Brennan M.R. Spiegel, Zobair M. Younossi, Ron D. Hays, Dennis Revicki, Sean Robbins, Fasiha Kanwal – 24 March 2005 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) diminishes health related quality of life (HRQOL), and it is now common to measure HRQOL in clinical trials. We sought to summarize the HRQOL data in HCV, and to establish the minimally clinically important difference (MCID) in HRQOL scores in HCV. We performed a systematic review to identify relevant studies, and converted HRQOL data from each study into clinically interpretable statistics.

Edward D. Javor, Marc G. Ghany, Elaine K. Cochran, Elif Arioglu Oral, Alex M. DePaoli, Ahalya Premkumar, David E. Kleiner, Phillip Gorden – 24 March 2005 – Severe lipodystrophy is characterized by diminished adipose tissue and hypoleptinemia, leading to ectopic triglyceride accumulation. In the liver, this is associated with steatosis, potentially leading to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We investigated the prevalence of NASH and the effect of leptin replacement in these patients.

Adrian Reuben – 24 March 2005

Abdullah M. S. Al‐Osaimi, Carl L Berg, Stephen H. Caldwell – 24 March 2005

Jeroen N. Stoop, Renate G. van der Molen, Carla C. Baan, Luc J. W. van der Laan, Ernst J. Kuipers, Johannes G. Kusters, Harry L. A. Janssen – 24 March 2005 – Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is characterized by a weak immune response to HBV. Regulatory T cells (Treg) can suppress the function of effector T cells and may thus be key players in this impaired immune response. Changes in the functionality or number of Treg could explain the decreased antiviral response in chronic HBV patients.

Edward Tabor – 24 March 2005

Elizabeth A. Milward, Deborah Trinder, Chantelle E.J. Wilcox, Robert S. Britton, Grant A. Ramm, John K. Olynyk – 24 March 2005 – Inflammation influences iron balance in the whole organism. A common clinical manifestation of these changes is anemia of chronic disease (ACD; also called anemia of inflammation). Inflammation reduces duodenal iron absorption and increases macrophage iron retention, resulting in low serum iron concentrations (hyposideremia).

Philip Meuleman, Louis Libbrecht, Rita De Vos, Bernard de Hemptinne, Kris Gevaert, Joël Vandekerckhove, Tania Roskams, Geert Leroux‐Roels – 24 March 2005 – A small animal model harboring a functional human liver cell xenograft would be a useful tool to study human liver cell biology, drug metabolism, and infections with hepatotropic viruses. Here we describe the repopulation, organization, and function of human hepatocytes in a mouse recipient and the infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) of the transplanted cells.

Vincent Di Martino, Pascal Lebray, Thierry Poynard – 24 March 2005

Margarita Sala, Josep M. Llovet, Jordi Bruix – 24 March 2005