Yuji Iimuro, Blair U. Bradford, Shunhei Yamashina, Ivan Rusyn, Mikio Nakagami, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Hiroshi Kono, William Frey, Donald Forman, David Brenner, Ronald G. Thurman – 30 December 2003 – L ‐2‐oxothiazolidine‐4‐carboxylic acid (OTC) is a cysteine prodrug that maintains glutathione in tissues. Here, its effect on alcohol‐induced liver injury in an enteral alcohol feeding model was investigated. Male Wistar rats were given control high‐fat or ethanol containing diets enterally for 4 weeks. Treated rats received 500 mg/kg/d of dietary OTC.

Lucio Amitrano, Vincenzo Brancaccio, Maria Anna Guardascione, Maurizio Margaglione, Luigi Iannaccone, Giovanna D'Andrea, Riccardo Marmo, Paul R. Ames, Antonio Balzano – 30 December 2003 – The prevalence and pathogenesis of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with cirrhosis without hepatocellular carcinoma are not clearly defined. The role of thrombophilic genetic factors is well established in other venous thrombotic diseases, as well as in noncirrhotic portal thrombosis.

Fred M. Konikoff, Dganit Danino, Daphna Weihs, Moshe Rubin, Yeshayahu Talmon – 30 December 2003 – Obtaining reliable information on the physical state and ultrastructure of bile is difficult because of its mixed aqueous‐lipid composition and thermodynamic metastability. We have used time‐lapse cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo‐TEM) combined with video‐enhanced light microscopy (VELM) to study microstructural evolution in nucleating bile.

Virginie Bender, Pilar Bravo, Catherine Decaens, Doris Cassio – 30 December 2003 – WIF‐B cells were generated previously to obtain a goodin vitromodel expressing the structural and functional polarity of hepatocytes. Here we tested the stability and the strength of the WIF‐B polarized phenotype. WIF‐B cells stayed polarized and formed functional bile canaliculi even after 3 months in culture or after injection in nude mice and culture of the resulting tumors. WIF‐B was subcloned and 10,000 colonies were examined; all (except for 3) were composed of bile canaliculi forming cells.

Vincenzo Lamonaca, Gabriele Missale, Simona Urbani, Massimo Pilli, Carolina Boni, Cristina Mori, Alessandro Sette, Marco Massari, Scott Southwood, Roberto Bertoni, Antonietta Valli, Franco Fiaccadori, Carlo Ferrari – 30 December 2003 – The HLA class II–restricted T‐cell response to hepatitis C virus (HCV) antigens is believed to influence the final outcome of hepatitis C, because it is vigorous in patients who recover from acute hepatitis C, but it is weak in those who develop a chronic infection.

Piotr Krzeski, Wlodzimierz Zych, Ewa Kraszewska, Bohdan Milewski, Eugeniusz Butruk, Andrzej Habior – 30 December 2003 – From the many prognostic models for primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) patients based on Cox's regression analysis, the Mayo model has gained the most popularity and was successfully validated in some centers. The aim of our study was to validate the Mayo survival model for Polish PBC patients and, in case of its inapplicability, to select prognostic variables and to create time‐fixed and time‐dependent survival models for the patients.

Zobair M. Younossi, Terry Gramlich, Bruce R. Bacon, Christi A. Matteoni, Navdeep Boparai, Rosemary O'Neill, Arthur J. McCullough – 30 December 2003 – Increased iron is suspected to enhance hepatic injury associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFL). We evaluated the impact of iron accumulation on the outcome of NAFL. Patients with NAFL were identified from our database. Twenty‐two clinicodemographic and 19 pathological features were available for each patient.

Tushar Patel, Clifford J. Steer, Gregory J. Gores – 30 December 2003

Calogero Cammà, Marco Giunta, Liliana Chemello, Alfredo Alberti, Hidenori Toyoda, Christian Trepo, Patrick Marcellin, Friederike Zahm, Solko Schalm, Antonio Craxì – 30 December 2003 – Relapse after interferon (IFN) therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occurs in 50% of patients after the initial response. The benefit of retreatment with IFN alone has not been assessed in large controlled studies.

Angela M. Madden, Marsha Y. Morgan – 30 December 2003 – Measurements of resting energy expenditure (REE) can be used to determine energy requirements. Prediction formulae can be used to estimate REE but have not been validated in cirrhotic patients. REE was measured, by indirect calorimetry, in 100 cirrhotic patients and 41 comparable healthy volunteers, and the results compared with estimates predicted using the Harris‐Benedict, Schofield, Mifflin, Cunningham, and Owen formulae, and the disease‐specific Müller formula.