David Milich, T. Jake Liang – 30 December 2003 – The function of the hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) is largely unknown because it is not required for viral assembly, replication, or infection. In this report we chronicle clinical and experimental studies in an attempt to understand the role of HBeAg in natural infection. These studies largely have focused on clinical‐pathologic features of HBeAg‐negative variants in acute and chronic HBV infection, mutational analysis in animal models of hepadnavirus infection, and the use of transgenic murine models.

Hiroyasu Ito, Kazuki Ando, Toshinori Nakayama, Masaru Taniguchi, Takayuki Ezaki, Kuniaki Saito, Masao Takemura, Kenji Sekikawa, Michio Imawari, Mitsuru Seishima, Hisataka Moriwaki – 30 December 2003 – Although we have previously demonstrated that IL‐12 stimulation increases the number of hepatic natural killer (NK) T (NKT) cells and enhances liver injury during the early phase of liver regeneration, the role of NKT cells has remained unknown.

Nadim Joni Shah, Heiko Neeb, Maxim Zaitsev, Sven Steinhoff, Gerald Kircheis, Katrin Amunts, Dieter Häussinger, Karl Zilles – 30 December 2003 – Changes are shown in the spin‐lattice (T1) relaxation time caused by the putative deposition of manganese in various brain regions of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) patients using a novel and fast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method for quantitative relaxation time mapping. A new method, T1 mapping with partial inversion recovery (TAPIR), was used to obtain a series of T1‐weighted images to produce T1 maps.

Pamela B. Sylvestre, Alvaro R. Gonzalez‐Koch, Michael B. Ishitani – 30 December 2003

Michael Oertel, Frieder Berr, Sabine Schröder, Rene Schwarz, Andrea Tannapfel, Michael Wenzke, Peter Lamesch, Johann Hauss, Kay Kohlhaw – 30 December 2003 – Acute rejection of hepatic allografts does not show consistent association with the number of mismatches of HLA classes I and II. Therefore, we investigated the relation between specific donor or recipient HLA antigens and the occurrence of acute rejection.

William J. Wall, Paul J. Marotta – 30 December 2003 – Key Points

Thomas P. Beresford, Gregory T. Everson – 30 December 2003

Amadeo Marcos – 30 December 2003

S. Forrest Dodson, Michael E. de Vera, C. Andrew Bonham, David A. Geller, Jorge Rakela, John J. Fung – 30 December 2003 – The prevention of recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) is expensive and requires indefinite parenteral administration. Lamivudine is a nucleoside analogue capable of inhibiting HBV replication.

Julius Špicák, Štefan Vítko, Miroslav Ryska, Pavel Trunecka, František Belina, Marek Krawczyk, Ferenc Perner, Pavel Taimr, Jan Šperl, Halima Hrncárková, Jan Peregrín, Helena Filipová, Karel Filip – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this report is to evaluate the development of liver transplantation in eastern Europe until mid‐1998. Representatives of gastroenterological and hepatological societies of the respective countries answered a questionnaire about the most descriptive items of the issue of liver transplantation.