Wolfgang Hempfling, Frank Grunhage, Karin Dilger, Christoph Reichel, Ulrich Beuers, Tilman Sauerbruch – 30 December 2003 – Budesonide has been discussed as a potential treatment option in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Therefore, we studied the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of budesonide in patients with PBC stage I/II and stage IV. Twelve patients with early PBC stage I/II and 7 patients with PBC stage IV under continuous treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) were enrolled in an exploratory trial.

Yoko Yamagiwa, Carla Marienfeld, Laura Tadlock, Tushar Patel – 30 December 2003 – The p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway is aberrantly expressed and maintains transformed cell growth in malignant human cholangiocytes. Because cell growth requires and is intimately related to protein synthesis, our aims were to assess the effect of p38 MAPK signaling on protein synthesis during growth of malignant human cholangiocytes. Inhibition of p38 MAPK activity during mitogenic stimulation decreased protein synthesis rates and tumor cell xenograft growth in nude mice.

Anthony E. T. Yeo, Yasuhito Tanaka, Takahisa Furuta – 30 December 2003

Nagappan Kumar, William J. Wall, David R. Grant, Cameron N. Ghent – 30 December 2003

J. Ignacio Herrero, Andrés de Peña, Jorge Quiroga, Bruno Sangro, Nicolás Garcia, Iosu Sola, Javier A. Cienfuegos, Maria P. Civeira, Jesús Prieto – 30 December 2003 – Recurrent hepatitis C is a frequent complication after liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus–related cirrhosis, but risk factors related to its development remain ill defined. Twenty‐three patients receiving a primary liver graft for hepatitis C virus–related cirrhosis and with an assessable biopsy performed at least 6 months after liver transplantation were studied retrospectively.

D.H. Van Thiel, – 30 December 2003

Margaret C. Shuhart, Kris V. Kowdley, John P. McVicar, Charles A. Rohrmann, Mary F. McDonald, Donald W. Wadland, Scott S. Emerson, Robert L. Carithers, Michael B. Kimmey – 30 December 2003 – Bile leaks after T‐tube removal are a frequent cause of morbidity in orthotopic liver transplant recipients. The aim of this study was to determine factors that predict the development of these leaks in liver transplant recipients. Records of all patients who had undergone liver transplantation at the University of Washington Medical Center between January 1990 and September 1993 were reviewed.

M G Pessoa, T L Wright – 30 December 2003

J K Maring, I J Klompmaker, J H Zwaveling, R Verwer, M J Slooff – 30 December 2003 – Gastric mucosal pH reflects splanchnic perfusion. Monitoring gastric mucosal pH might be useful in predicting outcome after liver transplantation. Forty patients were included in the study. Gastric mucosal pH and gastric mucosal pH corrected for systemic pH were compared with regard to initial liver function and morbidity. Eighty percent of the patients had at least one episode with a gastric mucosal pH of <7.32, and 84% of these had a concomitant arterial pH of <7.32.

G P Pageaux, J Ducos, A M Mondain, V Costes, M C Picot, P F Perrigault, J Domergue, D Larrey, H Michel – 30 December 2003 – The reasons for the wide variation of incidence and severity of recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation are not clear. We have studied liver transplant recipients to assess the impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype and HCV RNA quantification on HCV recurrence after transplantation. Twenty‐two patients received transplants for HCV cirrhosis and were followed up with virological and histological assessments. Mean follow‐up was 39 months.