The ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) proteins are a family of membrane-associated proteins known to play roles in cell-shape determination as well as in signaling pathways. We have previously shown that amphetamine decreases phosphorylation levels of these proteins in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), an important neuronal substrate mediating rewarding effects of drugs of abuse. In the present study, we further examined what molecular pathways may be involved in this process. By direct microinjection of LY294002, a PI3 kinase inhibitor, or of S9 peptide, a proposed GSK3β activator, into the NAcc core, we found that phosphorylation levels of ERM as well as of GSK3β in this site are simultaneously decreased. These results indicate that ERM proteins are under the regulation of Akt-GSK3β signaling pathway in the NAcc core. The present findings have a significant implication to a novel signal pathway possibly leading to structural plasticity in relation with drug addiction.
Amphetamine ; Animals ; Glycogen Synthase Kinases ; Humans ; Membrane Proteins ; Microinjections ; Negotiating ; Neurons ; Nucleus Accumbens ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphotransferases ; Plastics ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; Rats ; Reward ; Signal Transduction ; Street Drugs ; Substance-Related Disorders

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the ability of readout-segmented echo-planar imaging (rs-EPI)-based diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in assessing the microstructural change of extraocular muscles (EOMs) and optic nerves in patients with thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO) as well as in evaluating disease activity.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled 35 TAO patients and 22 healthy controls (HCs) who underwent pre-treatment rs-EPI-based DTI. Mean, axial, and radial diffusivity (MD, AD, and RD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) of the medial and lateral EOMs and optic nerve for each orbit were calculated and compared between TAO and HC groups and between active and inactive TAO groups. Factors such as age, sex, disease duration, mediation, and smoking history between groups were also compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the predictive value of significant variables for disease activity.RESULTS: Disease duration was significantly shorter in active TAOs than in inactive ones (p < 0.001). TAO patients showed significantly lower FA and higher MD, AD, and RD than HCs for both medial and lateral EOMs (p < 0.001), but not the AD value of lateral EOMs (p = 0.619). Active patients had significantly higher FA, MD, and AD than inactive patients for medial EOMs (p < 0.005), whereas only FA differed significantly in the lateral EOMs (p = 0.018). The MD, AD, and RD of optic nerves were significantly lower in TAO patients than HCs (p < 0.05), except for FA (p = 0.129). Multivariate analysis showed that the MD of medial EOMs and disease duration were significant predictors for disease activity. The combination of these two parameters showed optimal diagnostic efficiency for disease activity (area under the curve, 0.855; sensitivity, 68.4%; specificity, 96.9%).CONCLUSION: rs-EPI-based DTI is promising in assessing microstructural changes of EOMs and optic nerves and can help to indicate the disease activity of TAO, especially through the MD of medial EOMs.
Anisotropy ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging ; Diffusion ; Echo-Planar Imaging ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Multivariate Analysis ; Muscles ; Negotiating ; Optic Nerve ; Orbit ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Troleandomycin

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct and test a structural equation model on nursing work outcomes based on Youssef and Luthans' positive psychological capital and integrated conceptual framework of work performance.METHODS: This study used a structured questionnaire administered to 340 nurses. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.RESULTS: Positive psychological capital showed indirect and direct effects on job satisfaction, retention intention, organizational citizenship behavior, and nursing performance. While, the nursing work environment had direct and indirect effects on job satisfaction and nursing performance, it only had indirect effects on intention to work and organizational citizenship behavior. Additionally, a mediating effect on retention intention and organizational citizenship behavior was found between job satisfaction and nursing performance variables.CONCLUSION: The nursing organization needs to build a supportive work environment and reinforce positive psychological capital to improve nursing performance. Additionally, it needs to actively manage the necessary parameters involved in the stages of job satisfaction, retention intention, nursing performance, and organizational citizenship behavior of nurses. The findings propose the continuous management of nursing personnel based on nurses' attitude outcome, behavioral intention, behavioral outcome, and stage of role performance.
Attitude of Health Personnel ; Intention ; Job Satisfaction ; Negotiating ; Nursing ; Psychology, Industrial ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Work Performance

PURPOSE: This study examined the relationship among the use of food-related content (FRC), dietary behaviors, and dietary self-efficacy to demonstrate the need for nutrition education to help adolescents build healthy eating habits and provide evidence for developing nutrition education programs for adolescents. METHODS: Three hundred and eighty-one high school students in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas participated in the study. The subjects were divided into three groups (low, medium, and high) according to the level of use of the FRC, and their general characteristics, dietary behaviors, and dietary self-efficacy were analyzed. Correlation analysis was performed between FRC usage, dietary behaviors, and dietary self-efficacy, and the mediating effects of dietary self-efficacy on the relationship between the level of the use of FRC and dietary behaviors were estimated. RESULTS: A higher level of FRC usage was associated with an increased daily cost of eating out and snacking, but no difference was observed in the BMI range. The subjects in a group with a high level of FRC usage ate convenience store or instant foods instead of homemade meals (p = 0.033), had a late-night meal or snack (p = 0.024), and turned to emotional eating under stress (p < 0.001) more than those in the low level group. In addition, the high level group checked the nutrition facts label more carefully when purchasing processed foods (p = 0.016) and exercised at least 30 minutes daily, not considering physical education classes (p = 0.057). The higher level of FRC use, the lower the dietary self-efficacy, whereby the subscales ‘environmental stimulus control efficacy’ and ‘affective factor control efficacy’ showed complete mediating effects. CONCLUSION: Given that FRC has been increased recently, adolescents are in need of support to help them control and enhance their dietary self-efficacy as well as develop healthy dietary behaviors through proper nutrition education programs.
Adolescent ; Eating ; Education ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Meals ; Negotiating ; Physical Education and Training ; Seoul ; Snacks

OBJECTIVES: Suicide is the most frequent cause of death among Korean adolescents, and adolescents who have experienced trauma have an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, and suicide attempts. However, resilience and self-esteem are protective factors. We examined the effects of resilience and self-esteem on the relationship among traumatic experiences, PTSD symptoms, depression, and suicidal ideation. METHODS: Middle-school students (n=403) completed questionnaires assessing traumatic experiences, PTSD symptoms, depression, suicidal ideation, resilience, and self-esteem. Path analysis was performed to investigate the mediating effects of PTSD symptoms, resilience, self-esteem, and depression on the relationship between trauma exposure and suicidal ideation. RESULTS: Traumatic experience was positively correlated with PTSD symptoms, depression, and suicidal ideation. PTSD symptoms and depression were positively correlated with suicidal ideation. The relationship between traumatic experiences and suicidal ideation was mediated by PTSD symptoms, which had both direct and indirect effects on suicidal ideation; the indirect effect was mediated by resilience, self-esteem, and depression. CONCLUSION: Korean adolescents who had experienced trauma were more likely to develop PTSD symptoms, increasing their risk of depression and suicidal ideation. However, self-esteem and resilience may help protect against depression and suicidal ideation. Our findings could inform suicide prevention initiatives.
Adolescent ; Cause of Death ; Depression ; Humans ; Negotiating ; Protective Factors ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Suicidal Ideation ; Suicide

The aim of this study was to construct and test a structural equation model for the risk factors of metabolic syndrome in Korean adults. The structural equation model hypothesizes that eating alone and feeling depressed is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome. The data of this study were obtained from the Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey which was cross-sectional data from the representative national survey. A total of 4,013 subjects replied to the survey item of lifestyle and completed the physical examinations among adults aged 19 years or older in South Korea was in 2015. The structural model in this study was composed of four latent variables: eating alone, depression, negative health behavior, and metabolic syndrome. Two variables, the rate of eating alone and depression, were exogenous variables. Negative health behavior was both a mediating variable and endogenous variable, and metabolic syndrome was the final endogenous variable. The data were analyzed using the Maximum Likelihood method and bootstrapping. The structural model was appropriate for the data based on the model fit indices. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: Eating alone is a direct risk factor of metabolic syndrome in Korean women. Depression can mediate metabolic syndrome through negative health behaviors. Negative health behavior had a direct impact on metabolic syndrome in both men and women. This study may be a guideline for interventions and strategies to reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome in Korean adults.
Adult ; Depression ; Eating ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Life Style ; Male ; Methods ; Models, Structural ; Negotiating ; Nutrition Surveys ; Physical Examination ; Risk Factors

This study examined the effects of social identity (cognitive, affective, and evaluative social identity) on affective commitment and behavioral intention in premium food markets. Data were collected from customers who had visited the premium food markets within three months prior to the time of the survey. A total of 247 responses were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 for Windows. The three attributes of social identity (cognitive, affective, and evaluative social identity) had a significant positive effect on the affective commitment, while affective commitment had a positive effect on the behavioral intention in premium food markets. On the other hand, only evaluative social identity had a significant positive effect on the behavioral intention in premium food markets. These results revealed the mediating effect of affective commitment in the relationship between social identity and customers' behavioral intention. This suggests a positive affective commitment as a key factor for customers in premium food markets. The results would be applied to marketing strategies based on the attributes of premium food market customers.
Hand ; Intention ; Marketing ; Negotiating ; Social Identification

PURPOSE: This study tries to test mediating effects of hope and therapeutic relationship in the relation between general social functions and mental health recovery of community people with mental illness. METHODS: This study was carried out in a cross-sectional research design. The participants included 217 people with mental illnesses who were enrolled at eight Mental Health Welfare Centers in the Gyeonggi Province. Data were collected from February to May, 2018. The collected data were analyzed using a regression analysis, and SPSS PROCESS macro was used to test the mediating effects. RESULTS: This study analyzed the direct effects of general social functions on the hope, therapeutic relationship and mental health recovery. And general social functions had indirect effects on their mental health recovery via hope and therapeutic relationship. Both hope and therapeutic relationship had dual mediating effects in the influence of general social functions on mental health recovery. CONCLUSION: The role of hope and therapeutic relationship in the mental health recovery of community people with mental illness is important, and it is confirmed that hope is a powerful factor influencing mental health recovery.
Gyeonggi-do ; Hope ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Mentally Ill Persons ; Negotiating ; Professional-Patient Relations ; Research Design ; Social Adjustment

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study isto identify the mediating effects of interpersonal problems in the relationship between Social Network Service (SNS) use tendency and depression among university students. METHODS: Data were collected from April 28 to May 7, 2018 and the participants included 222 university students, who responded to the question regarding SNS use tendency, interpersonal problems and depression. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple regression using the SPSS/WIN 23.0 program. RESULTS: A positive correlation is found between depression and SNS use tendency (r=.24, p<.001), and among interpersonal problems (r=.62, p<.001), SNS use tendency and interpersonal problems (r=.34, p<.001). Interpersonal problems have a full mediating effect on the relationship between SNS use tendency and depression (Sobel test: 5.24, p<.001). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that it is important to manage interpersonal problems to prevent depression caused by SNS use tendency.
Depression ; Humans ; Interpersonal Relations ; Negotiating

The development of next generation sequencing (NGS) has led to marked advancement of our understanding of genetic events mediating the initiation and progression of thyroid cancers. The NGS studies have confirmed the previously reported high frequency of mutually-exclusive oncogenic alterations affecting BRAF and RAS proto-oncogenes in all stages of thyroid cancer. Initially identified by traditional sequencing approaches, the NGS studies also confirmed the acquisition of alterations that inactivate tumor protein p53 (TP53) and activate phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA) in advanced thyroid cancers. Novel alterations, such as those in telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter and mating-type switching/sucrose non-fermenting (SWI/SNF) complex, are also likely to promote progression of the BRAF(V600E)-driven thyroid cancers. A number of genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM) of BRAF(V600E)-driven thyroid cancer have been developed to investigate thyroid tumorigenesis mediated by oncogenic BRAF and to explore the role of genetic alterations identified in the genomic analyses of advanced thyroid cancer to promote tumor progression. This review will discuss the various GEMMs that have been developed to investigate oncogenic BRAF(V600E)-driven thyroid cancers.
Animals ; Carcinogenesis ; Catalytic Domain ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Negotiating ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf ; Proto-Oncogenes ; Telomerase ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms