Pietro Lampertico, Ersilio Del Ninno, Mauro Viganò, Raffaella Romeo, Maria Francesca Donato, Erwin Sablon, Alberto Morabito, Massimo Colombo – 30 December 2003 – To assess whether extended treatment with interferon improves the outcome of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐negative chronic hepatitis B, 101 consecutive patients were treated with 6 MU of interferon alfa 2b 3 times weekly for 24 months.

Juan G. Abraldes, Ilaria Tarantino, Juan Turnes, Juan Carlos Garcia‐Pagan, Juan Rodés, Jaime Bosch – 30 December 2003 – In cirrhotic patients under pharmacologic treatment for portal hypertension, a reduction in hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) of ≥20% of baseline or to ≤12 mm Hg markedly reduces the risk of variceal rebleeding. This study was aimed at evaluating whether these hemodynamic targets also prevent other complications of portal hypertension and improve long‐term survival.

Dominique Thabut, Marion Simon, Robert P. Myers, Djamila Messous, Vincent Thibault, Françoise Imbert‐Bismut, Thierry Poynard – 30 December 2003

Kazushi Sugimoto, Jason Stadanlick, Fusao Ikeda, Colleen Brensinger, Emma E. Furth, Harvey J. Alter, Kyong‐Mi Chang – 30 December 2003 – This study was performed to examine the immunologic basis for the apparent ethnic difference in clinical outcome of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection between African Americans (AA) and Caucasian Americans (CA). To this end, we recruited 99 chronically HCV‐infected and 31 spontaneously HCV‐cleared subjects for clinical, virologic, and immunologic analysis.

Claudia Zwingmann, Nicolas Chatauret, Dieter Leibfritz, Roger F. Butterworth – 30 December 2003 – Acute liver failure (ALF) results in alterations of energy metabolites and of glucose‐derived amino acid neurotransmitters in brain. However, the dynamics of changes in glucose metabolism remain unclear.

Hajime Sumi, Osamu Yokosuka, Naohiko Seki, Makoto Arai, Fumio Imazeki, Tomoko Kurihara, Tatsuo Kanda, Kenichi Fukai, Masaki Kato, Hiromitsu Saisho – 30 December 2003 – To investigate the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype‐related differences in the progression of liver disease, 585 patients with chronic HBV infection including 258 with histologically verified chronic liver disease (CLD) and 74 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were examined.

Raquel Abecasis, David Kravetz, Eduardo Fassio, Beatriz Ameigeiras, Daniel Garcia, Rogelio Isla, Graciela Landeira, Nora Dominguez, Gustavo Romero, Julio Argonz, Ruben Terg – 30 December 2003 – Treatment with β‐blockers fails to decrease portal pressure in nearly 40% of cirrhotic patients. Recent studies have suggested that treatment with spironolactone reduces pressure and flow in the portal and variceal systems. This trial was designed to assess if nadolol plus spironolactone is more effective than nadolol alone to prevent the first variceal bleeding.

Vicente Arroyo, Wladimiro Jiménez – 30 December 2003

Philip Rosenthal – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis A is a major public health problem in the United States and other developed countries, largely because decreased natural immunity allows for increased susceptibility.

Geetanjali Chander, Mark S. Sulkowski, Mollie W. Jenckes, Michael S. Torbenson, H. Franklin Herlong, Eric B. Bass, Kelly A. Gebo – 30 December 2003 – This systematic review addressed 3 issues regarding current treatments for chronic hepatitis C: (1) efficacy and safety in treatment‐naive patients; (2) efficacy and safety in selected subgroups of patients; and (3) effects on long‐term clinical outcomes. Electronic databases were searched for articles from January 1996 to March 2002.