Patrycja Jonetzko, Ivo Graziadei, Karin Nachbaur, Wolfgang Vogel, Sabine Pankuweit, Ralf Zwick, Otmar Pachinger, Gerhard Poelzl – 21 March 2005 – Acute myocarditis may result in severe hemodynamic compromise with fatal outcome. Furthermore, recent studies suggest myocarditis as a major cause of sudden unexpected death. A variety of cardiotropic viral, rickettsial, and bacterial infectious agents have been identified to date. Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is usually benign in childhood, but it may also cause death due to myocarditis.

Dimitrios N. Samonakis, Christos K. Triantos, Ulrich Thalheimer, Alberto Quaglia, Gioacchino Leandro, Rosângela Teixeira, George V. Papatheodoridis, Caroline A. Sabin, Nancy Rolando, Susan Davies, Amar P. Dhillon, Paul Griffiths, Vincent Emery, David W. Patch, Brian R. Davidson, Keith Rolles, Andrew K. Burroughs – 21 March 2005 – In HCV cirrhotic patients after liver transplantation, survival and recurrence of HCV appears to be worsening in recent years. Donor age has been suggested as a cause.

Michael Charlton – 21 March 2005

Shawn J. Pelletier, Douglas E. Schaubel, Jeffrey D. Punch, Robert A. Wolfe, Friedrich K. Port, Robert M. Merion – 21 March 2005 – Retransplantation for liver allograft failure associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been increasing due to nearly universal posttransplant HCV recurrence and has been demonstrated to be associated with poor outcomes. We report on the risk factors for death after retransplantation among liver recipients with HCV.

Henna Rautiainen, Päivi Kärkkäinen, A‐L Karvonen, Heimo Nurmi, Pekka Pikkarainen, Hannu Nuutinen, Martti Färkkilä – 7 March 2005 – Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is a safe medical therapy for primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), but its effect on liver histology remains uncertain. Budesonide is a glucocorticoid with high receptor activity and high first‐pass metabolism in liver. We evaluated the combination of budesonide and UDCA on liver histology and compared this with UDCA alone in a 3‐year prospective, randomized, open multicenter study.

Takumi Teratani, Hanako Yamamoto, Kazuhiko Aoyagi, Hiroki Sasaki, Akira Asari, Gary Quinn, Hideo Sasaki, Masaaki Terada, Takahiro Ochiya – 1 March 2005 – The molecules responsible for hepatic differentiation from embryonic stem (ES) cells have yet to be elucidated. Here we have identified growth factors that allow direct hepatic fate‐specification from ES cells by using simple adherent monolayer culture conditions.

Florian Graepler, Barbara Verbeek, Tilmann Graeter, Irina Smirnow, Hwai Loong Kong, Detlef Schuppan, Michael Bauer, Reinhard Vonthein, Michael Gregor, Ulrich M. Lauer – 28 February 2005 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is regarded as a suitable target for antiangiogenic strategies. However, antiangiogenic agents aimed at single targets can be neutralized by upregulation of other proangiogenic factors. Therefore, combined approaches addressing at least two angiogenic targets should be more effective.

Markus Reiser, Holger Hinrichsen, Yves Benhamou, Henk W. Reesink, Heiner Wedemeyer, Cristina Avendano, Neus Riba, Chan‐Loi Yong, Gerhard Nehmiz, Gerhard G. Steinmann – 24 February 2005 – BILN‐2061, a specific and potent peptidomimetic inhibitor of the HCV NS3 protease, has recently been shown to markedly lower serum hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐RNA levels in patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 1 in three 2‐day proof of principle studies. The aim of the current study was to assess the antiviral efficacy of BILN‐2061 in patients with genotypes 2 and 3 HCV infection.

Ruud Dirkx, Ilse Vanhorebeek, Katrin Martens, Arno Schad, Markus Grabenbauer, Dariush Fahimi, Peter Declercq, Paul P. Van Veldhoven, Myriam Baes – 24 February 2005 – Peroxisome deficiency in men causes severe pathology in several organs, particularly in the brain and liver, but it is still unknown how metabolic abnormalities trigger these defects. In the present study, a mouse model with hepatocyte‐selective elimination of peroxisomes was generated by inbreeding Pex5‐loxP and albumin‐Cre mice to investigate the consequences of peroxisome deletion on the functioning of hepatocytes.

Fazilat F. Mohammed, Caroline J. Pennington, Zamaneh Kassiri, Jeffrey S. Rubin, Paul D. Soloway, Ulrich Ruther, Dylan R. Edwards, Rama Khokha – 22 February 2005 – Liver regeneration depends on timely restoration of cellular mass while orchestrating structural matrix remodeling. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their endogenous inhibitors (TIMPs) are known to regulate the extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover and, more recently, the processing of growth factors and cytokines.