J H Hoofnagle – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) accounts for approximately 20% of cases of acute hepatitis, 70% of chronic hepatitis, and 30% of end‐stage liver disease in the United States. The acute infection has an incubation period of 7 weeks (range, 4‐20 weeks) and is symptomatic and icteric in only one third of patients. Serum aminotransferase levels generally increase greater than 10‐fold elevated and as symptoms and signs resolve decrease into the normal range. Antibody to HCV is usually but not always present at the time of onset of symptoms.

30 December 2003

S D Nishioka – 30 December 2003

P J Meier, U Eckhardt, A Schroeder, B Hagenbuch, B Stieger – 30 December 2003 – The Na+‐dependent bile salt uptake systems Ntcp (rodents) and NTCP (human), and the Na+‐independent organic anion transporters oatpl (rat) and OATP (human) mediate sinusoidal uptake of a variety of amphipathic organic compounds into hepatocytes. Their properties indicate that an overall hepatic clearance of albumin‐bound compounds is mediated by a limited number of multispecific transporters with partially overlapping substrate specificities.

W Jager, O Winter, B Halper, A Salamon, M Sartori, L Gajdzik, G Hamilton, G Theyer, J Graf, T Thalhammer – 30 December 2003 – Rat liver cells express the multispecific organic anion transporter (cmoat, cmrp, mrp2) and P‐glycoprotein (Pgp) in their canalicular membranes, proteins that are homologous to the multidrug‐resistance related protein (MRP) and multidrug resistance (MDR) gene products in multidrug resistant tumor cells.

J O Clemmesen, B A Hansen, F S Larsen – 30 December 2003 – In patients with acute liver failure, cerebral herniation is a common cause of death. The present study reports the effect of indomethacin on four occasions of intracranial hypertension, in a 23‐year old previously healthy woman with severe acetaminophen poisoning. During each episode of intracranial hypertension, the patient was treated with 25 mg of indomethacin, and each time the intracranial pressure normalized.

K Brix, R Wirtz, V Herzog – 30 December 2003 – Thyroglobulin (Tg), the precursor of the thyroid hormones triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), is known to derive from thyroid epithelial cells. Part of Tg reaches the circulation as an intact molecule by transcytosis across the epithelial wall of thyroid follicles. Circulating Tg is a potential ligand for the asialoglycoprotein receptor of hepatocytes. In this report we show, however, that clearance of circulating Tg occurred exclusively by endocytosis in liver macrophages, whereas hepatocytes did not participate in this process.

M Yoneda, K Tamori, Y Sato, S Yokohama, K Nakamura, T Kono, I Makino – 30 December 2003 – Central neuropeptides play a role as physiological regulators in the autonomic nervous system. One of these neuropeptides, thyrotropin‐ releasing hormone (TRH), is distributed throughout the central nervous system (CNS) and acts as a neurotransmitter to regulate gastric functions through the vagus nerve. However, the autonomic nervous system is also involved in hepatic regeneration, but the effect of TRH is unknown. Therefore, the CNS's effect of TRH on hepatic DNA synthesis was studied in rats.

L Garcia‐Huete, P Domenech, A Sabate, F Martinez‐Brotons, E Jaurrieta, J Figueras – 30 December 2003 – Fibrinolysis has been recognized as an important cause of intraoperative bleeding during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Several investigators have used prophylactic administration of aprotinin in patients to inhibit fibrinolysis and to decrease transfusion requirements, morbidity, and mortality. Nevertheless, the role of aprotinin in this situation is not yet clear.

A Bertoletti, S Southwood, R Chesnut, A Sette, M Falco, G B Ferrara, A Penna, C Boni, F Fiaccadori, C Ferrari – 30 December 2003 – The strength of the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response is believed to influence the final outcome of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.