Edward William Holt – 10 May 2012

Marie Sinclair, Mathis Grossmann, Paul Gow, Peter Angus – 10 May 2012

Vincenzo Cardinale, Guido Carpino, Alfredo Cantafora, Lola M. Reid, Eugenio Gaudio, Domenico Alvaro – 10 May 2012

Anupama Raghuram, Alejandro Restrepo, Saman Safadjou, Jennifer Cooley, Mark Orloff, Dwight Hardy, Sam Butler, Christine E. Koval – 10 May 2012 – Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are associated with a high mortality rate for liver transplantation (LT) recipients. To study the incidence of and risk factors for IFIs in LT recipients and the associated mortality rates, we retrospectively reviewed the records of first‐time deceased donor LT recipients (January 2003 to December 2007). The incidence of IFIs was 12%.

Masanobu Tsuda, Weici Zhang, Guo‐Xiang Yang, Koichi Tsuneyama, Yugo Ando, Kazuhito Kawata, Ogyi Park, Patrick S.C. Leung, Ross L. Coppel, Aftab A. Ansari, William M. Ridgway, Bin Gao, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, Richard Flavell, Xiao‐Song He, M.Eric Gershwin – 10 May 2012 – Mice with a dominant‐negative transforming growth factor β receptor restricted to T cells (dnTGFβRII mice) develop an inflammatory biliary ductular disease that strongly resembles human primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).

Frank Grünhage, Katrin Hochrath, Marcin Krawczyk, Aksana Höblinger, Barbara Obermayer‐Pietsch, Jürgen Geisel, Michael Trauner, Tilman Sauerbruch, Frank Lammert – 10 May 2012 – Recently, genome‐wide studies identified genetic variants that affect serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D levels in healthy populations (rs12785878, near dehydrocholesterol reductase, DHCR7; rs10741657, at CYP2R1; and rs7041, at vitamin D binding protein, GC).

Shuye Zhang, Karen Kodys, Gregory J. Babcock, Gyongyi Szabo – 10 May 2012 – Recognition of hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐infected hepatocyes and interferon (IFN) induction are critical in antiviral immune response. We hypothesized that cell‐cell contact between plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and HCV‐infected cells was required for IFN‐α induction through the involvement of cell‐surface molecules.

Ashwin Woodhoo, Marta Iruarrizaga‐Lejarreta, Naiara Beraza, Juan L García‐Rodríguez, Nieves Embade, David Fernández‐Ramos, Nuria Martínez‐López, Virginia Gutiérrez‐De Juan, Beatriz Arteta, Juan Caballeria, Shelly C Lu, José M Mato, Marta Varela‐Rey, María L Martínez‐Chantar – 10 May 2012 – RNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) play a major role in the control of messenger RNA (mRNA) turnover and translation rates. We examined the role of the RBP, human antigen R (HuR), during cholestatic liver injury and hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation.

Johann‐Martin Hempel, Gertrud Greif‐Higer, Thomas Kaufmann, Manfred E. Beutel – 10 May 2012 – Alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC) is a commonly accepted indication for liver transplantation (LT). Any alcohol consumption is considered a contraindication for LT. However, the assessment of abstinence in everyday practice mostly relies on patient self‐reporting, which must be considered highly unreliable. After consumption, ethanol is eliminated by alcohol dehydrogenase, with methanol accumulating in the blood.

Lauren E. Holz, Joo Chun Yoon, Sukanya Raghuraman, Susan Moir, Michael C. Sneller, Barbara Rehermann – 4 May 2012 – Mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) is the most common extrahepatic manifestation of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Although the formation of inflammation‐triggering immune complexes is driven by clonal expansions of autoreactive B cells, we found total B cell numbers paradoxically reduced in HCV‐infected patients with MC.