Monica Failla, Cristina Giannattasio, Alberto Piperno, Anna Vergani, Alessandra Grappiolo, Gaetano Gentile, Ester Meles, Giuseppe Mancia – 30 December 2003 – Iron overload is believed to have an adverse influence on the cardiovascular system and animal studies have shown that iron may be involved in the events that lead to atherosclerosis via an enhancement of smooth muscle cell proliferation, lipid oxidation, and free radical production. There are no data on the effect of iron overload on arterial structural and mechanical properties in humans.

Stefano Brillanti, Fabio Levantesi, Livia Masi, Mauro Foli, Luigi Bolondi – 30 December 2003 – The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of triple antiviral therapy with interferon, ribavirin, and amantadine in comparison with interferon and ribavirin combination treatment in patients with interferon‐nonresponsive chronic hepatitis C. We performed an open‐label, prospective randomized controlled trial at a secondary referral center.

Paul C. Adams, Ann E. Kertesz, Christine E. McLaren, Robert Barr, Anthony Bamford, Subrata Chakrabarti – 30 December 2003 – Early diagnosis and treatment of hemochromatosis is essential to prevent organ damage. Screening strategies to detect early hemochromatosis include testing for iron overload and/or genetic testing. Voluntary blood donors numbering 5,211 were screened with unbound iron‐binding capacity (UIBC), transferrin saturation (TS), and genetic testing for the C282Y mutation of the HFE gene.

I. Nicholas Crispe – 30 December 2003

Ai‐Min Hui, Xin Li, Ya‐Zhou Shi, Guido Torzilli, Tadatoshi Takayama, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 30 December 2003 – p27Kip1 is a cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitor that negatively regulates cell proliferation. This study was designed to evaluate the roles of p27Kip1 in gallbladder carcinogenesis and the prognostic value of p27Kip1 in patients with gallbladder carcinoma. p27Kip1 expression was examined immunohistochemically in surgically resected specimens of 8 normal epithelia, 8 adenomyomatosis lesions, 6 precancerous adenomas, and 37 carcinomas of the gallbladder.

René Adam, Paul McMaster, John G. O'Grady, Denis Castaing, Jurgen L. Klempnauer, Neville Jamieson, Peter Neuhaus, Jan Lerut, Mauro Salizzoni, Stephen Pollard, Ferdinand Muhlbacher, Xavier Rogiers, Juan Carlos Garcia Valdecasas, Joaquin Berenguer, Daniel Jaeck, Enrique Moreno Gonzalez – 30 December 2003 – The European Liver Transplant Registry (ELTR) currently allows for the analysis of 44,286 liver transplantations (LTs) performed on 39,196 patients in a 13‐year period. After an exponential increase, the number of LTs is plateauing due to a lack of organs.

Markus H. Heim – 30 December 2003

Fabien Zoulim – 30 December 2003

Javier Vaquer, Queralt Jordano, William M. Lee, Andres T. Blei – 30 December 2003

Michael B. Ishitani – 30 December 2003 – Background Pediatric orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has a low mortality. Some children, however, have an adverse outcome defined as a prolonged ventilatory support requirement and protracted pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) stay. The aim of this study was to determine if that adverse outcome related to the child's condition pre‐OLT and/or the development of a pleural effusion or diaphragmatic dysfunction. Methods The study included 210 children with a median age at transplantation of 45.5 months (range 0.2‐252 months).