Florence Aslinia, Ayse L. Mindikoglu – 20 November 2009

Zachary D. Goodman, Anne M. Stoddard, Herbert L. Bonkovsky, Robert J. Fontana, Marc G. Ghany, Timothy R. Morgan, Elizabeth C. Wright, Elizabeth M. Brunt, David E. Kleiner, Mitchell L. Shiffman, Gregory T. Everson, Karen L. Lindsay, Jules L. Dienstag, Chihiro Morishima, HALT‐C Trial Group – 20 November 2009 – Computer‐assisted morphometry can provide precise measurement of hepatic fibrosis on a continuous scale. Previous morphometric studies of large cohorts of patients with treatment refractory chronic hepatitis C have shown a mean increase in fibrosis of 30% to 58% in 1 year.

Hayato Hikita, Tetsuo Takehara, Takahiro Kodama, Satoshi Shimizu, Atsushi Hosui, Takuya Miyagi, Tomohide Tatsumi, Hisashi Ishida, Kazuyoshi Ohkawa, Wei Li, Tatsuya Kanto, Naoki Hiramatsu, Lothar Hennighausen, Xiao‐Ming Yin, Norio Hayashi – 20 November 2009 – Bcl‐2 homology domain 3 (BH3)‐only protein Bid is posttranslationally cleaved by caspase‐8 into its truncated form (tBid) and couples with stress signals to the mitochondrial cell death pathway. However, the physiological relevance of Bid is not clearly understood.

Anand Dutta, Chandan Saha, Cynthia S. Johnson, Naga Chalasani – 20 November 2009 – We conducted a study to characterize the variability in the upper limit of normal (ULN) for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) across different laboratories (labs) in Indiana and to understand factors leading to such variability. A survey was mailed to all eligible labs (n = 108) in Indiana, and the response rate was 62%. The survey queried for ALT ULN, the type of chemical analyzer used, five College of American Pathologists (CAP) sample results, and methods used to establish the reference interval.

Gisele N'Kontchou, Michel Beaugrand, Olivier Seror – 20 November 2009

Xiaofeng Fan, Qing Mao, Donghui Zhou, Yang Lu, Jianwei Xing, Yanjuan Xu, Stuart C. Ray, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie – 20 November 2009 – Differential response patterns to optimal antiviral therapy, peginterferon alpha plus ribavirin, are well documented in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Among many factors that may affect therapeutic efficiency, HCV quasispecies (QS) characteristics have been a major focus of previous studies, yielding conflicting results.

Julian Schulze zur Wiesch, Ansgar W. Lohse – 20 November 2009

Vincent Wai‐Sun Wong, Julien Vergniol, Henry Lik‐Yuen Chan, Victor de Lédinghen – 20 November 2009

Yasuhiro Itsui, Naoya Sakamoto, Sei Kakinuma, Mina Nakagawa, Yuko Sekine‐Osajima, Megumi Tasaka‐Fujita, Yuki Nishimura‐Sakurai, Gouki Suda, Yuko Karakama, Kako Mishima, Machi Yamamoto, Takako Watanabe, Mayumi Ueyama, Yusuke Funaoka, Seishin Azuma, Mamoru Watanabe – 20 November 2009 – Interferons (IFNs) and the interferon‐stimulated genes (ISGs) play a central role in antiviral responses against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Puneet Puri, Michelle M. Wiest, Onpan Cheung, Faridoddin Mirshahi, Carol Sargeant, Hae‐Ki Min, Melissa J. Contos, Richard K. Sterling, Michael Fuchs, Huiping Zhou, Steven M. Watkins, Arun J. Sanyal – 20 November 2009 – Specific alterations in hepatic lipid composition characterize the spectrum of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which extends from nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, the plasma lipidome of NAFLD and whether NASH has a distinct plasma lipidomic signature are unknown.