Karine Hellemans, Peggy Verbuyst, Erik Quartier, Frans Schuit, Krista Rombouts, Ross A.S. Chandraratna, Detlef Schuppan, Albert Geerts – 5 January 2004 – Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) is a central event in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis during chronic liver injury. We examined the expression of retinoic acid (RAR) and retinoid X receptors (RXR) during HSC activation and evaluated the influence of natural and synthetic retinoic acids (RA) on the phenotype of culture‐activated HSC.

Antonello Pietrangelo – 5 January 2004

Francis Y. Yao, Sammy Saab, Nathan M. Bass, Ryutaro Hirose, David Ly, Norah Terrault, Ann A. Lazar, Peter Bacchetti, Nancy L. Ascher, John P. Roberts – 5 January 2004 – The current policy for determining priority for organ allocation is based on the model for end stage liver disease (MELD). We hypothesize that severity of graft dysfunction assessed by either the MELD score or the Child‐Turcotte‐Pugh (CTP) score correlates with mortality after liver retransplantation (re‐OLT).

Olav Dalgard, Atle Egeland, Kjell Skaug, Kostas Vilimas, Tore Steen – 5 January 2004 – This study assessed the effect of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) of injecting drug users, comparing the HRQOL of injecting drug users with and without chronic HCV infection. The study included 199 injecting drug users of more than 18 years of age who participated in a needle exchange program. Blood samples were tested for the presence of HCV RNA in serum with a polymerase chain reaction method.

Gennaro D'Amico, Alberto Morabito – 5 January 2004

Hyam L. Leffert, Stewart Sell – 5 January 2004

Huey‐Ling Chen, Chee‐Jen Chang, Man‐Shan Kong, Fu‐Chen Huang, Hung‐Chang Lee, Chieh‐Chung Lin, Ching‐Chuan Liu, I‐Hsien Lee, Tzee‐Chung Wu, Shu‐Fen Wu, Yen‐Hsuan Ni, Hong‐Yuan Hsu, Ding‐Shinn Chen, Mei‐Hwei Chang – 5 January 2004 – To investigate the role of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in pediatric fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) after the launch of universal HBV vaccination, the authors analyzed the data from patients with FHF collected from a nationwide collaborative study group.

Maria Antonietta Casiraghi, Massimo De Paschale, Luisa Romanò, Renato Biffi, Agnese Assi, Giorgio Binelli, Alessandro Remo Zanetti – 5 January 2004 – Long‐term follow up studies of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection rarely exceed 20–25 yr. We studied the outcome of HCV infection in 35‐yr‐old adults infected at birth (1968) through mini transfusions of blood. A retrospective‐prospective study was carried out. The cohort included 31 individuals who were given mini blood transfusions (21–30 ml) collected from a donor subsequently revealed to be HCV infected.

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).

Adrian Reuben – 5 January 2004