Inma Castilla‐Cortazar, Maria Garcia, Jorge Quiroga, Nieves Diez, Fernando Diez‐Caballero, Alfonso Calvo, Matias Diaz, Jesus Prieto – 30 December 2003 – The pathogenesis of hypogonadism in cirrhosis is not completely understood. The levels of insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I), an anabolic factor with trophic actions on testes, are reduced in cirrhosis. This study was undertaken to evaluate whether rats with advanced cirrhosis develop hypogonadism and whether the administration of IGF‐I exerts beneficial effects on testicular structure and function.

Michèle Martinot‐Peignoux, Nathalie Boyer, Véronique Le Breton, Gaëlle Le Guludec, Corinne Castelnau, Raoudha Akremi, Patrick Marcellin – 30 December 2003 – The need to improve efficacy of antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis C has prompted the development of quantitative assays, which allows the assessment of viral load before therapy.

30 December 2003

David E. Newby, Rajiv Jalan – 30 December 2003

James L. Boyer – 30 December 2003

James L. Boyer – 30 December 2003

Adrian Reuben – 30 December 2003

Adrian Reuben – 30 December 2003

Adrian Reuben – 30 December 2003

Zhang‐Xu Liu, Sugantha Govindarajan, Shigefumi Okamoto, Gunther Dennert – 30 December 2003 – Intravenous injection of type 5 adenovirus, deleted in the E1 and E3 regions, is shown to result in expression of viral antigens in the liver, initiating lymphocyte infiltration and liver injury. Following this infection, induction of Fas ligand (FasL), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α), and perforin mRNA are all demonstrable in the liver, pointing to a role of respective pathways in liver injury.