Seoul National University · 医学
Professor Jun Soo Kwon's research lab focuses on the neurobiological underpinnings of schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with a particular emphasis on brain circuitry, neurodevelopmental abnormalities, and cognitive deficits. The lab investigates abnormalities in cortical oscillations, such as gamma-band activity and midline structure development, as well as disruptions in corticostriatal-limbic circuits linked to symptom formation. A key focus is also on improving physical health outcomes in schizophrenia, including weight management programs for patients on antipsychotic medication. The lab integrates neuroimaging, EEG, and clinical assessments to understand both the neural mechanisms and holistic well-being of psychiatric patients.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
These data provide new information on selective deficits in early-stage sensory processing in schizophrenia, a failure to support the entrainment of intrinsic gamma-frequency oscillators. The reduced EEG power at 40 Hz in schizophrenic patients may reflect a dysfunction of the recurrent inhibitory drive on auditory neural networks.
Patients with OCD appear to have wide-ranging cognitive deficits, although their impairment is not so large in general. The different test forms and methods of testing may have influenced the performance of patients with OCD, indicating the need to select carefully the test forms and methods of testing used in future research. The effects of various confounding variables on cognitive functioning need to be investigated further and to be controlled before a definite conclusion can be made.
Patients with schizophrenia have reduced left planum temporale gray matter and a reversal of planum temporale asymmetry, which may underlie an impairment in language processing and symptoms of suspiciousness or persecution characteristic of schizophrenia.
The results suggest that alterations in midline structures during the course of neurodevelopment may play a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.
The weight management program was effective in terms of weight reduction in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder taking olanzapine and was also found to be safe in terms of psychiatric symptoms, vital signs, and laboratory data. In addition, such a weight management program might improve quality of life in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder with respect to their physical well-being.
Compulsive behaviors in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be related to deficits in reward processing mediated by corticostriatal circuitry, a brain network implicated in the pathophysiology of OCD. Performing compulsive actions can be perceived as a reward to OCD patients because it temporarily reduces the anxiety provoked by obsessions. Although most OCD literature provides evidence of altered regional activity in these corticostriatal circuits, very little is known about the connectivit
Disrupted thalamo-cortical connectivity is regarded as a core psychopathology in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. However, whether the thalamo-cortical white matter connectivity is disrupted before the onset of psychosis is still unknown. To determine this gap in knowledge, the strength of thalamo-cortical white matter anatomical connectivity in subjects at clinical-high risk for psychosis (CHR) was compared to that of first-episode psychosis (FEP) and healthy controls. A total of 37 CHR,
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