Chi‐Sen Chang, Gran‐Hum Chen, Han‐Chung Lien, Hong‐Zen Yeh – 30 December 2003 – Patients with bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine developed spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) more frequently than patients without bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine. The objective of this study was to determine whether the incidences of small intestine dysmotility and bacterial overgrowth are higher in cirrhotic patients with a history of SBP than in cirrhotic patients without SBP. Forty cirrhotic patients were enrolled in this study.

Jun Yang, Woody Denham, Gay Carter, Kevin J. Tracey, James Norman – 30 December 2003 – Overproduction of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α), interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β), and nitric oxide (NO) is believed to be detrimental during the progression of acute pancreatitis, yet little is known about the hepatic production of these mediators and their role in mediating pancreatitis‐induced hepatic dysfunction.

Turid Hellevik, Inigo Martinez, Randi Olsen, Ban‐Hock Toh, Paul Webster, Bård Smedsrød – 30 December 2003 – Receptor‐mediated endocytosis of circulating collagen is a major physiological scavenger function of the liver endothelial cell and an important catabolic event in the complete turnover of this abundant connective tissue protein. In the present study, transport of collagen through the endocytic pathway was investigated in cultured liver endothelial cells.

Abd M. Zaitoun, Gustav Apelqvist, Cecilia Wikell, Hanan Al‐mardini, Finn Bengtsson, Christopher O. Record – 30 December 2003 – To evaluate the differential effects of portacaval shunting (PCS) on the morphological changes that occur in humans with portal‐systemic encephalopathy, male rats underwent either PCS (13) or sham operations (10). Normal adult rats (6) were used as controls. All animals were killed 5 to 7 weeks after the surgery. The wet weight of the testes was obtained.

Cristiana Stefan, Willy Stalmans, Mathieu Bollen – 30 December 2003 – Plasma cell differentiation antigen‐1 (PC‐1) is a 5′‐ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase that has been implicated in various processes including insulin‐ and nucleotide‐mediated signaling and cell growth. We show here that the expression of both PC‐1 mRNA and protein in rat liver and in hepatoma cells is strictly growth‐related. Thus, the level of PC‐1 in FAO hepatoma cells increased with the cell density.

Yasuo Yamaguchi, Kazutoshi Okabe, Fujio Matsumura, Eiji Akizuki, Teishi Matsuda, Hajime Ohshiro, Jian Liang, Kojiroh Ishihara, Katsutaka Mori, Michio Ogawa – 30 December 2003 – The role of the c‐kit proto‐oncogene in organ allograft rejection is not known. We investigated the level of c‐kit expression following allogeneic transplantation of ACI rat liver grafts into LEW recipients. We studied c‐kit mRNA and protein expression in groups of transplant recipients receiving hepatic isografts, hepatic allografts, or hepatic allografts after donor‐specific blood transfusion (DST).

Tousif Pasha, Jenny Heathcote, Sherine Gabriel, Karen Cauch‐Dudek, Roberta Jorgensen, Terry Therneau, E. Rolland Dickson, Keith D. Lindor – 30 December 2003 – Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is a safe and effective treatment for patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), but the cost of this drug has raised concerns regarding cost‐effectiveness. The aim of our study was to determine the cost‐effectiveness of UDCA in PBC. We compared the costs and outcomes of managing PBC patients with and without UDCA.

James Neuberger, Richard Thomson – 30 December 2003

Montserrat Jaumot, Josep‐Maria Estanyol, Joan Serratosa, Neus Agell, Oriol Bachs – 30 December 2003 – Partial hepatectomy (PH) triggers the entry of rat liver cells into the cell cycle. The signals leading to cell‐cycle activation converge into a family of kinases named cyclin‐dependent kinases (cdks). Specific cyclin‐cdk complexes are sequentially activated during the cell cycle. Cyclin D‐cdk4 and cyclin E‐cdk2 are activated during the G1 phase, cyclin A‐cdk2 is activated during the S phase, and cyclin B‐cdk1 during mitosis.

Toshiro Niki, Milos Pekny, Karine Hellemans, Pieter De Bleser, Kit Van Den Berg, Freya Vaeyens, Erik Quartier, Frans Schuit, Albert Geerts – 30 December 2003 – Hepatic stellate cells are considered to be liver‐specific pericytes that play a key role in liver fibrosis. Because these cells express desmin and smooth muscle α‐actin, they were assumed to be of myogenic origin. This hypothesis became doubtful when it was reported that stellate cells also express glial fibrillary acidic protein and neural cell adhesion molecule.