P A Bonis, J P Ioannidis, J C Cappelleri, M M Kaplan, J Lau – 30 December 2003 – The current goal of interferon treatment for chronic hepatitis C is to normalize alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and to eradicate detectable viral RNA. Many patients do not achieve this objective during treatment, and most do not sustain these outcomes after interferon is discontinued. However, biochemical or virological responses to interferon may not reflect accurately the histological consequences of therapy.

P C Adams, M L Campion, G Gandon, J LeGall, V David, A M Jouanolle – 30 December 2003 – A candidate gene (HFE) has been described for hereditary hemochromatosis on chromosome 6. The study of well‐defined atypical hemochromatosis families using genetic markers may increase our understanding of the sensitivity and the specificity of genotyping in hemochromatosis. One hundred and thirteen Canadian families with genetic hemochromatosis were surveyed to find atypical families as possible examples of people with genetic recombinations.

M Dijkstra, F Kuipers, G J van den Berg, R Havinga, R J Vonk – 30 December 2003 – The biliary pathway represents the major excretory route for copper (Cu). It has been suggested that glutathione (GSH) plays a role in this process. However, biliary secretion of endogenous Cu is unaffected in canalicular multispecific organic anion transporter (cmoat)/multi‐drug resistance protein (mrp2)‐deficient GY/TR‐ rats, which is a mutant rat strain expressing defective canalicular adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐dependent GSH‐conjugate transport and which is unable to secrete GSH into bile.

V Paradis, A Laurent, J Flejou, M Vidaud, P Bedossa – 30 December 2003 – Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) of the liver is a benign tumor commonly considered as a reactive disorder related to a pre‐existing vascular malformation. However, the pathogenesis of this lesion has been recently discussed. To determine whether FNH is a polyclonal or a clonal lesion, we investigated the inactivation pattern of the X chromosome, using molecular genetic analysis of the DNA methylation pattern at a polymorphic site on the human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA).

K N Oppong, H Al‐Mardini, M Thick, C O Record – 30 December 2003 – Latent or sub‐clinical hepatic encephalopathy is a recognized complication of cirrhosis and is thought to represent one end of the spectrum of neuropsychiatric impairment, which occurrs as a result of portal‐systemic shunting. We studied the psychometric, analyzed electroencephalography (EEG), and venous blood ammonia responses to an oral glutamine challenge in 17 patients with cirrhosis and in 4 normal controls.

N Aiba, M J McGarvey, J Waters, S J Hadziyannis, H C Thomas, P Karayiannis – 30 December 2003 – The cellular localization of the precore/core and core proteins was studied by immunofluorescence following transfection of 143 thymidine kinase‐negative (TK‐) and Hep‐G2 cells with expression constructs containing wild‐type (hepatitis B e antigen [HBeAg]‐positive) and precore mutant (HBeAg‐negative) sequences. Precore/core constructs with the wild‐type phenotype result in strong nuclear staining, while, in contrast, constructs expressing core antigen alone have strong cytoplasmic staining.

H Harada, H Imamura, S Miyagawa, S Kawasaki – 30 December 2003 – The favorable therapeutic effect of preoperative portal vein embolization (PVE) was analyzed by assessing various volumetric, cell kinetic and morphometric parameters and examining histologically the embolized and nonembolized lobes of 15 patients who underwent extended right lobectomy 2 to 3 weeks after PVE.

R Romeo, M G Rumi, N i Del, M Colombo – 30 December 2003

M P Manns, P Obermayer‐Straub – 30 December 2003 – Enzymes of phase I (cytochromes P450) and phase II (UDP [uridine diphosphate]‐glucuronosyltransferases) of drug metabolism are targets of autoimmunity in the following chronic liver diseases of different etiology: 1)autoimmune hepatitis (AIH); 2) hepatitis associated with the autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS‐1); 3) virus‐induced autoimmunity; and 4) drug‐induced hepatitis.

N Omori, M Omori, R P Evarts, T Teramoto, M J Miller, T N Hoang, S S Thorgeirsson – 30 December 2003 – The sialomucin CD34 is expressed on human and mouse hematopoietic stem cells and is used as an important marker for isolating the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. The involvement of hepatic stem cells in liver regeneration under certain conditions in adult rats is now well supported. The objective of the present research was to explore the idea that CD34 might also be expressed on hepatic stem cell progeny.