-face-to-face treatment patients. Findings: The results of this study can be interpreted as indicating that the following groups are more likely tore use the non-face-to-face treatment: women, children, the elderly, Patients living far from the hospital, psychiatric patients, pediatric patients, medical benefits recipients, chronic patients, patients with mobility difficulties, and patients with high loyalty to hospitals. Practical Implications: When developing a non-face-to-face treatment system in the future, based on the results of this study, it is possible to target patients who prefer non-face-to-face treatment. And this study will be research material for vitalizing non-face-to-face treatment. In addition, the activation of the non-face-to-face treatment system will be an effective means for improving the quality of medical services and generating profits in hospitals in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.106-114
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• 2019

This study aims to identify the effects of experiencing health promotion education on the present health status of elderly people. The subjects of this study were a total 10,532 elderly people (aged 65 years or older), and who were selected from the data of the '2017 Community Health Survey'. The health promotion education experience consisted of handwashing education/campaign, a non-smoking campaign and non-smoking education. The chronic disease control education experience consisted of education on hypertension, diabetes mellitus and arthritis. Psychiatric counseling consisted of consultations on stress, depression and suicide. The present health status consisted of the patients' ability to exercise, their self-care ability, their activities of daily living, their pain/discomfort and their anxiety/depression. The data was analyzed utilizing the chi-square test, the Mann-Whitney test and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The general characteristics of the subjects were 4,075 males (38.69%) and 6,457 females (61.31%). The average age was 73.71(±6.18) years old. The significant factors influencing the elderly peoples' present health status were age (OR=0.909, 95% CI=0.886-0.933), handwashing education/campaign (OR=2.463, 95% CI=1.703-3.563), a stop smoking campaign (OR=1.624, 95% CI=1.146-2.301) and consultation for mental problems (OR=0.533, 95% CI=0.359-0.791). In conclusion, to modify the personal habits that the elderly have had for a long time and to show the effects of education, long-term continuous education that focuses on the characteristics of the people will be effective.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of psychopathology and psychosocial environments of children with Atopic Dermatitis(AD) and their relationship to skin symptoms. Seventy outpatients with AD(mean age 9.94, range 4-15 years) and their mothers were subjected to psychiatric interview and parent- and self-report questionnaire(CBCL, MBRI, CDI, Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children(STAI), Family Impact questionnaire). Disease severity was assessed in three dimensions(skin extent, disease activity, and subjective symptom) by SCORAD index. Sixteen(22.9%) of our sample were suspected to have behavioral-emotional problems and they were different from non-problem group on depression, trait-anxiety, maternal controlling attitude and negative appraisal of children. While skin inflammation activity was correlated with only trait-anxiety and depression, subjective skin symptoms were correlated with many psychosocial factors such as depression, state-and traitanxiety, family-impact, social competence, internalized and externalized behavioral problem, sexual problem, and mother's positive appraisal of children). We concluded that children with AD are highrisk group for behavioral-emotional problems, and these problems along with maternal negative parenting attitude can affect their subjective symptom experience.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.287-302
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• 2000

The purpose of the study are to examine the perception of the importance and performance of patient education of the clinical nurse and find out the interfering factors in practicing patient education. The data were collected from convenient sample of 256 clinical nurses working in the nursing units of adult patients except the psychiatric unit, obstetric unit, dental surgical unit and intensive care unit of one University Hospital in Seoul from September 29 to October 2, 1998. Three measurement tools of self-report- questionnaires developed by researcher used. For the content validity of the questionnaires, two sessions of panel discussion and a pilot test were done and finally factor analysis was done with Varimax method. Analysis of data was done with SAS program using frequency, percentage, means, standard deviation, Pearson's Correlation Coefficients, t-test and ANOVA. The obtained results were as follows : 1. The surveyed nurses perceived the importance of patient education at higher level with mean score of 4.08 among 5 point than their perception of practice( mean score : 3.42). 2. There was positive significant correlation(r=.29, p=0.0001)between nurses' perception of the importance of patient education and it's practice 3. Among the teaching contents for patients, 'information of diagnostic procedure and operation' and 'orientation of hospitalization' were perceived most important. And 'preparation for discharge' and 'understanding of disease and health promotion' were perceived least important 4. Among the teaching contents for patients, 'orientation of hospitalization' and 'information of diagnostic procedure and operation' were perceived highly performable. And 'understanding of disease and health promotion' and 'preparation for discharge' were perceived least performable. 5. Three types of interfering factors were identified as patient-factor, situational factor, nurse-factor. The mean degree of impediment with the interfering factors was at average level(3.09 among 5). The patient and situational factors of impediments were more interfering than nurse- factor for teaching patients. 6. In older age(p<.05), married state (p<.05), higher educational status (p<.01), higher clinical experience (p<.01) and higher position(p<.01), the score of perceived importance of patients education was more high. 7. In older age(p<.01), higher clinical experience(p<.001) and surgical unit (p<.01), the score of perceived performance of patients education was more high. In conclusion, in order to activate patient education practice in the clinical setting, the continuing education for patients education should be more emphasized and the effective teaching methods and materials should be developed to help patient teaching. And an organizational support such as budgeting for patient education and reimbursement system should be administrated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.237-247
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• 2021

Immune responses in the central nervous system (CNS) function as the host's defense system against pathogens and usually help with repair and regeneration. However, chronic and exaggerated neuroinflammation is detrimental and may create neuronal damage in many cases. The NOD-, LRR-, and pyrin domain―containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, a kind of NOD-like receptor, is a cytosolic multiprotein complex that consists of sensors (NLRP3), adaptors (apoptosis-associated speck like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain, ASC) and effectors (caspase 1). It can detect a broad range of microbial pathogens along with foreign and host-derived danger signals, resulting in the assembly and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Upon activation, NLRP3 inflammasome leads to caspase 1-dependent secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18, as well as to gasdermin D-mediated pyroptotic cell death. NLRP3 inflammasome is highly expressed in CNS-resident cell types, including microglia and astrocytes, and growing evidence suggests that NLRP3 inflammasome is a crucial player in the pathophysiology of several neuroinflammatory and psychiatric diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and major depressive disorder. Thus, this review describes the molecular mechanisms of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and its crucial roles in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.56-67
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• 1996

Objectives : This study was designed to find clinical factors that could be differentiated by the lateralization of lesion and also find clinical factors to predict the lateralization of lesion. Methods : The subjects were 65 cooperative inpatients and outpatients with non-traumatic subcortical cerebrovascular disease without neurologic and psychiatric history from January 1995 to September 1995 ; 48 patients in Kyung Hee University, Oriental Medicine Hospital, 35 patients in Anam Hospital, Korea University were examined as subjects, but authors excluded 20 patients whose data were incomplete or who had uncertain lesions on brain CT or MRI. The 65 patients were divided into three groups-group with left hemispheric lesion, group with right hemispheric lesion, group with both hemispheric lesion-according to the finding of brain imaging study. Their cognitive functions were evaluated by the Benton Neuropsychological Assessment(BNA), their subjective neurobehavioral symptoms by Symptom Check List-90-R(SCL-90-R), their objective neurobehavioral symptoms by Neurobehavioral Rating Scale, and their daily living functions by Geriatric Evaluation by Relative's Rating Instrument(GERRl) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale(IADLs). Results : The results were as follows : 1) The results of cognitive function test indicated that the group with right hemispheric lesion showed low functions in Tactile Form Perception(left), the group with left hemispheric lesion showed low functions in Finger localization(right), the group with right hemispheric lesion showed low functions in Finger Localization(left). 2) Though, there were little significant differences in subjective neurobehavioral symptoms, the group with right hemispheric lesion showed higher scores in all symptoms except hostility. 3) Though, there were little significant differences in objective neurobehavioral symptoms, the group with both hemispheric lesion showed higher scores in cognition, guilty/disinhibition, the group with left hemispheric lesion showed higher scores in lability of mood, the group with right hemispheric lesion showed highest scores in psychotism, neurotism, agitation-hostility and decreased motivation/emotional withdrawal. 4) There were little significant differences among three groups in Daily Living Functions, but the group with right hemispheric lesion showed the lowest functions in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. 5) As a result of discriminant analysis on each factor's contribution to the prediction of lesion, Finger Localization(left), Phoneme Discrimination and Tactile Form Perception(right) showed that they had the potentiality to predict lesion. Conclusion : The results suggest that there are little significant differences among the groups of three non-traumatic subcortical cerebrovascular disease in cognitive functions, but the group with right hemispheric lesion showed more serious and various changes in subjective and objective neurobehavioral symptoms, and showed low functions in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. This results suggest the possibility that the decline of the daily living function in the group with right hemispheric lesion were due to various symptoms, not due to cognitive dysfunction. The confirmation of the possibility should be worked out through the follow-up study of some groups containing cortical lesion. Apart from these findings, Finger Localization, Tactile Form Perception(right) and Phoneme Discrimination suggest that they can be used as clinically valuable cognitive parameters that predict the lateralization of lesion in non-traumatic cerebrovascular disease.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.176-184
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• 1997

Abnormal illness behavior in patients with somatoform disorders were known formed by their traditional disease concepts and somatization-prone socio-cultural factors. The authors evaluated the characteristics of abnormal illness behavior in patients with somatoform disorders(who had somatization) by using abnormal illness behavior questionnaire. Methods : 29 somatoform disorders(SD) and 57 disease controls were compared by clinical characteristics, severity of pain, state anxiety(by Spielberger's State & Trait Anxiety Inventory), depression(by Beck's Depression Inventory) and level of psychosocial stess(by DSM-III-R). The illness behavior was measured by illness Behavior Questionnaire(IBQ). Results SD group had longer period of somatic symptoms with less severity in pain. The degree of anxiety and depression were higher in SB compared with controls. However, the degree of psychosocial stress was almost same between both groups. In IBQ, SD showed higher scores in general hypochondriasis, disease conviction, and affective disturbance subscales compared to control group. Conclusion: High disease conviction and hypochondriacal nature revealed by IBQ seemed to be a role in making somatization by way of somatic focusing and hypervigilance. And those tended to lead patients visit hospital frequently and report various somatic complaints. Evaluating abnormal illness behavior in somatoform disorders would be not only helpful in understanding the natures of somatoform disorders but also useful differentiating SD with other psychiatric conditions.