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

Adrian Reuben – 30 December 2003

30 December 2003

Miguel E. Sewnath, Tom Van Der Poll, Fiebo J. W. Ten Kate, Cornelis J. F. Van Noorden, Dirk J. Gouma – 30 December 2003 – Cholestatic liver injury is associated with an increased susceptibility toward endotoxin‐induced toxicity. To determine the role of interleukin 1 (IL‐1) herein, extrahepatic cholestasis was induced by bile duct ligation (bdl) in IL‐1 receptor type I gene‐deficient (IL‐1R−/−) mice, which are unresponsive to IL‐1α and IL‐1β, and normal IL‐1R+/+ mice. Bdl elicited increases in hepatic IL‐1α and IL‐1β messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein.

Wolfram Kleeberger, Thomas Rothämel, Sabine Glöckner, Peer Flemming, Ulrich Lehmann, Hans Kreipe – 30 December 2003 – It has recently been shown that epithelial cells derived from stem cells originating outside the liver are integrated into liver allografts. Whether epithelial intragraft chimerism protects transplants from rejection or chronic transplant dysfunction, and whether it interferes with recurrence of primary liver disease, is not known. Twenty‐seven sequential biopsies derived from 9 liver‐transplant recipients were studied for chimerism of hepatocytes and cholangiocytes.

Elvira Olaso, Clarisa Salado, Eider Egilegor, Virginia Gutierrez, Aitor Santisteban, Pau Sancho‐Bru, Scott L. Friedman, Fernando Vidal‐Vanaclocha – 30 December 2003 – Myofibroblasts infiltrate malignant liver tumors, although their pathogenic implications are unclear. Immunohistochemical detection of α‐smooth muscle actin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and CD31 and CD34 expression was used to analyze the contribution of myofibroblasts to angiogenesis in hepatic metastasis produced by intrasplenically‐injected B16 melanoma (B16M).