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Discusses research being done on hereditary hemochromatosis in adults without pathogenic mutations in the hemochromatosis gene. Reference to a study by A. Pietrangelo et al published in the 1999 issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine"; Information on the homozygous mutation of the C282Y gene; Findings of the study.

Introduces a series of articles relating to the transmission of hepatitis C virus.

Discusses research being done on the outcome of acute hepatitis C predicted by the evolution of the viral quasispecies. Reference to a study by P. Farci et al published in the 2000 issue of "Science"; Methodology of the study; Findings of the study.

Discusses research being done on patients with esophageal variceal hemorrhage. Reference to a study by R. Jalun and colleagues published in a 1997 issue of "Hepatology"; Comparison between the administration of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt and variceal band ligation; Details of complications that occurred following treatment.

Discusses research being done on the recurrence of hepatitis C infection following liver transplantation. Reference to a study by Shuhart and colleagues, published in a 1997 issue of the "Hepatology"; Comparison between the cumulative survival rate of HCV recipients and liver transplant recipients for other causes; Details of prognostic factors.

Objectives: The incidence and mortality from colorectal cancer among whites have decreased, but they have remained unchanged among African Americans. To explain this disparity, we used the multicenter endoscopy database of the Clinical Outcomes Research Initiative to compare the prevalence of proximal polyps and tumors among asymptomatic African Americans and whites undergoing routine screening colonoscopy., Methods: African Americans and whites undergoing colonoscopy between January 1, 2002 and September 30, 2003 were considered for analysis., Results: There were 145,175 index colonoscopy reports on unique patients. After applying exclusion criteria, 46,726 patients remained for analysis. Adjusting for age, gender, American Society of Anesthesiologists level, bowel preparation and endoscopic setting, African Americans were less likely to have polyps [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.77; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.70-0.84]. However, the odds of having proximal polyps was higher in African Americans (OR = 1.30; 95% CI: 1.11-1.52) compared to whites. In regards to tumors, African Americans were more likely to have tumors (OR = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.14-2.77) and more likely to have proximal tumors than whites (OR = 4.37; 95% CI: 1.16-16.42)., Conclusions: After adjusting for confounders, African Americans undergoing screening colonoscopy in multiple practice settings had higher odds of proximal polyps and tumors than whites, suggesting current colorectal cancer screening recommendations in African Americans should be expanded.

Variability in the reporting of gastrointestinal endoscopic findings may affect the validity of analyses of data collected from clinical reports of those findings. In this project, images of 10 endoscopic findings were collected from the data repository of the Clinical Outcomes Research Initiative (CORI), all of which had been described by the reporting endoscopist. These images were presented to 52 experienced endoscopists recruited from the clinical affiliates of CORI who were asked to assign each a term from the Minimum Standard Terminology for Digestive Endoscopy. Proportion of agreement with the endoscopist varied by finding from 84.3% to 51.0% (overall 67.6% with 95% CI 63.4-71.8%). Proportion of agreement among the subjects varied by finding from 76.3% to 38.5%.(overall 55.6% with 95% CI 52.4-58.8%). Possible reasons for this lack of agreement are discussed.