• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.123-129
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study was to analyze differences in imaging quality and dose difference between intra-venous (IV) and intra-arterial (IA) liver dynamic computed tomography (CT). Herein, retrospective, blinded analysis was conducted to analyze signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios in cases of patients who underwent IV or IA liver dynamic CT for transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), an interventional procedure for hepatocellular carcinoma. The dose length product (DLP) value stored in Picture Archive and Communication System (PACS) was used to calculate the effective dose and thereby compare differences in the dose between the two methods. The mean liver and spleen signal to noise ratio (SNR) was greater in IV-liver dynamic CT than in IA-liver dynamic CT; however, contrast to noise ratio (CNR) was higher in IA-liver dynamic CT than in IV-liver dynamic CT. However, there were no differences in DLP and effective dose between the two methods. In conclusion, our findings showed that IA-liver dynamic CT showed a similar effective dose and superior CNR compared with IV-liver dynamic CT. Further studies must analyze 3D angiography CT of the hepatic artery to clearly distinguish the feeding artery, which is the essential step in interventional procedures for hepatocellular carcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.2761-2765
• /
• 2016

Opisthorchiasis is a health problem in rural communities of Thailand, particularly in the northeast and north regions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate raw fish consuming behavior related to liver fluke infection among the population at risk for opisthorchiasis and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Meuang Yang district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast Thailand, between June and October 2015. Participants were screened for CCA, and samples who had a high score of CCA risk were purposively selected. A predesigned questionnaire was utilized to collect the data from all participants. $X^2-test$ was used for analysis of associations between demographic data and raw fish consumption. The results revealed that participants had past histories of stool examination (33.0%), liver fluke infection (21.0%), praziquantel use (24.0%), raw fish consumption (78.0%), relatives family consuming raw fish (73.0%), and relatives family with CCA (3.0%). Participants consumed several dished related to liver fluke infection, mainly raw fermented fish (13.0%), under smoked catfish (5.00%), raw pickled fish (4.00%), and raw spicy minced fish salad (3.00%). The most common types of cyprinoid fish were Barbodes gonionotus (39%), Hampala dispar (38%), Puntius brevis (37%), Cyclocheilichthys armatus (33%), Puntioplites proctozysron (32%), and Luciosoma bleekeri (30%), respectively. Participants had a low level of knowledge (mean=3.79, SD=0.74), moderate attitude (mean=7.31, SD=7.31) and practice (mean=38.64, SD=6.95) regarding liver fluke prevention and control. Demographic variables like age (>36 years old; $X^2-test=17.794$, p-value=0.001), education (primary school; $X^2-test=18.952$, p-value=0.001), marital status (married; $X^2-test=12.399$, p-value=0.002), and income (<5,000 baht; $X^2-test=27.757$, p-value=0.015) were significantly associated with raw fish consumption. This result indicates that the population had risk consumption for liver fluke infection particularly of various cyprinoid fishes that are $2^{nd}$ intermediate hosts. Therefore, health education is required to improve their behavior.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.129-138
• /
• 2005

As the patients who need to undergo liver transplant operation continues to grow. the number of livers that are donated can not keep pace with the demand. With the development of surgery skills, the necessity for operations from living donors is increasing. Nevertheless, satisfactory research has been conducted on the factors which generally affect the living donors. In this article. therefore. researchers focused on the factors which generally affect the donating liver donor in order to design a plan for recommending liver donation from living donors. The subjects were 91 living liver donors in C university hospital from October 1. 2000 to December 31. 2003. The results on the uncertainty of living donor, by test sheet. were analyzed with SAS program. The final results were as follows: 1. The uncertainty of the living donors was 51.54 marks per full credit 100. 2. The factor with the greatest effect on donation was the possibility of survival of the donor, followed by the admission period. marriage status and age. In recommending the living donation, the rate of donor survival after the operation was 5.2 times higher than death, 5.2 times higher when the admission period was under 20 days. 5.0 times higher when married. and 27.3 times higher when the family-related donation was very active at the age of 20s than in the 50s. These results suggest that all medical staffs should care for living donors with more interest and activity to give them the least complaints in admission and the lowest possibilities for complication. To enhance the survival rate and improve the surgical success rate. on-going monitoring should include regular health-checks. and continual efforts and education should be made to care for the health condition of the living donors after donation.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.124-131
• /
• 2021

Objective: Approximately 30% of preeclamptic pregnancies exhibit abnormal liver function tests. We assessed liver injury-associated enzyme levels and circulating transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) levels in an arginine vasopressin (AVP)-induced pregnant Sprague-Dawley rat model. Methods: Pregnant and non-pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats (n=24) received AVP (150 ng/hr) subcutaneously via mini-osmotic pumps for 18 days. Blood pressure was measured, urine samples were collected, and all animals were euthanized via isoflurane. Blood was collected to measure circulating levels of TGF-β1-3 isomers and liver injury enzymes in pregnant AVP (PAVP), pregnant saline (PS), non-pregnant AVP (NAVP), and non-pregnant saline (NS) rats. Results: The PAVP group showed significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than both saline-treated groups. The weight per pup was significantly lower in the AVP-treated group than in the saline group (p<0.05). Circulating TGF-β1-3 isomer levels were significantly higher in the PAVP rats than in the NS rats. However, similar TGF-β1 and TGF-β3 levels were noted in the PS and PAVP rats, while TGF-β2 levels were significantly higher in the PAVP rats. Circulating liver-type arginase-1 and 5'-nucleotidase levels were higher in the PAVP rats than in the saline group. Conclusion: This is the first study to demonstrate higher levels of TGF-β2, arginase, and 5'-nucleotidase activity in PAVP than in PS rats. AVP may cause vasoconstriction and increase peripheral resistance and blood pressure, thereby elevating TGF-β and inducing the preeclampsia-associated inflammatory response. Future studies should explore the mechanisms through which AVP dysregulates liver injury enzymes and TGF-β in pregnant rats.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.191-196
• /
• 2001

To evaluate an effect of cyclohexanone (CHO) treatment on the serum levels of glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity in acute liver damaged animals, acute liver damage was induced in rats with pretreatment of 50% $CCl_4$ in olive oil (0.1 ml/100 g body wt) intraperitoneally 14 times every other day. To liver damaged rats, CHO (1.56 g/kg body wt, i. p.) was injected once and then rats were sacrificed at 4 hours after injection of CHO. Increasing rate of GST activity to the control in serum was higher in CHO-treated rats pretreated with CCL$_4$ than the $CCl_4$-pretreated those. All the more, the injection of CHO to the liver damaged rats led to more enhanced liver damage on the basis of liver functional findings, i. e., serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity, liver weight per body weight, and malondialdehyde content. The changing pattern of serum ALT activity was similar with that of GST activity, whereas that of liver in both enzymes differed more or less from each other; the liver GST activity in CHO-treated rats pretreated with $CCl_4$ being more increased tendency than that of $CCl_4$-pretreated rats. Concomitantly the injection of CHO showed a increasing tendency of liver GST activity compared with the control. Furthermore, CHO injection to the liver damaged rats showed somewhat higher Vmax in the kinetics of liver GST enzymes. In conclusion, injection of CHO to the liver damaged animals led to more increased activity of serum GST, and it may be chiefly caused by the alteration of membrane permeability.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2013

Background: Diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) has recently been introduced in Korea as a demonstration project and it has aimed the improvement of accuracy in bundled payment instead of Diagnosis related group (DRG). The purpose of this study is to investigate that the model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) score as the severity classification of liver diseases is adequate for improving reimbursement of DPC. Methods: The subjects of this study were 329 patients of liver disease (Korean DRG ver. 3.2 H603) who had discharged from National Health Insurance Corporation Ilsan Hospital which is target hospital of DPC demonstration project, between January 1, 2007 and July 31, 2010. We tested the cost differences by severity classifications which were DRG severity classification and clinical severity classification-MELD score. We used a multiple regression model to find the impacts of severity on total medical cost controlling for demographic factor and characteristics of medical services. The within group homogeneity of cost were measured by calculating the coefficient of variation and extremal quotient. Results: This study investigates the relationship between medical costs and other variables especially severity classifications of liver disease. Length of stay has strong effect on medical costs and other characteristics of patients or episode also effect on medical costs. MELD score for severity classification explained the variation of costs more than DRG severity classification. Conclusion: The accuracy of DRG based payment might be improved by using various clinical data collected by clinical situations but it should have objectivity with considering availability. Adequate compensation for severity should be considered mainly in DRG based payment. Disease specific severity classification would be an alternative like MELD score for liver diseases.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.124-131
• /
• 2013

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a number of common variants associated with serum liver enzyme homeostasis in population. In the previous study, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in several genes have been reported to be associated with serum liver enzyme levels in European population. We aimed to confirm whether the genetic variation of SMAD2 (SMAD family member 2) gene influence the serum liver enzyme levels in Korean population. We genotyped variants in or near SMAD2 in a population-based sample including 994 unrelated Korean adult. Here, we performed association analysis to elucidate the possible relations of genetic polymorphisms in SMAD2 gene with serum liver enzyme levels. By examining genotype data of a total of 944 subjects in 5 hospital health promotion center, we discovered the SMAD2 gene polymorphisms are associated with serum liver enzyme levels. The common and highest significant polymorphism was rs17736760 (${\beta}$=3.51, P=5.31E-07) with glutamic oxaloacetic transferase (GOT), rs17736760 (${\beta}$=5.99, P=1.25E-05) with glutamic pyruvate transaminase (GPT), and rs17736760 (${\beta}$=15.68, P=9.93E-07) with gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) in all group. Furthermore, the SNP rs17736760 was consistently associated with GOT (${\beta}$=5.25, P=1.72E-06), GPT (${\beta}$=9.97, P=1.16E-05), GGT (${\beta}$=26.13, P=3.43E-06) in men group. Consequently, we found statistically significant SNP in SMAD2 gene that are associated with serum levels of GOT, GPT, and GGT. In addition, these results suggest that the individuals with the minor alleles of the SNP in the SMAD2 gene may be more elevated serum liver enzyme levels in the Korean population.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.777-783
• /
• 2015

The nitric oxide (NO) formation and intrinsic nitrosation may be involved in the possible mechanisms of liver fluke-associated carcinogenesis. We still do not know much about the responses of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) induced by Clonorchis sinensis infection. This study was conducted to explore the pathological lesions and iNOS expressions in the liver of mice with different infection intensity levels of C. sinensis. Extensive periductal inflammatory cell infiltration, bile duct hyperplasia, and fibrosis were commonly observed during the infection. The different pathological responses in liver tissues strongly correlated with the infection intensity of C. sinensis. Massive acute spotty necrosis occurred in the liver parenchyma after a severe infection. The iNOS activity in liver tissues increased, and iNOS-expressing cells with morphological differences were observed after a moderate or severe infection. The iNOS-expressing cells in liver tissues had multiple origins.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.97-104
• /
• 2011

N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) is globally used as an organic solvent in the production of synthetic leather and resins because of its low volatility, making it an attractive industrial material. Despite its excellent property as a chemical solvent, utilization of DMF is somewhat controversial nowadays due to its hazardous effects on exposed workers in work places. Many toxification cases are being reported globally and the number of cases of liver damage is still increasing in developing countries. On account of this, a series of epidemiologic surveys are being conducted to understand the degrees of liver damage caused by DMF exposure. Furthermore, many investigations have been performed to clarify the mechanism of DMF-induced liver toxicity using both human and experimental animal models. This review summarizes the current occupational cases reported on liver damage from workers exposed to DMF in industrial work places and the research results that account for DMF-induced liver failure and possible carcinogenesis. The findings reviewed here show the synergistic toxicity of DMF exposure with other toxicants, which might occur through complicated but distinct mechanisms, which may extend our knowledge for establishing risk assessments of DMF exposure in industrial work places.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.165-175
• /
• 2018

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to examine symptom experiences, perceived health status, disease status, and self-care compliance of patients with liver cirrhosis and to identify the factors that affect their self-care compliance. Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional design and 148 patients who were being treated at D-university hospital in Busan participated in the survey. The data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Bonferroni test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The factors affecting self-care compliance were symptom experiences, disease status, age, and gender. These factors explained 21.6% of the variance in self-care compliance of patients with liver cirrhosis. Conclusion: The findings indicate that nursing interventions that prevent patients' symptoms are needed to promote self-care compliance in patients with liver cirrhosis. The patient should also be helped to recognize the need for self-care compliance from an early stage.