Elisabeth Lehmann, Walid Hamdy El‐Tantawy, Matthias Ocker, Ralf Bartenschlager, Volker Lohmann, Said Hashemolhosseini, Gisa Tiegs, Gabriele Sass – 25 January 2010 – The anti‐inflammatory and antiapoptotic heme degrading enzyme heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) has been shown recently to interfere with replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV). We investigated the effect of HO‐1 products carbon monoxide (CO), iron and biliverdin on HCV replication using the replicon cell lines Huh‐5‐15 and LucUbiNeo‐ET, stably expressing HCV proteins NS3 through NS5B.

Chia‐Chi Wang, Jia‐Horng Kao – 25 January 2010

Paula M. Buchanan, Nino Dzebisashvili, Krista L. Lentine, David A. Axelrod, Mark A. Schnitzler, Paolo R. Salvalaggio – 25 January 2010

J. Wallis Marsh, Carl Schmidt – 25 January 2010

David W. Hutton, Samuel K. So, Margaret L. Brandeau – 25 January 2010 – Liver disease and liver cancer associated with childhood‐acquired chronic hepatitis B are leading causes of death among adults in China. Despite expanded newborn hepatitis B vaccination programs, approximately 20% of children under age 5 years and 40% of children aged 5 to 19 years remain unprotected from hepatitis B. Although immunizing them will be beneficial, no studies have examined the cost‐effectiveness of hepatitis B catch‐up vaccination in an endemic country like China.

Yu‐Xiong Feng, Jiang‐Sha Zhao, Jing‐Jing Li, Tao Wang, Shu‐Qun Cheng, Yunfei Yuan, Fudi Wang, Xiao‐Fan Wang, Dong Xie – 25 January 2010 – Eph/Ephrin family, one of the largest receptor tyrosine kinase families, has been extensively studied in morphogenesis and neural development. Recently, growing attention has been paid to its role in the initiation and progression of various cancers. However, the role of Eph/Ephrins in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been rarely investigated.

Leon Adams – 25 January 2010

Philip N. Newsome – 25 January 2010

Lise L. Gluud, Kurt Christensen, Erik Christensen, Aleksander Krag – 25 January 2010 – Vasoconstrictor drugs may improve renal function in hepatorenal syndrome (HRS), but the effect on mortality has not been established. We therefore performed a systematic review of randomized trials on vasoconstrictor drugs for type 1 or type 2 HRS. Mortality was the primary outcome measure. Eligible trials were identified through electronic and manual searches. Intention‐to‐treat random effects meta‐analyses were performed.

Tao Sun, Nan Zhao, Xiu‐lan Zhao, Qiang Gu, Shi‐wu Zhang, Na Che, Xing‐hui Wang, Jing Du, Yi‐xin Liu, Bao‐cun Sun – 25 January 2010 – The up‐regulation and nuclear relocation of epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulator Twist1 have been implicated in the tumor invasion and metastasis of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The term vasculogenic mimicry (VM) refers to the unique capability of aggressive tumor cells to mimic the pattern of embryonic vasculogenic networks. However, the relationship between Twist1 and VM formation is not clear.