Evangelista Sagnelli, Nicola Coppola, Vincenzo Messina, Domenico di Caprio, Cecilia Marrocco, Anna Marotta, Mirella Onofrio, Carlo Scolastico, Pietro Filippini – 30 December 2003 – We enrolled 44 patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) acute infection, 21 anti‐hepatitis C virus (HCV)–positive for at least 1 year (case BC group), 20 anti‐HCV–negative (control B group), and 3 with HBV/HCV acute concurrent infection. For each case BC, a subject with chronic HCV infection alone was selected (control C group).

Alejandro Soza, James E. Everhart, Marc G. Ghany, Edward Doo, Theo Heller, Kittichai Promrat, Yoon Park, T. Jake Liang, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 30 December 2003 – Interferon therapy of hepatitis C causes a decrease in neutrophil counts, and neutropenia is a common reason for dose adjustment or early discontinuation. However, it is unclear whether neutropenia caused by interferon is associated with an increased rate of infection. In this study, we assessed factors associated and clinical consequences of neutropenia before and during interferon therapy of chronic hepatitis C.

A. Obaid Shakil, Brendon McGuire, Jeff Crippin, Lewis Teperman, A. Jake Demetris, Hari Conjeevaram, Robert Gish, Paul Kwo, Vijayan Balan, Teresa L. Wright, Clifford Brass, Jorge Rakela – 30 December 2003 – Although interferon alfa (IFN‐α) and ribavirin are widely used in the treatment of hepatitis C, their role in the transplant recipient is unclear. We conducted a pilot study to determine the efficacy and safety of this therapy in transplant recipients with recurrent hepatitis C.

Shuji Matsumura, Hiroto Kita, Xiao‐Song He, Aftab A. Ansari, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, Judy van de Water, Kazuhide Yamamoto, Takao Tsuji, Ross L. Coppel, Marshall Kaplan, M. Eric Gershwin – 30 December 2003 – Growing evidence has implicated the involvement of autoreactive T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).

Kerstin Koerber, Gabriele Sass, Alexandra K. Kiemer, Angelika M. Vollmar, Gisa Tiegs – 30 December 2003 – Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been shown to play an important role in the development of liver injury. iNOS deficiency protects mice from hemorrhage/resuscitation as well as from cytokine‐mediated liver injury, for example, after administration of concanavalin A (con A).

Frédéric Moal, Daniel Chappard, Jianhua Wang, Eric Vuillemin, Sophie Michalak‐Provost, Marie Christine Rousselet, Frédéric Oberti, Paul Calès – 30 December 2003 – Fractal analysis measures the complexity of geometric structures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of fractal analysis in liver fibrosis. A total of 77 rats were included: 10 sham, 46 with fibrosis secondary to bile duct ligation (BDL), and 21 with fibrosis due to CCl4 intoxication.

Roland Reinehr, Dirk Graf, Richard Fischer, Freimut Schliess, Dieter Häussinger – 30 December 2003 – The effect of hyperosmolarity on CD95 membrane targeting and CD95 ligand (CD95L)–induced apoptosis was studied in rat hepatocytes. CD95 showed a predominant intracellular localization in normoosmotically exposed rat hepatocytes, whereas hyperosmotic exposure induced, within 1 hour, CD95 trafficking to the plasma membrane followed by activation of caspase‐3 and ‐8.

Hans‐Peter Bode, LiFu Wang, Doris Cassio, M. Fatima Leite, Marie V. St‐Pierre, Keiji Hirata, Keisuke Okazaki, Marvin L. Sears, Paolo Meda, Michael H. Nathanson, Jean‐François Dufour – 30 December 2003 – Hepatocytes and other digestive epithelia exchange second messengers and coordinate their functions by communicating through gap junctions. However, little is known about intercellular communication in cholangiocytes. The aim of this study was to examine expression and regulation of gap junctions in cholangiocytes.

David Bernstein – 30 December 2003

Man‐Fung Yuen, Ronnie Tung‐Ping Poon, Ching‐Lung Lai, Sheung‐Tat Fan, Chung‐Mau Lo, Ka‐Wah Wong, Wai Man Wong, Benjamin Chun‐Yu Wong – 30 December 2003 – Although various types of treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been tried, the prognosis remains dismal, especially in patients with advanced stage of the disease. Somatostatin analogues exert antitumor effects. HCC have been shown to exhibit somatostatin receptors. The present randomized placebo‐controlled study aimed at examining the efficacy of long‐acting octreotide (Sandostatin LAR) for the treatment of advanced HCC.