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.

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).

Antonello Pietrangelo – 5 January 2004

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.

Patrick L. Splinter, Anatoliy I. Masyuk, Raul A. Marinelli, Nicholas F. LaRusso – 5 January 2004 – Rodent cholangiocytes express 6 of the 11 known channel proteins called aquaporins (AQPs) that are involved in transcellular water transport in mammals. However, clarifying the role of AQPs in mediating water transport in biliary epithelia has been limited in part because of the absence of physiologically relevant experimental models.

Hiroaki Shibahara, Shugo Tamada, Michiyo Higashi, Masamichi Goto, Surinder K. Batra, Michael A. Hollingsworth, Kohzoh Imai, Suguru Yonezawa – 5 January 2004 – Complete surgical resection of the tumor is the sole approach to improve the cure rate of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma‐mass forming type (ICC‐MF). Although patients are treated by curative resection, many of them show poor outcome.

Jinah Choi, Ki Jeong Lee, Yanyan Zheng, Ardath K. Yamaga, Michael M.C. Lai, Jing‐hsiung Ou – 5 January 2004 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive‐stranded RNA virus that causes severe liver diseases, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV uses an RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase to replicate its genome and an internal ribosomal entry site to translate its proteins. HCV infection is characterized by an increase in the concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the effect of which on HCV replication has yet to be determined.

Jenny Heathcote – 5 January 2004

Stephen F. Stewart, Matteo Vidali, Christopher P. Day, Emanuele Albano, David E.J. Jones – 5 January 2004 – Serum antibodies reactive with neo‐antigens generated during ethanol metabolism have been identified in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD), although their role in the pathogenesis of disease remains unclear.

Claudia O. Zein, Keith D. Lindor, Paul Angulo – 5 January 2004 – Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) may develop and bleed from esophageal varices. However, the exact prevalence of esophageal varices in patients with PSC remains unknown and potential predictors of esophageal varices in this population have not been identified. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of esophageal varices in patients with PSC and the variables that predict their presence.