Examination of Korean immigrant mothers' parenting practices: By using the framework of bilinear acculturation.

By using the conceptual framework of bilinear acculturation, this study examined Korean immigrant mothers' parenting practices among 389 mother-youth (adolescent children in middle or high school) dyads. We examined (a) how mothers' acculturation and enculturation were related to mainstream (i.e., authoritarian vs. authoritative styles, communication, warmth/bonding, autonomy support) versus culture specific parenting practices (i.e., interdependence, commitment to education, academic control) and (b) how parenting practices were, in turn, linked to youth outcomes of depression, antisocial behaviors, and academic performance as measured 1.5 years later. Mothers and youth had significant perceptual gaps in parenting practices, especially in autonomy support and parental commitment to education. Therefore, path analyses were conducted separately for mother-reported versus youth-reported parenting. As hypothesized, mothers' acculturation was more closely related to mainstream parenting, while enculturation was to culture specific parenting. Mother-reported autonomy support predicted higher academic performance, while youth-reported authoritarian parenting predicted lower academic performance. Youth-reported communication predicted lower depression and antisocial behaviors. The current findings have implications for parenting and family interventions to optimize Korean immigrant youth's wellbeing in the bicultural context. Additionally, bilinear acculturation was found to be a useful conceptual framework in studying immigrant parenting.

Decreased thalamic volumes in adolescent inhalant users from Korea and Australia.

OBJECTIVES: Research investigating the impact of inhalant misuse on brain structure suggests abnormalities in subcortical regions. We investigated the association between inhalant misuse and subcortical brain volumes in adolescents. METHODS: Based on a collaborative dataset from South Korea (inhalant users: N = 15, mean age = 16.7, SD = 1.1; controls: N = 15, mean age = 15.4, SD = 1.2) and Australia (inhalant users: N = 7, mean age = 18.2, SD = 1.4; controls: N = 7, mean age = 18.9, SD = 2.6), the volumes of caudate nucleus, putamen, pallidum, amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus were estimated in adolescent inhalant users and healthy adolescents using FreeSurfer. RESULTS: The results revealed a significantly decreased right thalamic volume in adolescent inhalant users (P = 0.042), along with a trend-level decrease in left thalamic volume (P = 0.061). A negative correlation (r = -0.544; P = 0.036) between thalamic volume and severity of inhalant use (i.e., reduced volumes associated with greater use) was identified among Korean participants. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that compared with other subcortical structures, the thalamus is particularly sensitive to damage following chronic inhalant exposure during adolescence.

Decreased functional brain connectivity in adolescents with internet addiction.

BACKGROUND: Internet addiction has become increasingly recognized as a mental disorder, though its neurobiological basis is unknown. This study used functional neuroimaging to investigate whole-brain functional connectivity in adolescents diagnosed with internet addiction. Based on neurobiological changes seen in other addiction related disorders, it was predicted that connectivity disruptions in adolescents with internet addiction would be most prominent in cortico-striatal circuitry. METHODS: Participants were 12 adolescents diagnosed with internet addiction and 11 healthy comparison subjects. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were acquired, and group differences in brain functional connectivity were analyzed using the network-based statistic. We also analyzed network topology, testing for between-group differences in key graph-based network measures. RESULTS: Adolescents with internet addiction showed reduced functional connectivity spanning a distributed network. The majority of impaired connections involved cortico-subcortical circuits (∼24% with prefrontal and ∼27% with parietal cortex). Bilateral putamen was the most extensively involved subcortical brain region. No between-group difference was observed in network topological measures, including the clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, or the small-worldness ratio. CONCLUSIONS: Internet addiction is associated with a widespread and significant decrease of functional connectivity in cortico-striatal circuits, in the absence of global changes in brain functional network topology.

Reduced orbitofrontal cortical thickness in male adolescents with internet addiction.

BACKGROUND: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has consistently been implicated in the pathology of both drug and behavioral addictions. However, no study to date has examined OFC thickness in internet addiction. In the current study, we investigated the existence of differences in cortical thickness of the OFC in adolescents with internet addiction. On the basis of recently proposed theoretical models of addiction, we predicted a reduction of thickness in the OFC of internet addicted individuals. FINDINGS: Participants were 15 male adolescents diagnosed as having internet addiction and 15 male healthy comparison subjects. Brain magnetic resonance images were acquired on a 3T MRI and group differences in cortical thickness were analyzed using FreeSurfer. Our results confirmed that male adolescents with internet addiction have significantly decreased cortical thickness in the right lateral OFC (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This finding supports the view that the OFC alterations in adolescents with internet addiction reflect a shared neurobiological marker of addiction-related disorders in general.

Safety pharmacology of CKD-602, a novel anticancer agent.

CKD-602 ((20S)-7-[2-(N-isopropylamino)-ethyl]-camptothecin.HCl, CAS 213819-48-8) is a new class of anticancer drug that belongs to the topoisomerase inhibitors. Its effect on the central nervous system (CNS), general behavior, cardiovascular-respiratory system and the other organ systems were studied. When intravenously administered, CKD-602 up to doses of 5 mg/kg caused an increase of body temperature, increase of respiration rate, decrease of gastrointestinal transport, showed analgesic action and produced antisecretory action in pylorus ligated rats. However, CKD-602 showed no effects on general behavior, motor coordination, spontaneous locomotor activity, hexobarbital sleeping time, convulsion, cardiovascular, smooth muscle and urinary tract system. These findings demonstrate that CKD-602 in doses up to 5 mg/kg has minor effects on the CNS in animals. However, CKD-602 does not exert any general pharmacological effects at the dose of 1 mg/kg except the effects on gastric secretion.