Social barriers to listing for adult liver transplantation: Their prevalence and association with program characteristics

Anna Flattau, Manhal Olaywi, Paul J. Gaglio, Paula Marcus, Paul Meissner, Emily B. L. Dorfman, John F. Reinus – 7 June 2011 – Social barriers to effective medical care are mandated to be routinely assessed as part of an evaluation for liver transplantation. This study explores how frequently liver transplant programs encounter these barriers in patients undergoing an evaluation and whether programs with higher proportions of Medicaid patients, historically disadvantaged minority patients, and rural patients encounter social barriers more frequently.

The reduction of SIRT1 in livers of old mice leads to impaired body homeostasis and to inhibition of liver proliferation

Jingling Jin, Polina Iakova, Yanjun Jiang, Estela E. Medrano, Nikolai A. Timchenko – 2 June 2011 – Age declines liver functions, leading to the development of age‐associated diseases. A member of the sirtuins family, SIRT1, is involved in the control of glucose homeostasis and fat metabolism. Because aging livers have alterations in glucose and fat metabolism, we examined a possible role of SIRT1 in these alterations. We found that aged livers have a reduced expression of SIRT1 and have lost proper control of the regulation of SIRT1 after partial hepatectomy (PH).

Liver allocation and distribution: Possible next steps

Kenneth Washburn, Elizabeth Pomfret, John Roberts – 1 June 2011 – Recent discussions about the distribution of cadaveric liver allografts for transplantation have raised many important issues. Over the past 2 years, a deliberative process including discussions, modeling, a request for information, a public forum, and a concept document has led to a greater focus on a possible path for reducing wait‐list mortality. Here we describe that process, our interpretation of the feedback and responses, and possible recommendations. Liver Transpl 17:1005–1012, 2011. © 2011 AASLD.

Compromising mitochondrial function with the antiretroviral drug efavirenz induces cell survival‐promoting autophagy

Nadezda Apostolova, Leysa J. Gomez‐Sucerquia, Anna Gortat, Ana Blas‐Garcia, Juan V. Esplugues – 29 May 2011 – Hepatotoxicity is a very common side effect associated with the pharmacological treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Efavirenz (EFV) is the most widely used nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor administered for the control of HIV and some of its toxic effects in hepatic cells have been recently shown to display features of mitochondrial dysfunction.

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