Shelly C. Lu – 28 October 2008

Marina Berenguer – 28 October 2008 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is especially problematic in patients with end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) who are undergoing hemodialysis. Rates of HCV infection are higher among hemodialysis patients than in the general population, and several routes of transmission are thought to stem from the dialysis unit. Management of chronic hepatitis C is also more complicated in hemodialysis patients because of altered pharmacokinetics and a predisposition for drug‐related toxicity, particularly ribavirin‐induced anemia.

Lili Zhang, Neil Theise, Michael Chua, Lola M. Reid – 28 October 2008 – Human livers contain two pluripotent progenitors: hepatic stem cells and hepatoblasts. The hepatic stem cells uniquely express the combination of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), cytokeratin (CK) 19, albumin ±, and are negative for α‐fetoprotein (AFP). They are precursors to hepatoblasts, which differ from hepatic stem cells in size, morphology, and in expressing the combination of EpCAM, intercellular cell adhesion molecule (ICAM‐1), CK19, albumin++, and AFP++.

Jeffrey D. Browning, Brian Weis, Jeannie Davis, Santhosh Satapati, Matthew Merritt, Craig R. Malloy, Shawn C. Burgess – 28 October 2008 – Carbohydrate restriction is a common weight‐loss approach that modifies hepatic metabolism by increasing gluconeogenesis (GNG) and ketosis.

Diana García‐Romero, J. Anastassiou, Gillian Hart, Rajeshwar Mookerjee, Rajiv Jalan – 28 October 2008

Laia Vilà, Núria Roglans, Marta Alegret, Rosa María Sánchez, Manuel Vázquez‐Carrera, Juan Carlos Laguna – 28 October 2008 – There is controversy regarding whether fructose in liquid beverages constitutes another dietary ingredient of high caloric density or introduces qualitative changes in energy metabolism that further facilitate the appearance of metabolic diseases. Central to this issue is the elucidation of the molecular mechanism responsible for the metabolic alterations induced by fructose ingestion.

Paul B. Watkins, Paul J. Seligman, John S. Pears, Mark I. Avigan, John R. Senior – 28 October 2008 – Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is of major interest to hepatologists and clinicians in general, patients, government regulators, and the pharmaceutical industry. Understanding why this form of injury occurs only in certain individuals has major implications for the development and availability of drug therapies and in the prevention of these events.

Jennifer A. Tan, Tom A. Joseph, Sammy Saab – 28 October 2008 – The prevalence of chronic hepatitis C infection in U.S. prisons is 12% to 31%. Treatment of this substantial portion of the population has been subject to much controversy, both medically and legally. Studies have demonstrated that treatment of chronic hepatitis C with pegylated interferon (PEG IFN) and ribavirin is a cost‐effective measure in the general population; however, no study has addressed whether the same is true of the prison population.

Wei Yang, Brian L. Hood, Sara L. Chadwick, Shufeng Liu, Simon C. Watkins, Guangxiang Luo, Thomas P. Conrads, Tianyi Wang – 28 October 2008 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major human pathogen that causes serious illness, including acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Lin Wang, Huiping Dong, Carol J. Soroka, Ning Wei, James L. Boyer, Mark Hochstrasser – 28 October 2008 – The bile salt export pump (Bsep) represents the major bile salt transport system at the canalicular membrane of hepatocytes. When examined in model cell lines, genetic mutations in the BSEP gene impair its targeting and transport function, contributing to the pathogenesis of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type II (PFIC II).