Qing‐Bing Wang, Hui Zhu, Hai‐Ling Liu, Bei Zhang – 25 January 2012 – A meta‐analysis was performed to assess and compare the accuracies of magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) for the staging of hepatic fibrosis. Online journal databases and a manual search from January 2000 to May 2011 were used. We identified 41 studies, but only 14 met the criteria to perform a meta‐analysis assessing MRE (five trials) or DWI (10 trials). Fibrosis was categorized by redistribution into five stages according to histopathological description.

Angela L. Rasmussen, Nicolas Tchitchek, Nathan J. Susnow, Alexei L. Krasnoselsky, Deborah L. Diamond, Matthew M. Yeh, Sean C. Proll, Marcus J. Korth, Kathie‐Anne Walters, Sharon Lederer, Anne M. Larson, Robert L. Carithers, Arndt Benecke, Michael G. Katze – 25 January 2012 – Liver failure resulting from chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause for liver transplantation worldwide. Recurrent infection of the graft is universal in HCV patients after transplant and results in a rapid progression to severe fibrosis and end‐stage liver disease in one third of all patients.

Nicolás Merchante, Antonio Rivero‐Juárez, Francisco Téllez, Dolores Merino, Maria José Ríos‐Villegas, Manuel Márquez‐Solero, Mohamed Omar, Juan Macías, Ángela Camacho, Montserrat Pérez‐Pérez, Jesús Gómez‐Mateos, Antonio Rivero, Juan Antonio Pineda, on behalf of the Grupo Andaluz para el Estudio de las Hepatitis Víricas (HEPAVIR) de la Sociedad Andaluza de Enfermedades Infecciosas (SAEI) – 25 January 2012 – Our aim was to assess the predictive value of liver stiffness (LS), measured by transient elastography (TE), for clinical outcome in human immunodeficiency virus / hepatitis C virus (HIV/

Pau Sancho‐Bru, José Altamirano, Daniel Rodrigo‐Torres, Mar Coll, Cristina Millán, Juan José Lozano, Rosa Miquel, Vicente Arroyo, Juan Caballería, Pere Ginès, Ramon Bataller – 25 January 2012 – Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a severe condition developed in patients with underlying alcoholic liver disease. Ductular reaction has been associated with chronic alcohol consumption but there is no information regarding the extent of liver progenitor cell (LPC) proliferation in AH. The aim of this study was to investigate LPC markers in AH and its correlation with disease severity.

Jiyoung Lee, Sunmi Seok, Pengfei Yu, Kyungsu Kim, Zachary Smith, Marcelo Rivas‐Astroza, Sheng Zhong, Jongsook Kim Kemper – 25 January 2012 – The nuclear bile acid receptor, farnesoid X receptor (FXR), is an important transcriptional regulator of liver metabolism. Despite recent advances in understanding its functions, how FXR regulates genomic targets and whether the transcriptional regulation by FXR is altered in obesity remain largely unknown.

Julia B. Goodnough, Emilio Ramos, Elizabeta Nemeth, Tomas Ganz – 25 January 2012 – The hepatic peptide hormone hepcidin controls the duodenal absorption of iron, its storage, and its systemic distribution. Hepcidin production is often insufficient in chronic hepatitis C and alcoholic liver disease, leading to hyperabsorption of iron and its accumulation in the liver. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) mediate hepatic regeneration after liver injury. We examined the effect of these growth factors on hepcidin synthesis by hepatocytes.

Matthias Evert, Diego F. Calvisi, Katja Evert, Valentina De Murtas, Gioia Gasparetti, Sandra Mattu, Giulia Destefanis, Sara Ladu, Antje Zimmermann, Salvatore Delogu, Sara Thiel, Andrea Thiele, Silvia Ribback, Frank Dombrowski – 23 January 2012 – Mounting epidemiological evidence supports a role for insulin‐signaling deregulation and diabetes mellitus in human hepatocarcinogenesis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown.

David Goldberg, Benjamin French, Peter Abt, Sandy Feng, Andrew M. Cameron – 23 January 2012 – Candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within the Milan criteria (MC) receive standardized Model for End‐Stage LIver Disease (MELD) exception points because of the projected risk of tumor expansion beyond the MC. Exception points at listing are meant to be equivalent to a 15% rusj if 90‐day mortality, with additional points granted every 3 months, equivalent to a 10% increased morality risk.

Piero Portincasa, David Q.‐H. Wang – 23 January 2012

Keita Un, Shigeru Kawakami, Mitsuru Yoshida, Yuriko Higuchi, Ryo Suzuki, Kazuo Maruyama, Fumiyoshi Yamashita, Mitsuru Hashida – 23 January 2012 – Hepatitis is often associated with the overexpression of various adhesion molecules. In particular, intracellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1), which is expressed on hepatic endothelial cells (HECs) in the early stage of inflammation, is involved in serious illnesses. Therefore, ICAM‐1 suppression in HECs enables the suppression of inflammatory responses.