A Comparative Study of Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Republic of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

Objective: The frequency of various disasters has become a 21st century global crisis. The biological-disaster of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) gave rise to a multi-dimensional global impact. The 25 items of Societal Influences Survey Questionnaire (SISQ) was developed to assess various categories of social influence during the pandemic.

Malignant potential of hepatic angiomyolipoma: case report and literature review.

Hepatic angiomyolipoma (AML) is known as a rare benign tumor with invasive growth. In the past, some of these tumors were misdiagnosed as hepatocellular carcinomas, because of the similar pattern on imaging studies. Recently, correct diagnoses have been increasing, with the development of HMB-45 immunohistochemical staining, and it appears that the majority of these tumors behave as benign tumors.

Survival of three nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia patients following early diagnosis by multidetector row computed tomography and prostaglandin E1 treatment.

Nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia (NOMI) is an acute mesenteric circulatory disorder which is characterized by spasm and narrowing of the arterial branches. In contrast to occlusive disease, early diagnosis of NOMI is difficult because of its mild symptoms, thus resulting in a high mortality rate. In this study, we report three cases who survived NOMI because of early diagnosis by multidetector row computed tomography and immediate treatment with prostaglandin E1, which is known to improve blood flow by relaxing vascular smooth muscle.

Eosinophilic esophagitis: a case report. Effective treatment with systemic corticosteroids for the relapse of the disease.

We report on a case of eosinophilic esophagitis in a 33-year-old Japanese woman who visited our hospital with dysphagia and esophageal food impaction in April 2006. She had had the same symptoms in May 2005, and, by endoscopic and histologic examination, she was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis. Biopsy specimens from multiple locations in the esophageal mucosa had shown remarkable infiltration of eosinophils, more than 20 eosinophils per high-power field in squamous mucosa, and she had been treated with Th2 cytokine antagonist and proton pump inhibitor at the time.

Sustained response to interferon-alpha plus ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C is closely associated with increased dynamism of intrahepatic natural killer and natural killer T cells.

Aim: Previous studies have revealed that functional impairment of innate immune cells, including natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells, might be associated with the persistence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, the involvement of innate immune cells, which predominate in the liver, in therapeutic HCV clearance is still unclear.

Methods: To clarify the role of intrahepatic innate immune cells in the clinical outcome of patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) treated with interferon-alpha plus ribavirin (IFN/RBV), we prospectively investigated the status of NK and NKT cells in paired liver biopsy and peripheral blood (PB) samples obtained from 21 CHC patients before and immediately after IFN/RBV treatment by flow cytometry.

Increase of CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T-cells in the liver of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background/aims: The immune response to tumor-specific antigens is typically unable to control the growth and spread of malignant cells. Accumulating evidence indicates that the suppressive effects of CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T-cells are at least partially responsible for the failure of immune-mediated elimination of tumor cells.

Methods: We have studied 25 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Hepatic natural killer and natural killer T cells markedly decreased in two cases of drug-induced fulminant hepatic failure rescued by living donor liver transplantation.

The human liver contains significant numbers of innate immune cells, such as natural killer (NK) cells and natural killer T (NKT) cells, which express both T-cell receptors and NK-cell receptors simultaneously. It has been suggested that the innate immune system plays a crucial role in the liver. In this report, the distribution of NK and NKT cells in the liver and peripheral blood of two patients with drug-induced fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) who had undergone living donor liver transplantation was examined.

Thymosin-alpha1 increases intrahepatic NKT cells and CTLs in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Thymosin-alpha1 (T-alpha1) influences T-cell maturation, production of Th1-type cytokines, and activity of NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the types of lymphocytes that contribute to the reduction in viral load in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) following T-alpha1 treatment. METHODS: Seven patients with CHB were treated with 1.

Thrombopoietin receptor (c-Mpl) is constitutively expressed on platelets of patients with liver cirrhosis, and correlates with its disease progression.

Thrombocytopenia is one of the major complications of liver cirrhosis. Except for hypersplenism associated with portal hypertension, it is not known which abnormalities of thrombopoiesis cause thrombocytopenia. To evaluate thrombopoiesis in liver cirrhosis, we analyzed thrombopoietin (TPO) and its receptor c-Mpl levels in cirrhotic patients.

Systemic administration of liposome-encapsulated OK-432 prolongs the survival of rats with hepatocellular carcinoma through the induction of IFN-gamma-producing hepatic lymphocytes.

Background: OK-432 is known to increase the host antitumor response. We previously reported that systemic administration of OK-432 (OK-Lipo) specifically induced hepatic lymphocytes in mice. Here we aimed to investigate the antitumor effect of OK-Lipo on hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) in experimental rats.