Roman Huber, Birgit Hockenjos, Hubert E. Blum – 27 May 2004 – We report 13 patients (10 with chronic hepatitis C, 1 with chronic hepatitis B, 2 with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) with persistently elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels who were treated with dimethyl‐4,4′‐dimethoxy‐5,6,5′,6‐dimethylenedioxybiphenyl‐2,2′ dicarboxylate (DDB). ALT rapidly normalized in 12/13 patients and remained normal during treatment. Unlike ALT levels, aspartate aminotransferase, gamma‐glutamyl transferase and glutamate dehydrogenase levels were not affected.

Hans Christian Spangenberg, Robert Thimme, Hubert E. Blum – 27 May 2004 – Hepatitis B virus (hepadnavirus) infections are maintained by the presence of a small and regulated number of episomal viral genomes [covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA)] in the nuclei of infected cells. Although a number of studies have measured the mean copy number of cccDNA molecules in hepadnaviral‐infected cells, the distribution of individual copy numbers have not been reported.

Jens Bukh – 27 May 2004 – Chimpanzees remain the only recognized animal model for the study of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Studies performed in chimpanzees played a critical role in the discovery of HCV and are continuing to play an essential role in defining the natural history of this important human pathogen. In the absence of a reproducible cell culture system, the infectivity titer of HCV challenge pools can be determined only in chimpanzees.

Jeremy M. Palmer, Amanda J. Robe, Alastair D. Burt, John A. Kirby, David E. J. Jones – 27 May 2004 – The autoimmune liver disease primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is characterized by the breakdown of normal immune self tolerance to pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC). How tolerance is broken to such a central and highly conserved self antigen in the initiation of autoimmunity remains unclear. One postulated mechanism is that reactivity arises to an altered form of self antigen with subsequent cross‐reactivity to native self.

Alec Avgerinos, Anastasios Armonis, Gerasimos Stefanidis, Nikoleta Mathou, Jiannis Vlachogiannakos, Anastasios Kougioumtzian, Christos Triantos, Costas Papaxoinis, Spilios Manolakopoulos, Anna Panani, Sotiris A. Raptis – 27 May 2004 – During variceal bleeding, several factors may increase portal pressure, which in turn may precipitate further bleeding. This study investigates the early effects of endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS) and endoscopic band ligation (EBL) on hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) during acute bleeding and the possible influence in outcome.

Hitoshi Yoshiji, Shigeki Kuriyama, Junichi Yoshii, Yasuhide Ikenaka, Ryuichi Noguchi, Daniel J. Hicklin, Yan Wu, Koji Yanase, Tadashi Namisaki, Mitsuteru Kitade, Masaharu Yamazaki, Hirohisa Tsujinoue, Tsutomu Masaki, Hiroshi Fukui – 27 May 2004 – It has been shown that angiogenesis plays an important role not only in tumor growth, but also in early carcinogenesis. The expression of a potent angiogenic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), increased during the early stage of carcinogenesis.

Raúl J. Andrade, M. Isabel Lucena, Anabel Alonso, Miren García‐Cort́es, Elena García‐Ruiz, Rafael Benitez, M. Carmen Fernández, Gloria Pelaez, Manuel Romero, Raquel Corpas, José Antonio Durán, Manuel Jiménez, Luis Rodrigo, Flor Nogueras, Rafael Martín‐Vivaldi, José María Navarro, Javier Salmerón, Felipe Sánchez de la Cuesta, Ramón Hidalgo – 27 May 2004 – Drug‐induced idiosyncratic liver disease (DIILD) depends largely on host susceptibility factors. Small studies support the genetic influence of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II molecules on the predisposition to DIILD.

Adrian Reuben – 27 May 2004

Elisabetta Bugianesi, Giulio Marchesini – 27 May 2004

Albert J. Czaja, Herschel A. Carpenter – 27 May 2004 – Hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis are possible consequences of corticosteroid‐treated autoimmune hepatitis. Our aims were to determine the frequency of progressive fibrosis and the factors associated with this progression. Two hundred seventy‐seven liver tissue specimens that had been obtained from 73 patients were interpreted in batch under code by a single pathologist.