Hugo R. Rosen – 30 December 2003 – Key points

H Ducoin, J El‐Khoury, H Rousseau, K Barange, J Peron, M Pierragi, J Rumeau, J Pascal, J Vinel, F Joffre – 30 December 2003 – This prospective study was undertaken in 17 patients treated with 22 transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedures and aimed to evaluate the nature and causes of short‐ and long‐term shunt abnormalities. Specimens were collected after autopsy in 6 patients and after liver transplantation in 11 patients; the time from shunting ranging from 4 to 385 days.

M Omori, R P Evarts, N Omori, Z Hu, E R Marsden, S S Thorgeirsson – 30 December 2003 – The existence of a facultative hepatic stem cell compartment in bile ductules that participates in the renewal process of epithelial cell populations in the liver is well documented. The present study was undertaken to determine whether the immature bile epithelium responds differently to growth stimulus induced by bile stasis to that seen in the adult animal.

B L Shneider, V L Fox, K B Schwarz, C L Watson, M Ananthanarayanan, S Thevananther, D M Christie, W Hardikar, K D Setchell, G Mieli‐Vergani, F J Suchy, A P Mowat – 30 December 2003 – The recent cloning of a human sodium‐dependent bile acid transporter (NTCP) permits analysis of its expression in human liver disease and investigation of potential primary defects in its expression. NTCP from normal human liver (NHL) was first characterized in detail. Northern blotting of RNA from NHL revealed a 1.8‐kb NTCP transcript.

S E Battaglia, J J Pretto, L B Irving, R M Jones, P W Angus – 30 December 2003 – This prospective study evaluated pulmonary gas exchange in patients with severe liver disease, its relationship to intrapulmonary shunting, and its response to liver transplantation. Detailed clinical examinations, chest radiographs, and arterial blood gas estimations were performed on 74 consecutive patients before and after liver transplantation. Fifty percent of the 74 patients had a widened alveolar‐arterial (A‐a) oxygen gradient (> 15 mm Hg) and 45% a reduced PaCO2 (< 35 mm Hg).

D Sansonno, L Gesualdo, C Manno, F P Schena, F Dammacco – 30 December 2003 – Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) may be a component of a generalized vasculitis as well as a component of the clinical expression of type‐II mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). Several studies have established a striking association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and MC.

L E Hightower, J A Ryan – 30 December 2003

D Theodore, S M Lemon – 30 December 2003

T Kim, W M Mars, D B Stolz, B E Petersen, G K Michalopoulos – 30 December 2003 – Previous studies have shown that activity of urokinase‐type plasminogen activator (u‐PA) increases very rapidly (within 1 minute) after partial hepatectomy. In view of the well‐recognized roles of u‐PA as one of the major initiators of the matrix proteolysis cascade and as an activator of plasminogen and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), we studied matrix degradation in liver shortly after partial hepatectomy.

K Harada, S Ozaki, M E Gershwin, Y Nakanuma – 30 December 2003 – Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is characterized by an immune‐mediated destruction of intrahepatic small bile ducts. Apoptosis, a unique pattern of cell death, has been suggested to be responsible for the biliary destruction in PBC. To address this issue, we attempted to detect the apoptosis of biliary epithelial cells by in situ nick‐end labeling and by the expression of apoptosis‐related proteins using immunohistochemistry in patients with various hepatobiliary diseases, including PBC.