Effectiveness of sorafenib dose modifications on treatment outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma: Analysis in real-life settings.

Controlling adverse events (AEs) through dose reduction can enhance drug adherence and treatment response. Currently, there is no guide for sorafenib dosing. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether sorafenib dosing could affect treatment outcomes.

Efficacy and Safety of Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate in Treatment-Naïve Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B in Korea.

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of 144-week tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) therapy in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in Korean.

Methods: In total, 579 treatment-naïve CHB patients at 11 medical centers were enrolled retrospective and prospective from September 2015 to January 2016 by design (NCT02533544). We evaluated the complete virologic response (CVR) rate and the renal safety of TDF.

Clinical outcomes after the introduction of direct antiviral agents for patients infected with genotype 1b hepatitis C virus depending on the regimens: A multicenter study in Korea.

Background: A real-life study is essential outside clinical trials. The aim is to evaluate the clinical outcomes of direct acting agents (DAA) for patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in real practice.

Methods: We analyzed 590 consecutively enrolled patients with CHC-1b who received DAAs since 2015, when DAAs were introduced in Korea.

Risk factors for retinal microvascular impairment in type 2 diabetic patients without diabetic retinopathy.

Objectives: To determine the risk factors for retinal microvascular impairment on optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) in type 2 diabetic patients without clinical diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Methods: This retrospective and cross-sectional study enrolled 74 diabetic patients without clinically evident DR for the study group and 34 healthy subjects for the control group. OCT-A parameters were measured to determine vascular density (VD) and the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) size in the superficial and deep capillary plexuses (SCP/DCP) of the retina.

A Case of Ulcerative Colitis Following Acute Hepatitis Induced by Epstein-Barr Virus Infection.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection varies in its clinical manifestations and severity. EBV can be a causative agent of hepatitis and may have a role in the pathogenesis of chronic autoimmune diseases including inflammatory bowel disease. A 24-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital, presenting with fever and elevated liver enzymes.

On-treatment and off-treatment efficacy of entecavir in a real-life cohort of chronic hepatitis B patients.

Background And Aims: Entecavir (ETV) is a potent nucleoside analogue with high genetic barrier to resistance. In this study, real-life clinical experiences in the long-term use of ETV and the durability of its off-treatment effectiveness were analyzed.

Materials And Methods: This study was based on a large real-life cohort of 2240 chronic hepatitis B patients treated with ETV between January 2006 and December 2012 using a centralized electronic data repository.

Surface Modification of Block Copolymer Through Sulfur Containing Plasma Treatment.

Some of the important issues of block copolymer (BCP) as an application to the potential low cost next generation lithography are thermal stability and deformation during pattern transfer process in addition to defect density, line edge/width roughness, etc. In this study, sulfur containing plasma treatment was used to modify the BCP and the effects of the plasma on the properties of plasma treated BCP were investigated. The polystyrene hole pattern obtained from polystyrene polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) was initially degraded when the polystyrene hole was annealed at 190 °C for 15 min.

Suppression of dual specificity phosphatase I expression inhibits hepatitis C virus replication.

It was reported that dual specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1) is specifically upregulated in the liver of patients with chronic hetpatitis C virus (HCV) infection who do not respond to peginterferon (PegIFN) treatment. Here, we have investigated the role of DUSP1 in HCV replication in hepatoma cells stably expressing the full HCV replicon (FK). DUSP1 was silenced in cells harboring the FK replicon using a lentiviral vector encoding a DUSP1-specific short hairpin RNA (LV-shDUSP1).

Slow overmethylation of housekeeping genes in the body mucosa is associated with the risk for gastric cancer.

Helicobacter pylori infection increases age-related diverse overmethylation in gene-control regions, which increases the risk of gastric cancer. The H. pylori-associated overmethylation changes subsequently disappear when gastric atrophy and cancer develop.

Is the AIMS65 score useful in predicting outcomes in peptic ulcer bleeding?

Aim: To evaluate the applicability of AIMS65 scores in predicting outcomes of peptic ulcer bleeding.

Methods: This was a retrospective study in a single center between January 2006 and December 2011. We enrolled 522 patients with upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage who visited the emergency room.

Noninvasive predictors of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in Korean patients with histologically proven nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background/aims: The aims of this study were (1) to identify the useful clinical parameters of noninvasive approach for distinguishing nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and (2) to determine whether the levels of the identified parameters are correlated with the severity of liver injury in patients with NASH.

Methods: One hundred and eight consecutive patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD (age, 39.8±13.

Age-related methylation patterning of housekeeping genes and tissue-specific genes is distinct between the stomach antrum and body.

Aim: The methylation-variable sites around CpG islands are frequently overmethylated in Helicobacter pylori-infected stomachs. Age-related patterns of the overmethylation changes were compared between the fast-growing antrum cells and the slow-growing body cells.

Materials & Methods: A total of 316 H.

Frequency of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) in Korean patients with chronic HCV infection.

Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in innate immunity, especially in the response to viral infections, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV). Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are the primary receptors of NK cells that mediate innate immunity. KIRs are also involved in acquired immunity, because some KIRs are expressed on the surface of certain subsets of T cells.

RPL36 as a prognostic marker in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Ribosomal proteins (RP) play key roles in the regulation of apoptosis, multidrug resistance and carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of ribosomal protein L36 (RPL36) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to correlate it with clinicopathological parameters and clinical outcome. Liver specimens were obtained from 60 HCC patients who had undergone a partial hepatectomy.

Polymorphism near the IL28B gene in Korean hepatitis C virus-infected patients treated with peg-interferon plus ribavirin.

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the IL28B gene have recently been described as predictors of antiviral therapy responses in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype-1.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between genetic variation near the IL28B gene and treatment outcome prediction in Korean patients receiving peg-interferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin therapy.

Study Design: The allelic discrimination assay by Taqman real-time PCR was developed to determine genotypes of SNPs, rs12979860 and rs8099917, which were analyzed in 65 Korean patients with HCV genotype-1.

Subgenotype and genetic variability in the precore/core regions of hepatitis B virus in Korean patients with chronic liver disease.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) subgenotypes, the spectrum of mutations in the precore/core region through phylogenetic analysis, and the relevance of viral characteristics in disease progression in Korean patients.

Methods: 133 patients with chronic HBV infection were enrolled. The precore and core region of HBV was amplified and sequenced.

The gene-reduction effect of chromosomal losses detected in gastric cancers.

Background: The level of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) that reduces a gene dose and exerts a cell-adverse effect is known to be a parameter for the genetic staging of gastric cancers. This study investigated if the cell-adverse effect induced with the gene reduction was a rate-limiting factor for the LOH events in two distinct histologic types of gastric cancers, the diffuse- and intestinal-types.

Methods: The pathologic specimens obtained from 145 gastric cancer patients were examined for the level of LOH using 40 microsatellite markers on eight cancer-associated chromosomes (3p, 4p, 5q, 8p, 9p, 13q, 17p and 18q).

The overmethylated genes in Helicobacter pylori-infected gastric mucosa are demethylated in gastric cancers.

Background: The transitional-CpG sites between weakly methylated genes and densely methylated retroelements are overmethylated in the gastric mucosa infected with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and they are undermethylated in the gastric cancers depending on the level of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) events. This study delineated the transitional-CpG methylation patterns of CpG-island-containing and -lacking genes in view of the retroelements.

Relationship between Psychological Factors and Quality of Life in Subtypes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.

Background/aims: Quality of life (QoL) is consistently decreased in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but the relationship between QoL and psychological factors in GERD has not yet been clearly defined. The present study investigated the relationship between the psychological factors of two subtypes of GERD and QoL.

Methods: A cohort of 769 participants underwent upper endoscopic evaluation in the health-promotion center of St.

DNA methylation patterns of ulcer-healing genes associated with the normal gastric mucosa of gastric cancers.

Recent evidence suggests that gastric mucosal injury induces adaptive changes in DNA methylation. In this study, the methylation status of the key tissue-specific genes in normal gastric mucosa of healthy individuals and cancer patients was evaluated. The methylation-variable sites of 14 genes, including ulcer-healing genes (TFF1, TFF2, CDH1, and PPARG), were chosen from the CpG-island margins or non-island CpGs near the transcription start sites.

Hepatitis B virus load in serum does not reflect histologic activity in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Little is known about whether histologic data can predict which patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related decompensated cirrhosis will respond to antiviral therapies. We assessed the relationship between serum HBV DNA load and histologic activity by analyzing liver specimens from patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

Methods: The study included 72 consecutive patients who underwent liver transplantation for HBV-related decompensated cirrhosis between November 2000 and March 2008.

DNA methylation and expression patterns of key tissue-specific genes in adult stem cells and stomach tissues.

CpG-island margins and non-island-CpG sites round the transcription start sites of CpG-island-positive and -negative genes are methylated to various degrees in a tissue-specific manner. These methylation-variable CpG sites were analyzed to delineate a relationship between the methylation and transcription of the tissue-specific genes. The level of tissue-specific transcription was estimated by counting the number of the total transcripts in the SAGE (serial analysis of gene expression) database.

[A case of hepatocellular carcinoma combined with liver abscess].

Hepatocellular calcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It is important to diagnose HCC exactly before management is attempted. But, the clinical presentations and radiologic findings of liver abscess, HCC, and metastatic tumor to the liver may be quite similar, and procedures such as serum tumor marker assay, computerized tomography, and ultrasonography of the liver cannot make a specific diagnosis.

Chromosomal losses are associated with hypomethylation of the gene-control regions in the stomach with a low number of active genes.

Transitional-CpG methylation between unmethylated promoters and nearby methylated retroelements plays a role in the establishment of tissue-specific transcription. This study examined whether chromosomal losses reducing the active genes in cancers can change transitional-CpG methylation and the transcription activity in a cancer-type-dependent manner. The transitional-CpG sites at the CpG-island margins of nine genes and the non-island-CpG sites round the transcription start sites of six genes lacking CpG islands were examined by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis.

Role of long-term lamivudine treatment of hepatitis B virus recurrence after liver transplantation.

In this study, the long-term (>3 years) efficacy of combination therapy for hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence and the associated factors were investigated. One hundred and sixty-five consecutive HBsAg-positive patients (92 with liver cirrhosis, 73 with hepatocellular carcinoma; HCC) who underwent liver transplantation were assessed with a median follow-up time of 40 months. One hundred and twenty-one patients (121/165, 73.