Publications by authors named "Kyoung-Ja Kwon"

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, degenerative brain disorder that impairs memory and thinking skills, leading to significant economic and humanistic burdens. It is associated with various neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) such as anxiety, agitation, depression, aggression, apathy, and psychosis. NPSs are common in patients with AD, affecting up to 97% of individuals diagnosed with AD.

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Neuroinflammation plays a vital role in neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders, and microglia and astrocytes chiefly modulate inflammatory responses in the central nervous system (CNS). Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which are expressed in neurons, astrocytes, and microglia in the CNS, are critical for innate immune responses; microglial TLRs can regulate the activity of these cells, inducing protective or harmful effects on the surrounding cells, including neurons. Therefore, regulating TLRs in microglia may be a potential therapeutic strategy for neurological disorders.

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  • Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder marked by memory loss and mood issues linked to harmful protein buildup in the brain, with no definitive treatment currently available.
  • Researchers studied pectolinarin, a flavonoid, and found it can inhibit the formation of toxic amyloid-beta (Aβ) aggregates and even break down existing ones, reducing their toxic effects.
  • In animal tests, pectolinarin helped prevent memory loss and synaptic issues caused by Aβ, suggesting it could be a promising low-molecular-weight treatment for managing AD symptoms.
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  • Stress is a natural part of life that can lead to neuropsychiatric disorders, making effective stress management vital for health.
  • The study found that ethyl pyruvate (EP) can protect against cognitive decline induced by stress by blocking the effects of the stress hormone corticosterone on long-term potentiation (LTP) in the brain.
  • While EP did not reduce anxiety caused by stress, it improved cognitive function and increased neurogenesis in the hippocampus, likely through the regulation of Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathways.
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The blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown has been suggested as an early marker for Alzheimer's disease (AD); yet the relationship between BBB breakdown and AD-specific biomarkers based on the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration framework is not clear. This study investigated the relationship between BBB permeability, AD-specific biomarkers, and cognition in patients with cognitive impairment. In this prospective study, we enrolled 62 participants with mild cognitive impairment or dementia between January 2019 and October 2020.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a well-known neurodegenerative brain disease, and no curative treatment has yet been developed. The main symptoms include various brain lesions, caused by amyloid β (Aβ) aggregation, and cognitive decline. Therefore, it is believed that substances that control Aβ will inhibit the onset of Alzheimer's disease and slow its progression.

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  • * The study investigates phospholipid distribution in the brains of valproic acid-induced autistic mice using advanced imaging techniques, finding differences in phospholipid profiles between autistic and control mice.
  • * Key phospholipids identified are critical for cell signaling and brain growth, and understanding these differences may shed light on lipid metabolism changes related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
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Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of the most representative neurodegenerative diseases, has diverse neurobiological and pathophysiological mechanisms. Treatment strategies targeting a single mechanism have repeated faced failures because the mechanism of neuronal cell death is very complex that is not fully understood yet. Since complex mechanisms exist to explain AD, a variety of diagnostic biomarkers for diagnosing AD are required.

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Mainly due to the slanted focus on the mechanism and regulation of neuronal aging, research on astrocyte aging and its modulation during brain aging is scarce. In this study, we established aged astrocyte culture model by long-term culturing. Cellular senescence was confirmed through SA-β-gal staining as well as through the examination of morphological, molecular, and functional markers.

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Sleep is a restorative period that plays a crucial role in the physiological functioning of the body, including that of the immune system, memory processing, and cognition. Sleep disturbances can be caused by various physical, mental, and social problems. Recently, there has been growing interest in sleep.

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Post-stroke cognitive impairment is one of the most common complications in stroke survivors. Concomitant vascular risk factors, including aging, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or underlying pathologic conditions, such as chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, white matter hyperintensities, or Alzheimer's disease pathology, can predispose patients to develop post-stroke dementia (PSD). Given the various clinical conditions associated with PSD, a single animal model for PSD is not possible.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common degenerative disease and is indicative of dementia. The cerebral accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ), a crucial factor in AD, initiates synaptic and cognitive dysfunction. Therefore, the elevation of synaptic and cognitive functions may help manage dementia in AD.

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Memory-enhancing agents have long been required for various reasons such as for obtaining a good score in a test in the young and for retaining memory in the aged. Although many studies have found that several natural products may be good candidates for memory enhancement, there is still a need for better agents. The present study investigated whether rubrofusarin, an active ingredient in Cassiae semen, enhances learning and memory in normal mice.

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Background: This study investigated the associations between exposure to ambient air pollutants and the incidence of osteoporosis using the Korean National Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort.

Methods: This nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study included 237,149 adults aged ≥40 years that did not have a diagnosis of osteoporosis at baseline between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2015. Osteoporosis was defined as claim codes and prescriptions of bisphosphonates or selective estrogen receptor modulators at least twice annually.

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  • * Late passage astrocytes exhibited signs of senescence, including decreased inflammatory mediator expression and impaired functions like wound healing and phagocytosis, as confirmed through various assessments such as SA-β-gal staining.
  • * Culture media from early passage astrocytes supported neuron growth better than that from late passage astrocytes, suggesting that senescent astrocytes may negatively influence neuron functionality, making these changes significant for understanding aging-related brain issues.
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Air pollution has become one of the most serious issues for human health and has been shown to be particularly concerning for neural and cognitive health. Recent studies suggest that fine particulate matter of less than 2.5 (PM2.

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  • * Researchers used surgical techniques to induce these conditions in rats and performed a series of tests to evaluate cognitive function and the presence of tau pathology, finding that combining both stroke types worsened cognitive impairment and tau hyperphosphorylation in the brain.
  • * The study suggests that reduced clearance of tau due to CCH may worsen cognitive issues after a stroke, hinting at therapeutic strategies aimed at enhancing the brain's waste clearance system as a potential way to prevent PSD.
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Backgound: Central obesity in midlife is a risk factor of cognitive decline and dementia, and also one of the factors that make cognitive functions deteriorate rapidly.

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between truncal body composition (fat and muscle) and cognitive impairment in patients with dementia.

Methods: A total of 81 female over 60 years of age with probable Alzheimer's disease were recruited between November 2014 and September 2015.

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Sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder affected by amyloid and vascular pathogenesis. Brain insulin resistance (BIR) has been suggested as one of the pathomechanisms of sporadic AD. We investigated how the amyloid and vascular pathogenesis of AD interacts with BIR.

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Despite some innate limitations, animal models are a potent investigative tool when used to model specific symptoms of a disorder. For example, MK-801, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, is used as a pharmacological tool to induce symptoms found in some neuropsychiatric disorders. However, a close examination of literature suggests that the application window of MK-801 doses is relatively narrow between individual behavioral paradigms, necessitating careful characterization of the evoked behavioral aberrations and the doses used to induce them.

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Introduction: Many factors are known to affect the rate of cognitive decline; however, studies on clinical outcomes are rare. Muscle profile and their relationship to dementia trajectories have not been extensively investigated. We investigated factors that affect the rate of clinical decline and the usefulness of muscle profiles for predicting the clinical outcomes of patients with Alzheimer's dementia (AD).

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Brain aging is an inevitable process characterized by structural and functional changes and is a major risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases. Most brain aging studies are focused on neurons and less on astrocytes which are the most abundant cells in the brain known to be in charge of various functions including the maintenance of brain physical formation, ion homeostasis, and secretion of various extracellular matrix proteins. Altered mitochondrial dynamics, defective mitophagy or mitochondrial damages are causative factors of mitochondrial dysfunction, which is linked to age-related disorders.

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Background/aims: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia worldwide. Interestingly, muscle mass (MM) and muscle strength (MS) are related to AD. In addition to the muscle profile, brain atrophy is also a prominent feature of AD.

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  • Sociability refers to the tendency of organisms, like rodents, to interact socially, and there are established methods to measure this, including social interaction tasks and three-chamber tests.* -
  • The study introduces a new approach to assess sociability in rodents using their home cage setting, which minimizes the stress of isolation and environmental change, allowing more natural interaction.* -
  • Two innovative home cage tests were developed and found effective in identifying abnormal social behaviors across different animal models, proving to be a reliable complement to traditional measurement methods.*
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