Epilepsy is associated with the accelerated aging of brain activity in sleep.

Objective: Although seizures are the cardinal feature, epilepsy is associated with other forms of brain dysfunction including impaired cognition, abnormal sleep, and increased risk of developing dementia. We hypothesized that, given the widespread neurologic dysfunction caused by epilepsy, accelerated brain aging would be seen. We measured the sleep-based brain age index (BAI) in a diverse group of patients with epilepsy.

Refining sleep staging accuracy: transfer learning coupled with scorability models.

Study Objectives: This study aimed to (1) improve sleep staging accuracy through transfer learning (TL), to achieve or exceed human inter-expert agreement and (2) introduce a scorability model to assess the quality and trustworthiness of automated sleep staging.

Methods: A deep neural network (base model) was trained on a large multi-site polysomnography (PSG) dataset from the United States. TL was used to calibrate the model to a reduced montage and limited samples from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES) dataset.

Association of nightmares with cardio-cerebrovascular disease, hypertension and hyperlipidemia in older adults: A population-based cross-sectional study.

Objective: This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship of nightmares with cardio-cerebrovascular disease (CVD), hypertension and hyperlipidemia which are major preceding diseases of CVD in older adults.

Methods: Participants (n = 2824; mean age 63.6 ± 6.

Correlation between TMJ Space Alteration and Disc Displacement: A Retrospective CBCT and MRI Study.

This study aims to determine if a large anterior and reduced posterior/superior joint space is highly predictable for disc displacement. From patients with temporomandibular disorders symptoms, fifty-two experimental joints and fourteen control joints were included. The cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were used to calculate posterior-to-anterior (P-A) and superior-to-anterior (S-A) joint space ratios, while disc position was determined using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Increased Likelihood of Dementia with Coexisting Atrophy of Multiple Regions of Interest.

Background: Brain volume is associated with cognitive decline in later life, and cortical brain atrophy exceeding the normal range is related to inferior cognitive and behavioral outcomes in later life.

Objective: To investigate the likelihood of cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or dementia, when regional atrophy is present in participants' magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: Multi-center MRI data of 2,545 adults were utilized to measure regional volumes using NEUROPHET AQUA.

Linking brain structure, cognition, and sleep: insights from clinical data.

Study Objectives: To use relatively noisy routinely collected clinical data (brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, clinical polysomnography (PSG) recordings, and neuropsychological testing), to investigate hypothesis-driven and data-driven relationships between brain physiology, structure, and cognition.

Methods: We analyzed data from patients with clinical PSG, brain MRI, and neuropsychological evaluations. SynthSeg, a neural network-based tool, provided high-quality segmentations despite noise.

Increased Blood Pressure Variability Over a 16-Year Period Is Associated With Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in a Population-Based Cohort.

Background: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) is often associated with elevated blood pressure (BP). It is prevalent among hypertensive patients. Additionally, increased BP variability has been linked to LVDD.

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder and Its Possible Prodromes in General Population: Prevalence, Polysomnography Findings, and Associated Factors.

Background And Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and its possible prodromal conditions, isolated dream enactment behavior (DEB) and isolated REM without atonia (RWA), in a general population sample, and the factors associated with diagnosis and symptom frequency.

Methods: From a population-based prospective cohort in Korea, 1,075 participants (age 60.1 ± 7.

All-cause and major-cause mortality associated with sleep latency in the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES): a population-based prospective cohort study.

Background: The all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk associated with sleep latencies in the general adult population is unknown. We aimed to investigate the association of habitual prolonged sleep latency with long-term all-cause and cause-specific mortality in adults.

Methods: The Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES) is a population-based prospective cohort study comprising community-dwelling men and women aged 40-69 years from Ansan, South Korea.

Effect of physical activity on the change in carotid intima-media thickness: An 8-year prospective cohort study.

Background And Aims: There is a demand for longitudinal studies that use both objective and subjective measures of physical activity to investigate the association of physical activity with the change in carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). In order to investigate such association, we conducted an 8-year follow-up study that used both objective and subjective measures of physical activity.

Methods: This cohort study used subsamples of the ongoing Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES).

Association of blood pressure measurements in sitting, supine, and standing positions with the 10-year risk of mortality in Korean adults.

Objectives: This prospective cohort study investigated the association between blood pressure (BP) as measured in different body postures and all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality risk.

Methods: This population-based investigation included 8,901 Korean adults in 2001 and 2002. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured sequentially in the sitting, supine, and standing positions and classified into 4 categories: 1) normal, SBP <120 mmHg and DBP <80 mmHg; 2) high normal/prehypertension, SBP 120-129 mmHg and DBP <80 mmHg/SBP 130-139 mmHg or DBP 80-89 mmHg; 3) grade 1 hypertension (HTN), with SBP 140-159 mmHg or DBP 90-99 mmHg; and 4) grade 2 HTN, SBP ≥160 mmHg or DBP ≥100 mmHg.

The eGFR Decline as a Risk Factor for Metabolic Syndrome in the Korean General Population: A Longitudinal Study of Individuals with Normal or Mildly Reduced Kidney Function.

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a risk factor for the development and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, it is unclear whether decreased renal function affects MS. Through a longitudinal study, we investigated the effect of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) changes on MS in participants with an eGFR above 60 mL/min/1.

Characteristics of Hearing Loss Among Older Adults in the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study: A Community-Based Longitudinal Cohort Study With an 8-Year Follow-up.

Objectives: This study investigated the 8-year incidence and progression of hearing loss (HL) and its types and examined the risk factors for changes in HL.

Methods: This longitudinal cohort study analyzed data from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES), an ongoing, prospective, community-based cohort study that has been conducted since 2001. Altogether, 1,890 residents of urban areas in Korea aged 45-75 years at time 1 (baseline) were included in the study.

Earlier chronotype in midlife as a predictor of accelerated brain aging: a population-based longitudinal cohort study.

Study Objectives: Evidence suggests that sleep-wake cycle disruption could be an early manifestation of neurodegeneration and might even be a risk factor for developing diseases in healthy adults. We investigated the impact of circadian phase change on structural and functional brain deterioration in a late-adulthood population.

Methods: We analyzed the data of 1874 participants (mean age 58.

Obstructive sleep apnoea and long-term risk of incident diabetes in the middle-aged and older general population.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes. However, results from large population-based prospective cohort studies are rare. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the relative risk of 8-year incident type 2 diabetes in relation to OSA severity in a prospective cohort study of middle-aged and older adults.

Effects of education mediated by brain size on regional brain volume in adults.

Background And Purpose: Brain structure and function change with age. Both educational attainments, a proxy for cognitive reserve, and intracranial volume (ICV), a proxy for brain reserve, could contribute to resilience against degenerative change in the brain with aging. Whether the effect of educational attainment on regional brain volume in adults is mediated by ICV is yet unclear.

Sleep Duration and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Community-Based Cohort Study with a 16-Year Follow-up.

Backgruound: We aimed to investigate the moderating effects of obesity, age, and sex on the association between sleep duration and the development of diabetes in Asians.

Methods: We analyzed data from a cohort of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study conducted from 2001 to 2020. After excluding shift workers and those with diabetes at baseline, 7,407 participants were stratified into three groups according to sleep duration: ≤5 hours/night, >5 to 7 hours/night (reference), and >7 hours/night.

Association of long-term hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance with brain atrophy and cognitive decline: A longitudinal cohort study.

Aim: To investigate the longitudinal changes in brain volume and cognitive function associated with diabetes at midlife, and to examine whether long-term hyperglycaemia, insulin resistance or secretory function is associated with brain atrophy and cognitive decline.

Materials And Methods: We used data from 2377 participants with both baseline and 4-year follow-up brain magnetic resonance images and neuropsychological measures from the Ansan cohort of the Korean Genome Epidemiology Study. Time-weighted mean glycaemic values were calculated using all measurements over an average duration of 10.

Image restoration algorithm incorporating methods to remove noise and blurring from positron emission tomography imaging for Alzheimer's disease diagnosis.

The aim of this study was to design an image restoration algorithm that combined denoising and deblurring and to confirm its applicability in positron emission tomography (PET) images of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). PET images of patients with AD obtained using F-AV-45, which have a lot of noise, and F-FDG, which have a lot of blurring, were available in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative open dataset. The proposed framework performed image restoration incorporating blind deconvolution after noise reduction using a non-local means (NLM) approach to improve the PET image quality.

Coexistence of Moderate-to-Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Inflammation Accelerates the Risk of Progression of Arterial Stiffness: A Prospective 6-Year Study.

Both obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and inflammation have now been recognized as imposing substantial cardiometabolic risk. However, no prospective study has reported whether the coexistence of OSA and inflammation exacerbates the progressive arterial stiffening. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine whether these conditions increase the risk of the progression of arterial stiffening.

Prevalence of Isolated Nocturnal Hypertension and Development of Arterial Stiffness, Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, and Silent Cerebrovascular Lesions: The KoGES (Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study).

Background Apart from nondippers' impact on cardiovascular events, the prevalence of isolated nocturnal hypertension (INH) and its consequences on both the heart and brain were not clearly investigated in the general population. Methods and Results The participants underwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring evaluations for arterial stiffness, echocardiography, and brain magnetic resonance imaging. They were grouped into normotension, INH, and overt diurnal hypertension, based on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and history of antihypertensive treatment.

Night blood pressure variability, brain atrophy, and cognitive decline.

Background: Although blood pressure variability (BPV) has emerged as a novel risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, few studies have examined the effects of night BPV on brain structure and function. This study investigated the association of night BPV with brain atrophy and cognitive function changes.

Methods: The analysis included 1,398 participants with valid ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring at baseline and both baseline and 4-year follow-up brain magnetic resonance images who were recruited from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study.

Cortical thickness and hippocampal volume in adolescent children with obstructive sleep apnea.

Study Objectives: Intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation due to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may contribute to oxidative tissue damage and apoptotic neuronal cell death, inflammation, and intracellular edema in the brain. We examined whether OSA in overweight and obese adolescent children is associated with cortical thickness and hippocampal structure compared to overweight and obese controls and whether OSA severity is associated with measures of brain integrity.

Methods: We calculated cortical thickness and hippocampal subfield volumes from T1-weighted images of 45 controls (age 15.

Collateral impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of healthcare resources among people with disabilities.

Objective: We assessed the collateral impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare service use among people with disabilities.

Methods: We utilized the COVID-19 database from the Korean National Health Insurance Service claims from 2015 until June 2020. We included 5,850 people with disabilities and matched 5,850 without disabilities among those who were neither tested nor diagnosed with COVID-19.