H Hsu, M Chang, Y Ni, H Lin, S Wang, D Chen – 30 December 2003 – Serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA from 4 infants with fulminant hepatitis B, 3 infants with acute self‐limited hepatitis B, and 15 infants with chronic HBV infection were amplified by polymerase chain reaction followed by direct sequencing of the region of HBV genome encoding the major antigenic epitopes of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). All infants were born to carrier mothers and administered immunoprophylaxis from birth.

R Duan, A Nilsson – 30 December 2003 – The hydrolysis of sphingomyelin (SM) generates important signals regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis. Acid and neutral sphingomyelinases (SMase) have been identified and their biological effects intensively studied. We recently found in human bile a novel alkaline SMase that may have important roles in hepatobiliary diseases. In this work, we purified the enzyme and studied the factors influencing enzyme activity.

J J Kril, R F Butterworth – 30 December 2003 – Formalin‐fixed sections from the brains of 36 patients (30 alcoholic and 6 nonalcoholic) with autopsy‐proven cirrhosis who died while in a hepatic coma were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and examined for the presence of diencephalic, cerebellar, pontine, and basal ganglia lesions.

A D Pinna, S Iwatsuki, R G Lee, S Todo, J R Madariaga, J W Marsh, A Casavilla, I Dvorchik, J J Fung, T E Starzl – 30 December 2003 – Fibrolamellar hepatoma (FL‐HCC) is an uncommon variant of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), distinguished by histopathological features suggesting greater differentiation than conventional HCC. However, the optimal treatment and the prognosis of FL‐HCC have been controversial. Follow‐up studies are available from 1 year to 27 years, after 41 patients with FL‐HCC were treated with partial hepatectomy (PHx) (28 patients) or liver transplantation (13 patients).

D Debray, P Cullufi, D Devictor, M Fabre, O Bernard – 30 December 2003 – There have been very few reports dealing with liver failure related to hepatitis A in children. Moreover, the criteria usually used for selecting patients with fulminant hepatitis A for liver transplantation have not been evaluated in children. Therefore, the current study was conducted retrospectively in a single French urban pediatric liver transplantation center to serve as a reminder of the potential severity of hepatits A in children and to identify predictors of outcome.

S Urban, E Hildt, C Eckerskorn, H Sirma, A Kekule, P H Hofschneider – 30 December 2003 – The X protein (HBx) of the human Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a regulatory protein that exercises a transcriptional activator function on a variety of regulatory elements and is therefore considered to be involved in the development of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). So far, most attempts at elucidating HBx function have been undertaken at the genetic level, reflecting the difficulties in detecting the very low amounts of the protein in infected livers.

M A Arrese, J M Crawford – 30 December 2003

R Hernandez‐Munoz, M Diaz‐Munoz, V Lopez, F Lopez‐Barrera, L Yanez, S Vidrio, A Aranda‐Fraustro, V C de Sanchez – 30 December 2003 – Oxidative stress and its consequent lipid peroxidation (LP) exert harmful effects, which have been currently involved in the generation of carbon tetrachloride‐induced cirrhosis. However, the recent report that “physiological” LP can be associated with liver regeneration (LR) makes it necessary to discriminate between oxidative stress‐induced and LR‐associated LP.

K Kubota, M Makuuchi, K Kusaka, T Kobayashi, K Miki, K Hasegawa, Y Harihara, T Takayama – 30 December 2003 – The respective volumes of hepatic tumors and nontumorous parenchyma of 50 patients requiring hepatectomy of more than one segment of Healey for tumor removal were measured using computed tomography (Vol‐CT). The volume estimated by Vol‐CT was found to correlate with the real weight resected (P < .0001) with a mean absolute error of 64.9 mL.

N Tanigawa, C Lu, T Mitsui, S Miura – 30 December 2003 – Angiogenesis is crucial for tumor growth and metastasis. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a typical hypervascular tumor. However, the relationship between tumor vascularity and the outcome of patients with HCC has not been evaluated. To clarify whether tumor angiogenesis is related to the prognosis of patients, immunohistochemical staining, using anti‐von Willebrand factor (vWF) and anti‐CD34, was applied in resected specimens from 43 cases of HCC.