Anna Kordelia Kurz, Freimut Schliess, Dieter Häussinger – 30 December 2003 – The influence of cell hydration and taurine on the heat shock response was studied in primary rat hepatocytes. Heat‐induced accumulation of inducible heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) mRNA and protein was increased under hypo‐osmotic conditions. In contrast, hyper‐osmotic exposure blocked the HSP70 response during an 8‐hour recovery, and this was paralleled by a reduction of overall protein synthesis and an impairment of thermotolerance.

Philippe Lahaye, Khalid A. Tazi, Jean‐Pierre Rona, Olivier Dellis, Didier Lebrec, Richard Moreau – 30 December 2003 – Protein kinase C (PKC) modulates the activity and phosphorylation of the catalytic α‐subunit of sodium‐potassium‐adenosine triphosphatase (Na+/K+ ATPase) in normal arteries. Because PKC is altered in cirrhotic aortae, Na+/K+ ATPase may also be altered in these arteries. The aim of the present study was to investigate α‐subunit activity and phosphorylation in aortae from normal and cirrhotic rats, under baseline conditions and during exposure to PKC modulators.

Akos Heinemann, Christof H. Wachter, Peter Fickert, Michael Trauner, Rudolf E. Stauber – 30 December 2003 – We recently reported that vasopressin analogues correct the in vitro vascular hyporeactivity to adrenergic vasoconstrictors in portal hypertensive rats. The aim of the present study was to determine whether vasopressin reduces splanchnic blood flow in portal vein‐ligated (PVL) rats by restoring vasoconstrictor responsiveness in vivo. The ultrasonic transit time‐shift technique was used for blood flow measurements.

Jay S. Markowitz, Paul Martin, Andrew J. Conrad, James F. Markmann, Philip Seu, Hasan Yersiz, John A. Goss, Peter Schmidt, Anita Pakrasi, Lucy Artinian, Natalie G. Murray, David K. Imagawa, Curtis Holt, Leonard I. Goldstein, Risë Stribling, Ronald W. Busuttil – 30 December 2003 – Patients undergoing liver transplantation for hepatitis B–related liver disease are prone to recurrence. The mainstay of prophylaxis has been passive immunotherapy with hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG).

Ginny L. Bumgardner, Jiashun Li, SACH APTE, MARIE HEININGER, WENDY L. FRANKEL 3 – 30 December 2003 – Adhesion molecules such as intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 (VCAM‐1) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory liver disease states, including viral and autoimmune hepatitis as well as liver allograft rejection.

Yuichi Shinoda, Makoto Suematsu, Yoshiyuki Wakabayashi, Tsuneharu Suzuki, Nobuhito Goda, Shuji Saito, Tokio Yamaguchi, Yuzuru Ishimura – 30 December 2003 – This study aimed to examine the mechanism(s) by which carbon monoxide (CO), a product of heme oxygenase reaction, controls the contractility of bile canaliculus (BC) in hepatocytes. When BCs associated with the couplet cells in cultured rat hepatocyte suspension were observed using time‐lapse video microscopy, they exhibited periodical contractions with a most‐probable interval of 6 minutes under our experimental conditions.

Pierre‐Alain Clavien – 30 December 2003

Margaret Chen, Matti Sällberg, Anders Sönnerborg, Ling Jin, Ashley Birkett, Darrell Peterson, Ola Weiland, David R. Milich – 30 December 2003 – The hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural (NS) 3 protein has been shown to possess at least two enzymatic domains. The amino terminal third contains a serine‐protease domain, whereas the carboxy terminal two thirds is comprised of an adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase)/helicase domain. These domains are essential for the maturation of the carboxy‐terminal portion of the HCV polyprotein and catalyze the cap synthesis of the RNA genome.

Bud C. Tennant, Betty H. Baldwin, Lou Ann Graham, Mary A. Ascenzi, William E. Hornbuckle, Peter H. Rowland, Ilia A. Tochkov, Amy E. Yeager, Hollis N. Erb, Joseph M. Colacino, Carlos Lopez, Jeffery A. Engelhardt, Ronald R. Bowsher, Frank C. Richardson, William Lewis, Paul J. Cote, Brent E. Korba, John L. Gerin – 30 December 2003 – Woodchucks were used to study the antiviral activity and toxicity of fialuridine (FIAU; 1,‐2′deoxy‐2′fluoro‐1‐β‐d‐arabinofuranosyl‐5‐iodo‐uracil).

Gaetano Cairo, Lorenza Tacchini, Antonello Pietrangelo – 30 December 2003 – Transferrin receptor (TfR) and ferritin, key proteins of cellular iron metabolism, are coordinately and divergently controlled by cytoplasmic proteins (iron regulatory proteins, IRP‐1 and IRP‐2) that bind to conserved mRNA motifs called iron‐responsive elements (IRE). IRP, in response to specific stimuli (low iron levels, growth and stress signals) are activated and prevent TfR mRNA degradation and ferritin mRNA translation by hindering ferritin mRNA binding to polysomes.