Publications by authors named "Seong-Beom Koh"

The Korean Huntington's Disease Society (KHDS) has recently published a practical guide for clinical approach to patients with Huntington's disease (HD) in Korea in April issue of Journal of Movement Disorders this year.1 This article is the second practical guide particularly focused on 1) essential points of genetic counseling for families of HD covering issues of testing minors and prenatal/preimplantation testing; and 2) premanifest HD and useful laboratory investigations for assessing disease severity and progression. The latter part of this article deals with special issues of juvenile and very late-onset HD, and common comorbidities in HD patients.

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This multicentre, prospective, single-arm study evaluated safinamide as add-on therapy to levodopa in Korean patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with motor fluctuations with ≥ 1.5 h of "off" time daily, who took levodopa ≥ 3 times/day (n = 199). Baseline levodopa and dopamine agonist doses were maintained without escalation during the 18-week treatment period.

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Objective: We conducted this study to assess the efficacy and safety of taltirelin hydrate (TH) in spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD).

Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to either the taltirelin group (5 mg orally, twice daily) or the control group. The primary endpoint was changes in the Korean version of Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (K-SARA) scores at 24 weeks.

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Background: Whether body weight changes are associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) mortality remains uncertain.

Objective: To investigate the association between changes in body mass index (BMI) and all-cause mortality in patients with PD.

Methods: This nationwide cohort study enrolled 20,703 individuals with new-onset PD (ICD-10 code: G20 and a rare intractable disease registration code: V124) who underwent health screening program by the Korean National Health Insurance Service within two years from pre- and post-PD diagnosis.

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Low body mass index is closely related to a high risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related biomarkers including amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition. However, the association between sarcopenia and Aβ-confirmed AD remains controversial. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between sarcopenia and the AD continuum.

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Background: Increasing evidence supports the association between body mass index (BMI), Alzheimer's disease, and vascular markers. Recently, metabolically unhealthy conditions have been reported to affect the expression of these markers. We aimed to investigate the effects of BMI status on Alzheimer's and vascular markers in relation to metabolic health status.

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The frequency of the apolipoprotein E ɛ4 allele and vascular risk factors differs among ethnic groups. We aimed to assess the combined effects of apolipoprotein E ɛ4 and vascular risk factors on brain age in Korean and UK cognitively unimpaired populations. We also aimed to determine the differences in the combined effects between the two populations.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates autonomic dysfunction in early Parkinson's disease (PD) patients who are not on medication and do not experience orthostatic hypotension (OH), focusing on the effects of the Valsalva maneuver (VM).
  • Researchers analyzed data from 61 drug-naïve PD patients and 20 controls, assessing various VM parameters like changes in systolic blood pressure and heart rate to identify differences in autonomic function.
  • The findings indicate that early PD patients have significantly lower sympathetic function, as indicated by decreased blood pressure changes, suggesting that sympathetic dysfunction might be an early sign of autonomic issues in PD.
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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the SCales for Outcomes in Parkinson's Disease-Cognition (K-SCOPA-Cog) for assessing cognition in Parkinson's disease patients in South Korea.
  • - A total of 129 patients participated, and various statistical methods, including Cronbach's alpha and Spearman’s rank correlation, were employed to test the reliability and concurrent validity against established cognitive assessments.
  • - Results showed that the K-SCOPA-Cog has strong reliability (Cronbach's alpha of 0.797, ICC of 0.887) and a significant correlation with other cognitive measures (MOCA-K and K-MMSE), indicating it is a valid tool for cognitive assessment in this
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Background: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD); however, it is unknown whether this association is dependent on continuous hyperglycemia, hypoglycemic events, or glycemic variability. We aimed to investigate the relationship between visit-to-visit fasting glucose variability and PDD development in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: Using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, we examined 9,264 patients aged ≥40 years with Parkinson's disease (PD) who underwent ≥3 health examinations and were followed up until December 2019.

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Background And Purpose: Falls are not uncommon even in patients with early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD). The aims of this study were to determine the relationships between gait parameters and falls and identify crucial gait parameters for predicting future falls in patients with de novo PD.

Methods: We prospectively recruited patients with de novo PD, and evaluated their baseline demographics, global cognitive function on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test, and parkinsonian motor symptoms including their subtypes.

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Background And Purpose: Growing evidence has shown that cognitive interventions can mitigate cognitive decline in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, most previous cognitive interventions have been group-based programs. Due to their intrinsic limitations, group-based programs are not widely used in clinical practice.

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Background: Cholesterol plays important roles in β-amyloid (Aβ) metabolism and atherosclerosis. However, the relationships of plasma cholesterol levels with Aβ and cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) burdens are not fully understood in Asians. Herein, we investigated the relationships between plasma cholesterol profile components and Aβ and CSVD burdens in a large, non-demented Korean cohort.

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Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is known to be associated with a high risk of clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease (AD). Additionally, the prevalence of NAFLD and AD is higher in elderly females than in males. However, a sex-specific association between NAFLD and amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposition remains unclear.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores how amyloid-β (Aβ) affects cognitive impairment after small subcortical infarction, highlighting links to both Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.
  • The researchers tracked 37 patients post-stroke, assessing Aβ levels and cognitive performance at 3 and 12 months.
  • The results suggest that Aβ positivity significantly predicts the development of post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) and overall cognitive decline, indicating that anti-AD treatments could help prevent these issues in similar patients.
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Article Synopsis
  • - The study conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on Parkinson's disease (PD) specific to the Korean population, including 1050 patients and 5000 controls, to explore ethnicity and sex-related genetic factors.
  • - Key findings revealed nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with PD, particularly in the SNCA and PARK16 loci; however, significant associations varied between genders, with notable SNPs identified in females and a strong but inconclusive marker in males.
  • - Results indicate that genetic contributions to sporadic PD differ by ethnicity and sex, highlighting the importance of tailored research to understand the disease's genetic background across diverse populations.
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Objective: Hair loss has been reported to occur during dopaminergic therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease. The mechanism by which dopaminergic therapy induces hair loss is not well understood. Dopamine receptors are present in the hair follicle, where they regulate melanin production.

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  • This study is the first prospective cohort investigation of caregiver burden in Huntington's disease (HD) in Korea, aiming to connect patient and caregiver characteristics with the stress experienced by caregivers.
  • Sixty-five HD patients and 45 caregivers participated, revealing a significant correlation between higher caregiver burden and more severe patient symptoms, as assessed by the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-12).
  • The findings highlight that the neurological status of HD patients greatly affects caregiver stress, indicating a need for improved support systems for families affected by HD in Korea and suggesting further study of the impact of disease progression on caregiver burden.
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Background: A growing body of evidence shows differences in the prevalence of cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS) and dementia based on gender and ethnicity. However, there is a paucity of information about ethnic- and gender-specific CMS effects on brain age. We investigated the different effects of CMS on brain age by gender in Korean and British cognitively unimpaired (CU) populations.

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Introduction: We aimed to investigate the incidence of Parkinson's disease (PD) by age and year for each sex as well as the modifiable risk factors for PD. Using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, 938,635 PD and dementia-free participants aged ≥40 years who underwent general health examinations were followed to December 2019.

Methods: We analyzed the PD incidence rates according to age, year and sex.

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  • This study investigates sex differences in gastrointestinal dysfunctions in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) using data from multiple centers.
  • It analyzes symptoms in relation to the severity of PD and medication dosages, finding that female patients report worse gastrointestinal issues than males.
  • Key findings include that women experienced more nausea, early fullness, and severe upper abdominal pain compared to men, suggesting that gastrointestinal dysfunctions might affect males and females differently in PD.
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Background: We aimed to investigate the incidence rate of Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) according to age and disease duration by sex. Furthermore, we explored the effect of each cardiometabolic syndrome and depression on the incidence of PDD.

Methods: Using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, 79,622 patients with de novo Parkinson's disease (PD) aged ≥40 years between January 2002 and December 2010 were followed to December 2019.

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Objective: The International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) is a semiquantitative clinical scale for ataxia that is widely used in numerous countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Korean-translated version of the ICARS.

Methods: Eighty-eight patients who presented with cerebellar ataxia were enrolled.

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