Stella De Nicola, Alessio Aghemo, Maria Grazia Rumi, Enrico Galmozzi, Luca Valenti, Roberta Soffredini, Raffaele De Francesco, Gian Maria Prati, Roberta D'Ambrosio, Cristina Cheroni, Maria Francesca Donato, Massimo Colombo – 19 September 2011 – Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the interleukin 28B (IL28B) region are the strongest baseline predictors of a sustained virologic response (SVR) to peg‐interferon (PegIFN) and ribavirin (Rbv) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection. Whether this holds true for HCV‐4 patients too is unknown.

Aijaz Ahmed, Carlos O. Esquivel – 19 September 2011

Elaine Studer, Xiqiao Zhou, Renping Zhao, Yun Wang, Kazuaki Takabe, Masayuki Nagahashi, William M. Pandak, Paul Dent, Sarah Spiegel, Ruihua Shi, Weiren Xu, Xuyuan Liu, Pat Bohdan, Luyong Zhang, Huiping Zhou, Phillip B. Hylemon – 19 September 2011 – Bile acids have been shown to be important regulatory molecules for cells in the liver and gastrointestinal tract. They can activate various cell signaling pathways including extracellular regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and protein kinase B (AKT) as well as the G‐protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) membrane‐type bile acid receptor (TGR5/M‐BAR).

Anita Afzali, Kristin Berry, George N. Ioannou – 19 September 2011 – Because of the ongoing epidemics of obesity and diabetes, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) may become a leading indication for liver transplantation. There are concerns about the posttransplant survival of patients with NASH because of associated cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors. We aimed to determine recent trends in the proportion of patients undergoing transplantation for NASH‐related cirrhosis in the United States and to estimate their posttransplant survival.

Tohti Amet, Marwan Ghabril, Naga Chalasani, Daniel Byrd, Ningjie Hu, Ayslinn Grantham, Ziqing Liu, Xuebin Qin, Johnny J. He, Qigui Yu – 19 September 2011 – Several enveloped viruses including human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1), cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV‐1), Ebola virus, vaccinia virus, and influenza virus have been found to incorporate host regulators of complement activation (RCA) into their viral envelopes and, as a result, escape antibody‐dependent complement‐mediated lysis (ADCML).

Michael L. Volk, Rachel S. Tocco, Shawn J. Pelletier, Brian J. Zikmund‐Fisher, Anna S. F. Lok – 19 September 2011 – It is challenging to discuss the use of high‐risk organs with patients, in part because of the lack of information about how patients view this topic. This study was designed to determine how patients think about organ quality and to test formats for risk communication. Semistructured interviews of 10 patients on the waiting list revealed limited understanding about the spectrum of organ quality and a reluctance to consider anything but the best organs.

Pere Ginès – 19 September 2011

Hong‐Min Ni, Abigail Bockus, Nikki Boggess, Hartmut Jaeschke, Wen‐Xing Ding – 19 September 2011 – Autophagy can selectively remove damaged organelles, including mitochondria, and, in turn, protect against mitochondria‐damage–induced cell death. Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose can cause liver injury in animals and humans by inducing mitochondria damage and subsequent necrosis in hepatocytes. Although many detrimental mechanisms have been reported to be responsible for APAP‐induced hepatotoxicity, it is not known whether APAP can modulate autophagy to regulate hepatotoxicity in hepatocytes.

David Fuks, Safi Dokmak, Valérie Paradis, Momar Diouf, François Durand, Jacques Belghiti – 19 September 2011 – Liver resection (LR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as the first‐line treatment in transplantable patients followed by “salvage transplantation” (ST) in case of recurrence is an attractive concept. The aim was to identify patients who gain benefit from this approach in an intention‐to‐treat study.

Simon Hohenester, Lucas Maillette de Buy Wenniger, Coen C. Paulusma, Sandra J. van Vliet, Douglas M. Jefferson, Ronald P. Oude Elferink, Ulrich Beuers – 19 September 2011 – Human cholangiocytes are continuously exposed to millimolar levels of hydrophobic bile salt monomers. We recently hypothesized that an apical biliary HCO umbrella might prevent the protonation of biliary glycine‐conjugated bile salts and uncontrolled cell entry of the corresponding bile acids, and that defects in this biliary HCO umbrella might predispose to chronic cholangiopathies.