Marc G. Ghany, Edward C. Doo – 27 April 2009 – The management of chronic hepatitis B currently rests with long‐term therapy using oral nucleoside analogs. The major limitation of long‐term therapy is antiviral resistance. Antiviral resistance is due to the high rate of mutations that can occur during hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication and the selection of these mutants due to a replication advantage in the presence of the antiviral agent. Indeed, high rates of antiviral resistance have been found with long‐term use of lamivudine, in up to 76% of patients treated for 5 years or more.

Salvatore Petta, Calogero Cammà, Antonio Craxfi – 27 April 2009

Maura Dandri, Jörg Petersen, John M. Murray – 27 April 2009

Michael F. Sorrell, Edward A. Belongia, Jose Costa, Ilana F. Gareen, Jean L. Grem, John M. Inadomi, Earl R. Kern, James A. McHugh, Gloria M. Petersen, Michael F. Rein, Doris B. Strader, Hartwell T. Trotter – 27 April 2009

Yaron Rotman, Thomas A. Brown, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 27 April 2009 – The initial evaluation of a patient with hepatitis B virus infection should attempt to assess the disease activity and stage in the context of the known natural history of this infection and to properly assess the needs for treatment and surveillance. In addition to a medical history and focused physical examination, the initial evaluation usually requires serological, biochemical, and virological tests to confirm the diagnosis as well as an imaging study to establish a baseline for future monitoring.

Mark J. Czaja – 27 April 2009

Catherine Paugam‐Burtz, Juliette Kavafyan, Paul Merckx, Souhayl Dahmani, Daniel Sommacale, Michael Ramsay, Jacques Belghiti, Jean Mantz – 27 April 2009 – During orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), a marked decrease in blood pressure following unclamping of the portal vein and liver reperfusion is frequently observed and is termed postreperfusion syndrome (PRS). The predictive factors and clinical consequences of PRS are not fully understood.

Tomonori Aoyama, Kenichi Ikejima, Kazuyoshi Kon, Kyoko Okumura, Kumiko Arai, Sumio Watanabe – 27 April 2009 – Pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome–related nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) involves abnormal tissue‐repairing responses in the liver. We investigated the effect of pioglitazone, a thiazolidinedione derivative (TZD), on hepatic regenerative responses in obese, diabetic KK‐Ay mice. Male KK‐Ay mice 9 weeks after birth underwent two‐thirds partial hepatectomy (PH) after repeated intragastric injections of pioglitazone (25 mg/kg) for 5 days.

Melanie J. Scott, Shubing Liu, Richard A. Shapiro, Yoram Vodovotz, Timothy R. Billiar – 27 April 2009 – The liver is the main organ that clears lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and hepatocytes are a major cell‐type involved in LPS uptake. LPS tolerance, or desensitization, is important in negative regulation of responses to LPS, but little is known about its mechanisms in hepatocytes. Primary isolated C57BL/6 hepatocytes, and liver in vivo, internalized fluorescent LPS, and this was dependent on Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) at the cell surface but not on TLR4‐TIR signaling through MyD88.

Teoman Dogru, Cemal Nuri Ercin, Serkan Tapan, Zülfikar Polat, Mustafa Gulsen, Sait Bagci – 27 April 2009