Man‐Fung Yuen, Wei‐Ling Lim, Chi‐Chung Cheng, Shiu‐Kam Lam, Ching‐Lung Lai – 30 December 2003 – A total of 318 children were prospectively randomized in group 1 with two 5‐μg doses of recombinant vaccine given at 0 and 1 month; in group 2 with three 5‐μg doses of recombinant vaccine given at 0, 1, and 6 months; or in group 3 with three doses of plasma‐derived vaccine given at 0, 1, and 6 months. Eleven subjects with a hepatitis B surface antigen antibody (anti‐HBs) titer of less than 10 mIU/mL at 12 months were given an extra dose of vaccine and were excluded from analysis.

Shivti Trop, Dimitri Samsonov, Israel Gotsman, Ruslana Alper, Judith Diment, Yaron Ilan – 30 December 2003 – Oral tolerance is the induction of immunological hyporesponsiveness towards orally administered antigens. Tolerance initiation involves induction of anti‐inflammatory (Th2) lymphocytes, with downregulation of pro‐inflammatory (Th1) lymphocytes. The liver was previously shown to play a critical role in oral tolerance induction.

Maria José Amaro, Javier Bartolomé, Vicente Carreño – 30 December 2003 – The capability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) to increase the transcription of the human hepatic inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by transactivating its promoter has been studied. We have observed by reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) that although the mRNA for the iNOS was almost undetectable in the human hepatoblastoma cell line, HepG2, it was constitutively expressed in the 2.2.15 cell line (a derivative of the HepG2 that produces complete HBV particles).

Gabriella Fibbi, Marco Pucci, Cecilia Grappone, Giulia Pellegrini, Renata Salzano, Alessandro Casini, Stefano Milani, Mario Del Rosso – 30 December 2003 – During liver fibrogenesis, hepatic stellate cells (HSC) proliferate and migrate under the influence of growth factors, including platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF) and basic‐fibroblast growth factor (b‐FGF). The plasminogen activation system regulates extracellular matrix (ECM) catabolism and cell movement.

D. Montgomery Bissell – 30 December 2003

Paul C. Adams – 30 December 2003

Junichi Shoda, Masahito Kano, Toru Asano, Tatsuro Irimura, Tetsuya Ueda, Ryu Iwasaki, Masato Furukawa, Junichi Kamiya, Yuji Nimura, Takeshi Todoroki, Yasushi Matsuzaki, Naomi Tanaka – 30 December 2003 – Intrahepatic calculi is characterized by an intractable course and frequent recurrences, requiring multiple operative interventions. Chronic proliferative cholangitis, an active and long‐standing inflammation of the stone‐containing bile ducts with the hyperplasia of epithelia and the proliferation of the duct‐associated mucus glands, may underlie the complex nature of the disease.

Mashiat U. Siddiqui, Samia Benatmane, Jean‐Luc Zachayus, Christiane Plas – 30 December 2003 – Cell culture studies have revealed that metabolic functions of the adult hepatocyte are related to cell density. Development of the glycogenic response to insulin under glucocorticoid control was investigated in 15‐ and 18‐day‐old fetal rat hepatocytes plated at different cell densities.

Ruth Adler, Rifaat Safadi, Yoseph Caraco, Mina Rowe, Amos Etzioni, Yaffa Ashur, Daniel Shouval – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) immune globulin (HBIg) administration will prevent HBV graft reinfection in HBV patients after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). However, the expenditure for such prophylaxis is extremely high ranging between $2,000 to $10,000 per month in various countries for an undefined period and presumably for life. As a consequence, there is a need for introduction of additional and less expensive modes of treatment.

Koji Ishii, Yoshinobu Tanaka, Chan‐Choo Yap, Hideki Aizaki, Yoshiharu Matsuura, Tatsuo Miyamura – 30 December 2003 – The nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is considered to possess RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity and to play an essential role for the viral replication. In this study, we expressed the NS5B protein of 65 kd by a recombinant baculovirus. With the highly purified NS5B protein, we established anin vitrosystem for RdRp activity by using poly(A) as a template and a 15‐mer oligo(U) (oligo(U)15) as a primer.