Zachary D. Goodman, Robert L. Becker, Paul J. Pockros, Nezam H. Afdhal – 28 March 2007 – Fibrosis progression in chronic liver disease has usually been evaluated by liver biopsy using insensitive semiquantitative numerical scores. An alternative to this is to measure fibrous tissue quantitatively using morphometric image analysis. The aim of this study was to quantify fibrosis progression in a cohort of patients with treatment‐refractory chronic hepatitis C enrolled in a placebo‐controlled clinical trial of interferon gamma‐1b (IFN‐γ 1b) for the treatment of advanced hepatic fibrosis.

Masaya Sugiyama, Yasuhito Tanaka, Tomoyuki Sakamoto, Isao Maruyama, Takashi Shimada, Satoru Takahashi, Tomoyuki Shirai, Hideaki Kato, Masataka Nagao, Yuzo Miyakawa, Masashi Mizokami – 28 March 2007 – Of the 8 genotypes of HBV (genotypes A‐H), genotype G is unique in that it has an insertion in the core gene and two stop codons in the precore region preventing the synthesis of hepatitis B e antigen. Most individuals with genotype G are coinfected with other genotypes, typically genotype A.

Jacqueline G. O'Leary, Jessica L. Chan, Cory M. McMahon, Raymond T. Chung – 28 March 2007 – Cholesterol biosynthesis is an integral part of HCV RNA replication. Not only does HCV RNA replicate on lipid rafts, but it also requires cholesterol intermediates to replicate. In addition, it has been shown in vitro that several HMG‐CoA reductase inhibitors can decrease HCV RNA replication by ≥ 1 log. Therefore, we designed a clinical trial to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on HCV RNA levels.

Joseph Torresi, Owen M. Stock, Alexandra E. Fischer, Lara Grollo, Heidi Drummer, Irene Boo, Weiguang Zeng, Linda Earnest‐Silveira, David C. Jackson – 28 March 2007 – We describe a peptide‐based strategy for HCV vaccine design that addresses the problem of variability in hypervariable region 1 (HVR1). Peptides representing antibody epitopes of HVR1 from genotype 1a were synthesized and incorporated into multideterminant immunogens that also included lipid moieties and helper T (Th) cell epitopes. Mice inoculated with these polyepitopes generated strong antibody responses.

Víctor Cortés, Attilio Rigotti – 28 March 2007

Ashraf Mohammad El‐Badry, Wolfgang Moritz, Claudio Contaldo, Yinghua Tian, Rolf Graf, Pierre‐Alain Clavien – 28 March 2007 – Macrovesicular hepatic steatosis has a lower tolerance to reperfusion injury than microvesicular steatosis with an abnormally high ratio of omega‐6 (n‐6): omega‐3 (n‐3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). We investigated the influence of PUFAs on microcirculation in steatotic livers and the potential to minimize reperfusion injury in the macrosteatotic liver by normalization of PUFAs.

Thomas F. Imperiale, Robert W. Klein, Naga Chalasani – 28 March 2007 – Although both β‐blockade (BB) and endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) are used for primary prevention of variceal bleeding (VB) in patients with cirrhosis with moderate to large esophageal varices (EVs), the more cost‐effective option is uncertain. We created a Markov decision model to compare BB and EVL in such patients, examining both cost‐effectiveness (cost per life year [LY]) and cost‐utility (cost per quality‐adjusted life year [QALY]).

Ruben Raphael Plentz, Young Nyun Park, André Lechel, Haeryoung Kim, Friederike Nellessen, Britta Heike Eva Langkopf, Ludwig Wilkens, Annarita Destro, Barbara Fiamengo, Michael Peter Manns, Massimo Roncalli, Karl Lenhard Rudolph – 28 March 2007 – Telomere shortening and inactivation of cell cycle checkpoints characterize carcinogenesis. Whether these molecular features coincide at specific stages of human hepatocarcinogenesis is unknown. The preneoplasia–carcinoma sequence of human HCC is not well defined.

Olivier Barbier, Jocelyn Trottier – 28 March 2007

Max Werth, Frank Gaunitz, Rolf Gebhardt – 28 March 2007