Hepatic fibrosis 2006: Report of the third AASLD Single Topic Conference

Scott L. Friedman, Don C. Rockey, D. Montgomery Bissell – 22 December 2006 – The third American Associated for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)–sponsored Single Topic Conference on hepatic fibrosis was held in June 2006. The conference was both international, with 6 countries represented, and cross‐disciplinary, linking the basic molecular and cellular biology of fibrogenic cells to clinical trial design for emerging antifibrotic therapies.

Increasing dimethylarginine levels are associated with adverse clinical outcome in severe alcoholic hepatitis

Rajeshwar P. Mookerjee, Mohammed Malaki, Nathan A. Davies, Stephen J. Hodges, R. Neil Dalton, Charles Turner, Sambit Sen, Roger Williams, James Leiper, Patrick Vallance, Rajiv Jalan – 22 December 2006 – Previous studies suggest reduced hepatic endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity contributes to increased intrahepatic resistance. Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, undergoes hepatic metabolism via dimethylarginine‐dimethylamino‐hydrolase, and is derived by the action of protein‐arginine‐methyltransferases.

Renal failure and bacterial infections in patients with cirrhosis: Epidemiology and clinical features

Silvano Fasolato, Paolo Angeli, Lucia Dallagnese, Giulio Maresio, Erika Zola, Elena Mazza, Freddy Salinas, Silvio Donà, Stefano Fagiuoli, Antonietta Sticca, Giacomo Zanus, Umberto Cillo, Ilaria Frasson, Carla Destro, Angelo Gatta – 22 December 2006 – The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical course of renal failure that was induced by the various types of bacterial infections in patients with cirrhosis and ascites.

Race, insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis in chronic hepatitis C

Hari S. Conjeevaram, David E. Kleiner, Jay E. Everhart, Jay H. Hoofnagle, Steven Zacks, Nezam H. Afdhal, Abdus S. Wahed – 22 December 2006 – Hepatic steatosis is common in chronic hepatitis C and has been linked to concurrent obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, disease severity, and poor response to therapy. Racial differences in rates of obesity and diabetes may contribute to racial differences in hepatic steatosis and treatment response.

Arsenic stimulates sinusoidal endothelial cell capillarization and vessel remodeling in mouse liver

Adam C. Straub, Donna B. Stolz, Mark A. Ross, Araceli Hernández‐Zavala, Nicole V. Soucy, Linda R. Klei, Aaron Barchowsky – 22 December 2006 – Trivalent arsenic [As(III)] is a well‐known environmental toxicant that causes a wide range of organ‐specific diseases and cancers. In the human liver, As(III) promotes vascular remodeling, portal fibrosis, and hypertension, but the pathogenesis of these As(III)‐induced vascular changes is unknown.

Wnt'er in liver: Expression of Wnt and frizzled genes in mouse

Gang Zeng, Farrukh Awan, Wade Otruba, Peggy Muller, Udayan Apte, Xinping Tan, Chandrashekhar Gandhi, Anthony J. Demetris, Satdarshan P. S. Monga – 22 December 2006 – The Wnt signaling pathway is essential for a wide array of developmental and physiological processes. Wnts are extracellular ligands that bind to frizzled (Fz) receptors at the membrane, canonically inducing β‐catenin nuclear translocation and activation. Although β‐catenin has been shown to be critical in liver biology, the expression of the 19 Wnt and 10 Fz genes in liver remains undetermined.

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