International Editorial Board

Gabriele Bianchi Porro (Milano, Italy) Daniel Dhumeaux (Creteil, France) Douglas A.Drossman (Chapel Hill,NC,USA) Michael J.G. Farthing (London, UK) Peter Ferenci (Vienna, Austria) Jean-Paul Galmiche (Nantes, France) Nagy Habib (London, UK) Colin Howden (Chicago, IL, USA) John R.Lake (Minneapolis, MN, USA) Frank Lammert (Bonn, Germany) Peter Malfertheiner (Magdeburg, Germany) Francesco Marotta (Milan, Italy) John F. Mayberry (Leicester, UK) Chris J.J. Mulder (Amsterdam, NL)

Frits G. Nelis (Zwolle, NL) Manuela G. Neuman (Toronto, Canada) Piero Portincasa (Bari, Italy) Roy E. Pounder (London, UK) Alfonso Principe (Bologna, Italy) Eamonn M.M. Quigley (Cork, Ireland) Vlad Ratziu (Paris, France) Michael Sackmann (Bamberg, Germany) Husain A. Saleh (Detroit, MI, USA) Eugene R. Schiff (Miami, FL, USA) Alain Sezeur (Paris, France) Manfred Singer (Mannheim, Germany) Guido N.J. Tytgat (Amsterdam, NL) Radu Tutuian (Zurich, Switzerland)

Editorial Review Board

Vasile Andreica (Cluj, Romania) Radu I. Badea (Cluj, Romania) Mircea Diculescu (Bucharest, Romania) Cristian Gheorghe (Bucharest, Romania) Liana Gheorghe (Bucharest, Romania) Mircea Grigorescu (Cluj, Romania) Oliviu Pascu (Cluj, Romania) Irinel Popescu (Bucharest, Romania)

Paul Jurgen Porr (Sibiu, Romania) Adrian Saftoiu (Craiova, Romania) Ioan Sporea (Timisoara, Romania) Carol Stanciu (Iasi, Romania) Coman Tanasescu (Bucharest, Romania) Eugen Târcovean (Iasi, Romania) Anca Trifan (Iasi, Romania) Liviu Vlad (Cluj, Romania) Mihai Voiculescu (Bucharest, Romania)

English language Editor
Sally Wood-Lamont (Cluj, Romania)

Romanian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (President: Prof. Monica Acalovschi, Cluj)
Romanian Society of Digestive Endoscopy (President: Prof. Cristian Gheorghe, Bucuresti)
Romanian Association for the Study of the Liver (President: Prof. Mihai Voiculescu, Bucuresti)
Romanian Society of Neurogastroenterology (President: Prof. Dan L. Dumitrascu, Cluj)

The web site of the Romanian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology is www.srgh.ro

Thank to our international reviewers 2009

The Editorial Committee takes this opportunity to thank most sincerely the outstanding personalities listed below for their contribution as manuscript peer reviewers. We know just how much time and effort this work takes, but without their expertise we would not have succeeded with the quality that we hope we have achieved in the development of our journal. The number of manuscripts received worldwide this year has continued to increase, so we have had to invite more external experts. They have helped us to select the best articles to publish in our journal. A list of these reviewers is permanently published on the website of our journal www.jgld.ro.

Flavio Lirussi, Padua, Italy Jari Rasanen, Pittsburgh, PN, USA James Luketich, Pittsburgh, PN, USA. Rudolf Stauber, Graz, Austria Bruno Annibale, Rome, Italy Walter Fries, Messina, Italy Aldo Paolicchi, Pisa, Italy Enrico Zecca, Rome, Italy Manuela G. Neuman, Toronto, Canada Thomas R. Riley III, Hershey, PN, USA Ronnie Fass, Tucson, Arizona, USA Mirko D’Onofrio, Verona, Italy Vinod K. Rustgi, Fairfax, USA Gilnardo Novelli, Rome, Italy Isa Picerno, Messina, Italy Seppo Heinonen, Kuopio, Finland Ken Shirabe, Iizuka City, Japan Chris S.J. Probert, Bristol, UK Atsushi Masamune, Aobaku, Sendai, Japan Gernot M.Kaiser, Essen, Germany Eija Tukiainen, Helsinki, Finland Claudio Puoti, Rome, Italy Jurgen Pinocy,  Tubingen, Germany Amedeo Lonardo, Modena, Italy Aruna Basu, Cleveland, OH, USA Michael Hünerbein, Berlin, Germany Jinah Choi, Merced, CA, USA Angelo Andriulli, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy Krzysztof M. Kuczkowski, El Paso, TX, USA Sabina Mahmood, Okayama, Japan Daniel Dhumeaux, Paris, France Kei Ito, Sendai City, Japan Carl J. Brown, Vancouver, Canada Elena Orsenigo, Milan, Italy Maurizio Pompili, Rome, Italy Karen-Lise Garm Spindler, Vejle, Denmark Luca Stocchi, Cleveland, OH, USA Anne M. Covey, New York, NY, USA Andrea Riphaus, Hannover, Germany Christoph Maurer, Liestal, Switzerland Abdul W. Meshikhes, Dammam, Saudi Arabia Giorgio Barbarini, Rome, Italy Torill Sauer, Oslo, Norway Andrea Pietrabissa, Pisa, Italy Marc Pocard, Paris, France Maurizio Gentile, Napoli, Italy Christine Fardeau, Paris, France Chris J. Mulder, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Grigorios I. Leontiadis, Hamilton, Canada Yuji Naito, Kyoto, Japan Alan E.Mast, Milwaukee, WI, USA Stephan Gretschel, Berlin, Germany Ami D.Sperber, Beer-Sheva, Israel Ryosuke Tateishi, Tokyo, Japan Tito Livraghi, Milan, Italy Tony Tham, Belfast, United Kingdom Antonio Giorgio, Naples, Italy Donald D.Trunkey, Portland, OR, USA Fabio Farinati, Padua, Italy Giovanni Tarantino, Naples, Italy Giovanni Barosi, Pavia, Italy Alessandro Antonelli, Pisa, Italy Giuseppe Indolfi, Florence, Italy		Craig Taplin, Denver, CO, USA Radu Tutuian, Bern, Switzerland Annamaria Ruzzo, Urbino, Italy Mike King, London, United Kingdom Carlo Selmi, Davis, California, USA Danny W.H. Lee, Kowloon, Hong Kong Roberto de Franchis, Milan, Italy Fabio Fabbian, Ferrara, Italy Marco Pennazio, Turin, Italy Michael Sackmann, Bamberg, Germany Francis Megraud, Bordeaux, France Iola Duarte, Aveiro, Portugal Vana Papaevangelou, Athens, Greece Mark Palmeri, Durham, NC, USA Liang Zhai, Durham, NC, USA Raffaele Iorio, Naples, Italy Jens H. Henriksen, Copenhagen, Denmark Gwen Murphy, Rockville, MD, USA Anne Catherine Travis, Boston, MA, USA. Nanda Kerkar, New York, NY, USA Ellen Sloth Andersen, Hvidovre, Denmark Martha Patricia Gallegos, Guadalajara, Mexico Masato Yoneda, Yokohama, Japan Martine Dujardin, Brussels, Belgium Jordan J. Feld, Toronto, Canada Steffen Rickes, Halberstadt, Germany Angelo Zullo, Rome, Italy Lawrence Cohen, New York, NY, USA Nadan Rustemovic, Zagreb, Croatia Massimiliano Veroux, Catania, Italy Antonio Tursi, Andria, BA, Italy Timothy P. Pollak, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Gregorios Paspatis, Crete, Greece Colin Howden, Chicago, IL, USA Scott Bowden, Melbourne, Australia Deborah Verran, Camperdown, NSW, Australia Calogero Camma, Padova, Italy RT Grundmann, Altotting-Burghausen, Germany Daniel Lavanchy, Geneva, Switzerland Keith Olsen, Omaha, NB, USA James Neuberger, Birmingham, UK Franco Dellaglio, Verona, Italy Annunziata Faustini, Rome, Italy Alfonso Avolio, Rome, Italy Piero Portincasa, Bari, Italy Atif Zaman, Portland, OR, USA Maria Guido, Padova, Italy Olga Tucker, Dublin, Ireland Jack Fowler, Madison, WI, USA Werner Hohenberger, Erlangen, Germany Boris Vucelic, Zagreb, Croatia Jean-Christophe Sabourin, Rouen, France Carlo Girelli, Busto Arsizio, Italy Sunanda Kane, Rochester, MN, USA Christian Koch, Jackson, MI, USA Antonio Colecchia, Bologna, Italy Frank Lammert, Homburg, Germany George Papatheodoridis, Athens, Greece Frederik Wenz, Mannheim, Germany Sabine Mai, Mannheim, Germany Husain A. Saleh, Detroit, MI, USA Giulia Morsica, Milan, Italy

Notice to advertisers

Applications for advertisement space and for rates should be addressed to the Editorial Office of Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases. 2010 advertising rates are Euro 425 full (A4) colour page, 1 issue, and Euro 1600 full colour page, 4 issues. Full colour page on inside front or inside back cover: Euro 2000 4 issues. Full colour page ouside back cover: Euro 2400, 4 issues.
Bank account: Asoc. Promovarea Hepatogastroenterologiei Romanesti, CUI 1497 1623. Banca Comerciala Romana, branch Cluj, Romania. IBAN: RO26 RNCB 0106 0266 0343 0001 (LEI) IBAN: RO69 RNCB 01060266 0343 0003 (EURO)
Swift: RNCBROBU

Notice to subscribers

The annual subscription rates for 2010: 150.0 Lei individual, 175.0 Lei institutional, and 75.0 Lei for residents/students.
Members of the Romanian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology will receive the journal included in the membership fee (200.00 Lei, respectively 100.0 Lei for residents/students).
Foreing subscribers: 75 Euro (100 $) individual, 150 Euro (200 $) institutional. Additional postage: surface mail 15 Euro (20 $), for overseas air mail 30 Euro (40 $). Bank account: Asoc. Promovarea Hepatogastroenterologiei Romanesti, CUI 1497 1623. Banca Comerciala Romana, branch Cluj, Romania. IBAN RO26 RNCB 0106 0266 0343 0001 (LEI) IBAN: RO69 RNCB 01060266 0343 0003 (EURO) RO96 RNCB 0106 0266 0343 0002 (USD) Swift: RNCBROBU. Orders should be sent online at www.jgld.ro "Subscription" or by mail to the Editorial Office, 3rd Medical Clinic, Str.Croitorilor no.19-21, 400162 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Tel./Fax: +40-264-433335 or +40-264-433427.

Indexing

The Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases (JGLD) (formerly Romanian Journal of Gastroenterology) is indexed in the major information retrieval systems, including EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Index Medicus and Medline/Pubmed (issues starting with 2002), Index Copernicus Journals Master List, and ISI Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition (issues starting with 2007).
Contents lists, abstracts and instructions for the authors are now available on the Internet: http://www.jgld.ro .There is free access to the full papers (in PDF format) published in the Romanian Journal of Gastroenterology in 2004 (volume 13, numbers 3 and 4) and 2005 (volume 15, numbers 1-4), and in the Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases since 2006.
JGLD on line: ISSN 1842-1121.

CNCSIS category of scientific journals: A
CME Credits: 5 (Colegiul Medicilor Romania)

Publishing House: Medical University Press Cluj, Romania Printed by TIPOOFFSET Cluj, Romania

Copyright 2010 Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means now or hereafter known, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission in writing of Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases. Permission is not however required to copy abstracts of papers or of articles on condition that a full reference to the source is shown.
Correspondence regarding permission to reprint all or part of any article published in this journal should be addressed to the Editor, e-mail: editorjgld@gmail.com