Dimitrios Paraskevis, Gkikas Magiorkinis, Emmanouil Magiorkinis, Simon Y.W. Ho, Robert Belshaw, Jean‐Pierre Allain, Angelos Hatzakis – 17 September 2012 – The origin of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in humans and other primates remains largely unresolved. Understanding the origin of HBV is crucial because it provides a framework for studying the burden, and subsequently the evolution, of HBV pathogenicity with respect to changes in human population size and life expectancy.

Mario Strazzabosco – 17 September 2012

Manal M. Monshi, Lee Faulkner, Andrew Gibson, Rosalind E. Jenkins, John Farrell, Caroline J. Earnshaw, Ana Alfirevic, Karin Cederbrant, Ann K. Daly, Neil French, Munir Pirmohamed, B. Kevin Park, Dean J. Naisbitt – 17 September 2012 – The role of the adaptive immune system in adverse drug reactions that target the liver has not been defined. For flucloxacillin, a delay in the reaction onset and identification of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐B*57:01 as a susceptibility factor are indicative of an immune pathogenesis.

Pauline Kane, Philip Lodge, Katherine Hopkins, Lynda Greenslade, Adrian Tookman – 17 September 2012

Kris V. Kowdley, James Nelson – 17 September 2012

Kirsty Boyd, Barbara Kimbell, Scott Murray, John Iredale – 17 September 2012

William S. Oetting, Weihua Guan, David P. Schladt, Robert E. Leduc, Pamala A. Jacobson, Arthur J. Matas, Srinath Chinnakotla, Bernd Schröppel, Barbara T. Murphy, Ajay K. Israni – 15 September 2012 – There have been many reports showing significant associations between recipient genetic variants and allograft outcomes, including acute rejection and graft failure, but less is known about the contribution of the donor genotype.

Pratima Sharma, Douglas E. Schaubel, Emily E. Messersmith, Mary K. Guidinger, Robert M. Merion – 11 September 2012 – Under an ideal implementation of Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD)–based liver allocation, the only factors that would predict deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) rates would be the MELD score, blood type, and donation service area (DSA). We aimed to determine whether additional factors are associated with DDLT rates in actual practice.

Eric S. Orman, A. Sidney Barritt, Stephanie B. Wheeler, Paul H. Hayashi – 11 September 2012 – Worsening donor liver quality resulting in decreased organ utilization may be contributing to the recent decline in liver transplants nationally. We sought to examine trends in donor liver utilization and the relationship between donor characteristics and nonuse. We used the United Network for Organ Sharing database to review all deceased adult organ donors in the United States from whom at least 1 solid organ was transplanted into a recipient. Trends in donor characteristics were examined.

Muhammad Imran Arshad, Claire Piquet‐Pellorce, Annie L'Helgoualc'h, Michel Rauch, Solène Patrat‐Delon, Frédéric Ezan, Catherine Lucas‐Clerc, Sabrina Nabti, Agnès Lehuen, Francisco Javier Cubero, Jean‐Philippe Girard, Christian Trautwein, Michel Samson – 10 September 2012 – Interleukin (IL)‐33, a member of the IL‐1 cytokine family, positively correlates with acute hepatitis and chronic liver failure in mice and humans. IL‐33 is expressed in hepatocytes and is regulated by natural killer T (NKT) cells during concanavalin A (ConA)‐induced acute liver injury.