James S. Goff, Judy Glazner, Bahri M. Bilir, – 30 December 2003 – As the number of liver transplantations performed around the world and the survival rates increase, attention is turning to the broad impact this procedure has on patients' quality of life (QOL), including their physical and psychosocial functioning and their perceived sense of well‐being. There exists a small body of literature that examines the global effects of liver transplantation on QOL.

Vincent J. Canzanello,, Stephen C. Textor, Sandra J. Taler, Lora L. Schwartz, Michael K. Porayko, Russell H. Wiesner, Ruud A.F. Krom – 30 December 2003 – Hypertension frequently develops early after liver transplantation when cyclosporine‐based immunosuppression is used. However, initial experience with tacrolimus has suggested that its use leads to a lower early incidence of hypertension. In this study, the blood pressure status of patients treated with cyclosporine (n = 131) and those treated with tacrolimus (n = 28) was compared 24 months after liver transplantation.

Nancy L. Ascher, – 30 December 2003 – Background: Animals reconstituted with allogeneic whole bone marrow (WBM) are often tolerant of donor‐specific solid organ grafts. Clinical application of bone marrow transplantation in solid organ transplantation has been limited, however, principally by graft‐versus‐host disease. We previously demonstrated that hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reconstitute lethally irradiated allogeneic mice without producing graft‐versus‐host disease.

James Thielke, Jill Martin, Fredrick L. Weber, Timothy J. Schroeder, Sharon Goretsky, Douglas W. Hanto – 30 December 2003

Michelle Martinot‐Peignoux, Nathalie Boyer, Dominique Cazals‐Hatem, Bach‐Nga Pham, Anne Gervais, Véronique Le Breton, Stéphane Levy, Claude Degott, Dominique‐Charles Valla, Patrick Marcellin – 30 December 2003 – A significant proportion of patients with detectable antibodies to hepatitis C virus have normal serum alanine transaminase levels. Our aim was to study the outcome of this group.

Satheesh Nair, Robert P. Perrillo – 30 December 2003 – During interferon treatment of chronic hepatitis B, an alanine aminotransferase (ALT) flare may herald a sustained loss of viral replication, but the relationship between virologic response, the extent of a flare, and pretreatment hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level has not been defined. We retrospectively examined the impact of an ALT flare on sustained virologic response in 121 interferon‐treated patients and 42 untreated controls with either low‐level (<100 pg/mL) or high‐level (≥100 pg/mL) viremia.

Patricia Boya, Esther Larrea, Iosu Sola, Pedro‐Lorenzo Majano, Carlos Jiménez, María‐Pilar Civeira, Jesús Prieto – 30 December 2003 – The mechanisms of liver damage in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are poorly understood. The transcription factor, nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB), regulates the expression of genes involved in apoptosis, inflammation, and antiviral response. It plays a protective role in several forms of liver damage.

Carmen Peralta, Ramón Bartrons, Anna Serafin, Cristina Blázquez, Manuel Guzmán, Neus Prats, Carme Xaus, Blanca Cutillas, Emilio Gelpí, Joan Roselló‐Catafau – 30 December 2003 – Hepatic ischemia‐reperfusion (I/R) injury associated with liver transplantation and hepatic resections are an unresolved problem in the clinical practice. Preconditioning is known to preserve energy metabolism in liver during sustained ischemia, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this effect are still unclear.

Diana M. Toivola, Mikko I. Nieminen, Michael Hesse, Tao He, Hélène Baribault, Thomas M. Magin, M. Bishr Omary, John E. Eriksson – 30 December 2003 – Simple epithelial tissues such as liver and pancreas express keratins 8 (K8) and 18 (K18) as their major intermediate filament proteins. K8 and K1 null mice and transgenic mice that express mutant K18 (K18C) manifest several hepatocyte abnormalities and demonstrate that K8/18 are important in maintaining liver tissue and cell integrity, although other potential functions remain uncharacterized.

Anna S. F. Lok, Brian J. McMahon – 30 December 2003