Istvan Hritz, Pranoti Mandrekar, Arumugam Velayudham, Donna Catalano, Angela Dolganiuc, Karen Kodys, Evelyn Kurt‐Jones, Gyongyi Szabo – 26 September 2008 – The Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) that recognizes endotoxin, a trigger of inflammation in alcoholic liver disease (ALD), activates two signaling pathways utilizing different adapter molecules: the common TLR adapter, myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), or Toll/interleukin immune‐response–domain‐containing adaptor inducing interferon (IFN)‐β. The MyD88 pathway induces proinflammatory cytokine activation, a critical mediator of ALD.

Jessica D. Korman, Irene Volenberg, Jody Balko, Joe Webster, Frank V. Schiodt, Robert H. Squires, Robert J. Fontana, William M. Lee, Michael L. Schilsky, Pediatric and Adult Acute Liver Failure Study Groups – 26 September 2008 – Acute liver failure (ALF) due to Wilson disease (WD) is invariably fatal without emergency liver transplantation. Therefore, rapid diagnosis of WD should aid prompt transplant listing.

Bertina F. Jones, Rebecca R. Boyles, Sung‐Yong Hwang, Gary S. Bird, James W. Putney – 26 September 2008 – The process of capacitative or store‐operated Ca2+ entry has been extensively investigated, and recently two major molecular players in this process have been described. Stromal interacting molecule (STIM) 1 acts as a sensor for the level of Ca2+ stored in the endoplasmic reticulum, and Orai proteins constitute pore‐forming subunits of the store‐operated channels.

Craig Dorrell, Laura Erker, Kelsea M. Lanxon‐Cookson, Stephanie L. Abraham, Tristan Victoroff, Simon Ro, Pamela S. Canaday, Philip R. Streeter, Markus Grompe – 26 September 2008 – The biology of progenitor activation in the liver is of considerable medical and scientific interest. The powerful genetic tools available for the mouse make it an ideal model system to study this complex process involving many different cell types. However, reagents for the isolation and study of distinct hepatic subpopulations have been quite limited compared to those available for hematopoietic cells.

Daniel Gotthardt, Heiko Runz, Verena Keitel, Christine Fischer, Christa Flechtenmacher, Michael Wirtenberger, Karl Heinz Weiss, Sandra Imparato, Annika Braun, Kari Hemminki, Wolfgang Stremmel, Franz Rüschendorf, Adolf Stiehl, Ralf Kubitz, Barbara Burwinkel, Peter Schirmacher, A. S. Knisely, Johannes Zschocke, Peter Sauer – 26 September 2008 – Cholestatic liver disease (CLD) is a major cause of progressive liver damage and liver failure. Several forms of biliary cirrhosis are caused by mutations in specific genes.

Geoffrey C. Nguyen, Justina Sam, Paul J. Thuluvath – 26 September 2008 – Acute liver injury (ALI) following acetaminophen overdose (AO) occurs in less than 10% of cases, but that risk is increased among alcoholics and those with chronic alcoholic liver disease. We sought to assess whether coexistent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection potentiated the hepatotoxic effects of acetaminophen. We queried the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (1998‐2005), a 20% sample of U.S.

Istvan Hritz, Arumugam Velayudham, Angela Dolganiuc, Karen Kodys, Pranoti Mandrekar, Evelyn Kurt‐Jones, Gyongyi Szabo – 26 September 2008 – Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) expressed on both immune cells and hepatocytes recognize microbial danger signals and regulate immune responses. Previous studies showed that TLR9 and TLR2 mediate Propionibacterium acnes–induced sensitization to lipopolysaccharide‐triggered acute liver injury in mice. Ligand‐specific activation of TLR2 and TLR9 are dependent on the common TLR adaptor, myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88).

Hila Barash, Eitan Gross, Yifat Edrei, Orit Pappo, Gadi Spira, Israel Vlodavsky, Eithan Galun, Idit Matot, Rinat Abramovitch – 26 September 2008 – Liver diseases and regeneration are associated with hemodynamic changes denoting pathological alterations. Determining and monitoring physiological and pathological liver changes is essential for diagnostic and therapeutic objectives. Our aim was to determine the feasibility of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during hypercapnia and hyperoxia for monitoring liver pathology.

Alessandro Principe, Pedro Melgar‐Lesmes, Guillermo Fernández‐Varo, Luis Ruiz del Arbol, Josefa Ros, Manuel Morales‐Ruiz, Mauro Bernardi, Vicente Arroyo, Wladimiro Jiménez – 26 September 2008 – Apelin is a peptide that plays an important role in heart physiology and pathophysiology, inflammation, and angiogenesis. We evaluated whether the endogenous apelin system is involved in the pathogenesis of the hepatic remodeling and cardiovascular and renal complications occurring in advanced liver disease.

Marco Senzolo, David Patch, Diego Miotto, Cecilia Ferronato, Evangelos Cholongitas, Andrew K. Burroughs – 26 September 2008