Joongwon Park, Laura Tadlock, Gregory J. Gores, Tushar Patel – 30 December 2003 – Biliary tract malignancies represent challenges because of the lack of effective therapy and poor prognosis, in part because of the paucity of information regarding the mechanisms regulating their growth. We have recently identified a critical role for the p44/p42 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in interleukin 6 (IL‐6)–stimulated growth of human cholangiocytes.

David Edwin, Laura Flynn, Andrew Klein, Paul J. Thuluvath – 30 December 2003 – Cognitive impairment is common in patients with advanced liver disease. It has been suggested that patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD) have more impaired cognition than nonalcoholics. The objective of this study was to characterize any differences in cognitive functions between alcoholic cirrhotic patients and non–alcoholic cirrhotic patients of similar age, education, and severity of liver disease.

Josep M. Llovet, Josep Fuster, Jordi Bruix – 30 December 2003 – Liver transplantation is proposed as the best therapy for early hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients. However, the confrontation with the results obtained by surgical resection has never been done on an intention‐to‐treat basis. Between 1989 and 1997, 164 out of 1,265 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were evaluated for surgery.

Makoto Suematsu, Yuzuru Ishimura – 30 December 2003

Naga Chalasani, Arthur Baluyut, Ayaaz Ismail, Atif Zaman, Gagan Sood, Reem Ghalib, T. M. McCashland, K. Rajender Reddy, Xaralambos Zervos, Mann A. Anbari, Helena Hoen – 30 December 2003 – Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) have a significantly increased risk of developing cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Risk factors for developing such a complication are not well defined. We conducted a multicenter, case‐control study to determine the risk factors and possible predictors for CCA in patients with PSC.

María Pérez‐Paramo, Javier Muñoz, Agustín Albillos, Isabel Freile, Francisca Portero, Martín Santos, José Ortiz‐Berrocal – 30 December 2003 – Bacterial translocation appears to be an important mechanism in the pathogenesis of spontaneous infections in cirrhosis. Cirrhotic patients are commonly treated with β‐adrenoceptor blockers, but the impact of this treatment in the factors promoting bacterial translocation has not been investigated.

Neil D. Theise, Sunil Badve, Romil Saxena, Octavian Henegariu, Stewart Sell, James M. Crawford, Diane S. Krause – 30 December 2003 – Following a report of skeletal muscle regeneration from bone marrow cells, we investigated whether hepatocytes could also derive in vivofrom bone marrow cells. A cohort of lethally irradiated B6D2F1 female mice received whole bone marrow transplants from age‐matched male donors and were sacrificed at days 1, 3, 5, and 7 and months 2, 4, and 6 posttransplantation (n = 3 for each time point).

Lisa M. Colletti, Maranne E. Green, Marie D. Burdick, Robert M. Strieter – 30 December 2003 – Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) results in a neutrophil‐dependent lung and liver injury. The process of neutrophil recruitment and activation in this injury is at least partially dependent on the presence of the ELR+ CXC chemokines. Other investigations have shown that ELR− CXC chemokines can block ELR+ CXC chemokine neutrophil recruitment and activation in vitro.

Wulf Otto Böcher, Eithan Galun, Hadar Marcus, Nili Daudi, Dov Terkieltaub, Daniel Shouval, Hanns Friedrich Löhr, Yair Reisner – 30 December 2003 – In chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection weak antiviral immune responses are associated with viral persistence. We studied possible immune deficits underlying the lack of serum antibodies of such patients against the HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) in a novel human/mouse chimeric model.

Mahbub H. Khan, Geoffrey C. Farrell, Karen Byth, Rita Lin, Martin Weltman, Jacob George, Dev Samarasinghe, James Kench, Songal Kaba, Evelyn Crewe, Chris Liddle – 30 December 2003 – To identify variables that are independent predictors of adverse outcomes in chronic hepatitis C, we analyzed a cohort of 455 patients followed for a median of 4.7 years.