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.

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

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.

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++.

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.

Shelly C. Lu – 28 October 2008

Kouichi Miura, Kojiro Taura, Yuzo Kodama, Bernd Schnabl, David A. Brenner – 28 October 2008 – Chronic hepatitis C is characterized by iron accumulation in the liver, and excessive iron is hepatotoxic. However, the mechanism by which hepatitis C virus (HCV) regulates iron metabolism is poorly understood. Hepcidin plays a pivotal role as a negative regulator of iron absorption. The aim of the current study was to elucidate the mechanisms that govern hepcidin expression by HCV.

Toshinobu Kawabata, Manabu Kinoshita, Akihito Inatsu, Yoshiko Habu, Hiroyuki Nakashima, Nariyoshi Shinomiya, Shuhji Seki – 28 October 2008 – Immune functions of liver natural killer T (NKT) cells induced by the synthetic ligand α‐galactosylceramide enhanced age‐dependently; hepatic injury and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS) induced by ligand‐activated NKT cells were also enhanced. This study investigated how aging affects liver innate immunity after common bacteria DNA stimulation.

Zhaowen Zhu, Anne T. Wilson, M. Meleah Mathahs, Feng Wen, Kyle E. Brown, Bruce A. Luxon, Warren N. Schmidt – 28 October 2008 – Oxidative injury to hepatocytes occurs as a result of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and replication. Modulation of host cell antioxidant enzymes such as heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) may be useful therapeutically to minimize cellular injury, reduce viral replication, and attenuate liver disease. In this report, we evaluated the effects of HO‐1 overexpression on HCV replication and hepatocellular injury.

Rodica Gincul, Gaetan Lesca, Bénédicte Gelas‐Dore, Nathalie Rollin, Martine Barthelet, Sophie Dupuis‐Girod, Franck Pilleul, Sophie Giraud, Henri Plauchu, Jean‐Christophe Saurin – 28 October 2008 – Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a genetic disease characterized by cutaneous, mucosal, and sometimes visceral arteriovenous malformations. Severe hepatic manifestations have been characterized in a subgroup of patients, but few data are available in previously nonscreened patients. We prospectively evaluated liver involvement and its cardiac consequences in such patients.