James P. Luyendyk, Jane F. Maddox, Christopher D. Green, Patricia E. Ganey, Robert A. Roth – 24 November 2004 – Coadministration of nonhepatotoxic doses of the histamine 2‐receptor antagonist ranitidine (RAN) and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) results in hepatocellular injury in rats, the onset of which occurs in 3 to 6 hours. This reaction resembles RAN idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity in humans. Early fibrin deposition occurs in livers of rats cotreated with LPS/RAN. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that the hemostatic system contributes to liver injury in LPS/RAN‐treated rats.

Masatoshi Kudo, Hobyung Chung, Seiji Haji, Yukio Osaki, Hiroko Oka, Toshihito Seki, Hiroshi Kasugai, Yo Sasaki, Takashi Matsunaga – 24 November 2004 – The Japan Integrated Staging score (JIS score), which combines the Child‐Turcotte‐Pugh classification and tumor‐node‐metastasis staging, has been proposed as a better prognostic staging system for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than the Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP) scoring system. In this study, validation was performed among a larger patient population.

Adrian Reuben – 24 November 2004

Hélène Gilgenkrantz – 24 November 2004

Teh‐Ia Huo, Jaw‐Ching Wu, Shou‐Dong Lee – 24 November 2004

Michaël Schwarzinger, Sahar Dewedar, Claire Rekacewicz, Khaled Mahmoud Abd Elaziz, Arnaud Fontanet, Fabrice Carrat, Mostafa Kamal Mohamed – 24 November 2004 – Previous Western studies showed a consistent and marked reduction in health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). However, these studies were conducted on patients whose knowledge of their serological status may have affected their HRQOL.

Morris Sherman, Andrew Klein – 24 November 2004

Angela M. Valverde, Isabel Fabregat, Deborah J. Burks, Morris F. White, Manuel Benito – 24 November 2004 – To assess the role of insulin action and inaction in the liver, immortalized hepatocyte cell lines have been generated from insulin receptor substrate (IRS)‐2−/− and wild‐type mice. Using this model, we have recently demonstrated that the lack of IRS‐2 in neonatal hepatocytes resulted in insulin resistance.

Groupe d'Etude et de Traitement du Carcinome Hépatocellulaire (GRETCH) – 24 November 2004 – The growth of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is thought to be dependent on androgens, as androgen receptors are present in most of these tumors. The aim of this multicenter trial was to assess the effect of antiandrogens in patients who have advanced HCC. Male patients with advanced HCC were randomized into 2 groups treated with (1) leuprorelin (3.75 mg/mo subcutaneously), flutamide (750 mg/d orally), and tamoxifen (30 mg/d orally) or (2) tamoxifen alone (30 mg/d orally) administered until death.

Florian van Bömmel, Thomas Wünsche, Stefan Mauss, Petra Reinke, Alexandra Bergk, Dirk Schürmann, Bertram Wiedenmann, Thomas Berg – 24 November 2004 – Adefovir dipivoxil was recently approved for the treatment of wild‐type and lamivudine‐resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, a congender of adefovir that is used in the treatment of HIV infected patients, has recently been shown to also be effective in patients with lamivudine‐resistant HBV infection.