Naga Chalasani, Cosme Manzarbeitia, Peter Ferenci, Wolfgang Vogel, Robert J. Fontana, Michael Voigt, Caroline Riely, Paul Martin, Lewis Teperman, James Jiao, Juan Carlos Lopez‐Talavera – 19 January 2005 – There is currently no effective treatment for recurrent hepatitis C after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). We therefore performed two randomized, controlled trials—a prophylaxis trial and a treatment trial—to evaluate the safety and efficacy of peginterferon alfa‐2a in patients who had undergone OLT.

Neil Kaplowitz – 19 January 2005

Chih‐Hao Lin, Shyr‐Chyr Chen, Patrick Chow‐In Ko – 19 January 2005

Shiobhan R. Weston, Wendy Leyden, Rose Murphy, Nathan M. Bass, Beth P. Bell, M. Michele Manos, Norah A. Terrault – 19 January 2005 – We performed a cross‐sectional study of newly diagnosed cases of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) identified between December 1998 and December 2000 in the Chronic Liver Disease Surveillance Study. We compared the demographic and clinical features of NAFLD in a racially diverse representative U.S. population (Alameda County, CA).

Paul B. Watkins – 19 January 2005

Rahul A. Nathwani, Shireen Pais, Telfer B. Reynolds, Neil Kaplowitz – 19 January 2005 – Although elevation of the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) following liver injury is well known, confusion exists concerning skeletal muscle injury as the cause of this rise. We reviewed the records of 16 patients who had muscle necrosis without evidence of liver disease. The patients were divided into three groups: extreme exercise, polymyositis, and seizures. All patients exhibited markedly elevated creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase levels consistent with muscle injury.

Jorge A. Bezerra, Ronald J. Sokol – 19 January 2005

Cynthia W. Ko, Shirley A. A. Beresford, Scott J. Schulte, Alvin M. Matsumoto, Sum P. Lee – 19 January 2005 – Gallstones are strongly associated with higher parity in women. This study prospectively assessed the incidence, natural history, and risk factors for biliary sludge and stones during pregnancy and the postpartum in 3,254 women at an army medical center. Women with a prior cholecystectomy or with stones at their first study ultrasound were excluded. Gallbladder ultrasound and subject questionnaires were obtained in each trimester and at 4 to 6 weeks postpartum.

Winston Dunn, Laith H. Jamil, Larry S. Brown, Russell H. Wiesner, W. Ray Kim, K. V. Narayanan Menon, Michael Malinchoc, Patrick S. Kamath, Vijay Shah – 19 January 2005 – Assessing severity of disease in patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is useful for predicting mortality, guiding treatment decisions, and stratifying patients for therapeutic trials. The traditional disease‐specific prognostic model used for this purpose is the Maddrey discriminant function (DF).

Tsutomu Masaki, Asahiro Morishita, Shigeki Kuriyama – 19 January 2005