Psychiatric adverse events associated with the COVID-19 vaccines approved in the Republic of Korea: a systematic review.

This systematic review evaluated psychiatric adverse events (AEs) following vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We included studies that reported or investigated psychiatric AEs in individuals who had received an approved COVID-19 vaccine in the Republic of Korea. Systematic electronic searches of Ovid-Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, and KoreaMed databases were conducted on March 22, 2023.

Perfectionism, test anxiety, and neuroticism determines high academic performance: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Academic performance is an important issue for Korean students. Various psychological factors contribute to academic performance. We aimed to evaluate the psychological factors that affect academic performance integratively.

Impact of long-acting injectable aripiprazole on the concomitant medication and antipsychotic polypharmacy: a retrospective, observational study of 127 patients with psychosis.

Antipsychotic polypharmacy (APP) has become prevalent over the years, but several concerns have been raised over APP. Accumulating evidence suggests that aripiprazole long-acting injectable (LAI) may reduce the rate of APP, but the association remains speculative. This retrospective observational study included 127 patients with psychosis and observed them for 1.

Compromised Cerebello-Thalamic White Matter Integrity in Medication-Free Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Objective: The cerebello-thalamic tract is the only efferent white matter (WM) bundle of the cerebellum that connects the cerebellum to the thalamus and has recently attracted much attention in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with its integral role in higher order cognitive functions commonly impaired in OCD patients. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the cerebello-thalamic circuit is functionally impaired in OCD patients. However, the WM integrity of the cerebello-thalamic tract in OCD, which may underly functional abnormalities of the cerebello-thalamic circuit, is not yet sufficiently understood.

A framework for nationwide COVID-19 vaccine safety research in the Republic of Korea: the COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Research Committee.

With the introduction of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) commissioned the National Academy of Medicine of Korea to gather experts to independently assess post-vaccination adverse events. Accordingly, the COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Research Committee (CoVaSC) was launched in November 2021 to perform safety studies and establish evidence for policy guidance. The CoVaSC established 3 committees for epidemiology, clinical research, and communication.

Associations of medication with subcortical morphology across the lifespan in OCD: Results from the international ENIGMA Consortium.

Background: Widely used psychotropic medications for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may change the volumes of subcortical brain structures, and differently in children vs. adults. We measured subcortical volumes cross-sectionally in patients finely stratified for age taking various common classes of OCD drugs.

Characteristics of adverse reactions among antipsychotic drugs using the Korean Adverse Event Reporting System database from 2010 to 2019.

Background: Retrospective studies using spontaneous reporting system databases have provided a great understanding of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in the real world, complementing the data obtained from randomized controlled trials. However, there have been few reports on large-scale epidemiological studies on the adverse effects of antipsychotics in Asia.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of antipsychotic ADRs using a nationwide pharmacovigilance database.

Spectroscopic sensing and quantification of AP-endonucleases using fluorescence-enhancement by - isomerization of cyanine dyes.

Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonucleases are vital DNA repair enzymes, and proposed to be a prognostic biomarker for various types of cancer in humans. Numerous DNA sensors have been developed to evaluate the extent of nuclease activity but their DNA termini are not protected against other nucleases, hampering accurate quantification. Here we developed a new fluorescence enhancement (FE)-based method as an enzyme-specific DNA biosensor with nuclease-protection by three functional units (an AP-site, Cy3 and termini that are protected from exonucleolytic cleavage).

Mechanistic decoupling of exonuclease III multifunctionality into AP endonuclease and exonuclease activities at the single-residue level.

Bacterial exonuclease III (ExoIII) is a multifunctional enzyme that uses a single active site to perform two conspicuous activities: (i) apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP)-endonuclease and (ii) 3'→5' exonuclease activities. The AP endonuclease activity results in AP site incision, while the exonuclease activity results in the continuous excision of 3' terminal nucleobases to generate a partial duplex for recruiting the downstream DNA polymerase during the base excision repair process (BER). The key determinants of functional selection between the two activities are poorly understood.

Comparative analysis of intra-articular injection of steroid and/or sodium hyaluronate in adhesive capsulitis: prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Background: Few studies have reported the effects of simultaneous injections of corticosteroid (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA) on adhesive capsulitis (AC) of the shoulder. This study investigated the synergistic effects of simultaneous intra-articular injections of CS and compared them to those of CS or HA alone.

Method: Sixty patients with AC were enrolled in this randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Sex differences in the behavioral inhibition system and ventromedial prefrontal cortex connectivity.

The reinforcement sensitivity theory proposes brain-behavioral systems that underlie individual differences in sensitivity to punishment and reward. Such trait sensitivity is assessed using the behavioral inhibition/activation system (BIS/BAS) scales. Recent studies have reported sex-linked neuroanatomical correlates of the BIS/BAS, especially in the regions belonging to the valuation and salience networks that are associated with the representation of subjective value (SV), whereas less effort has been focused on investigating the neurofunctional aspects associated with sex differences in the BIS/BAS.

The mechanism of gap creation by a multifunctional nuclease during base excision repair.

During base excision repair, a transient single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) gap is produced at the apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) site. Exonuclease III, capable of performing both AP endonuclease and exonuclease activity, are responsible for gap creation in bacteria. We used single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer to examine the mechanism of gap creation.

Unsupervised multi-sense language models for natural language processing tasks.

Existing language models (LMs) represent each word with only a single representation, which is unsuitable for processing words with multiple meanings. This issue has often been compounded by the lack of availability of large-scale data annotated with word meanings. In this paper, we propose a sense-aware framework that can process multi-sense word information without relying on annotated data.

Brain Activation of Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder During a Mental Rotation Task: A Functional MRI Study.

Functional neuroimaging studies have implicated alterations in frontostriatal and frontoparietal circuits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) during various tasks. To date, however, brain activation for visuospatial function in conjunction with symptoms in OCD has not been comprehensively evaluated. To elucidate the relationship between neural activity, cognitive function, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, we investigated regional brain activation during the performance of a visuospatial task in patients with OCD using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Impaired error-related processing in patients with first-episode psychosis and subjects at clinical high risk for psychosis: An event-related potential study.

Aim: Impaired event-related potential (ERP) indices reflecting performance-monitoring systems have been consistently reported in patients with schizophrenia. However, whether these impairments exist from the beginning of the early phase of psychosis, such as in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, has not yet been clearly ascertained.

Methods: Thirty-seven FEP patients, 22 CHR subjects, and 22 healthy controls (HC) performed a visual go/no-go task so that three ERP components associated with performance monitoring-error-related negativity (ERN), correct response negativity (CRN), and error positivity (Pe) -could be assessed.

White Matter Correlates of Theory of Mind in Patients With First-Episode Psychosis.

Deficits in theory of mind (ToM) are considered as a distinctive feature of schizophrenia. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have suggested that aberrant activity among the regions comprising the mentalizing network is related to observed ToM deficits. However, the white matter structures underlying the ToM functional network in schizophrenia remain unclear.

Reduced cortical gyrification in the posteromedial cortex in unaffected relatives of schizophrenia patients with high genetic loading.

Although abnormal cortical gyrification has been consistently reported in patients with schizophrenia, whether gyrification abnormalities reflect a genetic risk for the disorder remains unknown. This study investigated differences in cortical gyrification between unaffected relatives (URs) with high genetic loading for schizophrenia and healthy controls (HCs) to identify potential genetic vulnerability markers. A total of 50 URs of schizophrenia patients and 50 matched HCs underwent T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to compare whole-brain gyrification using the local gyrification index (lGI).

Reliability and validity of the Korean version of the comprehensive assessment of at-risk mental states.

Aim: Although the comprehensive assessment of at-risk mental states (CAARMS) is one of the most widely used instruments for identifying individuals meeting the criteria for ultra-high risk (UHR) of developing psychosis, the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the CAARMS (CAARMS-K) have not been studied to date. Thus, we tested the reliability, validity, and factor structure of the CAARMS-K in a Korean population.

Methods: The CAARMS-K was administered to 96 UHR individuals.