Julie Heimbach, Eleonora Terzi – 10 April 2015

Salvatore Petta, Marcello Maida, Fabio Salvatore Macaluso, Vito Di Marco, Calogero Cammà, Daniela Cabibi, Antonio Craxì – 9 April 2015 – In nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, the influence of severity of steatosis on liver stiffness measurement (LSM) is poorly studied and still debated. We assessed the impact of steatosis severity and its ultrasonographic (US) sign, severe bright liver echo pattern, on LSM values and on transient elastography accuracy for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in a cohort of consecutive patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Ping‐I Hsu, Kwok‐Hung Lai, Jin‐Shiung Cheng, Sung‐Shuo Kao, Yuan‐Rung Li, Wei‐Chih Sun, Wen‐Chi Chen, Kung‐Hung Lin, Chih‐An Shin, Po‐Hung Chiang, Yun‐Da Li, Wei‐Ting Ou, Hui‐Chun Chen, Hsien‐Chung Yu – 9 April 2015 – Reactivation of hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy may cause interruption of chemotherapy and lead to liver failure and death. In our institute, a computerized order entry–based alert system was introduced in September 2011 to remind healthcare providers of HBV testing when prescribing chemotherapy.

Sharon C. Cunningham, Susan M. Siew, Claus V. Hallwirth, Christine Bolitho, Natsuki Sasaki, Gagan Garg, Iacovos P. Michael, Nicola A. Hetherington, Kevin Carpenter, Gustavo de Alencastro, Andras Nagy, Ian E. Alexander – 9 April 2015 – Liver‐targeted gene therapy based on recombinant adeno‐associated viral vectors (rAAV) shows promising therapeutic efficacy in animal models and adult‐focused clinical trials.

Sofía De la Serna, Laura Llado, Emilio Ramos, Joan Fabregat, Carme Baliellas, Juli Busquets, Lluis Secanella, Nuria Pelaez, Jaume Torras, Antoni Rafecas – 8 April 2015 – Venous outflow is critical to the success of liver transplantation (LT). In domino liver transplantation (DLT), the venous cuffs should be shared between the donor and the recipient, and the length can be compromised. The aim of this study was to describe and compare the technical options for outflow reconstruction used at our institution.

Douglas G. Mashek, Salmaan A. Khan, Aishwarya Sathyanarayan, Jonathan M. Ploeger, Mallory P. Franklin – 8 April 2015 – Hepatic steatosis is defined by the accumulation of lipid droplets (LDs). Once thought to be only inert energy storage depots, LDs are increasingly recognized as organelles that have important functions in hepatocytes beyond lipid storage. The lipid and protein composition of LDs is highly dynamic and influences their intrinsic metabolism and signaling properties, which ultimately links them to the changes in hepatic function.

Su Yin Lim, Alex Gordon‐Weeks, Danny Allen, Veerle Kersemans, John Beech, Sean Smart, Ruth J. Muschel – 8 April 2015 – Myeloid cells are known to mediate metastatic progression. Here, we attempted to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these effects by identifying gene expression alterations in cancer cells forming hepatic metastases after myeloid cell depletion. Hepatic metastases are heavily infiltrated by CD11b+ myeloid cells.

Geraldine Diaz, Josh Levitsky, Gabriel Oniscu – 8 April 2015 – The 2014 Annual Meeting of the International Liver Transplantation Society was held in London, England. This was the 20th meeting of the Society and was marked by a joint meeting including the European Liver and Intestinal Association as well as the Liver Intensive Care Group of Europe. The meeting included symposia, invited lectures, debates, oral presentations, and posters. The principal themes were living donation, expanding the deceased donor pool, machine preservation, and new oral therapies for hepatitis C virus.

Hai Huang, Samer Tohme, Ahmed B. Al‐Khafaji, Sheng Tai, Patricia Loughran, Li Chen, Shu Wang, Jiyun Kim, Timothy Billiar, Yanming Wang, Allan Tsung – 8 April 2015 – Innate immunity plays a crucial role in the response to sterile inflammation such as liver ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. The initiation of liver I/R injury results in the release of damage‐associated molecular patterns, which trigger an innate immune and inflammatory cascade through pattern recognition receptors.

Elisabeth Schrumpf, Corey Tan, Tom H. Karlsen, Jon Sponheim, Niklas K. Björkström, Olav Sundnes, Kristian Alfsnes, Arthur Kaser, Douglas M. Jefferson, Yoshiyuki Ueno, Tor J. Eide, Guttorm Haraldsen, Sebastian Zeissig, Mark A. Exley, Richard S. Blumberg, Espen Melum – 8 April 2015 – Cholangiocytes express antigen‐presenting molecules, but it has been unclear whether they can present antigens. Natural killer T (NKT) cells respond to lipid antigens presented by the major histocompatibility complex class I‐like molecule CD1d and are abundant in the liver.