Yun‐Fan Liaw, Sun‐Lung Tsai, Rong‐Nan Chien, Chau‐Ting Yeh, Chia‐Ming Chu – 30 December 2003 – Asian lamivudine trial has shown that hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion rate during 1 year of lamivudine therapy was only 16% but was 64% in the subgroup of patients with a pretherapy serum alanine transaminase (ALT) level over 5 times the upper limit of normal (ULN). To test whether ALT rebound following corticosteroid priming enhances response to lamivudine therapy, a pilot study was conducted in 30 patients with ALT levels less than 5× ULN (43‐169; N < 36 U/L).

Carl Albrecht Schirren, Maria‐Christina Jung, Joern Tilman Gerlach, Thomas Worzfeld, Gustavo Baretton, Maxim Mamin, Norbert Hubert Gruener, Michael Houghton, Gerd Rudolf Pape – 30 December 2003 – Virus‐specific CD4+ T‐cell response at the site of inflammation is believed to play a decisive role for the course of viral disease. In hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, the majority of studies focused on the peripheral blood T‐cell response. In this study we analyzed intrahepatic virus‐specific CD4+ T‐cell response and compared this with that in the peripheral blood.

Neil D. Theise, Manjunath Nimmakayalu, Rebekah Gardner, Peter B. Illei, Glyn Morgan, Lewis Teperman, Octavian Henegariu, Diane S. Krause – 30 December 2003 – It has been shown in animal models that hepatocytes and cholangiocytes can derive from bone marrow cells. We have investigated whether such a process occurs in humans. Archival autopsy and biopsy liver specimens were obtained from 2 female recipients of therapeutic bone marrow transplantations with male donors and from 4 male recipients of orthotopic liver transplantations from female donors.

Giuseppe Colucci – 30 December 2003

Karin Fattinger, Valentino Cattori, Bruno Hagenbuch, Peter J. Meier, Bruno Stieger – 30 December 2003 – The antibiotics, rifamycin SV and rifampicin, are known to interfere with hepatic bile salt and organic anion uptake. The aim of this study was to explore which transport systems are affected. In short‐term–cultured rat hepatocytes, low concentrations (10 μmol/L) of both compounds inhibited mainly sodium‐independent taurocholate uptake, whereas higher concentrations (100 μmol/L) also inhibited sodium‐dependent taurocholate uptake.

Juan Jos Arrieta, Elena Rodriguez‐Iñigo, Mercedes Casqueiro, Javier Bartolomé, Felix Manzarbeitia, Montserrat Herrero, Margarita Pardo, Vicente Carreño – 30 December 2003 – Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that there is a correlation between oral lichen planus and chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV RNA has been recently detected in epithelial cells from oral lichen planus lesions by reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR).

Fatma Abdel‐Aziz, Mostafa Habib, Mostafa K. Mohamed, Mohamed Abdel‐Hamid, Foda Gamil, Salah Madkour, Nabiel N. Mikhail, David Thomas, Alan D. Fix, G. Thomas Strickland, Wagida Anwar, Ismail Sallam – 30 December 2003 – This report describes a cross‐sectional survey of the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti‐HCV) in a rural Egyptian community in the Nile Delta. One half of the village households were systematically selected and examined by questionnaire and testing sera for anti‐HCV and HCV RNA.

Stephan Krähenbühl, Eric P. Brass, Charles L. Hoppel – 30 December 2003 – Carnitine biosynthesis was investigated in rats with secondary biliary cirrhosis induced by bile duct ligation (BDL) for 4 weeks (n = 5) and in pair‐fed, sham‐operated control rats (n = 4). Control rats were pair‐fed to BDL rats, and all rats were fed an artificial diet with negligible contents of carnitine, butyrobetaine, or trimethyllysine. Biosynthesis of carnitine and its precursors was determined by measuring their excretion in urine and accumulation in the body of the animals.

Hun‐Taek Kim, George Stoica, Fuller W. Bazer, Troy L. Ott – 30 December 2003 – Clinical applications of Type I interferon (IFN) are limited by adverse side effects mediated largely by unknown mechanisms. This study examined the mechanisms of acute hepatic injury in lambs treated with systemic administration of IFN‐τ, a Type I IFN. Liver tissues were collected at 24, 48, or 96 hours after treatment with either IFN‐τ or saline.

Alexander Y. Lee, William C. Manning, Christopher L. Arian, Noelle K. Polakos, Jose L. Barajas, Jeffrey B. Ulmer, Michael Houghton, Xavier Paliard – 30 December 2003 – The immunology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection should be studied in the context of HCV antigen expression in the liver, because HCV primarily infects this organ.