• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2010

Objectives: Liver function tests are used as screening tests for liver injuries, but their inaccuracy on positive predictive values can result in numerous false positive results. We investigated the incidence of liver function test abnormalities of patients who came to an oriental medicine hospital, in order to present a practical way to rule out false positive results for other studies designed to investigate the safety of Korean herb medicine. Methods: We analyzed the medical records and liver function test results proceeded at admission of all in-patients admitted to Jaseng Oriental Medicine Hospital, from July 2008 to June 2009. Results: Among 1,117 inpatients, 941 executed liver function tests on admission, and 40 were excluded due to their diagnosed liver disease. 747 (82.9%) of 901 enrolled patients were within the normal range of all liver function tests, and 140 (15.5%) and 14 (1.6%) were classified as "abnormalities of liver tests" and "liver injury" respectively, according to the CIOMS (Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences) criteria. Conclusions: According to the results, among the outcomes of liver function tests proceeded among the patients admitted to the oriental medicine hospital, excluding who were diagnosed with liver disease, 17.1% showed abnormality. This means simple liver function test results are not sufficient in determining liver toxicity of Korean herb medicine (KHM).

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.115-123
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• 2007

Objectives : To investigate the correlations among alcohol consumption, alcoholic liver disorders, physical symptoms, and behaviors in heavy drinkers. Methods : 53 males who self-realized their severe alcohol consumption were enrolled in this study. 10 answers for a questionnaire, serum parameter, sonographic finding and body mass index were attained. The correlations between them were analyzed using Pearson's correlation and Student's t-test. Results : The average consumption of alcohol in these subjects was 2.5-fold over social drinkers. The incidence of alcoholic hepatitis was around 30%, while fatty liver 73%, and abnormal GGT 77%, respectively. No specific correlation between average volume of daily alcoholic consumption and alcohol-related hepatic parameters was shown in this study, but correlative tendency between fatty liver and body mass index was exhibited. Conclusions : This study may indicate that alcoholic liver injuries are caused by not just volume of alcohol consumed but more mixed factors including inherited genetic components, body fat mass, foods and other physical or emotional stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.4
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• pp.824-834
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• 2023

Interventional management is commonly used for traumatic injuries to the abdominal solid organs. The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) and the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) recently published guidelines for the management and treatment of liver, spleen, and kidney injuries, emphasizing the importance of interventions. Here, we discuss the characteristics of each organ and the procedure method for each organ that interventional radiologists need to know when treating trauma patients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.213-218
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• 2014

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the causal relationship between use of levocetrizine or cetrizine, and liver injury, by comparing frequency and pattern of hepatotoxicity in levocetrizine or cetrizine prescribed patients. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study, using data retrieved from electronic medical record system. Among 1164 patients prescribed levocetrizine or cetrizine during study period (Jul, 2009 - Jun, 2010) at Seoul National University Hospital, 543 patients with more than 4- time liver function test (LFT) results were included in final analysis. Liver injury was defined as greater than 3 times elevated level of alanine aminotransferase or 2 times elevated level of alkaline phosphatase or total bilirubin, compared to upper limit of normal, in patient with normal liver function at baseline. The frequency and pattern of liver injury were assessed. Results: Incidence of liver injury in patients prescribed with levotcetrizine or cetrizine were 1.48% and 2.94%, respectively. With few exceptions, most injuries were shown to be hepatocellular type. Rapid recovery was observed after drug cessation and long term use tends to be associated with incidence of liver injury. In patient with digestive system disorder, rate of liver injury was significantly higher (p=0.011). Conclusion: The result of this study implies potential need of liver toxicity monitoring, especially in patients taking long term levecetrizine or cetrizine or in patient with digestive system disorder. However, prospective large scale observational study is needed to confirm liver injury associated with the use of levocetirizine or cetirizine.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.116-123
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• 2016

Purpose: To develop an inclusive and sustainable trauma system as the assessment of burden of injuries is very much important. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the estimates and characteristics of abdominal traumatic injuries. Methods: The data were extracted from the National Emergency Department Information System. Based on Korean Standard Classification for Disease 6th version, which is the Korean version of International Classification of Disease 10th revision, abdominal injuries were identified and abdominal surgeries were evaluated with electronic data interchange codes. Demographic factors, numbers of surgeries and clinical outcomes were also investigated. Results: From 2011 to 2014, about 24,696 patients with abdominal trauma were admitted to the hospitals annually in South Korea. The number of patients who were admitted to regional and local emergency medical centers was 8,622 (34.91%) and 15,564(63.02%), respectively. Based on National Emergency Department Information System, liver was identified as the most commonly injured abdominal solid organ (39.50%, 9,754/24,696, followed by spleen (17.57%, 4,338/24,696) and kidney (12.94%, 3,195/24,696). Conclusion: This study shows that the demand for abdominal trauma care is considerable in South Korea and most of the patients with abdominal trauma were admitted to regional or local emergency centers. The results of this study can be used as good source of information for staffs to ensure proper delivery of abdominal trauma care in trauma centers nationally.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.30-45
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• 2009

Background: The safety of herbal products is an important issue in Korea. It is more complicated because of the concomitant use of conventional western drugs and herbal medicine, including prescribed medicine, folk herbs and food supplements. Although both western and traditional Korean medical doctors have studied on the safety of HMP, their results did not show relevant or consistent conclusions because of the poor quality of studies, including bias. Objectives: The aim of this study was to review the studies in Korea related to drug induced liver injury (DILI) systematically. We tried to estimate the proportion of causative materials of DILI and evaluate the clinical difference of DILIs from different materials. Methods: Systematic searches were performed on MedRIC and MEDLIS in Korea. The extraction of data as well as selective screening of the studies was carried out independently by two of the authors. There were no restrictions on the types of publication, including grey literature. Results: Twenty-one articles were included. Of them only 7 adapted prospective design and only 6 were published in peer-reviewed journals. The proportion of conventional drugs associated with hepatotoxic injuries in all DILI ranged from 15.8% to 83.3% and that of herbal medicine was from 28.9% to 44.7%. However, the criteria for herbal medicine were not clearly defined and concomitant medications were not fully investigated in most studies. There were limited objective data in the clinical differences of liver injuries from different materials and their results were conflicting. Conclusions: The causality assessments regarding DILI of herbal medicine were not performed properly and causative materials were misclassified in most of the studies published in Korea. These make the safety issue still ambiguous because of the limitations and lack of objectivity of the studies. More rigorous studies are required for clearly addressing these conflicting issues with cooperative investigation between traditional Korean and western medicine.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.253-257
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• 1990

The effect of water extract in fruits of Omija (Schizandra chinensis Ballion) on liver function in expermental liver injuries induced by $CCl_4$. The levels of GPT, GOT activities in serum were decreased apparently on the dosage of water extract in fruits of Omija correspond to raw Omija 1g compared to control group. The levels of Microsomal protein, glycogen, and pyruvate in liver and of Urea nitrogen, GPT, GOT, LDH in serum showed a trend toward restoration of normalization. No effective of levels of hepatic G6P DH activity and serum free fatty acid by water extract in fruits of Omija.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Veterinary Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.45-45
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• 2003

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is known to cause liver injury characterized by centrilobular necrosis. The toxicity is thought to be exerted via cytochrome P-450-mediated metabolism of $CCl_4$ to trichloromethyl and trichloro-methylperoxy radicals, which initiates lipid peroxidation, leading to hepatocellular membrane damage [l, 2]. Our study demonstrates a therapeutic efficacy of YCY, extract of a cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus, on liver injuries induced by $CCl_4$. (omitted)

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.405-414
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• 2001

Protaetia brevitarsis has been utilized as an ingredient of the description for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatic diseases in oriental medicine. This study was attempted to investigate whether Protaetia brevitarsis extract(PBE) protects or modulates the liver injuries induced by carbon tetrachloride or ethanol in Sprageue-Dawley rate. The liver injuries of rats induced by the treatment of carbon tetrachloride or ethanol were manifested by the observation of the significant changes in liver weight, serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities, serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and microsomal detocification enzymes(cytochrome P_450), cytochrome b$_{5}$, and cytochrome b$_{5}$ reductase).The effect of PBF on the liver damage induced by the chemicals was evaluated with the extent modulated in change of biochemical parameters above. Exposure to ethanol alone resulted a significant change in the ration of liver per body weight, ALT activity, and microsomal detoxification enzymes (cytochrome P_450, cytochrome b$_{5}$, and cytochrome b$_{5}$ reductase), but did not significantly changes in the levels of serum AST activity and TBARS. Pretreatment coith PBE did not modulate the alteration of the ratio of liver to body weigth, and the activities of serum aminotransferascs (AST. ALT), TBARS, and micro somal detoxification enzyme (cytochrome p_450, cytochrome b$_{5}$,and cytochrome b$_{5}$ reductase. These result suggested that PBE has not appreciable therapeutic effect on carbon tetrachloride or ethanol induced hepatotoxicity.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2010

Objective : For this study, mice on mercurial toxication were given mercuric subcutaneous injection to their abdomen factitiously. After delivering Kami- bangpungtongseong-san(KBT) extracts to the mice by oral administration, we observed changes from liver and kidney of mice. Method : The BALB/c mice were distributed into three groups: No treated group(Normal group), Mercuric chloride subcutaneous injection group(Control group), Kami-bangpungtongseong-san-treated group (Sample group). KBT Extracts were delivered orally in 7 days. We observed involution of liver, necrosis of liver and cell plate loss of liver, lipid peroxidation CYP1A1 expression. We observed involution of proximal convoluted tubules, hypertrophy of Bowman's capsule, periodic acid-Schiff(PAS)'s positive reaction of proximal convoluted tubules, heat shock protein(HSP)700's positive reaction in glomerulus. For the charting the results, image analysis was taken. The result of image analysis was verified significance by Sigmaplot 2000(P<0.05). Result : The mice' liver on mercurial toxication were relieved involution of liver, necrosis of liver, and cell plate loss of liver and also declined lipid peroxidation and CYP1A1 expression. The mice' kidney on mercurial toxication were relieved involution of proximal convoluted tubules, hypertrophy of Bowman's capsule and increasing PAS's positive reaction of proximal convoluted tubules. On the other hand it was declined HSP700's positive reaction in glomerulus. Conclusion : According to the result of study, we think that we can expect to the effect of KBT extracts' therapeutic action to tissue injuries of the mice' liver and kidney on acute mercurial toxication.