Seth A. Waits, Brandon M. Wojcik, Shijie Cai, Amit K. Mathur, Michael J. Englesbe – 8 July 2011 – The effect of occlusive portal vein thrombosis (PVT) on the mortality of pediatric liver transplant candidates and recipients is poorly defined. Using standard multivariate techniques, we studied the relationship between PVT and waiting‐list and posttransplant survival rates with data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (September 2001 to December 2007). In all, 5087 liver transplant candidates and 3630 liver transplant recipients were evaluated during the period.

Eric Levesque, Emir Hoti, Meriem Khalfallah, Chady Salloum, Luana Ricca, Eric Vibert, Daniel Azoulay – 8 July 2011 – Several donor and graft characteristics are associated with higher failure rates for deceased donor liver transplantation (LT). The influence of reversible cardiac arrest in the donor on these failure rates is unclear because of scarce and inconsistent data. The aim of this study was to determine whether reversible cardiac arrest in the donor could affect the early postoperative outcome of LT.

Jeong Min Lee, Franco Trevisani, Valerie Vilgrain, Christoph Wald – 7 July 2011

Vishakha S. Bhave, Shirish Paranjpe, William C. Bowen, Shashikiran Donthamsetty, Aaron W. Bell, Jaspal S. Khillan, George K. Michalopoulos – 7 July 2011 – Reprogramming factors have been used to induce pluripotent stem cells as an alternative to somatic cell nuclear transfer technology in studies targeting disease models and regenerative medicine. The neuronal repressor RE‐1 silencing transcription factor (REST) maintains self‐renewal and pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells by maintaining the expression of Oct3/4, Nanog, and cMyc.

Cheng‐Maw Ho, Po‐Huang Lee, Rey‐Heng Hu – 6 July 2011

S.K. Sarin, Praveen Sharma – 6 July 2011

Harshad Devarbhavi, Dheeraj Karanth, Prasanna KS, Adarsh CK, Mallikarjun Patil – 6 July 2011 – Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is rare in children and adolescents, and, consequently, data are remarkably limited. We analyzed the causes, clinical and biochemical features, natural history, and outcomes of children with DILI. Consecutive children with DILI from 1997 to 2004 (retrospective) and 2005 to 2010 (prospective) were studied based on standard criteria for DILI. Thirty‐nine children constituted 8.7% of 450 cases of DILI. There were 22 boys and 17 girls.

Yan‐Dong Wang, Wei‐Dong Chen, Donna Yu, Barry M. Forman, Wendong Huang – 6 July 2011 – Gpbar1 (TGR5), a membrane‐bound bile acid receptor, is well known for its roles in regulation of energy homeostasis and glucose metabolism. TGR5 also displays strong attenuation of macrophage reactivity in vitro, but the physiological roles of TGR5 in inflammatory response, and its mechanism, is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that TGR5 is a negative modulator of nuclear factor kappa light‐chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF‐κB)‐mediated inflammation.

Chiao‐Fang Teng, Han‐Chieh Wu, Hung‐Wen Tsai, Her‐Shyong Shiah, Wenya Huang, Ih‐Jen Su – 6 July 2011 – Ground glass hepatocytes (GGHs) harboring hepatitis B virus (HBV) pre‐S mutants have been recognized as precursor lesions of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Previously, we observed the activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in GGHs and HCCs, together with a decreased expression of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) in HCC tissues. It is, therefore, hypothesized that the activation of mTOR during HBV tumorigenesis may potentially down‐regulate HBsAg expression.

Budhaditya Mazumdar, Arup Banerjee, Keith Meyer, Ranjit Ray – 6 July 2011 – Our previous studies demonstrated that hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope glycoproteins 1 and 2 (E1 and E2) display distinct reactivity to different cell‐surface molecules. In this study, we characterized the interaction of E1 and E2 with apolipoproteins in facilitating virus entry.