David M. Novick, Mary Jeanne Kreek – 24 August 2007

Fan‐Chen Tseng, Thomas R. O'Brien, Mingdong Zhang, Alex H. Kral, Betty A. Ortiz‐Conde, Jennifer Lorvick, Michael P. Busch, Brian R. Edlin – 24 August 2007 – Previous studies suggest that most injection drug users (IDUs) become infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) soon after initiating drug use. The Urban Health Study (UHS) recruited serial cross‐sections of IDUs in the San Francisco Bay area from 1986 to 2005. In the current study, we determined the prevalence of antibody to HCV and HBV (core) among UHS participants during 1998 to 2000.

Abdel Aziz M. Shaheen, Robert P. Myers – 24 August 2007 – The development of noninvasive markers of liver fibrosis is a clinical and research priority. The aspartate aminotransferase‐to‐platelet ratio index (APRI) is a promising tool with limited expense and widespread availability. Our objective was to systematically review the performance of the APRI in hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected patients.

James E. Nelson, Renuka Bhattacharya, Keith D. Lindor, Naga Chalasani, Stuart Raaka, E. Jenny Heathcote, Emil Miskovsky, Eldon Shaffer, Stephen J. Rulyak, Kris V. Kowdley – 24 August 2007 – Previous studies examining the relationship between HFE mutations and severity of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) have been limited by small sample size or ascertainment bias. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between HFE mutations and histological severity in a large North American multicenter cohort with NASH.

Seyed Ali Mousavi, Marita Sporstøl, Cathrine Fladeby, Rune Kjeken, Nicolas Barois, Trond Berg – 24 August 2007 – Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) display a number of receptors for efficient uptake of potentially injurious molecules. The receptors for the Fc portion of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies (FcγRs) regulate a number of physiological and pathophysiological events. We used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and Western blotting to determine the expression of different types of FcγRs in LSECs.

Chee‐Kin Hui, Nancy Leung, Tony W.H. Shek, Hung Yao, Wai‐Ki Lee, Jak‐Yiu Lai, Sik‐To Lai, Wai‐Man Wong, Lawrence SW. Lai, Ronnie T.P. Poon, Chung‐Mau Lo, Sheung‐Tat Fan, George K.K. Lau, Hong Kong Liver Fibrosis Study Group – 24 August 2007 – Recently, controversies have arisen about whether hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion can result in regression of fibrosis, thus improving the clinical outcome of Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Chih‐Lin Lin, Chun‐Jen Liu, Jia‐Horng Kao – 24 August 2007

Rajeshwar P. Mookerjee, Balasubramaniyan Vairappan, Rajiv Jalan – 24 August 2007

Marc Brulport, Wiebke Schormann, Alexander Bauer, Matthias Hermes, Carolin Elsner, Friedrich Jakob Hammersen, Walter Beerheide, Dimitry Spitkovsky, Wolfgang Härtig, Andreas Nussler, Lars Christian Horn, Jeanett Edelmann, Oliver Pelz‐Ackermann, Jörg Petersen, Manja Kamprad, Marc von Mach, Amelie Lupp, Henryk Zulewski, Jan G. Hengstler – 24 August 2007 – In recent years, a large number of groups studied the fate of human stem cells in livers of immunodeficient animals. However, the interpretation of the results is quite controversial.

Marion G. Peters, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Kris V. Kowdley, Nancy L. Flye, Velimir A. Luketic, Santiago J. Munoz, Guadalupe Garcia‐Tsao, Thomas D. Boyer, John R. Lake, Maurizio Bonacini, Burton Combes, PUMPS Group – 24 August 2007 – Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an uncommon chronic cholestatic liver disease that primarily afflicts young and middle‐aged Caucasian women; there are limited data on the clinical presentation and disease severity among non‐Caucasian patients with this disease.