Objective: The Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson’s Disease–Cognition (SCOPA-Cog) was developed to assess cognition in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the SCOPACog (K-SCOPA-Cog). Methods: We enrolled 129 PD patients with movement disorders from 31 clinics in South Korea. The original version of the SCOPA-Cog was translated into Korean using the translation-retranslation method. The test–retest method with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were used to assess reliability. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Korean version (MOCA-K) and the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) were used to assess concurrent validity. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.797, and the ICC was 0.887. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation with the K-MMSE and MOCA-K scores (r = 0.546 and r = 0.683, respectively). Conclusion Our results demonstrate that the K-SCOPA-Cog has good reliability and validity.

Purpose: Renal tumors account for approximately 7% of all childhood cancers. These include Wilms tumor (WT), clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK), malignant rhabdoid tumor of the kidney (MRTK), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) and other rare tumors. We investigated the epidemiology of pediatric renal tumors in Korea. Materials and Methods: From January 2001 to December 2015, data of pediatric patients (0–18 years) newly-diagnosed with renal tumors at 26 hospitals were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Among 439 patients (male, 240), the most common tumor was WT (n=342, 77.9%), followed by RCC (n=36, 8.2%), CCSK (n=24, 5.5%), MRTK (n=16, 3.6%), CMN (n=12, 2.7%), and others (n=9, 2.1%). Median age at diagnosis was 27.1 months (range 0-225.5) and median follow-up duration was 88.5 months (range 0-211.6). Overall, 32 patients died, of whom 17, 11, 1, and 3 died of relapse, progressive disease, second malignant neoplasm, and treatment-related mortality. Five-year overall survival and event free survival were 97.2% and 84.8% in WT, 90.6% and 82.1% in RCC, 81.1% and 63.6% in CCSK, 60.3% and 56.2% in MRTK, and 100% and 91.7% in CMN, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusion The pediatric renal tumor types in Korea are similar to those previously reported in other countries. WT accounted for a large proportion and survival was excellent. Non-Wilms renal tumors included a variety of tumors and showed inferior outcome, especially MRTK. Further efforts are necessary to optimize the treatment and analyze the genetic characteristics of pediatric renal tumors in Korea.

Background: and PurposeImpulse-control disorder is an important nonmotor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) that can lead to financial and social problems, and be related to a poor quality of life. A nationwide multicenter prospective study was performed with the aim of validating the Korean Version of the Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (K-QUIP-RS). Methods: The K-QUIP-RS was constructed using forward and backward translation, and pretesting of the prefinal version. PD patients on stable medical condition were recruited from 27 movement-disorder clinics. Participants were assessed using the K-QUIP-RS and evaluated for parkinsonian motor and nonmotor statuses and for PD-related quality of life using a predefined evaluation battery. The test–retest reliability of the K-QUIP-RS was assessed over an interval of 10–14 days, and correlations between the KQUIP-RS and other clinical scales were analyzed. Results: This study enrolled 136 patients. The internal consistency of the K-QUIP-RS was indicated by a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.846, as was the test–retest reliability by a Guttman split-half coefficient of 0.808. The total K-QUIP-RS score was positively correlated with the scores for depression and motivation items on the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale, and Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep-Behavior-Disorders Questionnaire. The total K-QUIP-RS score was also correlated with the scores on part II of the UPDRS and the PD Quality of Life-39 questionnaire, and the dopaminergic medication dose. Conclusions The K-QUIP-RS appears to be a reliable assessment tool for impulse-control and related behavioral disturbances in the Korean PD population.

BACKGROUND: AND PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the clinimetric properties of the Korean version of Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale-2 (K-PDSS-2) and whether distinct subtypes of sleep disturbance can be empirically identified in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) using the cross-culturally validated K-PDSS-2. METHODS: The internal consistency, test–retest reliability, scale precision, and convergent validity of K-PDSS-2 were assessed in a nationwide, multicenter study of 122 patients with PD. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to derive subgroups of patients who experienced similar patterns of sleep-related problems and nocturnal disabilities. RESULTS: The total K-PDSS-2 score was 11.67±9.87 (mean±standard deviation) at baseline and 12.61±11.17 at the retest. Cronbach's α coefficients of the total K-PDSS-2 scores at baseline and follow-up were 0.851 and 0.880, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficients over the 2-week study period ranged from 0.672 to 0.848. The total K-PDSS-2 score was strongly correlated with health-related quality of life measures and other corresponding nonmotor scales. LCA revealed three distinct subtypes of sleep disturbance in the study patients: “less-troubled sleepers,”“PD-related nocturnal difficulties,” and “disturbed sleepers.” CONCLUSIONS K-PDSS-2 showed good clinimetric attributes in accordance with previous studies that employed the original version of the PDSS-2, therefore confirming the cross-cultural usefulness of the scale. This study has further documented the first application of an LCA approach for identifying subtypes of sleep disturbance in patients with PD.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to analyze correlations between depression, cognitive function, oral health state, ability to perform activities of daily living, oral dryness symptoms, and oral health-related quality of life, and determine factors influencing the latter.METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study based on questionnaires completed by 260 participants with suspected dementia, residing in South Korea. Psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and dental hygienists visited clinics in the participating regions for examination and questionnaire administration. General characteristics, the geriatric depression scale, ability to perform activities of daily living, cognitive function, oral health state, and oral health-related quality of life were analyzed. Independent t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted, identifying factors affecting oral health-related quality of life. Data analysis was performed using SPSS ver. 20.0 (IBM Corp., USA), and the significance was set at p<0.05.RESULTS: Approximately 65.0% of participants were female, 63.5% were in their 70s, and 90.0% had health insurance. About 21.5%, 42.0%, and 36.5% were normal, slightly impaired, and had dementia, respectively. High cognitive impairment was associated with poor oral health. Sex, education levels, marital status, and living arrangements influenced oral health-related quality of life. According to the regression analysis, geriatric depression and oral dryness affected the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index scores.CONCLUSION: In conclusion, oral dryness and depression levels among elders influenced oral health-related quality of life. The results showed that to enhance elders' oral health-related quality of life, it is essential to not only improve their oral health state, but also relieve oral health problems, especially oral dryness, and take into consideration their psychological aspects.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Cognition ; Cognition Disorders ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dementia ; Dental Hygienists ; Depression ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Marital Status ; Oral Health ; Psychiatry ; Quality of Life ; Residence Characteristics ; Statistics as Topic

BACKGROUND: Sleep problems commonly occur in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and are associated with a lower quality of life. The aim of the current study was to translate the English version of the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's Disease-Sleep (SCOPA-S) into the Korean version of SCOPA-S (K-SCOPA-S), and to evaluate its reliability and validity for use by Korean-speaking patients with PD. METHODS: In total, 136 patients with PD from 27 movement disorder centres of university-affiliated hospitals in Korea were enrolled in this study. They were assessed using SCOPA, Hoehn and Yahr Scale (HYS), Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale 2nd version (PDSS-2), Non-motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS), Montgomery Asberg Depression Scale (MADS), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ39), Neurogenic Orthostatic Hypotension Questionnaire (NOHQ), and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder Questionnaire (RBDQ). The test-retest reliability was assessed over a time interval of 10–14 days. RESULTS: The internal consistency (Cronbach's α-coefficients) of K-SCOPA-S was 0.88 for nighttime sleep (NS) and 0.75 for daytime sleepiness (DS). Test-retest reliability was 0.88 and 0.85 for the NS and DS, respectively. There was a moderate correlation between the NS sub-score and PDSS-2 total score. The NS and DS sub-scores of K-SCOPA-S were correlated with motor scale such as HYS, and non-motor scales such as UPDRS I, UPDRS II, MADS, NMSS, PDQ39, and NOHQ while the DS sub-score was with RBDQ. CONCLUSION: The K-SCOPA-S exhibited good reliability and validity for the assessment of sleep problems in the Korean patients with PD.
Depression ; Humans ; Hypotension, Orthostatic ; Korea ; Movement Disorders ; Parkinson Disease ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sleep, REM ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVE: Autonomic symptoms are commonly observed in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and often limit the activities of daily living. The Scale for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease-Autonomic (SCOPA-AUT) was developed to evaluate and quantify autonomic symptoms in PD. The goal of this study was to translate the original SCOPA-AUT, which was written in English, into Korean and to evaluate its reliability and validity for Korean PD patients. METHODS: For the translation, the following processes were performed: forward translation, backward translation, expert review, pretest of the pre-final version and development of the final Korean version of SCOPA-AUT (K-SCOPA-AUT). In total, 127 patients with PD from 31 movement disorder clinics of university-affiliated hospitals in Korea were enrolled in this study. All patients were assessed using the K-SCOPA-AUT and other motor, non-motor, and quality of life scores. Test-retest reliability for the K-SCOPA-AUT was assessed over a time interval of 10−14 days. RESULTS: The internal consistency and reliability of the K-SCOPA-AUT was 0.727 as measured by the mean Cronbach's α-coefficient. The test-retest correlation reliability was 0.859 by the Guttman split-half coefficient. The total K-SCOPA-AUT score showed a positive correlation with other non-motor symptoms [the Korean version of non-motor symptom scale (K-NMSS)], activities of daily living (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part II) and quality of life [the Korean version of Parkinson's Disease Quality of Life 39 (K-PDQ39)]. CONCLUSION: The K-SCOPA-AUT had good reliability and validity for the assessment of autonomic dysfunction in Korean PD patients. Autonomic symptom severities were associated with many other motor and non-motor impairments and influenced quality of life.
Activities of Daily Living ; Humans ; Korea ; Movement Disorders ; Parkinson Disease ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results

Codonopsis lanceolata (Campanulaceae) traditionally have been used as a tonic and to treat patients with lung abscesses. Recently, it was proposed that the extract and some compounds isolated from C. lanceolata reversed scopolamine-induced memory and learning deficits. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the improvement of cognitive enhancing effect of C. lanceolata by steam and fermentation process in scopolamine-induced memory impairment mice models by passive avoidance test and Morris water maze test. The extract of C. lanceolata or the extract of steamed and fermented C. lanceolata (SFCE) was orally administered to male mice at the doses of 100 and 300 mg/kg body weight. As a result, mice treated with steamed and fermented C. lanceolata extract (SFCE) (300 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) showed shorter escape latencies than those with C. lanceolata extract or the scopolamine-administered group in Morris water maze test. Also, it exerted longer step-through latency time than scopolamine treated group in passive avoidance test. Furthermore, neuroprotective effect of SFCE on glutamate-induced cytotoxicity was assessed in HT22 cells. Only SFCE-treated cells showed significant protection at 500 microg/ml. Interestingly, steamed C. lanceolata with fermentation contained more phenolic acid including gallic acid and vanillic acid than original C. lanceolata. Collectively, these results suggest that steam and fermentation process of C. lanceolata increased cognitive enhancing activity related to the memory processes and neuroprotective effect than original C. lanceolata.
Animals ; Body Weight ; Codonopsis* ; Fermentation ; Gallic Acid ; Humans ; Learning ; Lung Abscess ; Male ; Maze Learning ; Memory* ; Mice* ; Neuroprotective Agents ; Phenol ; Scopolamine Hydrobromide ; Steam* ; United Nations ; Vanillic Acid

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Apical ballooning syndrome (ABS) is a unique reversible cardiomyopathy that is frequently precipitated by emotional or physical stress. In addition, the few drugs reported to precipitate ABS were either illegal or strictly controlled for medical use. This paper reports a case of ABS precipitated by a dietary supplement. Our case accentuates the potential risk of dietary supplements containing synephrine, which is uncontrolled and available to the general public. Therefore, the Korea Food and Drug Administration should regulate these dietary supplements, and warn healthcare workers and the general public of the potential hazards of the indiscriminate abuse of dietary supplements.
Adrenergic alpha-Agonists/*adverse effects ; Dietary Supplements/adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Synephrine/*adverse effects ; Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy/*chemically induced ; Young Adult