Fatma Abdel‐Aziz, Mostafa Habib, Mostafa K. Mohamed, Mohamed Abdel‐Hamid, Foda Gamil, Salah Madkour, Nabiel N. Mikhail, David Thomas, Alan D. Fix, G. Thomas Strickland, Wagida Anwar, Ismail Sallam – 30 December 2003 – This report describes a cross‐sectional survey of the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti‐HCV) in a rural Egyptian community in the Nile Delta. One half of the village households were systematically selected and examined by questionnaire and testing sera for anti‐HCV and HCV RNA.

Stephan Krähenbühl, Eric P. Brass, Charles L. Hoppel – 30 December 2003 – Carnitine biosynthesis was investigated in rats with secondary biliary cirrhosis induced by bile duct ligation (BDL) for 4 weeks (n = 5) and in pair‐fed, sham‐operated control rats (n = 4). Control rats were pair‐fed to BDL rats, and all rats were fed an artificial diet with negligible contents of carnitine, butyrobetaine, or trimethyllysine. Biosynthesis of carnitine and its precursors was determined by measuring their excretion in urine and accumulation in the body of the animals.

Hun‐Taek Kim, George Stoica, Fuller W. Bazer, Troy L. Ott – 30 December 2003 – Clinical applications of Type I interferon (IFN) are limited by adverse side effects mediated largely by unknown mechanisms. This study examined the mechanisms of acute hepatic injury in lambs treated with systemic administration of IFN‐τ, a Type I IFN. Liver tissues were collected at 24, 48, or 96 hours after treatment with either IFN‐τ or saline.

Alexander Y. Lee, William C. Manning, Christopher L. Arian, Noelle K. Polakos, Jose L. Barajas, Jeffrey B. Ulmer, Michael Houghton, Xavier Paliard – 30 December 2003 – The immunology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection should be studied in the context of HCV antigen expression in the liver, because HCV primarily infects this organ.

Emmet B. Keeffe – 30 December 2003

Nobuaki Kawarabayashi, Shuhji Seki, Kazuo Hatsuse, Takashi Ohkawa, Yuji Koike, Tsukasa Aihara, Yoshiko Habu, Ryusuke Nakagawa, Katsunori Ami, Hoshio Hiraide, Hidetaka Mochizuki – 30 December 2003 – CD56+T cells and CD56+natural killer (NK) cells are abundant in the human liver. The aim of this study was the further characterization of these cells in the liver with or without hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Liver mononuclear cells (MNC) were isolated from liver specimens obtained from the patients during abdominal surgery.

Eric Barriere, Khalid A. Tazi, Jean‐Pierre Rona, Fabienne Pessione, Jörg Heller, Didier Lebrec, Richard Moreau – 30 December 2003 – In cirrhosis, in splanchnic arteries, endothelium‐dependent relaxation may persist even if overactive nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX) are inhibited. In normal arteries, a significant endothelium‐dependent relaxation to acetylcholine persists after NOS/COX inhibition.

Evangelista Sagnelli, Nicola Coppola, Carlo Scolastico, Pietro Filippini, Teresa Santantonio, Tommaso Stroffolini, Felice Piccinino – 30 December 2003 – We studied 648 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)‐ and/or anti–hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐positive patients to evaluate the virologic and clinical characteristics of multiple hepatitis viral infection. We defined as Case B‐C an HBsAg/anti‐HCV positive patient and as Case b‐C an anti‐HCV/anti‐HBc‐positive, HBsAg/anti‐HBs–negative patient.

Shin‐Han Yu, Kazuyoshi Nagayama, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Namiki Izumi, Fumiaki Marumo, Chifumi Sato – 30 December 2003 – As a part of the defense mechanism of the host to viral infection, interferons induce the transcription of several genes. These interferon‐inducible genes contribute to the eradication of the viruses. Whereas some studies suggested the participation of a dsRNA‐dependent protein kinase in the host reaction to hepatitis C virus infection, the involvement of other interferon‐inducible genes has not been evaluated.

Olivier Chazouilléres, Annie Robert – 30 December 2003