Matthias Pirlich, Tatjana Schütz, Theo Spachos, Siegfried Ertl, Marie‐Luise Weiß, Herbert Lochs, Mathias Plauth – 30 December 2003 – Protein‐calorie malnutrition is associated with poor prognosis in chronic liver disease, but reliable assessment is hampered by changes in body water. We prospectively evaluated the effect of fluid retention on bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) as a simple method for the estimation of body cell mass (BCMBIA) in 41 patients with cirrhosis (n = 20 with ascites; n = 21 without ascites) using total body potassium counting (BCMTBP) as a reference method.

Chau‐Ting Yeh, Rong‐Nan Chien, Chia‐Ming Chu, Yun‐Fan Liaw – 30 December 2003 – Tyrosine‐methionine‐aspartate‐aspartate (YMDD)‐motif mutants may emerge and elicit immune clearance during prolonged lamivudine treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the virological events following development of the original mutants. Twenty‐three patients who developed YMDD‐motif mutants during the Asian lamivudine trial were included. Serial serum samples from these patients were subjected to sequence analysis to identify new mutants.

Dave L. Bigam, Jason J. Pennington, Andre Carpentier, Ian R. Wanless, Alan W. Hemming, Ruth Croxford, Paul D. Greig, Leslie B. Lilly, Jenny E. Heathcote, Gary A. Levy, Mark S. Cattral – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has recently been suggested to be a risk factor for the development of diabetes mellitus. The aim of our study was to investigate whether the prevalence of diabetes is increased among liver transplant recipients infected with HCV.

Antonio Fontanellas, Frèdèric Mazurier, Marc Landry, Laurence Taine, Carine Morel, Monique Larou, Jean‐Yves Daniel, Xavier Montagutelli, Rafael Enriquez de Salamanca, Hubert de Verneuil – 30 December 2003 – Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is characterized clinically by cutaneous photosensitivity and biochemically by the accumulation of excessive amounts of protoporphyrin in erythrocytes, plasma, feces, and other tissues, such as the liver. The condition is inherited as an autosomal dominant or recessive trait, with a deficiency of ferrochelatase activity.

Elmar Siewert, Roque Bort, Reinhart Kluge, Peter C. Heinrich, José Castell, Ramiro Jover – 30 December 2003 – Expression of cytochromes P450 (CYP) is markedly reduced during inflammatory processes. In vitro studies with hepatocytes have shown that cytokines generated during these processes down‐regulate CYP. However, it is not clear to what extent each individual cytokine contributes to the overall reduced expression of the various CYP isoenzymes in vivo.

Marie‐Pierre Bralet, Jean‐Marc Régimbeau, Pascal Pineau, Sylvie Dubois, Gwenolé Loas, Françoise Degos, Dominique Valla, Jacques Belghiti, Claude Degott, Benoît Terris – 30 December 2003 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurring in nonfibrotic liver represents a rare, ill‐defined subgroup of HCC without cirrhosis in which mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis remain unclear. The aim of our study was to assess epidemiological factors and detailed histopathologic changes in the nontumoral liver of patients developing such tumors.

Domenico Alvaro, Antonio Benedetti, Luca Marucci, Marco Delle Monache, Rita Monterubbianesi, Emanuele Di Cosimo, Lucia Perego, Giampiero Macarri, Shannon Glaser, Gene Le Sage, Gianfranco Alpini – 30 December 2003 – We studied the effects of alkaline phosphatase (AP) on the secretory processes of the rat intrahepatic biliary epithelium as well as the role of the intrahepatic biliary epithelium in the uptake and biliary secretion of exogenous AP.

Ranjit Banerjee, Lorraine Caruccio, Yu Jing Zhang, Scott McKercher, Regina M. Santella – 30 December 2003 – To elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the action of common carcinogens, which can act as important cofactors in modulating hepatitis B virus–mediated hepatocellular carcinogenesis, we have investigated the influence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB), a potent liver carcinogen, as well as benzo[a]pyrene (BP) and 4‐aminobiphenyl (4‐ABP), carcinogens in cigarette smoke, on the induction of various transcription factors in human hepatoblastoma HepG2 cells.

Alison J. Rodger, Stuart Roberts, Anna Lanigan, Scott Bowden, Tracy Brown, Nick Crofts – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this study was to examine the long‐term effects of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on a cohort of patients admitted with acute viral hepatitis from 1971 through 1975. The availability of stored sera from this time enabled testing to identify those who were anti‐HCV–positive on admission. Sixteen percent (n = 238) of the cohort tested anti‐HCV–positive. The unexposed group was selected from those who were anti‐HCV–negative.

Geetha M. Habib, Zheng‐zheng Shi, Ching‐nan Ou, Geeta Kala, Subbarao V. Kala, Michael W. Lieberman – 30 December 2003 – We used mice deficient in γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) to analyze the effects of GGT deficiency and altered thiol levels on gene expression in liver. GGT‐deficient mice have markedly reduced levels of glutathione (GSH), cysteine, methionine, and cysteinylglycine in liver.