Cross-country comparison of parental reports and objective measures of sleep patterns of typically developing children and autistic children between the UK and South Korea.

Sleep duration and disturbances in typically developing (TD) children have been found to vary across countries. Given the impact of culture on sleep patterns in TD children, it is also necessary to examine the impact of culture on sleep patterns in children with atypical development. However, previous studies have often relied only on parent reports of children's sleep. Hence, the present study conducted a cross-cultural comparison of sleep duration and disturbances of school-aged TD children and autistic children in the UK and South Korea (hereafter Korea) using both subjective and objective sleep measurements. Cultural differences were observed in both actigraphy measures and parent reports of children's sleep duration and disturbances. Both TD children and autistic children in Korea had a later bedtime, later getting up time and shorter nocturnal sleep duration than their peers in the UK (p < .05). Furthermore, greater parent-reported sleep disturbances were reported in TD children in Korea compared to TD children in the UK and in autistic children in the UK compared to autistic children in Korea. Correlational analyses indicated that most parent-reported measures of children's sleep did not significantly correlate with objective measures and child reports, suggesting that studies on children's sleep can benefit by collecting data from multiple sources. Taken together, these findings suggest a cultural influence on sleep duration and disturbances of both TD children and autistic children. This study raises questions for further research to identify factors underlying cultural differences in children's sleep duration and disturbances.

Mental health literacy of Internet gaming disorder and problematic smartphone use among Korean teenagers.

The last few decades have seen an increased interest in 'Mental Health Literacy (MHL)' which addresses knowledge and beliefs relating to mental health problems and is likely to hinder treatment-seeking behaviors. Although MHL research to date has explored various mental disorders, far too little attention has been paid to Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and Problematic Smartphone use (PSU). The objective of this study is to develop an MHL questionnaire for IGD and PSU by adopting the MHL approach in the previous literature and examine MHL of IGD and PSU in Korean teenagers by focusing on their ability to recognize addictions, and perceptions and help-seeking attitudes towards a person with addictions. The current study also aimed to compare Korean teenagers' MHL depending on low- and high-risk of IGD and PSU. A total of 169 teenagers aged 10 and 16 years were recruited from schools and children's centers in Seoul and completed the newly developed MHL questionnaire and screening questionnaires for IGD and PSU. The MHL questionnaire for IGD and PSU was designed as a vignette-based questionnaire that depicted behavioral characteristics of a severe problem with Internet and smartphone usage. Korean teenagers had a poor ability to recognize IGD and PSU and were more prone to seek parental help than professional help. The current study also showed that teenagers had better recognition of IGD than PSU and perceived that a person with IGD has a more difficult life than a person with PSU. Furthermore, a low-risk or high-risk group of IGD or PSU showed minimal differences in MHL. The current study provided empirical evidence to support a need to develop educational programs to improve Korean teenagers' MHL for both IGD and PSU.

Impact of sleep on attention in primary school-aged autistic children: Exploratory cross-cultural comparison between Singapore and UK children.

BACKGROUND: There is a growing body of research studying the impact sleep has on attention among typically developing (TD) children, but research is lacking among autistic children. AIMS: The present study aimed to explore, for the first time, differences in (1) attention, (2) sleep parameters among primary school-aged Singaporean autistic children (N = 26) and Singaporean TD children (N = 20), and with UK autistic (N = 11) and UK TD children (N = 16), and (3) the impact of sleep on attention. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Actigraphy was used to objectively assess sleep, and a Continuous Performance Task was used to measure attentional domains. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: There were inconclusive findings indicating that autistic children had poorer sustained attention than TD children. Although autistic children did not display more sleep difficulties than TD children, they showed shorter actual sleep duration (Singapore ASD = 7:00 h, UK ASD = 7:35 h, p < .01) and longer sleep latency (Singapore ASD = 30:15 min, UK ASD = 60:00 min, p < .01) than clinical recommendations. Sleep difficulties were also present among Singaporean and UK TD children. Both TD groups had less actual sleep duration than recommended (Singapore TD = 6:32 h, UK TD = 8:07 h). Singaporean TD children had sleep efficiency below recommended criterion (78.15%). Sleep impacted attention across all groups, but effects were different for autistic and TD groups. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The study highlighted the importance for practitioners and carers to adopt a child-centred approach to assessing sleep and attentional difficulties, especially among autistic children due to the high variability in performance within the group. The impact of cultural and school-setting differences on sleep was also raised.

Management of Mandibular Subcondylar Fracture Through an Intraoral Approach Using a Trans-Buccal Trocar With Ramus Buccal Decortication.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to review retrospectively the functional recoveries of subcondylar fracture patients that underwent open reduction surgery using an extraoral approach or an intraoral approach using a trans-buccal trocar and involving ramus buccal decortication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of 47 patients with mandibular condyle fracture who visited Pusan National University Dental Hospital Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery between May 2015 and November 2020, 38 patients underwent open reduction and were classified according to the surgical method used. Preauricular, submandibular, and retro-mandibular approaches were all classified as extraoral approaches condyle fractures were classified as described by Spiessl and Schroll (1972). Distances between bone fragments on panorama radiographs before and after surgery were measured. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients were included in this study, 9 patients received subcondylar fracture surgery. Open reduction surgery using an extraoral approach had a greater mean operation time than the intraoral approach using a trocar. Of the 17 patients treated with an intraoral approach, the average distance between bone fragments right after surgery was 1.27 ± 1.41mm, which was significantly greater than that of the extraoral approach (0.72 ± 0.35 mm). CONCLUSIONS: Favorable results can be obtained by mandibular condylar fracture surgery through an intraoral approach using a trans-buccal trocar with ramus buccal decortication. This technique minimizes scarring, secures accessibility using a trocar, and sufficiently secures the field of view through buccal cortical bone reduction.

Correlation Between Sports-Related Maxillofacial Injuries and Head Injuries: A Five-Year Retrospective Study.

PURPOSE: As sports have become more diverse and demanding, the number of patients with a maxillofacial injury accompanied by a cranial injury or neurological symptoms has increased. This study examined the correlation between sports-related maxillofacial injuries and head injuries. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Among the patients who visited the emergency department of Pusan National University Dental Hospital due to a maxillofacial injury from sporting activities between 2014 and 2018, those who additionally had head injuries were retrospectively examined. Sporting activities were classified according to the American Academy of Pediatrics classification, and severity of injuries was determined using the Facial Injury Severity Scale (FISS). Patients whose medical records showed neurological symptoms and who underwent brain computed tomography for concomitant head injury were selected. The association between each of these variables, including age and gender, was statistically analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 95 patients were included in this study, most of whom were male teenagers, and cycling was the most common cause of injuries. The meanFISS score was 0.79. Brain computed tomography was conducted for 91 patients, and 28 patients reported neurological symptoms. Only 11 patients underwent advanced evaluation in the neurology or neurosurgery department. Most patients were diagnosed with contusion and concussion and were monitored without any treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Higher FISS values did not reflect the severity of maxillofacial and head injury. In this study, there were some patients with cranial fracture and cerebral hemorrhage with mild neurosurgical symptoms of facial trauma. Although the incidence of head trauma is not high, the necessity of wearing protective equipment cannot be overemphasized because severe trauma is permanent. Neurological signs and symptoms of patients with maxillofacial trauma should not be overlooked and require a thorough evaluation.

Blue laser-induced selective vasorelaxation by the activation of NOSs.

Phototherapy has been tried for treating cardiovascular diseases. In particular, ultraviolet and blue visible lights were suggested to be useful due to their nitric oxide (NO)-production ability in the skin. However, the effects of blue light on the arterial contractility are controversial. Here, we hypothesized that appropriate protocol of blue laser can induce selective vasorelaxation by activating vasodilating signaling molecules in arteries. Using organ chamber arterial mechanics, NO assay, Matrigel assay, and microarray, we showed that a 200-Hz, 300-µs, 445-nm pulsed-laser (total energy of 600 mJ; spot size 4 mm) induced selective vasorelaxation, without vasocontraction in rat mesenteric arteries. The laser stimulation increased NO production in the cord blood-endothelial progenitor cells (CB-EPCs). Both the laser-induced vasorelaxation and NO production were inhibited by a non-selective, pan-NO synthase inhibitor, L-NG-Nitro arginine methyl ester. Microarray study in CB-EPCs suggested up-regulation of cryptochrome (CRY)2 as well as NO synthase (NOS)1 and NOSTRIN (NOS trafficking) by the laser. In conclusion, this study suggests that the 445-nm blue puled-laser can induce vasorelaxation possibly via the CRY photoreceptors and NOSs activation. The blue laser-therapy would be useful for treating systemic hypertension as well as improving local blood flow depending on the area of irradiation.

A Systematic Review on Cross-Cultural Comparative Studies of Sleep in Young Populations: The Roles of Cultural Factors.

Recent studies have shown that sleep is influenced and shaped by cultural factors, including cultural values, beliefs and practices. However, a systematic understanding of how cultural factors in countries may influence sleep duration and sleep disturbances is still lacking. Therefore, we focused on a comparison of sleep duration and disturbances in young populations between countries. We report cross-cultural differences between the child, parent and environmental factors, and their association with sleep duration and disturbances. The review is based on literature searches of seven databases published until December 2020. Studies were included if they investigated sleep duration and disturbances of individuals up to 18 years across at least two or more countries. The results of this review have shown that sleep duration and disturbances vary between countries and regions and certain factors (e.g., bedtime routines, sleeping arrangement, physical activity and psychological functioning) have been associated with sleep duration or disturbances. This review also demonstrates that certain factors which were associated with sleep duration or disturbances in one country, were not shown in other countries, suggesting a need for recommendations for age-related sleep duration and sleep interventions to consider cultural differences that influence sleep duration or disturbances in individual countries or regions.

A Comparison of Attitudes Toward Suicide Among Individuals With and Without Suicidal Thoughts and Suicide Attempts in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: A suicidal person can go through different stages that include suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. For a few individuals, these can end up with suicide. However, there have been no studies investigating any differences in attitudes toward suicides among individuals with no suicidal thoughts, those with suicidal thoughts, and those with suicide attempts. AIMS: This study was carried out to compare attitudes toward suicide among three different groups: individuals with a history of no suicidal thoughts, those with a history of suicidal thoughts, and those with a history of suicide attempts. METHOD: To examine Koreans' attitudes toward suicide, we analyzed the data from the 2013 National Suicide Survey involving 1,500 participants aged between 19 and 75 years. RESULTS: Different attitudes toward suicide were found among the three groups. Persons reporting that they had made a suicide attempt in their life showed the most permissive attitudes toward suicide. LIMITATIONS: Since this research is based on cross-sectional data, it is difficult to eliminate the possibility of changes in attitude toward suicide completely after having a suicidal thought and suicide attempt. CONCLUSION: These results can be a useful source for constructing effective messages for suicide prevention campaigns and can ultimately contribute to an improvement in the public's perceptions of suicide in the future.

Development and a Pilot Application Process of the Korean Psychological Autopsy Checklist for Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to develop the Korean Psychological Autopsy Checklist for Adolescent (K-PAC-A) and conduct a pilot study. METHODS: A number of steps were undertaken in the development of the K-PAC-A including literature reviews, consultations, and a pilot study. The Korean psychology autopsy checklist 2.0 (K-PAC 2.0) was carefully reviewed to adopt some domains and questions which can be applied to adolescents. RESULTS: In addition to the adoption of some domains and questions from the K-PAC 2.0, some items were developed by considering the risk factors shown in the previous studies and cultural factors including family-based and school-based problems. A pilot study was conducted in collaboration with Eulji hospital, and Suicide and School Mental Health Institute of Hallym University and 5 cases of adolescent suicide victims were recruited. A final version of the K-PAC-A consists of three domains; a bereaved family (informants), a decedent, and psychological assessments. CONCLUSION: An adolescent psychological autopsy study using the K-PAC-A is expected to provide useful evidence for suicide prevention policies and intervention plans for Korean youths in the future.

Influencing factors of attitudes toward seeking professional help for mental illness among Korean adults.

OBJECTIVES: Identifying predictors of psychological help-seeking attitudes is essential to improve access to needed mental health services. We investigated factors - particularly Big Five personality traits - that affect attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness among Korean adults. METHODS: A total of 654 participants aged 15-54 years were recruited through an online panel survey. Help-seeking attitudes for mental illness were measured by the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPH), and personality traits were measured by the Big Five Personality Inventory-10. RESULTS: Multivariate analyses showed that female gender, history of psychiatric diagnosis, agreeableness and openness to experience were significantly associated with positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that specific personality traits should be considered when developing strategies to promote positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Further research using a representative community sample is needed to generalize our findings.

Beliefs about the causes of and treatments for depression and bipolar disorder among South Koreans.

Public beliefs about psychiatric disorders are important for understanding help-seeking behaviours. We investigated factors that affect South Koreans' beliefs about the causes and treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. We recruited 654 participants aged 15-54 years using an online panel survey. Participants completed two questionnaires: 34 possible causes of and 33 possible treatments for depression and bipolar disorder. For both disorders, the questionnaires about causes revealed four factors: social-environmental, God/fate, heath/lifestyle, and biological; the questionnaires about treatments revealed five factors: self-help/stress management, physical treatment/health management, seeking mental health services, religious help, and resting. Causes of depression were more recognized as social-environmental, religious, and health/lifestyle compared to bipolar disorder. Participants expressed more beliefs in self-help/stress management, physical treatment/health management, seeking mental health services, and resting for depression, compared to bipolar disorder. Participants' beliefs about the causes of the disorders and their demographic and psychiatric characteristics were closely associated with beliefs about treatment validity. Participants' beliefs about the causes of depression and bipolar disorder significantly affected their beliefs about treatment. Therefore, strategies to improve mental health literacy should provide the aetiology of specific mental disorders. Further research using a representative community sample is needed to generalize our findings.

Lay beliefs about the causes and cures of schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Lay beliefs about schizophrenia are an important factor associated with treatment-seeking behavior. AIMS: This study was conducted to investigate the lay beliefs about the causes and treatments of schizophrenia in South Korea. METHODS: A total of 654 adults (mean age, 35.96 ± 11.33 years) completed two questionnaires assessing their views on the causes and cures of schizophrenia. The factor structures of lay beliefs about the causes and treatments of schizophrenia were then analyzed and the correlations between the resultant factors investigated. RESULTS: From the cause items, four factors were extracted: Health/Lifestyle, God/Fate, Social/Environmental and Biological. Four factors were also extracted from the treatment items: Self-Help/Stress Management, Physical Treatment/Health Management, Religious Help and Mental Health Service Utilization. Notably, most participants believed that items in the Social/Environmental and Biological factors were the causes of schizophrenia, while they believed that items in the Mental Health Service Utilization and Self-Help/Stress Management factors were the treatments. Participants' beliefs about the causes and treatments of schizophrenia were systematically correlated. CONCLUSION: Overall, laypeople have reasonably accurate beliefs and a multidimensional view of the causes and treatments of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, our results suggest that public education about the etiology and treatment of schizophrenia are necessary to increase actual usage of mental health services and treatments for schizophrenia.

Amine/Hydrido Bifunctional Nanoporous Silica with Small Metal Nanoparticles Made Onsite: Efficient Dehydrogenation Catalyst.

Multifunctional catalysts are of great interest in catalysis because their multiple types of catalytic or functional groups can cooperatively promote catalytic transformations better than their constituents do individually. Herein we report a new synthetic route involving the surface functionalization of nanoporous silica with a rationally designed and synthesized dihydrosilane (3-aminopropylmethylsilane) that leads to the introduction of catalytically active grafted organoamine as well as single metal atoms and ultrasmall Pd or Ag-doped Pd nanoparticles via on-site reduction of metal ions. The resulting nanomaterials serve as highly effective bifunctional dehydrogenative catalysts for generation of H2 from formic acid.

Mental health services and R&D in South Korea.

World Health Organization has asserted that mental illness is the greatest overriding burden of disease in the majority of developed countries, and that the socioeconomic burden of mental disease will exceed that of cancer and cardiovascular disorders in the future. The life-time prevalence rate for mental disorders in Korea is reported at 27.6 %, which means three out of 10 adults experience mental disorders more than once throughout their lifetime. Korea's suicide rate has remained the highest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations for 10 consecutive years, with 29.1 people out of every 100,000 having committed suicide. Nevertheless, a comprehensive study on the mental health services and the Research and Development (R&D) status in Korea is hard to find. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the mental health services and the R&D status in Korea, and examines their shortcomings and future direction. The paper discusses the mental health service system, budget and human resources, followed by the mental health R&D system and budget. And, by a comparison with other OECD countries, the areas for improvement are discussed and based on that, a future direction is suggested. This paper proposes three measures to realize mid and long-term mental health promotion services and to realize improvements in mental health R&D at the national level: first, establish a national mental health system; second, forecast demand for mental health; and third, secure and develop mental health professionals.

Postsynthetic functionalization of a hollow silica nanoreactor with manganese oxide-immobilized metal nanocrystals inside the cavity.

A postsynthetic protocol of functionalizing the preformed hollow nanoparticles with metal nanocrystals was developed based on galvanic replacement reaction on the Mn3O4 surface inside the cavity. The developed protocol produced hollow nanoreactor systems, in which a high density of ultrafine catalytic nanocrystals of a range of noble metals, such as Pd, Pt, Rh, and Ir and their alloys, are dispersively immobilized on an interior surface enclosed by a selectively permeable silica shell. The fabricated hollow nanoreactor exhibited highly enhanced activity, selectivity, and recyclability in catalyzing the oxidation of hydrosilanes, which are attributable to the synergistic combination of the porous silica nanoshell and the oxide-immobilized catalyst system.

A study on the photopolymerization of acrylic monomers having fluorene moiety for the application of holographic data storage system.

We have prepared photopolymer compositions for holographic data storage system from aromatic diacrylate having fluorine moiety, a hybrid sol-gel, and photoinitiator. The fluorenyl diacrylate monomer was synthesized via nucleophilic substitution reaction of fluorene diphenol with an excess of 2-chloroethoxyethanol, followed by the reaction with acryloyl chloride. The physical and holographic properties of photopolymer were controlled by the ratio of precursor triethoxysilylpropyl polyethyleneglycol carbamate (TSPEG) in a hybrid sol-gel binder and the content of monomer. Also, we measured the photopolymerization rate and conversion of monomer by photo-differential scanning calorimeter (photo-DSC). Holographic recording was attempted by photopolymerization of the monomers in the photopolymer film using a 532 nm laser light in the presence of Irgacure 784 and holographic gratings were recorded into the photopolymer films by interfering two collimated plane wave beams. Contents of monomer and TSPEG were changed in the range of 0.25-1.0 equiv. and the composition were optimized in terms of diffraction efficiency. Finally, we obtained that efficient photopolymer films showed diffraction efficiency of 78% when 0.5 equiv. of TESPEG in sol-gel binder and 40% of compound 4 were added.

ChickGCE: a novel germ cell EST database for studying the early developmental stage in chickens.

We established a database to study germ cells during the early developmental stage in the chicken. The ChickGCE database provides integrated expressed sequence tag (EST) data from chicken testis, ovary, embryonic gonads, and primordial germ cells. We gathered data on 10,294 ESTs from approximately 1000 embryonic gonads, and we experimentally determined 10,851 ESTs from primordial germ cells purified from 7955 embryonic gonads by magnetically activated cell sorting. The EST testis and ovary datasets were retrieved from the public database of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). The EST data were clustered and assembled into unique sequences, contigs, and singletons. The ChickGCE database provides functional annotation, identification, and putative embryonic germ-cell-specific novel transcripts based on the Gene Ontology database, as well as statistical analyses of expression patterns and pair-wise comparisons of two types of tissue- and germ-cell-specific alternative splicing events in the chicken. The new database is accessible online and queries can be answered using several search options, including tissue database searches, keywords, clone IDs, expected values, and BLAST search scores.

Generation and analysis of large-scale expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a full-length enriched cDNA library of porcine backfat tissue.

BACKGROUND: Genome research in farm animals will expand our basic knowledge of the genetic control of complex traits, and the results will be applied in the livestock industry to improve meat quality and productivity, as well as to reduce the incidence of disease. A combination of quantitative trait locus mapping and microarray analysis is a useful approach to reduce the overall effort needed to identify genes associated with quantitative traits of interest. RESULTS: We constructed a full-length enriched cDNA library from porcine backfat tissue. The estimated average size of the cDNA inserts was 1.7 kb, and the cDNA fullness ratio was 70%. In total, we deposited 16,110 high-quality sequences in the dbEST division of GenBank (accession numbers: DT319652-DT335761). For all the expressed sequence tags (ESTs), approximately 10.9 Mb of porcine sequence were generated with an average length of 674 bp per EST (range: 200-952 bp). Clustering and assembly of these ESTs resulted in a total of 5,008 unique sequences with 1,776 contigs (35.46%) and 3,232 singleton (65.54%) ESTs. From a total of 5,008 unique sequences, 3,154 (62.98%) were similar to other sequences, and 1,854 (37.02%) were identified as having no hit or low identity (<95%) and 60% coverage in The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) gene index of Sus scrofa. Gene ontology (GO) annotation of unique sequences showed that approximately 31.7, 32.3, and 30.8% were assigned molecular function, biological process, and cellular component GO terms, respectively. A total of 1,854 putative novel transcripts resulted after comparison and filtering with the TIGR SsGI; these included a large percentage of singletons (80.64%) and a small proportion of contigs (13.36%). CONCLUSION: The sequence data generated in this study will provide valuable information for studying expression profiles using EST-based microarrays and assist in the condensation of current pig TCs into clusters representing longer stretches of cDNA sequences. The isolation of genes expressed in backfat tissue is the first step toward a better understanding of backfat tissue on a genomic basis.