Loïc Rolas, Nesrine Makhezer, Soumeya Hadjoudj, Jamel El‐Benna, Bahia Djerdjouri, Laure Elkrief, Richard Moreau, Axel Périanin – 18 October 2012 – Cirrhosis is commonly accompanied by impaired defense functions of polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs), increased patient susceptibility to infections, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). PMN antimicrobial activity is dependent on a massive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) 2 (NADPH oxidase 2; NOX2), termed respiratory burst (RB).

Mark S. Sulkowski, Fred Poordad, Michael P. Manns, Jean‐Pierre Bronowicki, K. Rajender Reddy, Stephen A. Harrison, Nezam H. Afdhal, Heather L. Sings, Lisa D. Pedicone, Kenneth J. Koury, Vilma Sniukiene, Margaret H. Burroughs, Janice K. Albrecht, Clifford A. Brass, Ira M. Jacobson, for the SPRINT‐2 Trial Investigators – 18 October 2012 – Boceprevir (BOC) added to peginterferon alfa‐2b (PegIFN) and ribavirin (RBV) significantly increases sustained virologic response (SVR) rates over PegIFN/RBV alone in previously untreated adults with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1.

Pramod K. Mistry – 18 October 2012

Silvia Giordano, Amedeo Columbano – 18 October 2012 – MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved small noncoding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression and protein translation. Many studies have shown that they play a crucial role in driving organ and tissue differentiation during embryogenesis and in the fine‐tuning of fundamental biological processes, such as proliferation and apoptosis. Growing evidence indicates that their deregulation plays an important role in cancer onset and progression as well, where they act as oncogenes or oncosuppressors.

Nicholas J. Taylor, Anirudh Nishtala, Godhev K. Manakkat Vijay, R. Daniel Abeles, Georg Auzinger, William Bernal, Yun Ma, Julia A. Wendon, Debbie L. Shawcross – 18 October 2012 – Systemic inflammation and susceptibility to developing sepsis is common in acute liver failure (ALF) resulting in tissue damage and organ failure. This study characterized the function of circulating neutrophils in 25 patients with ALF and subacute liver failure (SALF). ALF (n = 15) / SALF (n = 10) patients were prospectively studied and compared with 11 healthy (HC) and 6 septic controls (SC).

Anastasia Renzi, Sharon DeMorrow, Paolo Onori, Guido Carpino, Romina Mancinelli, Fanyin Meng, Julie Venter, Mellanie White, Antonio Franchitto, Heather Francis, Yuyan Han, Yoshiyuki Ueno, Giuseppina Dusio, Kendal J. Jensen, John J.

Jean‐Luc Szpakowski, Lue‐Yen Tucker – 18 October 2012 – The natural history of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in a U.S. population has not been well described. We identified the causes of death in 6,689 health plan members infected with HBV who were followed between March 1, 1996 and December 31, 2005. Causes of death were grouped into HBV‐related (subdivided into decompensated cirrhosis [DCC] and hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]), cancer, cardiovascular, and other/unknown.

Silvia Giordano, Amedeo Columbano – 18 October 2012 – MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved small noncoding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression and protein translation. Many studies have shown that they play a crucial role in driving organ and tissue differentiation during embryogenesis and in the fine‐tuning of fundamental biological processes, such as proliferation and apoptosis. Growing evidence indicates that their deregulation plays an important role in cancer onset and progression as well, where they act as oncogenes or oncosuppressors.

Elizabeth C. Verna, Rita Abdelmessih, Marcela A. Salomao, Jay Lefkowitch, Roger K. Moreira, Robert S. Brown – 18 October 2012 – Cholestatic hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a rare form of recurrent HCV following liver transplantation (LT) without specific diagnostic criteria. An outcome‐based method to improve its diagnosis and a description of its prognosis are needed.

Luis Fontana, Enpeng Zhao, Muhammad Amir, Hanqing Dong, Kathryn Tanaka, Mark J. Czaja – 18 October 2012 – The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in humans increases with age. It is unknown whether this association is secondary to the increased incidence of risk factors for NAFLD that occurs with aging, reflects the culmination of years of exposure to lifestyle factors such as a high‐fat diet (HFD), or results from physiological changes that characterize aging.