Peter Jepsen, Peter Ott, Per Kragh Andersen, Henrik Toft Sørensen, Hendrik Vilstrup – 22 April 2010 – The clinical course of alcoholic cirrhosis, a condition with a high mortality, has not been well described. We examined prevalence, risk, chronology, and mortality associated with three complications of cirrhosis: ascites, variceal bleeding, and hepatic encephalopathy. We followed a population‐based cohort of 466 Danish patients diagnosed with alcoholic cirrhosis in 1993–2005, starting from the date of hospital diagnosis and ending in August 2006.

Michelle Lai – 22 April 2010

Elise Andrews, Martin Armstrong, Jonathan Tugwood, Dan Swan, Philip Glaves, Munir Pirmohamed, Guruprasad P. Aithal, Matthew C. Wright, Christopher P. Day, Ann K. Daly – 22 April 2010 – Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) due to flucloxacillin is a rare but serious complication of treatment. There is some evidence that flucloxacillin is a human pregnane X receptor (PXR) agonist. This study was designed to investigate the relevance of PXR to flucloxacillin toxicity and to identify genes changing in expression in response to flucloxacillin.

Lorenzo Azzalini, Elisabet Ferrer, Leandra N. Ramalho, Montserrat Moreno, Marlene Domínguez, Jordi Colmenero, Víctor I. Peinado, Joan A. Barberà, Vicente Arroyo, Pere Ginès, Joan Caballería, Ramón Bataller – 22 April 2010 – The prevalence of cigarette smoking (CS) is increased among obese subjects, who are susceptible to develop nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We investigated the hepatic effects of CS in control and obese rats. Control and obese Zucker rats were divided into smokers and nonsmokers (n = 12 per group).

Mark H. Kuniholm, Andrea Kovacs, Xiaojiang Gao, Xiaonan Xue, Darlene Marti, Chloe L. Thio, Marion G. Peters, Norah A. Terrault, Ruth M. Greenblatt, James J. Goedert, Mardge H. Cohen, Howard Minkoff, Stephen J. Gange, Kathryn Anastos, Melissa Fazzari, Tiffany G. Harris, Mary A. Young, Howard D. Strickler, Mary Carrington – 22 April 2010 – Studies of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles and their relation with hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia have had conflicting results. However, these studies have varied in size and methods, and few large studies assessed HLA class I alleles.

Galia Askarieh, Åsa Alsiö, Paolo Pugnale, Francesco Negro, Carlo Ferrari, Avidan U. Neumann, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky, Solko W. Schalm, Stefan Zeuzem, Gunnar Norkrans, Johan Westin, Jonas Söderholm, Kristoffer Hellstrand, Martin Lagging, DITTO‐HCV and NORDynamIC Study Groups – 22 April 2010 – High systemic levels of interferon‐gamma‐inducible protein 10 kDa (IP‐10) at onset of combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection predict poor outcome, but details regarding the impact of IP‐10 on the reduction of HCV RNA during therapy remain unclear.

Roderick H. J. Houwen, Francisca H. H. Linn, Karel J. van Erpecum – 22 April 2010

Nicole M. Walker, Katherine A. Stuart, Rebecca J. Ryan, Shireena Desai, Sammy Saab, Jennifer A. Nicol, Linda M. Fletcher, Darrell H. G. Crawford – 22 April 2010 – Additional markers are required to identify patients on the orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) waiting list at increased risk of death and adverse clinical events. Serum ferritin concentration is a marker of varied pathophysiological events and is elevated with increased liver iron concentration, hepatic necroinflammation, and systemic illness, all of which may cause a deterioration in liver function and clinical status.

Ramesh Kumar, Shalimar, Vikram Bhatia, Shankar Khanal, V. Sreenivas, S. Datta Gupta, Subrat K. Panda, Subrat K. Acharya – 22 April 2010 – Antituberculosis therapy (ATT)–associated acute liver failure (ATT‐ALF) is the commonest drug‐induced ALF in South Asia. Prospective studies on ATT‐ALF are lacking. The current study prospectively evaluated the magnitude, clinical course, outcome, and prognostic factors in ATT‐ALF. From January 1986 to January 2009, 1223 consecutive ALF patients were evaluated: ATT alone was the cause in 70 (5.7%) patients.

Jian‐Mei Li, Yu‐Cheng Li, Ling‐Dong Kong, Qing‐Hua Hu – 22 April 2010 – High consumption of dietary fructose is an important contributory factor in the development of hepatic steatosis in insulin or leptin resistance. We investigated the effects of curcumin on fructose‐induced hypertriglyceridemia and liver steatosis and explored its preventive mechanisms in rats. Curcumin reduced serum insulin and leptin levels in fructose‐fed rats.