Mark J Kurth, Tsuyoshi Yokoi, M. Eric Gershwin – 9 June 2014

Katharina John, Johannes Hadem, Till Krech, Kristin Wahl, Michael P. Manns, Steven Dooley, Sandor Batkai, Thomas Thum, Klaus Schulze‐Osthoff, Heike Bantel – 9 June 2014 – Acute liver failure (ALF) represents a life‐threatening situation characterized by sudden and massive liver cell death in the absence of preexisting liver disease. Although most patients require liver transplantation to prevent mortality, some recover spontaneously and show complete liver regeneration.

Tai Hato, Lipika Goyal, Tim F. Greten, Dan G. Duda, Andrew X. Zhu – 9 June 2014 – Immune checkpoint blockade has recently emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for various malignancies including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Preclinical and clinical studies have shown the potential benefit of modulating the immunogenicity of HCC. In addition, recent advances in tumor immunology have broadened our understanding of the complex mechanism of immune evasion.

Diego F. Cuadros, Adam J. Branscum, F. DeWolfe Miller, Laith J. Abu‐Raddad – 9 June 2014 – Egypt has the highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in the world (14.7%). The drivers of the HCV epidemic in Egypt are not well understood, but the mass parenteral antischistosomal therapy (PAT) campaigns in the second half of the 20th century are believed to be the determinant of the high prevalence. We studied HCV exposure in Egypt at a microscale through spatial mapping and epidemiological description of HCV clustering. The source of data was the 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey.

Tai Hato, Lipika Goyal, Tim F. Greten, Dan G. Duda, Andrew X. Zhu – 9 June 2014 – Immune checkpoint blockade has recently emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for various malignancies including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Preclinical and clinical studies have shown the potential benefit of modulating the immunogenicity of HCC. In addition, recent advances in tumor immunology have broadened our understanding of the complex mechanism of immune evasion.

Jürgen J. Wenzel, Mathias Sichler, Mathias Schemmerer, Gundula Behrens, Michael F. Leitzmann, Wolfgang Jilg – 9 June 2014 – In the past decade, an increasing frequency of acute hepatitis E was noted in Germany and other European countries. Moreover, a high prevalence (17%) of hepatitis E virus (HEV) immunoglobulin G antibodies (anti‐HEV) was recently found in the adult German population. Although this suggests an emerging pathogen, reports from other countries gave hints to a completely new aspect: a possible decrease in anti‐HEV prevalence during the last decades.

Loretta L. Jophlin, David G. Koch – 9 June 2014

Jürgen J. Wenzel, Mathias Sichler, Mathias Schemmerer, Gundula Behrens, Michael F. Leitzmann, Wolfgang Jilg – 9 June 2014 – In the past decade, an increasing frequency of acute hepatitis E was noted in Germany and other European countries. Moreover, a high prevalence (17%) of hepatitis E virus (HEV) immunoglobulin G antibodies (anti‐HEV) was recently found in the adult German population. Although this suggests an emerging pathogen, reports from other countries gave hints to a completely new aspect: a possible decrease in anti‐HEV prevalence during the last decades.

Deshui Jia, Rui Dong, Ying Jing, Dan Xu, Qifeng Wang, Lei Chen, Qigen Li, Yuping Huang, Yuannv Zhang, Zhenfeng Zhang, Li Liu, Shan Zheng, Qiang Xia, Hongyang Wang, Kuiran Dong, Xianghuo He – 9 June 2014 – Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common primary liver tumor in children. Mutations in the β‐catenin gene that lead to constitutive activation of the Wnt pathway have been detected in a large proportion of HB tumors. To identify novel mutations in HB, we performed whole‐exome sequencing of six paired HB tumors and their corresponding lymphocytes.

Julio D. Vorobioff, Roberto J. Groszmann – 9 June 2014 – Pharmacological treatment of portal hypertension (PH) has been exclusively devoted to gastroesophageal varices–related events at different frameworks, including prophylactic, emergency, or preventive therapy. The goals of treatment are to avoid the first bleeding episode, stop active bleeding, and prevent bleeding recurrence, respectively. The objective of preprimary prophylaxis (PPP) is to avoid variceal development, and therefore it necessarily deals with patients with cirrhosis at earlier stages of the disease.