Juan Angel Fernández, Ricardo Robles, Caridad Marín, Francisco Sánchez‐Bueno, Pablo Ramírez, Pascual Parrilla – 6 January 2004 – The introduction of biliary laparoscopic surgery led to an increase in the incidence of liver hilum injuries. These types of lesions are very serious, because they can lead to secondary biliary cirrhosis or fulminant hepatic failure and the need for liver transplantion (LT). We present three cases of liver hilum injuries, which were treated with LT; one case was due to severe and persistent cholangitis, and two cases were due to fulminant hepatic failure.

Hiroyuki Katagiri, Yoshiya Ito, Ken‐ichiro Ishii, Izumi Hayashi, Makoto Suematsu, Shohei Yamashina, Takahiko Murata, Shuh Narumiya, Akira Kakita, Masataka Majima – 5 January 2004 – Although thromboxanes (TXs), whose synthesis is regulated by cyclooxygenase (COX), have been suggested to promote inflammation in the liver, little is known about the role of TXA2 in leukocyte endothelial interaction during endotoxemia.

Juliette Martin, Jean‐François Dufour – 5 January 2004 – Background & Aims: Cholestasis is one of the principal manifestations of liver disease and often results from disorders involving bile duct epithelia rather than hepatocytes. A range of disorders affects biliary epithelia, and no unifying pathophysiologic event in these cells has been identified as the cause of cholestasis.

Andres T. Blei – 5 January 2004

Harvey J. Alter – 5 January 2004

Kittichai Promrat, Glen Lutchman, Gabriel I. Uwaifo, Renee J. Freedman, Alejandro Soza, Theo Heller, Edward Doo, Marc Ghany, Ahalya Premkumar, Yoon Park, T. Jake Liang, Jack A. Yanovski, David E. Kleiner, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 5 January 2004 – Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a common chronic liver disease for which there is no known effective therapy. A proportion of patients with NASH progress to advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. NASH is considered one of the clinical features of the metabolic syndrome in which insulin resistance plays a central role.

Dominique Roulot, Claude Degott, Olivier Chazouillères, Frédéric Oberti, Paul Calès, Nicolas Carbonell, Said Benferhat, Solange Bresson‐Hadni, Dominique Valla – 5 January 2004 – Unexplained liver test abnormalities are frequent in patients with Turner's syndrome. This cohort study was performed to clarify the histopathologic features, causes, and long‐term outcome of liver involvement in these patients. Thirty patients with persistently abnormal liver test results were followed‐up for 8.8 ± 5.2 years. Liver specimens were available in 27 patients.

Junichi Shoda, Tetsuo Miura, Hirotoshi Utsunomiya, Koji Oda, Masahiro Yamamoto, Masahito Kano, Tadashi Ikegami, Naomi Tanaka, Hidetaka Akita, Kousei Ito, Hiroshi Suzuki, Yuichi Sugiyama – 5 January 2004 – Inchin‐ko‐to (ICKT), an herbal medicine, and its ingredients exert potent choleretic effects by a “bile acid‐independent” mechanism. The current study was designed to determine whether ICKT or its ingredients potentiate multidrug resistance‐associated protein 2 (Mrp2; Abcc2)‐mediated choleresis in vivo.

Adrian Reuben – 5 January 2004

Jong‐Hyun Kim, Kyung‐Ran You, In Hee Kim, Baik‐Hwan Cho, Chan‐Young Kim, Dae‐Ghon Kim – 5 January 2004 – Using messenger RNA (mRNA) differential display, we identified a single complementary DNA (cDNA) fragment (HG23T1) that was over‐expressed in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) specimen. We cloned the full‐length HG23T1 gene by the rapid amplification of cDNA end (RACE) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. It perfectly matched the gene encoding human ribosomal protein L36a (RPL36A also referred to as RPL44).