• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2017

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to examine self-efficacy, severity, social support, and self-care compliance of patients with liver cirrhosis and to identify the factors that affect their self-care compliance. Methods: A total of 160 outpatients with liver cirrhosis visiting the gastroenterology clinic at an university hospital located in Busan were enrolled in this study. Data were collected via self-report questionnaires including self-efficacy, severity of disease, social support, and self-care compliance measures. The collected data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, $Scheff\acute{e}-test$, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The factors affecting self-care compliance were self-efficacy, severity of disease, age, and sex. These factors explained 28.4% of the variance in self-care compliance of patients with liver cirrhosis. Conclusion: Therefore, nursing interventions that enhance patients' self-efficacy are needed to promote self-care compliance in patients with liver cirrhosis. In addition, patients must be taught of the importance of self-care compliance so that even young patients and those with relatively mild disease. That would also be motivated to comply with self-care instructions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4765-4771
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• 2014

Background: Patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD) may have compromised health related quality of life (HRQoL). Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has long been the leading cause of CLD including liver cancer and cirrhosis. Knowledge on different symptom profiles of CLD should help in development of comprehensive treatment and patient care plans. Objective: To access the facets of HRQoL in chronic liver diseases throughout their spectrum of severity. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University in Yunnan Province of China. Both out- and inpatients undergoing treatment protocols for different HBV related liver disease states were consecutively collected from December 2012 to June 2013. ANOVA was used to compare the mean scores of EQ-5D and chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ) among 5 disease groups. The relationship between demographic variables predicting global CLDQ scores and the domains of CLDQ was analysed. Results: A total of 1040 patients including 520 without complications, 91 with compensated cirrhosis, 198 with decompensated cirrhosis, 131 with HCC and 100 with liver failure were recruited. All domains of CLDQ, the means of EQ-5D value and EQ VAS exhibited significant decline with worsening of disease severity from uncomplicated HBV to liver failure. The multivariate regression demonstrated the reduction of mean scores of CLDQ domain at advanced stage. Patients with liver failure and HCC had more HRQoL impairment than other disease states. No effect of patient gender was found. Patient age was associated with 'fatigue' and 'worry' domains (p=0.006; p=0.004) but not with other domains and global scores of CLDQ and ED-5D. Conclusions: The HRQoL in chronic hepatitis B patients is greatly affected by disease states. Care for HBV-related diseases should consider not only the outcomes of treatment strategies but also improvement in patient wellbeing.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.219-227
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of dietary compliance, nutritional status, and stages of disease in patients with liver cirrhosis and to identify the relationships among those variables. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design and conducted a survey of 100 patients who were treated at D-university hospital in Busan. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficients were performed using SPSS/WINdow 20.0 program. Results: The mean score of dietary compliance was 3.50 in the a 5-point scale. Stage of disease was significantly correlated with dietary compliance (r=.20, p=.048), and protein as one of nutritional status (r=-.44, p<.001). Conclusion: These findings suggest that dietary compliance of patients with liver cirrhosis can have an influence on prognosis of disease. Therefore, patients should be encouraged to improve dietary compliance from the early stage of liver cirrhosis.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2012

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and the efficacy of Korean herbal, western and combination medicine use in patients with abnormal liver function tests. Methods: We investigated nerve disease patients with abnormal liver function tests who were treated with Korean herbal, western and combination medicine at Dong-Eui University Oriental Hospital from January 2011 to August 2011. We compared aspartic aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (T-bil) levels before and after taking medicine and excluded patients who had liver-related disease when admitted. Results: AST and ALT were decreased significantly in patients who had taken herbal, western medicine. AST, ALT and ALP were decreased significantly in patients who had taken combination medicine. Compare to herbal medicine, AST, ALT and ALP were decreased significantly in patients who had taken western medicine, and ALT and ALP were decreased significantly in patients who had taken combination medicine. There were no significant differences between western and combination medicine. Conclusions: This study suggests that prescribed Korean herbal medicine, at least, does not injure liver function for patients', moreover, it was shown to be effective in patients with abnormal liver function tests.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.196-201
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• 2016

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited disorder caused by defective nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase enzyme and characterized by recurrent bacterial and fungal infections. Although liver abscess is a common manifestation of CGD, its management in CGD patients is not well-defined. In addition, the generalized guidelines for treating liver abscesses do not necessarily apply to CGD patients. Corticosteroids are commonly used to control granulomatous complications, such as inflammatory gastrointestinal and genitourinary lesions, in patients with CGD, Corticosteroids have also been used in combination with antimicrobials to treat refractory infections in patients with CGD. Because corticosteroids are capable of suppressing symptomatic inflammation, all potential infections must be adequately controlled prior to corticosteroid initiation. We report 3 typical CGD cases with liver abscesses refractory to conventional treatments that were successfully treated with the concomitant use of corticosteroid and antimicrobials. It remains unclear whether corticosteroid therapy is required for liver abscesses in CGD refractory to conventional treatments. However, based on our observations, use of corticosteroids in combination with optimal antimicrobials should be considered for refractory liver abscesses in CGD.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.225-232
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• 2013

Children with abnormal liver function can often be seen in outpatient clinics or inpatients wards. Most of them have respiratory disease, or gastroenteritis by virus infection, accompanying fever. Occasionally, hepatitis by the viruses causing systemic infection may occur, and screening tests are required. In patients with jaundice, the tests for differential diagnosis and appropriate treatment are important. In the case of a child with hepatitis B virus infection vertically from a hepatitis B surface antigen positive mother, the importance of the recognition of immune clearance can't be overstressed, for the decision of time to begin treatment. Early diagnosis changes the fate of a child with Wilson disease. So, screening test for the disease should not be omitted. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is mainly discovered in obese children, is a new strong candidate triggering abnormal liver function. Muscular dystrophy is a representative disease mimicking liver dysfunction. Although muscular dystrophy is a progressive disorder, and early diagnosis can't change the fate of patients, it will be better to avoid parent's blame for delayed diagnosis.

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

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.295-305
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• 2021

Purpose: Hepcidin levels have previously been reported to be correlated with liver damage. However, the association between hepcidin levels and liver fibrosis in children with fatty liver disease remains unclear. This study therefore aimed to investigate the pathophysiology of fibrosis in children with fatty liver disease and its association with hepcidin levels. Methods: This retrospective case series included 12 boys aged 6-17 years who were diagnosed with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) at the Tokyo Medical University Hospital. Sixteen liver biopsy samples from 12 subjects were analyzed. Serum hepcidin levels were assayed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Immunostaining for hepcidin was performed, and the samples were stratified by staining intensity. Results: Serum hepcidin levels were higher in pediatric NAFLD/NASH patients than in controls. Conversely, a significant inverse correlation was observed between hepcidin immunostaining and Brunt grade scores and between hepcidin scores and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, hyaluronic acid, and leukocyte levels. We observed inverse correlations with a high correlation coefficient of >0.4 between hepcidin immunostaining and aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total bile acid, and platelet count. Conclusion: There was a significant inverse correlation between hepcidin immunoreactivity and fibrosis in pediatric NAFLD patients; however, serum hepcidin levels were significantly higher, suggesting that these patients experienced a reduction in the hepcidin-producing ability of the liver in response to iron levels, leading to subsequent fibrosis. Therefore, hepcidin levels can be used as markers to identify the progression of fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.263-273
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• 1999

Cheung-Gan-Haeju tang has been used on 3 cases of alcoholic liver disease patients complicated with ascites, clinical symptom(fatigue. jaundice, urine dark, indigestion, anorexia. ascites etc), liver function (AST, ALT, ${\gamma}$-GT, ALP, total bilirubin), and index of nutritional state (total protein, albumin, cholesterol) were improved after the adminstration. Although the exact mechanism involved in the effects of Cheung-Gan-haeju tang on these disease is still unknown, it is possibly suspected that Cheung-Gan-Haeju tang is non-toxic to liver and has beneficial effects on treating alcoholic liver disease complicated ascites. Further reports with many case, however, will be needed.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.110-118
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the level of fatigue and daily living activities and to confirm their relationship in patients with chronic liver disease. Method: The sample consisted of 182 patients with chronic liver disease with a mean age of 42.4 years, who visited the D University Hospital and a S clinic from February, 2004 to March in 2004. Data were collected by a self reporting questionnaire on the selected variables such as fatigue and daily life activities. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS program for descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, t-test, ANOVA. Results: Subjects showed the mild level of fatigue and slightly high level of daily living activities. They also showed a negative relationship between fatigue and daily living activities. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop nursing intervention program to reduce the level of fatigue for improving the level of daily living activities in patients with chronic liver disease.