Ian M. Gralnek, Dennis M. Jensen, Thomas O. Kovacs, Rome Jutabha, Gustavo A. Machicado, Jeffrey Gornbein, Joy King, Susie Cheng, Mary Ellen Jensen – 30 December 2003 – Esophageal variceal hemorrhage (EVH) is a serious and expensive sequela of chronic liver disease, leading to increased utilization of resources. Today, endoscopic sclerotherapy (ES) and endoscopic ligation (EL) are the accepted, community standards of endoscopic treatment of patients with EVH. However, there are no published studies comparing the economic costs of treating EVH using these interventions.

Gene D. LeSage, Antonio Benedetti, Shannon Glaser, Luca Marucci, Ziga Tretjak, Alessandra Caligiuri, Rebecca Rodgers, Jo Lynne Phinizy, Leonardo Baiocchi, Heather Francis, John Lasater, Laura Ugili, Gianfranco Alpini – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this study was to develop a model of selective duct damage restricted to hormone‐responsive segments corresponding to the ducts damaged in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was fed by gavage to rats, and 2, 7, 14, and 28 days later, small and large cholangiocytes were isolated.

30 December 2003

Nosheen Ahmad, Carol R. Gardner, Edward J. Yurkow, Debra L. Laskin – 30 December 2003 – Cell adhesion molecules are important for localized accumulation of phagocytes at sites of tissue damage. In the present studies, we analyzed the effects of blocking hepatic macrophages on expression of β2 integrins and intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) adhesion molecules on liver cells during acute endotoxemia. Flow cytometric analysis revealed distinct subpopulations of macrophages from control animals that varied on the basis of their size and density.

Bruno Clément, Orlando Musso, Jocelyne Liétard, Nathalie Théret – 30 December 2003

Henry L. Y. Chan, Munira Hussain, Anna S. F. Lok – 30 December 2003 – Mutations in the core promoter and precore regions are frequently found in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐negative patients, but precore stop codon mutation is restricted to hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes that have T at nucleotide 1858.

Kazuyoshi Katayanagi, Judy Van de Water, Thomas Kenny, Yasuni Nakanuma, Aftab A. Ansari, Ross Coppel, M. Eric Gershwin – 30 December 2003 – Biliary epithelial cells (BECs) are distributed along the length of both the extrahepatic and intrahepatic biliary tree, but have distinctly different phenotypes and functions according to their anatomical location. It has been reasoned that the distinct appearance of pathogenic lesions in different biliary diseases may be associated with the expression of distinct proteins.

Ivo W. Graziadei, Russell H. Wiesner, Kenneth P. Batts, Paul J. Marotta, Nicholas F. LaRusso, Michael K. Porayko, J. Eileen Hay, Gregory J. Gores, Michael R. Charlton, Jurgen Ludwig, John J. Poterucha, Jeffery L. Steers, Ruud A. Krom – 30 December 2003 – Recurrence of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) following liver transplantation has been suggested; however, it has not been fully defined because of numerous complicating factors and the lack of diagnostic criteria.

Stefan Zeuzem, Uwe Hopf, Vicente Carreno, Moisés Diago, Mitchell Shiffman, Stefan Grüne, Francis J. Dudley, Ashok Rakhit, Karen Rittweger, Sing Hiem Yap, Raymond S. Koff, Howard C. Thomas – 30 December 2003 – Interleukin‐12 (IL‐12) plays a central role in mounting an effective cellular immune response directed towards elimination of intracellular pathogens.

Mark Dixon, Loranne Agius, Stephen J. Yeaman, Christopher P. Day – 30 December 2003 – Stimulation of hepatocyte proliferation by epidermal growth factor (EGF) and insulin is inhibited by transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) and by glucagon. It is also suppressed by inhibitors of various protein kinases, including rapamycin, which blocks activation of p70 S6 kinase (p70S6k), PD98059, which inhibits the activation of extracellular‐regulated kinase (ERK), and SB 203580, an inhibitor of the p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK).