Richard A. Del Rio, Anthony B. Post, Mendel E. Singer – 28 November 2006 – In hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐infected patients who develop anemia during combination therapy, erythropoietic growth factors maintain higher drug treatment levels compared to ribavirin dose reduction, which may lead to an increase in treatment response rates. This study estimated the cost‐effectiveness of growth factor therapy in maintaining anemic HCV‐infected patients on target drug levels during combination therapy.

Alan Koffron, David Geller, T. Clark Gamblin, Michael Abecassis – 28 November 2006 – Laparoscopic liver surgery has evolved rapidly over the past 5 years in a select number of centers. The growing experience with these procedures has resulted in a shift in the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to common liver tumors. The fact that resection of benign and malignant hepatic masses can now be accomplished laparoscopically with relatively low morbidity has influenced the decision‐making process for physicians involved in the diagnosis and management of these lesions.

David E. Cohen – 28 November 2006

Massimo Primignani, Giovanni Barosi, Gaetano Bergamaschi, Umberto Gianelli, Federica Fabris, Raffaella Reati, Alessandra Dell'Era, Paolo Bucciarelli, Pier Mannuccio Mannucci – 28 November 2006 – The diagnosis of an underlying chronic myeloproliferative disorder (CMPD) is often problematic in patients with primary extrahepatic portal vein obstruction (EHPVO) or Budd‐Chiari syndrome (BCS); indeed, conventional clinical and hematological parameters usually yield insufficient information.

Richard J. Colonno, Ronald Rose, Carl J. Baldick, Steven Levine, Kevin Pokornowski, Cheng F. Yu, Ann Walsh, Jie Fang, Mayla Hsu, Charles Mazzucco, Betsy Eggers, Sharon Zhang, Mary Plym, Kenneth Klesczewski, Daniel J. Tenney – 28 November 2006 – Comprehensive monitoring of genotypic and phenotypic antiviral resistance was performed on 673 entecavir (ETV)‐treated nucleoside naïve hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients. ETV reduced HBV DNA levels to undetectable by PCR (<300 copies/mL, <57 IU/mL) in 91% of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐positive and ‐negative patients by Week 96.

Won‐Il Jeong, Ogyi Park, Svetlana Radaeva, Bin Gao – 28 November 2006 – Liver fibrosis, a common scarring response to chronic liver injury, is a precursor to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Here, we identified signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) as an important negative regulator in liver fibrosis. Our findings show that disruption of the STAT1 gene accelerated liver fibrosis and hepatic stellate cell (HSC) proliferation in an in vivo model of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)‐induced liver fibrosis.

Ewa Brojer, Piotr Grabarczyk, Grzegorz Liszewski, Maria Mikulska, Jean‐Pierre Allain, Magdalena Letowska, Polish Blood Transfusion Service Viral Study Group – 28 November 2006 – Nucleic acid testing (NAT) for hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been performed in Poland since 2005 on samples seronegative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti–hepatitis C virus (anti‐HCV), and anti–human immunodeficiency virus (anti‐HIV). Tools included 24‐donation pool testing (PT) using Cobas Amplicor or in individual donations (ID) by Procleix Ultrio.

Yesim Erim, Mingo Beckmann, Camino Valentin‐Gamazo, Massimo Malago, Andrea Frilling, Joerg F. Schlaak, Guido Gerken, Christoph E. Broelsch, Wolfgang Senf – 28 November 2006 – We investigated the psychosocial effects of a right hepatectomy on donors for adult living donor liver transplantation (ALDLT). Questionnaires were sent to 66 actual donors, who had undergone ALDLT between August 1998 and September 2003, as well as to 139 potential donors, who had been examined as possible candidates for ALDLT; the latter had been excluded and had not undergone surgery.

Jayant A. Talwalkar – 28 November 2006

Pantxika Bellecave, Darius Moradpour – 28 November 2006 – Protein synthesis in mammalian cells requires initiation factor eIF3, a ∼750‐kilodalton complex that controls assembly of 40S ribosomal subunits on messenger RNAs (mRNAs) bearing either a 5′‐cap or an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). Cryoelectron microscopy reconstructions show that eIF3, a five‐lobed particle, interacts with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) IRES RNA and the 5′‐cap binding complex eIF4F via the same domain.