Steven Y. Lin, Ellen T. Chang, Samuel K. So – 24 July 2007 – Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious liver disease that, if left undiagnosed or without appropriate medical management, is associated with a 25% chance of death from cirrhosis or liver cancer. To study the demographics and prevalence of chronic HBV infection and HBV vaccination in the Asian American population, we provided free HBV serological screening and administered a survey to 3163 Asian American adult volunteers in the San Francisco Bay Area between 2001 and 2006.

Mercedes Fernandez, Marc Mejias, Ester Garcia‐Pras, Raul Mendez, Juan Carlos Garcia‐Pagan, Jaime Bosch – 24 July 2007 – Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF) pathways are crucial to angiogenesis, a process that contributes significantly to the pathogenesis of portal hypertension. This study determined the effects of inhibition of VEGF and/or PDGF signaling on hyperdynamic splanchnic circulation and portosystemic collateralization in rats with completely established portal hypertension, thus mimicking the situation in patients.

Byung Chul Yoo, Ju Hyun Kim, Tae‐Hun Kim, Kwang Cheol Koh, Soon‐Ho Um, Young Soo Kim, Kwan Sik Lee, Byung Hoon Han, Chae Yoon Chon, Joon‐Yeol Han, Soo Hyung Ryu, Haak Cheoul Kim, Kwan Soo Byun, Seong Gyu Hwang, Byung‐Ik Kim, Mong Cho, Kwon Yoo, Heon‐Ju Lee, Jae Seok Hwang, Yun Soo Kim, Young‐Suk Lee, Sung‐Kyu Choi, Youn‐Jae Lee, Jin‐Mo Yang, Joong‐Won Park, Myung‐Seok Lee, Dae‐Ghon Kim, Young‐Hwa Chung, Se‐Hyun Cho, Jong‐Young Choi, Young‐Oh Kweon, Heon Young Lee, Sook‐Hyang Jeong, Hee‐Won Yoo, Hyo‐Suk Lee – 23 July 2007 – Clevudine is a pyrimidine analog with potent and sustained antiviral

Michael Oertel, Anuradha Menthena, Yuan‐Qing Chen, David A. Shafritz – 23 July 2007 – Thy‐1, a marker of hematopoietic progenitor cells, is also expressed in activated oval cells of rat liver. Thy‐1+ cells are also in rat fetal liver and exhibit properties of bipotent hepatic epithelial progenitor cells in culture. However, no information is available concerning liver repopulation by Thy‐1+ fetal liver cells.

Zhaodong Li, Jonathan A. Dranoff, Erick P. Chan, Masayuki Uemura, Jean Sévigny, Rebecca G. Wells – 11 July 2007 – Myofibroblasts derived from portal fibroblasts are important fibrogenic cells in the early stages of biliary fibrosis. In contrast to hepatic stellate cells, portal fibroblasts have not been well studied in vitro, and little is known about their myofibroblastic differentiation. In this article we report the isolation and characterization of rat portal fibroblasts in culture.

Onpan Cheung, Ashwani Kapoor, Puneet Puri, Sakita Sistrun, Velimir A. Luketic, Carol C. Sargeant, Melissa J. Contos, Mitchell L. Shiffman, Richard T. Stravitz, Richard K. Sterling, Arun J. Sanyal – 3 July 2007 – The patterns of fat distribution and their relationship to severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are unknown. The objectives of this study were to define the fat distribution patterns and their relationship to histological severity and metabolic parameters in subjects with NAFLD. Anthropometric indices and total body fat were measured in 123 subjects.

Albert J. Czaja – 28 June 2007

Fiona Fernandes, Daniel S. Poole, Spencer Hoover, Rannveig Middleton, Adin‐Cristian Andrei, Justin Gerstner, Rob Striker – 28 June 2007 – HCV reoccurs after liver transplantation and increases mortality. Cyclosporine, but not tacrolimus, has potent antiviral effects against HCV replication in cell culture. To determine the conditions, if any, under which HCV is susceptible to cyclosporine in vivo, we selected for cyclosporine‐resistant mutant HCV in vitro. The resulting mutations were mapped to x‐ray crystallographic structures and sequence databases.

Gonzalo Gonzalez‐Stawinski – 28 June 2007

Takeshi Tsujino, Yasuhiko Sugawara, Takao Kawabe, Masatoshi Makuuchi, Masao Omata – 28 June 2007