Steven L. Zacks, Robert S. Sandler, Andrea K. Biddle, Matthew A. Mauro, Robert S. Brown – 30 December 2003 – Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) and surgical distal splenorenal shunt (DSRS) are treatments for complications of portal hypertension. TIPS is widely used because it is relatively easy to place. Because TIPS may malfunction over time, it is unclear whether TIPS is superiorto DSRS in patients with Child's class A cirrhosis who enjoy a longer survival. This study compared the cost‐effectiveness of TIPS to DSRSfor portal hypertension in Child's class A cirrhosis.

Zong‐Zhi Huang, José M. Mato, Gary Kanel, Shelly C. Lu – 30 December 2003 – Liver‐specific and non–liver‐specific methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) are products of two genes, MAT1A and MAT2A, respectively, that catalyze the formation ofS‐adenosylmethionine (SAM), the principal methyl donor. Mature liver expresses mainly MAT1A. We showed a switch from MAT1A to MAT2A gene expression in human liver cancer cells that may offer a growth advantage.

Sylvie Deuffic, Laurent Buffat, Thierry Poynard, Alain‐Jacques Valleron – 30 December 2003 – A backcalculation approach allows a reconstruction of the history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in France and predictions of mortality from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) related to the virus. The model uses information from the literature about the natural history of the disease, epidemiological data about infected subjects in three French cohorts, and mortality data from national statistics.

Albert Pol, Maria Calvo, Albert Lu, Carlos Enrich – 30 December 2003 – The sinusoidal plasma membrane of the hepatocyte is organized into functional and structural microdomains whose origin, maintenance, and functioning are closely related with the endocytic compartment. Three different subcellular fractions, from rat liver, containing caveolin‐1, the structural protein of caveolae, were morphologically and biochemically characterized.

Laurie D. DeLeve, Robert S. McCuskey, Xiangdong Wang, Liping Hu, Margaret K. McCuskey, Robert B. Epstein, Gary C. Kanel – 30 December 2003 – Lack of a reproducible animal model has hampered progress in understanding hepatic veno‐occlusive disease (HVOD). This article characterizes a reproducible model of HVOD. Rats gavaged with monocrotaline, 160 mg/kg, were killed between days 1 and 10.

Nobuyuki Enomoto, Shunhei Yamashina, Hiroshi Kono, Peter Schemmer, Chantal A. Rivera, Ayako Enomoto, Teruhiro Nishiura, Tetsuro Nishimura, David A. Brenner, Ronald G. Thurman – 30 December 2003 – The continuous intragastric in vivo enteral feeding model in the rat developed by Tsukamoto and French has been very useful; however, it requires surgical expertise. Recently, we found that Kupffer cells isolated from rats treated only once with ethanol were sensitized to endotoxin 24 hours later.

Frederick J. Suchy – 30 December 2003

30 December 2003

Paul Angulo, Keith D. Lindor – 30 December 2003

Guy Zeitoun, Sylvie Escolano, Antoine Hadengue, Nabih Azar, Mustapha El Younsi, Alain Mallet, Marie‐Jeanne Boudet, Jean‐Marie Hay, Serge Erlinger, Jean‐Pierre Benhamou, Jacques Belghiti, Dominique Valla – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this study was to assess the factors, including surgical portosystemic shunts, which affect survival in adults with Budd‐Chiari syndrome.