Akira Hirose, Masafumi Ono, Toshiji Saibara, Yasuko Nozaki, Kosei Masuda, Akemi Yoshioka, Masaya Takahashi, Naoaki Akisawa, Shinji Iwasaki, Jude A. Oben, Saburo Onishi – 29 May 2007 – Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is now the most frequent cause of chronic liver impairment in developed countries and is a suggested causative factor in the development of cryptogenic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. At present there is no effective and accepted therapy for NASH.

Alexandre Louvet, Sylvie Naveau, Marcelle Abdelnour, Marie‐José Ramond, Emmanuel Diaz, Laetitia Fartoux, Sébastien Dharancy, Frédéric Texier, Antoine Hollebecque, Lawrence Serfaty, Emmanuel Boleslawski, Pierre Deltenre, Valérie Canva, François‐René Pruvot, Philippe Mathurin – 29 May 2007 – Early identification of patients with severe (discriminant function ≥ 32) alcoholic hepatitis (AH) not responding to corticosteroids is crucial. We generated a specific prognostic model (Lille model) to identify candidates early on for alternative therapies.

Shirish Paranjpe, William C. Bowen, Aaron W. Bell, Kari Nejak‐Bowen, Jian‐Hua Luo, George K. Michalopoulos – 29 May 2007 – Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor c‐Met are involved in liver regeneration. The role of HGF and c‐Met in liver regeneration in rat following two‐thirds partial hepatectomy (PHx) was investigated using RNA interference to silence HGF and c‐Met in separate experiments. A mixture of 2 c‐Met‐specific short hairpin RNA (ShRNA) sequences, ShM1 and ShM2, and 3 HGF‐specific ShRNA, ShH1, ShH3, and ShH4, were complexed with linear polyethylenimine.

Gavin Wright, Nathan A. Davies, Debbie L. Shawcross, Stephen J. Hodges, Claudia Zwingmann, Heather F. Brooks, Ali R. Mani, David Harry, Vanessa Stadlbauer, Zheng Zou, Roger Williams, Ceri Davies, Kevin P. Moore, Rajiv Jalan – 29 May 2007 – This study explores the hypothesis that the inflammatory response induced by administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exacerbates brain edema in cirrhotic rats; and if so whether this is associated with altered brain metabolism of ammonia or anatomical disturbance of the blood‐brain barrier.

Zhongjun Dong, Jianhong Zhang, Rui Sun, Haiming Wei, Zhigang Tian – 29 May 2007 – A fraction of HBV carriers have a risk to develop liver cancer. Because liver possesses a strong regeneration capability, surgical resection of cancerous liver or transplantation with healthy liver is an alternate choice for HBV‐caused hepatocarcinoma therapy. How HBV infection affects the regeneration of hepatectomized or transplanted liver remains elusive. We report that partial hepatectomy (PHx)‐induced liver regeneration was reduced in HBV transgenic (HBV‐tg) mice, a model of human HBV infection.

Jiansheng Huang, Jahangir Iqbal, Pradip K. Saha, Jun Liu, Lawrence Chan, M. Mahmood Hussain, David D. Moore, Li Wang – 24 May 2007 – The orphan receptor Small Heterodimer Partner (SHP, NROB2) regulates metabolic pathways, including hepatic bile acid, lipid, and glucose homeostasis. We reported that SHP‐deletion in leptin‐deficient OB−/− mice increases insulin sensitivity, and prevents the development of fatty liver.

Tania Fiaschi, Francesca Buricchi, Giacomo Cozzi, Stephanie Matthias, Matteo Parri, Giovanni Raugei, Giampietro Ramponi, Paola Chiarugi – 24 May 2007 – Adiponectin/ACRP30 is an adipose tissue–derived hormone with antiatherogenic, antidiabetic, and insulin‐sensitizing properties. Although the metabolic effects of adiponectin on glucose and lipid metabolism are well known, the signaling pathways triggered by adiponectin receptors remain to be elucidated.

Stéphane Chevaliez, Magali Bouvier‐Alias, Rozenn Brillet, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky – 24 May 2007 – The quantification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA is essential for the everyday management of chronic hepatitis C therapy. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques are potentially more sensitive than classical PCR techniques, are not prone to carryover contamination, and have a consistently wider dynamic range of quantification. Thus, they are rapidly replacing other technologies for the routine quantification of HCV RNA.

Marianne Ulcickas Yood, Charles P. Quesenberry, Dianlin Guo, Cary Caldwell, Karen Wells, Jun Shan, Lynn Sanders, Mary Lou Skovron, Uchenna Iloeje, M. Michele Manos – 24 May 2007 – Although hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been shown to be associated with development of non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), few studies have investigated the association between chronic HBV infection and NHL. The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of NHL between patients with and without chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

Leland J. Yee, Yong‐Ming Tang, David E. Kleiner, Dai Wang, KyungAh Im, Abdus Wahed, Xiaomei Tong, Shannon Rhodes, Xiaowen Su, R. Margaret Whelan, Robert J. Fontana, Marc G. Ghany, Brian Borg, T.