Martin Hennenberg, Jonel Trebicka, Erwin Biecker, Michael Schepke, Tilman Sauerbruch, Jörg Heller – 26 January 2007 – In cirrhosis, vascular hypocontractility leads to vasodilation and contributes to portal hypertension. Impaired activation of contractile pathways contributes to vascular hypocontractility. Angiotensin II type 1 receptors (AT1‐Rs) are coupled to the contraction‐mediating RhoA/Rho‐kinase pathway and may be desensitized by phosphorylation through G‐protein‐coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) and binding of β‐arrestin‐2.

Deepak V. Gopal, Hugo R. Rosen – 26 January 2007

Thomas Walter, Jérôme Dumortier, Olivier Guillaud, Valérie Hervieu, Jean‐Yves Scoazec, Olivier Boillot – 26 January 2007 – Recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation (LT) is a major problem, since up to 30% of patients develop cirrhosis only 5 years after LT in the absence of antiviral therapy. The aim of this study was to examine the rate of progression of fibrosis and its associated risk factors in patients submitted to an early antiviral treatment post‐LT.

Ahmed Bolkhir, Elizabeth M. Brunt, Harvey S. Solomon, Paul H Hayashi – 26 January 2007

Teresa Pollicino, Giuseppina Raffa, Lucy Costantino, Antonella Lisa, Cesare Campello, Giovanni Squadrito, Massimo Levrero, Giovanni Raimondo – 26 January 2007 – Occult HBV infection is characterized by the persistence of HBV DNA in the liver of individuals negative for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). Occult HBV may exist in the hepatocytes as a free genome, although the factors responsible for the very low viral replication and gene expression usually observed in this peculiar kind of infection are mostly unknown.

Hermann E. Wasmuth, Christian Trautwein – 26 January 2007

Thierry Thévenot, Jean‐François Cadranel, Vincent Di Martino, Alexandre Pariente, Xavier Causse, Christophe Renou, Hervé Hagege, Jacques Denis, Françoise Lunel‐Fabiani – 26 January 2007 – We conducted a national retrospective survey on hospital practitioners to evaluate the magnitude of erythropoietin (EPO) or granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) prescriptions in patients treated for chronic hepatitis C. Four hundred seventy‐one questionnaires were sent, and 274 practitioners (58.2%) responded. Forty‐six percent of practitioners used EPO, and 31% used G‐CSF.

Eva Sonnenberg‐Riethmacher, Torsten Wüstefeld, Michaela Miehe, Christian Trautwein, Dieter Riethmacher – 26 January 2007 – The function of Maid (GCIP), a cyclinD‐binding helix‐loop‐helix protein, was analyzed by targeted disruption in mice. We show that Maid function is not required for normal embryonic development. However, older Maid‐deficient mice—in contrast to wild‐type controls—develop hepatocellular carcinomas. Therefore, we studied the role of Maid during cell cycle progression after partial hepatectomy (PH).

Yuichiro Otsuka, John P. Duffy, Sammy Saab, Douglas G. Farmer, Rafik M. Ghobrial, Jonathan R. Hiatt, Ronald W. Busuttil – 11 January 2007 – Postoperative liver failure (PLF) is a rare but often fatal complication of major hepatic resection. Use of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) for PLF remains undefined. We conducted a retrospective review of 435 patients who underwent hepatic resection between 1990 and 2004; 9 of them (2.0%) developed PLF.

Eugene Schiff, Ching‐Lung Lai, Stephanos Hadziyannis, Peter Neuhaus, Norah Terrault, Massimo Colombo, Hans Tillmann, Didier Samuel, Stefan Zeuzem, Jean‐Pierre Villeneuve, Sarah Arterburn, Katyna Borroto‐Esoda, Carol Brosgart, Steven Chuck – 11 January 2007 – Wait‐listed (n = 226) or post–liver transplantation (n = 241) chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with lamivudine‐resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV) were treated with adefovir dipivoxil for a median of 39 and 99 weeks, respectively.