Fear-related behaviors are rigidly controlled by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The mPFC is activated by the prosocial hormone oxytocin, which plays an important role in social buffering. We used a slice patch current-clamp recording in single- and pair-exposed rats who were subjected to electric shocks, to determine the cellular mechanism of the action of oxytocin in the mPFC under social buffering conditions. Pair-exposed rats showed a significant reduction in both freezing and passive avoidance behaviors compared to single-exposed rats. It was observed that input resistance in pyramidal neurons decreased in both single- and pair-exposed rats than naïve rats, but input resistance in interneurons increased in pair-exposed rats than single-exposed rats. We found that the number of action potential (AP) spikes in the mPFC pyramidal neurons decreased significantly in pair-exposed rats than in single-exposed rats. The pyramidal neurons in the mPFC were similarly regulated by oxytocin in singleand pair-exposed rats, while the number of AP spikes in interneurons by oxytocin decreased in single-exposed rats, but there was no significant change in pair-exposed rats. Therefore, our findings reveal that a decrease in mPFC pyramidal neuronal activity in pair-exposed rats through social interaction induces a reduction in fear-related behavior via obstruction of fear-memory formation; however, no such reduction was observed in single-exposed rats. Moreover, we suggest that the oxytocin-mediated decrease in neuronal activity in the mPFC could facilitate social buffering.

Purpose: The living arrangements of elderly persons can play a crucial role in their health.This study evaluated the association between living arrangements and frailty among elderly Korean men. Methods: The cross-sectional data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014–2019) were used. A total of 3,198 men aged 65 years or older were divided into a living alone group (LA, n = 393) and a not living alone group (NLA, n = 2,805). The dietary intake data was obtained from a single 24-hour recall. The food variety score (FVS) was defined as the number of foods items consumed in one day. Frailty was defined as the presence of three or more of the modified Fried frailty phenotype criteria. The association between living arrangements and frailty was analyzed by multiple nominal logistic regression. Results: The LA group showed significantly lower FVSs than the NLA group. The intakes of fruit, vegetables, fish and shellfish, fiber, and key antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A and C, were lower in LA than in NLA. Multiple nominal logistic regression revealed a higher odds ratio (OR) for frailty in the LA group compared to the NLA group (OR [95% confidence interval], 2.05 [1.12–3.74]; p = 0.019). Conclusion These findings suggest that the increased risk of frailty among elderly men living alone may be partially associated with their lower dietary variety, particularly reduced intake of essential nutrients from fruit, vegetables, fish, and shellfish, highlighting their vulnerability to suboptimal nutrition. Thus, increasing diversity in food intake could be a useful dietary strategy to prevent the frailty of the living alone elderly.

Purpose: The living arrangements of elderly persons can play a crucial role in their health.This study evaluated the association between living arrangements and frailty among elderly Korean men. Methods: The cross-sectional data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014–2019) were used. A total of 3,198 men aged 65 years or older were divided into a living alone group (LA, n = 393) and a not living alone group (NLA, n = 2,805). The dietary intake data was obtained from a single 24-hour recall. The food variety score (FVS) was defined as the number of foods items consumed in one day. Frailty was defined as the presence of three or more of the modified Fried frailty phenotype criteria. The association between living arrangements and frailty was analyzed by multiple nominal logistic regression. Results: The LA group showed significantly lower FVSs than the NLA group. The intakes of fruit, vegetables, fish and shellfish, fiber, and key antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A and C, were lower in LA than in NLA. Multiple nominal logistic regression revealed a higher odds ratio (OR) for frailty in the LA group compared to the NLA group (OR [95% confidence interval], 2.05 [1.12–3.74]; p = 0.019). Conclusion These findings suggest that the increased risk of frailty among elderly men living alone may be partially associated with their lower dietary variety, particularly reduced intake of essential nutrients from fruit, vegetables, fish, and shellfish, highlighting their vulnerability to suboptimal nutrition. Thus, increasing diversity in food intake could be a useful dietary strategy to prevent the frailty of the living alone elderly.

Purpose: The living arrangements of elderly persons can play a crucial role in their health.This study evaluated the association between living arrangements and frailty among elderly Korean men. Methods: The cross-sectional data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014–2019) were used. A total of 3,198 men aged 65 years or older were divided into a living alone group (LA, n = 393) and a not living alone group (NLA, n = 2,805). The dietary intake data was obtained from a single 24-hour recall. The food variety score (FVS) was defined as the number of foods items consumed in one day. Frailty was defined as the presence of three or more of the modified Fried frailty phenotype criteria. The association between living arrangements and frailty was analyzed by multiple nominal logistic regression. Results: The LA group showed significantly lower FVSs than the NLA group. The intakes of fruit, vegetables, fish and shellfish, fiber, and key antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A and C, were lower in LA than in NLA. Multiple nominal logistic regression revealed a higher odds ratio (OR) for frailty in the LA group compared to the NLA group (OR [95% confidence interval], 2.05 [1.12–3.74]; p = 0.019). Conclusion These findings suggest that the increased risk of frailty among elderly men living alone may be partially associated with their lower dietary variety, particularly reduced intake of essential nutrients from fruit, vegetables, fish, and shellfish, highlighting their vulnerability to suboptimal nutrition. Thus, increasing diversity in food intake could be a useful dietary strategy to prevent the frailty of the living alone elderly.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to use a 3-dimensional (3D) system to compare molar relationship assessments performed from the buccal and lingual aspects, and to measure differences in occlusal contact areas between Class II and Class I molar relationships. METHODS: Study casts (232 pairs from 232 subjects, yielding a total of 380 sides) were evaluated from both the buccal and lingual aspects, so that molar relationships could be classified according to the scheme devised by Liu and Melsen. Occlusal contact areas were quantified using 3D digital models, which were generated through surface scanning of the study casts. RESULTS: A cusp-to-central fossa relationship was observed from the lingual aspect in the majority of cases classified from the buccal aspect as Class I (89.6%) or mild Class II (86.7%). However, severe Class II cases had lingual cusp-to-mesial triangular fossa or marginal ridge relationships. Mean occlusal contact areas were similar in the Class I and mild Class II groups, while the severe Class II group had significantly lower values than either of the other 2 groups (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Buccal and lingual assessments of molar relationships were not always consistent. Occlusal contact areas were lowest for the Class II-severe group, which seems to have the worst molar relationships - especially as seen from the lingual aspect.
Molar

Although quantitative EEG parameters, such as spectral band powers, are sensitive to centrally acting drugs in dose- and time-related manners, changes of the EEG parameters are redundant. It is desirable to reduce multiple EEG parameters to a few components that can be manageable in a real space as well as be considered as parameters representing drug effects. We calculated factor loadings from normalized values of eight relative band powers (powers of 0.5, 1.0~2.0, 2.5~4.0, 4.5~5.5, 6.0~8.0, 8.5~12.0, 12.5~24.5, and 25~49.5 Hz bands expressed as ratios of the power of 0.5-49.5 Hz band) of EEG during pre-drug periods (11:00~12:00) by factor analysis and constructed a two-dimensional canonical space (reference canonical space) by canonical correlation analysis. Eight relative band powers of EEG produced by either physostigmine or yohimbine were reduced to two canonical scores in the reference canonical space. While changes of the band powers produced by physostigmine and yohimbine were too redundant to describe the difference between two drugs, locations of two drugs in the reference canonical space represented the difference between two drug's effects on EEG. Because the distance between two locations in the canonical space (Mahalanobis distance) indicates the magnitude of difference between two different sets of EEG parameters statistically, the canonical scores and the distance may be used to quantitatively and qualitatively describe the dose-dependent and time-dependent effects and also tell similarity and dissimilarity among effects. Then, the combination of power spectral analysis and statistical analysis may help to classify actions of centrally acting drugs.
Animals ; Electroencephalography ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Physostigmine ; Rats ; Yohimbine

PURPOSE: To compare the arterial and venous detection sites of triggering methods in contrast-enhanced-MR-venography (CE-MRV) for the evaluation of intracranial venous system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 41 healthy patients underwent CE-MRV with autotriggering at either the cavernous segment of internal carotid artery with an inserted time-delay of 6 seconds (n = 20) or the superior sagittal sinus without any time-delay (n = 21). 0.1 mmol/kg gadolinium-based contrast material (Magnevist(R), Schering, Germany) was intravenously injected by hand injection. A sagittal fast-spoiled-gradient-echo-sequence ranging from one ear to the other was performed (TR/TE5.2/1.5, Matrix 310x310, 124 sections in the 15-cm-thick volume). 17 predefined venous structures were evaluated on all venograms by two neuroradiologists and defined as completely visible, partially visible, or none visible. RESULTS: The rate of completely visible structures were 272 out of 323 (84%) in the arterial triggering CE-MRV and 310 out of 340 (91%) in the venous triggering CE-MRV. The venous triggering CE-MRV demonstrated an overall superior visualization of the cerebral veins than the arterial triggering CE-MRV (Fisher exact test, p < 0.006). CONCLUSION: CE-MRV using venous autotriggering method provides higher-quality images of the intracranial venous structures compared to that of arterial.
Carotid Artery, Internal ; Caves ; Cerebral Veins ; Ear ; Hand ; Humans ; Superior Sagittal Sinus

In the process of devising an efficient meal service system for the elderly, 478 elderly were interviewed at 6 different social centers with the elderly meal service program in Seoul area to monitor degree of satisfaction and/or needs of the beneficiaries regarding the program. The survey was conducted during the month of December 2002 by well-trained interviewers using self-developed questionnaire. Results were analyzed statistically using SAS package program. Most of the beneficiaries were low economic class and 76% of them had doctor diagnosed disease(s). Among the beneficiaries of congregate meal service, mean score of 12 aspects of satisfaction was 3.72 out of 5. For most of the questions, female elderly and healthy elderly responded with higher score than male elderly and unhealthy elderly, respectively (p<0.05, p<0.01). On the other hand, beneficiaries of the home-delivered meal service were little bit less satisfied with the service (3.54 out of 5). Compared to the beneficiaries of congregate meal service, larger portion of beneficiaries of home-delivered meal service wanted more meats (28.5 % vs. 17.1 %) and vegetables (23.2 % vs. 12.3 %) as side dishes. On the other hand, the most preferred type of cooking and/or seasoning was stewing for both cases. Based on these findings, it is suggested that more fresh foods should be used than processed foods in the preparation of meals for the elderly and, more fish-, meat- and vegetable- dishes should be served to come up to the needs of the elderly. Onto this, mainly Korean style meals with some intermittent Western, Japanese or Chinese style meals served at the right temperature would suffice most of the elderly needs.
Aged* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cooking ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Male ; Meals* ; Meat ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seasons ; Seoul ; Vegetables

In the process of devising an efficient meal service system for the elderly, 478 elderly were interviewed at 6 different social centers with the elderly meal service program in Seoul area to monitor degree of satisfaction and/or needs of the beneficiaries regarding the program. The survey was conducted during the month of December 2002 by well-trained interviewers using self-developed questionnaire. Results were analyzed statistically using SAS package program. Most of the beneficiaries were low economic class and 76% of them had doctor diagnosed disease(s). Among the beneficiaries of congregate meal service, mean score of 12 aspects of satisfaction was 3.72 out of 5. For most of the questions, female elderly and healthy elderly responded with higher score than male elderly and unhealthy elderly, respectively (p<0.05, p<0.01). On the other hand, beneficiaries of the home-delivered meal service were little bit less satisfied with the service (3.54 out of 5). Compared to the beneficiaries of congregate meal service, larger portion of beneficiaries of home-delivered meal service wanted more meats (28.5 % vs. 17.1 %) and vegetables (23.2 % vs. 12.3 %) as side dishes. On the other hand, the most preferred type of cooking and/or seasoning was stewing for both cases. Based on these findings, it is suggested that more fresh foods should be used than processed foods in the preparation of meals for the elderly and, more fish-, meat- and vegetable- dishes should be served to come up to the needs of the elderly. Onto this, mainly Korean style meals with some intermittent Western, Japanese or Chinese style meals served at the right temperature would suffice most of the elderly needs.
Aged* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cooking ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Male ; Meals* ; Meat ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seasons ; Seoul ; Vegetables

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to estimate the heritability attributable to single-locus effects with a regression of offspring on mid-parent (ROMP) method for cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS: The regression of offspring on mid-parent is determined with and without the inclusion of a single-locus effect, and the difference between the slopes of these two regression is an estimate of the heritability attributable to the single-locus effect. The study population included 1,550 family members of 295 patients, derived from cardiovascular genome center. The risk factors considered were total serum cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL cholesterol, apoAI and apoB. Heritability was estimated from the slope of the linear regression of offspring on mid-parents. RESULTS: Estimated heritability was 35 to 46% for total cholesterol with 6.2% attributable to polymorphism S128R. For triglyceride, the estimated heritability was 47.6% with 2% attributable to polymorphism G-217A. The heritability was 36-46% for LDL-cholesterol. For LDL cholesterol, S128R specific effect was 8.7%. Estimated heritability was 62.2% for apoAI with 3.2% attributable to polymorphism G-217A and 58 to 75% for apoB with 5.4% attributable to polymorphism S128R. CONCLUSIONS: These traits were significantly associated with polymorphism S128R. These results highlight the importance of considering genetic factors in studies of cardiovascular risk factors. Unlike traditional population-based tests of association, ROMP appears to be robust with respect to population stratification.
Apolipoproteins B ; Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, LDL ; Genome ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Risk Factors* ; Triglycerides