Takayuki Masaki, Seiichi Chiba, Hiroshi Tatsukawa, Tohru Yasuda, Hitoshi Noguchi, Masataka Seike, Hironobu Yoshimatsu – 30 June 2004 – Adiponectin, an adipocytokine, has been identified in adipose tissue, and its receptors are widely distributed in many tissues, including the liver. The present study was performed to clarify the role of adiponectin in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced liver injury using KK‐Ay obese mice. We analyzed the effects of adiponectin pretreatment on liver injury induced by D‐galactosamine/LPS (GalN/LPS) in KK‐Ay obese mice.

Stefan Mauss, Florian Berger, Joerg Goelz, Bernhard Jacob, Günther Schmutz – 30 June 2004 – We examined the feasibility of hepatitis C treatment in patients on opioid maintenance. One hundred patients with chronic hepatitis C, 50 on methadone maintenance, and 50 with no intravenous drug use or opioid maintenance for at least 5 years were prospectively matched for sex, age, hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype and HCV RNA. The primary end point was undetectable HCV RNA at 24 weeks posttreatment.

Motoyuki Otsuka, Naoya Kato, Run‐Xuan Shao, Yujin Hoshida, Hideaki Ijichi, Yukihiro Koike, Hiroyoshi Taniguchi, Masaru Moriyama, Yasushi Shiratori, Takao Kawabe, Masao Omata – 30 June 2004 – Heatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common human malignancy. Its high mortality rate is mainly a result of high intrahepatic recurrence and portal venous invasion (PVI). We previously reported that the development of PVI is related to levels of des‐gamma‐carboxy prothrombin (DCP), a serum protein that increases at a notably higher rate in patients with HCC.

David A. Hendricks – 30 June 2004

Jian Wu, Li Liu, Roy D. Yen, Andreea Catana, Michael H. Nantz, Mark A. Zern – 30 June 2004 – Our previous study demonstrated that polycationic liposomes are highly stable in the bloodstream and represent an effective agent for liver gene delivery. We report here that liposome‐mediated extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC‐SOD) gene delivery successfully prevented acute liver injury in mice.

Rosendo Jardi, Francisco Rodriguez‐Frias, Maria Buti, Melanie Schaper, Auristela Valdes, Mariano Martinez, Rafael Esteban, Jaime Guardia – 30 June 2004 – The purpose of this study was to assess the use of dried blood spot (DBS) samples for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA quantification, HBV genotyping, and detection of G1896A precore mutants and variants in the YMDD polymerase motif.

30 June 2004

Doris B. Strader, Teresa L. Wright, David L. Thomas, Leonard B. Seeff – 30 June 2004

30 June 2004

Darius Moradpour – 30 June 2004