INTRODUCTION: Interpretation and analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in clinical settings comprise time-consuming visual ratings and complex neuroimage processing that require trained professionals. To combat these challenges, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can aid clinicians in interpreting brain MRI for accurate diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases but they require extensive validation. Thus, the aim of this study was to validate the use of AI-based AQUA (Neurophet Inc., Seoul, Republic of Korea) segmentation software in a Southeast Asian community-based cohort with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. METHOD: Study participants belonged to the community-based Biomarker and Cognition Study in Singapore. Participants aged between 30 and 95 years, having cognitive concerns, with no diagnosis of major psychiatric, neurological or systemic disorders who were recruited consecutively between April 2022 and July 2023 were included. Participants underwent neuropsychological assessments and structural MRI, and were classified as cognitively normal, with MCI or with dementia. MRI pre-processing using automated pipelines, along with human-based visual ratings, were compared against AI-based automated AQUA output. Default mode network grey matter (GM) volumes were compared between cognitively normal, MCI and dementia groups. RESULTS: A total of 90 participants (mean age at visit was 63.32±10.96 years) were included in the study (30 cognitively normal, 40 MCI and 20 dementia). Non-parametric Spearman correlation analysis indicated that AQUA-based and human-based visual ratings were correlated with total (ρ=0.66; P<0.0001), periventricular (ρ=0.50; P<0.0001) and deep (ρ=0.57; P<0.0001) white matter hyperintensities (WMH). Additionally, volumetric WMH obtained from AQUA and automated pipelines was also strongly correlated (ρ=0.84; P<0.0001) and these correlations remained after controlling for age at visit, sex and diagnosis. Linear regression analyses illustrated significantly different AQUA-derived default mode network GM volumes between cognitively normal, MCI and dementia groups. Dementia participants had significant atrophy in the posterior cingulate cortex compared to cognitively normal participants (P=0.021; 95% confidence interval [CI] -1.25 to -0.08) and in the hippocampus compared to cognitively normal (P=0.0049; 95% CI -1.05 to -0.16) and MCI participants (P=0.0036; 95% CI -1.02 to -0.17). CONCLUSION Our findings demonstrate high concordance between human-based visual ratings and AQUA-based ratings of WMH. Additionally, the AQUA GM segmentation pipeline showed good differentiation in key regions between cognitively normal, MCI and dementia participants. Based on these findings, the automated AQUA software could aid clinicians in examining MRI scans of patients with cognitive impairment.
Humans ; Cognitive Dysfunction/pathology* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Female ; Aged ; Artificial Intelligence ; Software ; Dementia/diagnostic imaging* ; Aged, 80 and over ; Adult ; Singapore ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Brain/pathology* ; Cohort Studies ; Gray Matter/pathology* ; Southeast Asian People

OBJECTIVES: To study the intellectual level and the factors influencing the intelligence in children aged 6-16 years with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on 2 861 children who were diagnosed with ADHD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition between October 2014 and September 2022 at Henan Children's Hospital. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition was used to assess the intellectual levels of the ADHD children. Based on intelligence quotient (IQ) scores, the intellectual levels were classified into five categories: borderline (70-79), low average (80-89), average (90-109), high average (110-119), and superior (≥120). The intellectual levels among the children of different genders, grades, and parental education levels were compared. RESULTS: Among the 2 861 ADHD children, 569 (19.89%) were classified as borderline, 846 (29.57%) as low average, 1 304 (45.58%) as average, 111 (3.88%) as high average, and 31 (1.08%) as superior. The boys had lower scores in working memory, processing speed, and overall IQ than the girls (P<0.05). There were significant differences in perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, and overall IQ scores among different grade groups (P<0.05). The scores in language comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, and overall IQ were found to be associated with parental education level in ADHD children (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The proportion of ADHD children with low average and borderline intellectual levels is relatively high. The IQ level of ADHD children is influenced by gender, grade level and parental education level.
Humans ; Male ; Child ; Female ; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Retrospective Studies ; Intelligence ; Intelligence Tests ; Cognition

OBJECTIVES: To study the difference in cognitive impairment between the children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECT) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and those with BECT or ADHD alone. METHODS: A prospective study was performed on 80 children with BECT and ADHD, 91 children with BECT, and 70 children with ADHD , who were diagnosed with the diseases for the first time. Seventy children of the same age who underwent physical examination were enrolled as the healthy control group. Event-related potential P300, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, and integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test were used to measure and compare each index between groups. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy control group, the BECT+ADHD group, the BECT group, and the ADHD group had a significantly prolonged P300 latency, a significant reduction in the amplitude of P300, and significant reductions in the scores of verbal comprehension index (VCI), perceptual reasoning index (PRI), working memory index (WMI), processing speed index (PSI), full scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ), auditory response control quotient (ARCQ), visual response control quotient, full response control quotient (FRCQ), auditory attention quotient (AAQ), visual attention quotient, and full attention quotient ( CONCLUSIONS Compared with the children with BECT or ADHD alone, the children with both BECT and ADHD have basically the same fields of cognitive impairment but a higher degree of cognitive impairment in some fields.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Child ; Cognitive Dysfunction/etiology* ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Prospective Studies ; Wechsler Scales

OBJECTIVE: To study the intellectual characteristics of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and developmental dyslexia (DD). METHODS: A total of 55 children with ADHD and DD (ADHD+DD group), 150 children with ADHD alone (ADHD group), and 22 children with DD alone (DD group) were enrolled as subjects. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) was used to evaluate and compare intellectual characteristics among the three groups. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the scores of full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ), verbal comprehension index, perceptual reasoning index, and working memory index among the three groups ( CONCLUSIONS Compared with the children with ADHD alone, the children with ADHD and DD have more severe impairment of FSIQ, verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, and working memory, and therefore, it is suggested to enhance the training on similarities, vocabulary, matrix reasoning, picture concepts, and recitation for children with ADHD and DD in clinical practice.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Child ; Dyslexia ; Humans ; Intelligence Tests ; Memory, Short-Term ; Wechsler Scales

Bronchial asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease,and its diagnosis is mainly based on symptoms,signs,and pulmonary function test.Wheezing is a major symptom of asthma attack,which shows no obvious sign in the early stage while appears after the disease has progressed.Therefore,bronchial asthma is difficult to be detected in early stages,which often leads to worsening of the disease conditions.Pulmonary function test can effectively monitor upper and lower airway abnormalities and is currently the main means for monitoring asthma.However,its accuracy is highly dependent on patient's motivation and cooperation,which obviously limits the scope of application,especially for preschoolers and infants.Hence,there is an urgent need for a new technology with the function of long-term breath sound monitoring and automatic breathing detection to overcome the existing clinical deficiencies.Breath sound analysis emerges in the era of medical artificial intelligence,which can digitally process and convert the collected respiratory sounds by using a variety of different methods to form characteristic signal parameters and model the relationship between parameters and diseases.As we know,breath sounds are closely related to airway changes,and thus the detection and analysis of the sounds can provide reliable clinical information for the progress and control evaluation of asthma.This review mainly summaries the research progress of respiratory sound analysis in recent years,hoping to provide reference for further research.
Artificial Intelligence ; Asthma/diagnosis* ; Child ; Humans ; Respiration ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Respiratory Sounds/diagnosis*

Objective To analyze the differences in accuracy of different eye movement parameters in distinguishing the cooperation and non-cooperation during image completion test of patients with mental disorders caused by craniocerebral trauma. Methods One hundred and forty cases of patients with mental disorders caused by craniocerebral trauma who took psychiatric impairment assessments were collected. The 21 pictures from "image completion" of Wechsler intelligence test were used as stimulating pictures, then divided into cooperation group and non-cooperation group according to binomial forced-choice digit memory test and expert opinions. The eye movement parameters of research subjects during completion of images were obtained by the SMI eye-tracker. The accuracy of eye movement parameters in distinguishing the cooperation or non-cooperation of patients with mental disorders caused by craniocerebral trauma in psychiatric impairment assessments were evaluated by the ROC curve. Results During the process of the image completion test, the area under curve （AUC） value of frequency of blink, frequency of fixation, pupil size, frequency of saccade, latency of saccade, average acceleration of saccade, the average and peak longitudinal velocity of saccade was above 0.5. When it comed to a specific stimulating picture, the AUC value of frequency of blink in looking at a specific stimulating picture could be above 0.8, and the AUC value of X axis diameter of pupil size could be above 0.7. Conclusion The accuracy of eye movement parameters in distinguishing the cooperation or disguise of patients with mental disorders caused by craniocerebral trauma is related with the stimulating picture. The accuracy of frequency of blink in distinguishing cooperation and non-cooperation is better than that of other eye movement parameters.
Blinking ; Eye Movements ; Humans ; Intelligence Tests

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is any change in the empathy scores of third-year medical graduate students after they have taken a clerkship and have begun gaining more opportunities to meet patients through the clerkship. METHODS: The participants were 109 third-year students in 2014 and 110 fourth-year students in 2015 at Kyungpook National University, School of Medicine. The author measured empathy using a modified and expanded version of the Korean version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy of Physician Empathy-Student version and used the Holland-III aptitude test-S to assess vocational aptitude. RESULTS: As a results, male students in their third year exhibited higher scores, but there was no significant difference in the fourth year. The empathy score increased slightly when third-year students became fourth-year students, but the difference was not statistically significant. There was no statistically significant change in the scores of both male and female students between the 2 years. The results of the vocational aptitude test showed that students who preferred person-oriented specialties had higher empathy scores when they entered their fourth academic year compared to objectively-oriented students. CONCLUSION: In this study, male students showed higher empathy scores than female students, an atypical finding that was inconsistent with the results of previous studies. However, the distribution of scores among male students was wider than that of female students, a finding consistent with previous studies. As such, individual differences need to be considered when developing curriculum in order to improve the empathy of medical students.
Aptitude Tests ; Aptitude ; Curriculum ; Empathy ; Female ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Individuality ; Male ; Students, Medical

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol-induced blackout (blackout) is a typical early symptom of cognitive impairment caused by drinking. However, the first onset age of blackout or the duration after onset of blackout has not been directly compared in previous studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in cognitive function to the first start age of blackouts and their duration. METHODS: Thirty-one male subjects were included in this study. Their age at the first blackout and the duration after the onset of blackout were investigated. Neuropsychological tests were conducted to determine their attention, memory, and executive function. Subjects were divided into three groups according to their age of the first onset blackout (group O1, < 20 years; group O2, 21–39 years; and group O3, > 40 years). Subjects were also divided into three groups by duration after the onset of blackout (P1, < 10 years; P2, 10–29 years; and P3, > 30 years). We then examined differences in neurocognitive function among these groups. RESULTS: O1 tended to have a lower memory score than O2 (F = 3.28, p = 0.053). Significant differences were observed in attention and executive function between groups P1 and P3 (Digit Span_backward: F = 6.07, p < 0.05; visual span_forward: F = 4.19, p < 0.05; executive intelligence quotient: F = 3.55, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Greater memory impairment was detected in subjects having an earlier age of the first blackout. The longer the duration after the onset of blackout, the more impaired their attention and executive function skills.
Age of Onset ; Alcohol-Induced Disorders ; Amnesia, Retrograde ; Cognition Disorders ; Cognition ; Drinking ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Male ; Memory ; Neuropsychological Tests

BACKGROUND: In this study, we aimed to identify cognitive function and neuropsychological comorbidities in children with newly diagnosed idiopathic epilepsy. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 97 antiepileptic drug-naïve children (9.7 ± 2.9 years; 54 males and 43 females) with newly diagnosed idiopathic epilepsy, all of whom underwent a neuropsychological battery. The battery consisted of the Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Rating Scale, ADHD Diagnostic System, Children's Depression Inventory, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. We investigated association between scores of the neuropsychological battery and epilepsy classification, lateralization of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) on electroencephalography (EEG), and variables related to seizures. RESULTS: Thirteen patients (14.3%) had ADHD symptoms. Three patients (4.1%) had depressive symptoms, and 9 (12.3%) had anxiety symptoms. Patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) had significantly lower full-scale intelligence and performance intelligence quotient scores than patients with idiopathic localization-related epilepsy (ILRE) (89.0 ± 17.6 vs. 96.3 ± 14.8; P = 0.030 and 88.9 ± 16.3 vs. 97.0 ± 16.4; P = 0.016, respectively). Patients with ILRE having unilateral IEDs had significantly higher full-scale intelligence quotient scores than patients with ILRE having bilateral IEDs and patients with IGE (99.9 ± 12.2 vs. 93.7 ± 16.1 vs. 89.0 ± 17.6; P = 0.039, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that idiopathic epilepsy may be accompanied by various neuropsychological comorbidities even at initial diagnosis. Patients with IGE and ILRE having bilateral IEDs on EEG appear more likely to be at high risk of decreased cognitive function.
Anxiety ; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Child ; Classification ; Cognition ; Comorbidity ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsies, Partial ; Epilepsy ; Epilepsy, Generalized ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Intelligence ; Male ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Retrospective Studies ; Seizures

BACKGROUND: A rate of traffic accidents by elderly drivers increased by 70% between 2011 and 2015 in Korea. Elderly drivers with cognitive impairment are more susceptible to be involved traffic accidents than cognitively normal individuals. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation of driving-related cognition and cognitive impairment in drivers over the age of 60 using the standardized program developed by the Road Traffic Authority (RTA). METHODS: Current drivers older than 60 years were recruited for the study. All participants were tested using the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT)-copy, and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) for cognitive function assessments. The driving aptitude test (DAT) for the elderly developed by RTA consists of 4 different tasks including speed and distance driving tests (SD), visuospatial memory driving tests (VM), sustained attention driving tests (SA), and divided attention driving tests (DA). The participants were divided into two groups by their MMSE score (normal cognition, CN; cognitive impairment, CI). RESULTS: One hundred fourteen participants were enrolled in the study and 57 of them were assigned to the CI group. In comparison, drivers in CI showed worse scores at DSST, SD, VM, and DA than those in CN. DSST and DA were worsened with increasing age. DSST was the best predictive assessment to be the risk or caution grade in DAT. CONCLUSIONS: We could find a correlation between DAT and cognitive function in drivers over the age 60. These results could be used as the basis of investigating optimal tools for decreasing driving risks in the cognitive impaired elderly.
Accidents, Traffic ; Aged ; Aptitude Tests ; Cognition Disorders ; Cognition ; Humans ; Korea ; Memory