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.

R Malik, S Lee, C E Savard, D Oda, W S Wong, B Y Chan, S P Lee – 30 December 2003 – Normal dog gallbladder epithelial cells in long‐term culture were used as a model to study the morphologic, genetic, and secretory processes associated with the progression to cancer formation. Dog gallbladder epithelial cells cultured on collagen‐coated plates grew into polarized monolayers, could be passaged repeatedly, and showed the typical morphological profile of well‐differentiated columnar epithelial cells.

S Iacovacci, A Manzin, S Barca, M Sargiacomo, A Serafino, M B Valli, G Macioce, H J Hassan, A Ponzetto, M Clementi, C Peschle, G Carloni – 30 December 2003 – The molecular features of hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in human fetal hepatocytes (HFHs) were addressed in this study. Using a competitive reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) assay for the quantitation of HCV‐RNA molecules, the highest level of viral replication was detected 30 days' postinfection. At this time point, viral particles of 41 to 45 nm in diameter accumulated in the cell cytoplasm.

D R Breitman, S. S. Lee – 30 December 2003 – Cardiovascular function in cirrhosis is deranged, with indirect evidence of abnormal central cardiovascular regulation. We aimed to elucidate the role of brainstem cardiovascular nuclei in hemodynamic regulation by examining the protein product, Fos, of the immediate‐early gene c‐fos, in cirrhotic rats. Cirrhosis was induced by chronic bile duct ligation (BDL) of 25‐days duration, while controls underwent a sham operation. To examine the effects of jaundice per se in the absence of cirrhosis, a third group of 5‐day BDL rats was also studied.