David E. Johnston – 30 December 2003

Shinji Tanaka, Keishi Sugimachi, Toshifumi Kameyama, Shin‐ichiro Maehara, Ken Shirabe, Mitsuo Shimada, Jack R. Wands, Yoshihiko Maehara – 30 December 2003 – Family members of the connective tissue growth factor, cysteine‐rich 61, nephroblastoma over‐expressed gene (CCN) encode cysteine‐rich secreted proteins with roles in human fibrotic disorders and tumor progression. In this study, we identified a CCN family member, WISP1v, as over‐expressed in human cholangiocarcinomas. Genetic analysis of WISP1v was performed on surgically resected specimens of cholangiocarcinoma.

Giulio Marchesini, Elisabetta Bugianesi, Gabriele Forlani, Fernanda Cerrelli, Marco Lenzi, Rita Manini, Stefania Natale, Ester Vanni, Nicola Villanova, Nazario Melchionda, Mario Rizzetto – 30 December 2003 – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been associated with the insulin‐resistance syndrome, at present defined as the metabolic syndrome, whose limits were recently set. We assessed the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in 304 consecutive NAFLD patients without overt diabetes, on the basis of 3 or more criteria out of 5 defined by the U.S.

Amir Shlomai, Yosef Shaul – 30 December 2003 – RNA interference (RNAi) is the process of sequence‐specific gene silencing, initiated by double‐stranded RNA (dsRNA) that is homologous in sequence to the target gene. Because it has been shown that RNAi can be accomplished in cultured mammalian cells by introducing small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), much effort has been invested in exploiting this phenomenon for experimental and therapeutic means.

Tom Luedde, Maria E. Rodriguez, Frank Tacke, Yue Xiong, David A. Brenner, Christian Trautwein – 30 December 2003 – p18(INK4c) belongs to the family of cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitory proteins that target the cyclin‐dependent kinases and inhibit their catalytic activity. The role of p18(INK4c) for cell cycle progression in vivo is characterized poorly. Therefore, we studied the expression and physiologic relevance of p18 in quiescent and proliferating hepatocytes during liver regeneration.

Christophe Renou, Abdelouahid Harafa, Catherine Cummins, Pierre Muller, Chritophe Dematteï, Elisabeth Jouve, Jean‐Jacques Bertrand, Philippe Halfon – 30 December 2003

Bryon E. Petersen, Brian Grossbard, Heather Hatch, Liya Pi, Jie Deng, Edward W. Scott – 30 December 2003 – Hepatic oval cells (HOC) are thought to be a type of facultative stem cell that arises as a result of certain forms of hepatic injury. A new and more efficient model has been established to activate the oval cell compartment in mice by incorporating 3,5‐diethoxycarbonyl‐1,4‐dihydro‐collidine (DDC) in a standard chow at a concentration of 0.1%. At the present time, very few markers exist for the mouse oval cells.

Naga Chalasani, J. Christopher Gorski, Maleeha S. Asghar, Ali Asghar, Brian Foresman, Stephen D. Hall, David W. Crabb – 30 December 2003 – Cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in animal models, but its role in the pathogenesis of human NASH is unclear. Therefore, we measured hepatic CYP2E1 activity and its correlates in a cohort of nondiabetic patients with NASH (NDN) and controls to explore its role in the pathogenesis of human NASH.

Daniel Chappard, Paul Calès – 30 December 2003

Omar Pirzada, Christopher Taylor – 30 December 2003