Junji Yamamoto, Shuichi Okada, Kazuaki Shimada, Takushi Okusaka, Susumu Yamasaki, Hideki Ueno, Tomoo Kosuge – 30 December 2003 – This comparative study was conducted to clarify the efficacy of percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) and surgical resection in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). Thirty‐nine patients treated by PEI and 58 who underwent hepatic resection for small HCC (smaller than 3 cm and 3 or less in number) during the same period were enrolled. The surgery group included more patients with large and multiple bilobar nodules than the PEI group.

Tse‐Ching Chen, Yasuni Nakanuma, Yoh Zen, Miin‐Fu Chen, Yi‐Yin Jan, Ta‐Sen Yeh, Cheng Tang Chiu, Tseng‐Tong Kuo, Jun‐ichi Kamiya, Koji Oda, Michinari Hamaguchi, Yoshiyuki Ohno, Ling‐Ling Hsieh, Yuji Nimura – 30 December 2003 – Intraductal papillary growth of neoplastic biliary epithelia with a fine fibrovascular stalk (intraductal papillary neoplasia of liver [IPN‐L]) resembling intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of pancreas is occasionally associated with hepatolithiasis.

Hannah Kuper, Weimin Ye, Ulrika Broomé, Anders Romelsjö, Lorelei A. Mucci, Anders Ekbom, Hans‐Olov Adami, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Olof Nyrén – 30 December 2003 – No prospective study has analyzed simultaneously chronic viral hepatitis and alcoholism as risk factors for liver carcinogenesis, while taking into consideration the role of cirrhosis. Nor has the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma among patients with chronic viral hepatitis been prospectively evaluated in a low‐risk Western population.

Anna Colell, Olga Coll, Carmen García‐Ruiz, Raquel París, Claudio Tiribelli, Neil Kaplowitz, José C. Fernández‐Checa – 30 December 2003 – Mitochondrial glutathione (GSH) plays a key role against tumor necrosis factor α (TNF)‐induced apoptosis because its depletion is known to sensitize hepatocytes to TNF. The present study examined the role of tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) administration to chronic ethanol‐fed rats on mitochondrial GSH levels and kinetics, mitochondrial membrane physical properties, TNF‐induced peroxide formation, and subsequent hepatocyte survival.

Heinz Fehrenbach, Ralf Weiskirchen, Michael Kasper, Axel M. Gressner – 30 December 2003 – Receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily of cell‐surface molecules. Blockade of RAGE has been reported to considerably improve liver function and accelerate regeneration after hepatectomy. The aim of this study was to investigate the cell type–specific expression of RAGE, and to examine whether transdifferentiation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) into myofibroblasts (MFB) is associated with changes in RAGE expression.

Paul D. Hodgson, Tomasz I. Michalak – 30 December 2003 – Woodchucks infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) have profiles of liver disease and age‐dependent rates of progression to chronic hepatitis (CH) comparable with those seen in human hepatitis B. The mechanism of recovery from acute hepadnaviral infection or its evolution to chronicity remains unknown, although the liver immune responses are expected to play an important role.

Edmund J. Bini, Elizabeth H. Weinshel, Ramon Generoso, Loay Salman, Georges Dahr, Ivan Pena‐Sing, Thomas Komorowski – 30 December 2003 – Managed care has strongly discouraged generalists from referring patients to specialists in an effort to reduce the costs of health care. The aim of this study was to compare patient outcomes when generalists work together with gastroenterologists or alone in the management of patients admitted to the hospital with decompensated cirrhosis. Consecutive patients admitted to the hospital with decompensated cirrhosis over a 1‐year period were identified.

Naga Chalasani, J. Christopher Gorski, Nilesh H. Patel, Stephen D. Hall, Raymond E. Galinsky – 30 December 2003 – Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is performed to treat some complications of cirrhosis. This study investigated the effects of cirrhosis and TIPS on intestinal and hepatic cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) activity. Nine volunteers were cirrhotic patients with TIPS, 9 were cirrhotic controls (matched for sex, age, etiology, and Child‐Pugh class), and 9 were sex‐ and age‐matched healthy volunteers.

Takehiko Uesugi, Matthias Froh, Gavin E. Arteel, Blair U. Bradford, Erwin Gábele, Michael D. Wheeler, Ronald G. Thurman – 30 December 2003 – Chronic alcohol administration increases gut‐derived endotoxin in the portal blood, which activates Kupffer cells through nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB) to produce toxic mediators such as proinflammatory cytokines, leading to liver injury. Therefore, a long‐term intragastric ethanol feeding protocol was used here to test the hypothesis that NF‐κB inhibition would prevent early alcohol‐induced liver injury.

Andres T. Blei – 30 December 2003