• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.475-481
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• 2009

Emerging data demonstrate pivotal roles for brain insulin resistance and insulin deficiency as mediators of cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration, particularly Alzheimer's disease (AD). Insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) regulate neuronal survival, energy metabolism, and plasticity, which are required for learning and memory. Hence, endogenous brain-specific impairments in insulin and IGF signaling account for the majority of AD-associated abnormalities. However, a second major mechanism of cognitive impairment has been linked to obesity and Type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Human and experimental animal studies revealed that neurodegeneration associated with peripheral insulin resistance is likely effectuated via a liver-brain axis whereby toxic lipids, including ceramides, cross the blood brain barrier and cause brain insulin resistance, oxidative stress, neuro-inflammation, and cell death. In essence, there are dual mechanisms of brain insulin resistance leading to AD-type neurodegeneration: one mediated by endogenous, CNS factors; and the other, peripheral insulin resistance with excess cytotoxic ceramide production.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.76-101
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• 2022

Despite the increasing use of digital media and their powerful impact on risk management during recent outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, the question of how digital media exposure influences preventive behaviors has not been fully explained. Using the appraisal tendency framework and protection motivation theory as theoretical frameworks, we theorized the affective and cognitive mechanisms under which the differential roles of three negative emotions (fear, anger, worry) on two cognitive appraisals (perceived threat and perceived efficacy) were examined. Based on data collected from a survey of 1,500 South Koreans during the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that while worry and anger increased perceived efficacy, fear reduced perceived efficacy. The results also showed that although exposure to COVID-19 information via digital formats increased preventive behavioral intention in general, digital media use for COVID-19 information had a negative influence on preventive behavioral intention through the sequential mediation of fear and perceived efficacy.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.276-285
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• 2020

Circadian rhythm is an endogenous oscillation of about 24-h period in many physiological processes and behaviors. This daily oscillation is maintained by the molecular clock machinery with transcriptional-translational feedback loops mediated by clock genes including Period2 (Per2) and Bmal1. Recently, it was revealed that gut microbiome exerts a significant impact on the circadian physiology and behavior of its host; however, the mechanism through which it regulates the molecular clock has remained elusive. 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid (4-OH-PPA) and 3-phenylpropionic acid (PPA) are major metabolites exclusively produced by Clostridium sporogenes and may function as unique chemical messengers communicating with its host. In the present study, we examined if two C. sporogenes-derived metabolites can modulate the oscillation of mammalian molecular clock. Interestingly, 4-OH-PPA and PPA increased the amplitude of both PER2 and Bmal1 oscillation in a dose-dependent manner following their administration immediately after the nadir or the peak of their rhythm. The phase of PER2 oscillation responded differently depending on the mode of administration of the metabolites. In addition, using an organotypic slice culture ex vivo, treatment with 4-OH-PPA increased the amplitude and lengthened the period of PER2 oscillation in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and other tissues. In summary, two C. sporogenes-derived metabolites are involved in the regulation of circadian oscillation of Per2 and Bmal1 clock genes in the host's peripheral and central clock machineries.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.27-36
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• 2004

This paper addresses G$\ddot{o}$del's critique of Turing's mechanism that a configuration of the Turing machine corresponds to each state of human mind. The first part gives a quick overview of Turing's analysis of cognition as computation and its variants. In the following part, we describe the concept of Turing machines, and the third part explains the computational limitations of Turing machines as a cognitive system. The fourth part demonstrates that Godel did not agree with Turing's argument, sometimes referred to as mechanism. Finally, we discuss an oracle Turing machine and its implications.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.71-82
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• 1997

In this paper, the study model, which presents the patterns of how the changing mechanisms are adopted to the changing stages of smoking cessation, was developed by modifying the integrative model of Prochaska et al. (1983) with including seven changing mechanisms which were identified by Oh and Kim(1996). Then the developed study model was exploratively tested with 155 University student between 20 and 29 years of age as subjects. According to the study results. among the five mechanisms. which are significant in explaining the differences between stages. DUNCAN post-comparison showed that the least applied ones were Stimulus Control, Self Determinism, Cognitive Restructuring in the precomplation stage, and Reinforcement and Dramatic Relief. in the relapsed stage. In the comtemplation stage. it was observed that Dramatic Relief is used most frequently and that the other two mechanisms, Information Management and Cognitive Restructuring, showed different results from those inferred in the study hypothesis. In the case of Information Management, it was excluded from the analysis it was not included in explaining significant difference among changing stages, but Cognitive Reconstruction turns out to be a more frequently used mechanism in the action stage rather than in the comtemplation stage. Helping Relationship was also excluded in the post-comparison analysis since it was not included in explaining significant difference among changing stages and Reinforcement was a more frequently used mechanisms in the comtemplation stage. Stimulus Control turns out to be the connecting mechanism which was most frequently used in both the contemplation and action stages. Self Determination was most frequently used in the action stage rather than in both the comtemplation stage and action stage, differing from the presumption of the model. Lastly, subjects in the relapsed stage were utilizing Stimulus Control and Self Determination at the same level as subjects in the precontemplation stage. and the utilization of both Reinformcement and Dramatic Relief was lower than that of the precomtemplation stage, that is, at the lowest level. Only Cognitive Restructuring was used of the same level as the comtemplation stage. The relapsed stage in this study did not represent the preparation for action stage as presumed in the model of Prochaska et. al. (1983) but did show a pattern similar to the initial stage of smoking cessation. However, since this interpretation about the relapser was based on only a small number of relapsers(n=5), this conclusion may not be reliable.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.34 no.5A
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• pp.391-400
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• 2009

Recently, cellular communication networks are migrating from 2G to 3G. Spectrum utilization tends to be inefficient during the transition. Cognitive radio (CR) technology can be a key solution to increase spectrum efficiency by allowing secondary networks to utilize frequency resource of primary networks. However, conventional CR approaches which do not utilize the frequency reuse factor of primary networks may incur degradation of whole network performance. In this paper, we propose a mechanism that a secondary network senses pilot signals of a primary network and select optimum frequency bands. In order to maximize whole network performance, we formulate an optimization problem subject to interference constraints for a primary network and present algorithms. Simulation results compare the proposed method with the conventional method. Our proposed method shows performance gain over the conventional method if channel variation of a primary network is dynamic and the frequency reuse factor of a primary network is high.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2013

Cognitive radio (CR) has emerged as one of effective methods to enhance the utilization of existing radio spectrum. Main principle of CR is that secondary users (SUs) are allowed to use the spectrum unused by primary users (PUs) without interfering PU's transmissions. In this paper, PUs operate on a slot-by-slot basis and SUs try to exploit the slots unused by PUs. We propose OSA protocols in the single channel and we propose an opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) protocols in the multi-channel cognitive radio networks with one control channel and several licensed channels where a slot is divided into contention phase and transmission phase. A slot is divided into reporting phase, contention phase and transmission phase. The reporting phase plays a role of finding idle channels unused by PUs and the contention phase plays a role of selecting a SU who will send packets in the data transmission phase. One SU is selected by carrier sense multiple access / collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) with request to send / clear to send (RTS/CTS) mechanism on control channel and the SU is allowed to occupy all remaining part of all idle channels during the current slot. For mathematical analysis, first we deal with the single-channel case and we model the proposed OSA media access control (MAC) protocol by three-dimensional discrete time Markov chain (DTMC) whose one-step transition probability matrix has a special structure so as to apply the censored Markov chain method to obtain the steady state distribution.We obtain the throughput and the distribution of access delay. Next we deal with the multi-channel case and obtain the throughput and the distribution of access delay by using results of single-channel case. In numerical results, our mathematical analysis is verified by simulations and we give numerical results on throughput and access delay of the proposed MAC protocol. Finally, we find the maximum allowable number of SUs satisfying the requirements on throughput and access delay.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2017

To examine the effect of biflorin, a component of Syzygium aromaticum, on memory deficit, we introduced a scopolamine-induced cognitive deficit mouse model. A single administration of biflorin increased latency time in the passive avoidance task, ameliorated alternation behavior in the Y-maze, and increased exploration time in the Morris water maze task, indicating the improvement of cognitive behaviors against cholinergic dysfunction. The biflorin-induced reverse of latency in the scopolamine-treated group was attenuated by MK-801, an NMDA receptor antagonist. Biflorin also enhanced cognitive function in a naïve mouse model. To understand the mechanism of biflorin for memory amelioration, we performed Western blot. Biflorin increased the activation of protein kinase C-${\zeta}$ and its downstream signaling molecules in the hippocampus. These results suggest that biflorin ameliorates drug-induced memory impairment by modulation of protein kinase C-${\zeta}$ signaling in mice, implying that biflorin could function as a possible therapeutic agent for the treatment of cognitive problems.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2019

Although 'assessment for learning' rather than 'assessment of learning' has been emphasized recently, student learning before examinations is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-assessment learning activities (PALA) and to find mechanism factors (MF) that influence those activities. Moreover, we compared the PALA and MF of written exams with those of the clinical performance examination/objective structured clinical examination (CPX/OSCE) in third-year (N=121) and fourth-year (N=108) medical students. Through literature review and discussion, questionnaires with a 5-point Likert scale were developed to measure PALA and MF. PALA had the constructs of cognitive and meta-cognitive activities, and MF had sub-components of personal, interpersonal, and environmental factors. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficient was used to calculate survey reliability, while the Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were used to investigate the influence of MF on PALA. A paired t-test was applied to compare the PALA and MF of written exams with those of CPX/OSCE in third and fourth year students. The Pearson correlation coefficients between PALA and MF were 0.479 for written exams and 0.508 for CPX/OSCE. MF explained 24.1% of the PALA in written exams and 25.9% of PALA in CPX/OSCE. Both PALA and MF showed significant differences between written exams and CPX/OSCE in third-year students, whereas those in fourth-year students showed no differences. Educators need to consider MFs that influence the PALA to encourage 'assessment for learning'.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.39-48
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• 2022

Objectives : In the present study, we assessed the effects of water extract of Ulmus davidiana(UED) on the learning and memory impairments induced by scopolamine in mice through its favorable acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and antioxidant effect. Methods : The memory and cognitive enhancing effect of the UDE was investigated using a passive avoidance test, the Morris water maze test and Y-maze test in mice. In addition, to examine the mechanism of UDE using acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and antioxidant activity. Results : The water extract of UDE (100, and 200 mg/kg) significantly reversed the scopolamine-induced cognitive impairments in the passive avoidance test (P < 0.05). Moreover, UDE (100, and 200 mg/kg) also improved escape latencies in training trials and increased swimming times and distances within the target zone of the Morris water maze (P < 0.05). On the Y-maze test, UDE (100, and 200 mg/kg) also significantly reversed scopolamine-induced cognitive impairments in mice (P < 0.05). In an in vitro study, UDE was found to inhibit acetylcholinesterase, changes in neurotrophic factor (CREB), and antioxidant activity in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions : The water extract of UDE dramatically possesses the anti-amnestic and cognitive-enhancing activities related to the memory processes, and these activities were parallel to treatment duration and dependent on the learning models. These results suggest that the administration of UDE enhances learning and memory, and that this effect is partially mediated by ERK-CREB-BDNF signaling and the survival of immature neurons.