Judith A. Hahn, Kimberly Page‐Shafer, Paula J. Lum, Kristen Ochoa, Andrew R. Moss – 30 December 2003 – Young injection drug users (IDUs) in San Francisco may be at high risk for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection despite access to several needle exchange venues. The authors conducted a cross‐sectional study from 1997 to 1999 in San Francisco to estimate the prevalence and incidence of antibody to HCV (anti‐HCV) among street‐recruited IDUs under age 30, and to examine risk behaviors and sources of sterile needles. Among 308 participants, the prevalence of anti‐HCV was 45%.

Kyle Soltys, George Dikdan, Baburao Koneru – 30 December 2003 – Fatty livers in humans and rats are less tolerant of ischemia, endotoxin, and alcohol. We hypothesized that fatty livers of obese (Ob) Zucker rats are oxidatively stressed and oxidative stress could be relieved by antioxidant treatment, leading to improved tolerance to ischemia.

Fabienne Pessione, Marie‐José Ramond, Corinne Njapoum, Véronique Duchatelle, Claude Degott, Serge Erlinger, Bernard Rueff, Dominique‐Charles Valla, Françoise Degos – 30 December 2003 – A possible hepatotoxicity of cigarette smoke has been recently suggested by epidemiological and experimental studies. Our aim was to study the possible relationships between smoking and liver fibrosis and activity in patients with chronic hepatitis C. A cross‐sectional study was performed in a group of 310 patients with chronic hepatitis C consecutively hospitalized for their first liver biopsy.

Simona Urbani, Jacopo Uggeri, Yoshiharu Matsuura, Tatsuo Miyamura, Amalia Penna, Carolina Boni, Carlo Ferrari – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of liver cell injury and viral clearance in HCV infection.

Jeffrey C. Dunkelberg, Andrew P. Feranchak, J. Gregory Fitz – 30 December 2003

Francis Y. Yao, Linda Ferrell, Nathan M. Bass, Jessica J. Watson, Peter Bacchetti, Alan Venook, Nancy L. Ascher, John P. Roberts – 30 December 2003 – The precise staging of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on the size and number of lesions that predict recurrence after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has not been clearly established. We therefore analyzed the outcome of 70 consecutive patients with cirrhosis and HCC who underwent OLT over a 12‐year period at our institution.

Sharon Barrett, Niamh Kieran, Eleanor Ryan, J. Conor O'Keane, John Crowe – 30 December 2003 – For individuals testing anti‐HCV positive but negative for HCV RNA in serum, diagnosis remains unclear. Debate exists over whether these individuals have resolved infection or have similar clinical, histological, and virological profiles as serum PCR–positive individuals. The aim of this study was to assess the significance of histological changes in the liver of 33 serum PCR–negative women by investigation of clinical, histological, and intrahepatic HCV RNA status.

Hironori Koga, Shotaro Sakisaka, Masaru Harada, Toshiyuki Takagi, Shinichiro Hanada, Eitaro Taniguchi, Takumi Kawaguchi, Kurumi Sasatomi, Rina Kimura, Osamu Hashimoto, Takato Ueno, Hirohisa Yano, Masamichi Kojiro, Michio Sata – 30 December 2003 – Peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ (PPARγ) regulates cell growth and differentiation. Recent evidence has suggested that PPARγ ligands had anti‐tumor effects through inhibiting cell growth and inducing cell differentiation in several types of malignant neoplasm.

Hal F. Yee – 30 December 2003

D. Montgomery Bissell, Gregory J. Gores, Debra L. Laskin, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 30 December 2003