T Tordjmann, B Berthon, B Lardeux, A Moreau, E Jacquemin, L Combettes, G Feldmann, M Claret – 30 December 2003 – Morphological and functional heterogeneity of hepatocytes according to their position in the liver lobule has been known for many years. The digitonin‐collagenase perfusion technique is widely used to study hepatocyte heterogeneity and has yielded reliable data. However, with this procedure, periportal (PP) or perivenous (PV) hepatocytes are isolated from different livers, allowing only comparison between cell populations issued from two separate animals.

L Meng, H Reyes, M Axelson, J Palma, I Hernandez, J Ribalta, J Sjovall – 30 December 2003 – The concentrations in serum of sulfated metabolites of progesterone are known to be elevated in patients with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP). The profiles of these metabolites and conjugated bile acids were analyzed in serum from 11 patients with ICP before and during administration of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) (8 patients) or placebo (3 patients).

C A Camargo, J F Madden, W Gao, R S Selvan, P Clavien – 30 December 2003 – Interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) is an acute reactant cytokine with anti‐inflammatory properties, which has been found to prevent injury in a model of acute hepatitis in mice through downregulation of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α); to correlate inversely with markers of hepatocellular injury in patients with liver ischemia; and to initiate liver regeneration in mice. In this study, we investigated the role of IL‐6 in rodent models of hepatic warm ischemia/reperfusion (WI/Rp) injury.

A M Larson, G C Chan, C F Wartelle, J P McVicar, R L Carithers, G M Hamill, K V Kowdley – 30 December 2003 – There is controversy about the frequency of and risk factors for infectious complications of percutaneous liver biopsy in liver transplant recipients. The aim of this study was to identify the incidence and nature of complications associated with liver biopsy after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), with particular emphasis on infection.

M J Sharrard, M Durkie, M S Tanner – 30 December 2003

T F Kresina – 30 December 2003

C S An, L M Petrovic, I Reyter, T Tolmachoff, L D Ferrell, S N Thung, S A Geller, A M Marchevsky – 30 December 2003 – Liver cell dysplasia (LCD) is considered a preneoplastic lesion, whose characterization and differentiation from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and from the reactive changes seen in cirrhosis has been controversial. We studied 12 cases of LCD (large cell type) with image analysis techniques (IA) and compared the findings with those of HCC (n = 40), and a spectrum of non‐neoplastic hepatic lesions including normal liver and cirrhosis (n = 49).

M Pozzi, S Carugo, G Boari, V Pecci, S de Ceglia, S Maggiolini, G B Bolla, L Roffi, M Failla, G Grassi, C Giannattasio, G Mancia – 30 December 2003 – Cirrhosis is associated with cardiovascular abnormalities. Scanty information is available as to whether these include left ventricle diastolic dysfunction and wall thickness increase.

J R Jonsson, P G Hogan, G A Balderson, L L Ooi, S V Lynch, R W Strong, E E Powell – 30 December 2003 – In vitro studies designed to examine the mechanisms of immune tolerance after liver transplantation in humans have been hampered by the difficulty in obtaining sufficient numbers of donor liver‐associated leukocytes (LALs). We have investigated whether the ex vivo perfusion of donor livers releases a population of LALs that can be readily retrieved from the waste fluid.

L B Seeff – 30 December 2003