Max A. Cayo, Jun Cai, Ann DeLaForest, Fallon K. Noto, Masato Nagaoka, Brian S. Clark, Ross F. Collery, Karim Si‐Tayeb, Stephen A. Duncan – 31 May 2012 – Elevated levels of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) in plasma are a major contributor to cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide. Genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 95 loci that associate with control of lipid/cholesterol metabolism.

Elisa J. Gordon, Daniela P. Ladner, Talia Baker – 29 May 2012

Banff Working Group on Liver Allograft Pathology, Anthony Demetris – 29 May 2012 – Obstacles to morbidity‐free long‐term survival after liver transplantation (LT) include complications of immunosuppression (IS), recurrence of the original disease and malignancies, and unexplained chronic hepatitis and graft fibrosis. Many programs attempt to minimize chronic exposure to IS by reducing dosages and stopping steroids. A few programs have successfully weaned a highly select group of recipients from all IS without apparent adverse consequences, but long‐term follow‐up is limited.

Colleen L. Jay, Anton I. Skaro, Daniela P. Ladner, Edward Wang, Vadim Lyuksemburg, Yaojen Chang, Hongmei Xu, Sandhya Talakokkla, Neehar Parikh, Jane L. Holl, Gordon B. Hazen, Michael M. Abecassis – 29 May 2012 – Due to organ scarcity and wait‐list mortality, transplantation of donation after cardiac death (DCD) livers has increased. However, the group of patients benefiting from DCD liver transplantation is unknown. We studied the comparative effectiveness of DCD versus donation after brain death (DBD) liver transplantation.

Emilio Fábrega, Blanca Sampedro, Joaquín Cabezas, Fernando Casafont, Miguel Ángel Mieses, Irene Moraleja, Javier Crespo, Fernando Pons‐Romero – 29 May 2012 – A patient receiving a liver graft needs to be treated with immunosuppressive drugs to avoid rejection. These kinds of drugs predispose the patient to the reactivation of latent infections such as tuberculosis (TB). Therefore, it is necessary to establish treatment regimens to prevent this.

Emily Rothbaum Perito, Audrey Lau, Sue Rhee, John P. Roberts, Philip Rosenthal – 29 May 2012 – During long‐term follow‐up, 18% to 67% of pediatric liver transplant recipients are overweight or obese, with rates varying by age and pretransplant weight status. A similar prevalence of posttransplant obesity has been seen in adults. Adults also develop posttransplant metabolic syndrome and, consequently, cardiovascular disease at rates that exceed the rates in age‐ and sex‐matched populations.

Kymberly D. Watt, Ross Dierkhising, Julie K. Heimbach, Michael R. Charlton – 29 May 2012 – By analyzing 26,414 patients [12,589 with hepatitis C virus (HCV)] in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database, we sought to determine comparative risk factors (including primary immunosuppression) predictive of death and graft loss among patients with HCV and patients without HCV.

Kurt Zatloukal – 29 May 2012

Mehmet Yilmaz, Sami Akbulut, Burak Isik, Cengiz Ara, Fatih Ozdemir, Cemalettin Aydin, Cuneyt Kayaalp, Sezai Yilmaz – 25 May 2012 – In this study, we evaluated the diagnosis, epidemiology, risk factors, and treatment of chylous ascites developing after liver transplantation (LT). Between 2002 and 2011, LT was performed 693 times in 631 patients at our clinic. One‐hundred fifteen of these patients were excluded for reasons such as retransplantation, early postoperative mortality, and insufficient data.

Arema A. Pereira, Renuka Bhattacharya, Robert Carithers, Jorge Reyes, James Perkins – 25 May 2012 – Hospitals with the highest readmission rates for high‐cost conditions may be targeted for payment penalties. The primary aim of this study was to determine clinical predictors of 30‐day readmission after discharge for patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) at the University of Washington from January 2003 to October 2010.