About the Authors

Yachiyo Sasaki

y-sasaki@nurs.osaka-cu.ac.jp

Affiliations Department of Gerontological Nursing, Graduate School of Nursing, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan, Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Satoko Ohfuji

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Wakaba Fukushima

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Akihiro Tamori

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Masaru Enomoto

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Daiki Habu

Affiliations Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan, Department of Medical Nutrition, Graduate School of Human Life Science, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Shuji Iwai

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Sawako Uchida-Kobayashi

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Hideki Fujii

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Susumu Shiomi

Affiliation Department of Nuclear Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Norifumi Kawada

Affiliation Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Yoshio Hirota

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SO WF YH. Performed the experiments: YS SO WF. Analyzed the data: YS. Wrote the manuscript: YS. Introduced the patients to the experiments and received the agreements of all participating patients: AT ME DH SI SUK HF SS NK. Drafting the manuscript: YS. Revising the manuscript critically for important intellectual content: SO WF AT ME DH SI SUK HF SS NK YH.