Paul D. Berk, Decherd Stump – 30 December 2003

Akihiro Tamori, Shuhei Nishiguchi, Shoji Kubo, Noritoshi Koh, Yoshinori Moriyama, Shunsuke Fujimoto, Tadashi Takeda, Susumu Shiomi, Kazuhiro Hirohashi, Hiroaki Kinoshita, Shuzo Otani, Tetsuo Kuroki – 30 December 2003 – Serological research suggests that hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It is unclear how genes of hepatitis viruses participate in hepatocarcinogenesis in patients infected with HCV.

Geoffrey M. Thiele, Jacqueline A. Miller, Lynell W. Klassen, Dean J. Tuma – 30 December 2003 – Receptor‐mediated endocytosis (RME) by a scavenger receptor on sinusoidal liver endothelial cells (LECs) for formaldehyde‐treated bovine serum albumin (f‐Alb) has previously been shown to be impaired following chronic ethanol consumption. These studies were initially performed by in situ perfusion, making it difficult to determine the point in the process at which RME is affected.

Clara Camaschella, Silvia Fargion, Maurizio Sampietro, Antonella Roetto, Sandra Bosio, Giovanni Garozzo, Cristina Arosio, Alberto Piperno – 30 December 2003 – Hemochromatosis (HH) is usually caused by the homozygous state for C282Y mutation in the HFE gene. A minority of iron loaded patients have no mutations in this gene. An infrequent subset shows an early‐onset aggressive disorder, denoted juvenile hemochromatosis (JH), which has no linkage to 6p.

Mara Massimi, Steven R. Lear, David L. Williams, Albert L. Jones, Sandra K. Erickson – 30 December 2003 – Apolipoprotein (Apo) E plays a key role in the metabolism of lipoproteins. It also modulates immunoregulation, cell growth and differentiation and the response to nerve injury. The liver is a major site of ApoE synthesis. Most of the circulating ApoE is thought to be of hepatic origin with most synthesized in hepatocytes.

Howard C. Thomas, M. E. Török, G. R. Foster – 30 December 2003

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.

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.

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.

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.