Fructose leads to hepatic steatosis in zebrafish that is reversed by mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibition

Valerie Sapp, Leah Gaffney, Steven F. EauClaire, Randolph P. Matthews – 4 July 2014 – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the accumulation of lipid within hepatocytes, is increasing in prevalence. Increasing fructose consumption correlates with this increased prevalence, and rodent studies directly support fructose leading to NAFLD. The mechanisms of NAFLD and in particular fructose‐induced lipid accumulation remain unclear, although there is evidence for a role for endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and oxidative stress.

Cost‐effectiveness of noninvasive liver fibrosis tests for treatment decisions in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Emmanuel A. Tsochatzis, Catriona Crossan, Louise Longworth, Kurinchi Gurusamy, Manolo Rodriguez‐Peralvarez, Konstantinos Mantzoukis, Julia O'Brien, Evangelos Thalassinos, Vassilios Papastergiou, Anna Noel‐Storr, Brian Davidson, Andrew K. Burroughs – 4 July 2014 – The cost‐effectiveness of noninvasive tests (NITs) as alternatives to liver biopsy is unknown. We compared the cost‐effectiveness of using NITs to inform treatment decisions in adult patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).

Excess mortality on the liver transplant waiting list: Unintended policy consequences and model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) inflation

Patrick Grant Northup, Nicolas Michael Intagliata, Neeral Lalit Shah, Shawn Joseph Pelletier, Carl Lansing Berg, Curtis Kent Argo – 4 July 2014 – The Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) allocation system for liver transplantation provides “exceptions” for diseases such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It was the aim of this study to assess equipoise between exception candidates and nonexception candidates on the waiting list and to assess if the exception system contributes to steadily increasing regional MELD at transplant.

Antagonistic interaction between Wnt and Notch activity modulates the regenerative capacity of a zebrafish fibrotic liver model

Mianbo Huang, Angela Chang, Minna Choi, David Zhou, Frank A. Anania, Chong Hyun Shin – 4 July 2014 – In chronic liver failure patients with sustained fibrosis, excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins substantially dampens the regenerative capacity of the hepatocytes, resulting in poor prognosis and high mortality. Currently, the mechanisms and the strategies of inducing endogenous cellular sources such as hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) to regenerate hepatocytes in various contexts of fibrogenic stimuli remain elusive.

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