Joseph F. Buell, Guy N. Brock – 29 October 2008

Li‐Yi Xie, Min Fan, Jia Fan, Jian Wang, Xuan‐Li Xu, Guo‐Liang Jiang – 29 October 2008

Laura Rinaldi, Marco Marietta, Mariano Alejandro Mignini, Lara Donno, Stefano Busani, Mauro Codeluppi, Michele Masetti, Massimo Girardis – 29 October 2008 – Recombinant human activated protein C (rhAPC) has been approved for use in patients with severe sepsis at high risk of death. Because of the high risk of bleeding, liver transplantation (LT) patients have been excluded from the randomized control trials that evaluated efficacy and safety of rhAPC and, thus, few data are available on the use of this drug in LT patients with severe sepsis.

Shunji Narumi, Kenichi Hakamda, Yoshikazu Toyoki, Keinosuke Ishido, Masaki Nara, Syuichi Yoshihara, Mutsuo Sasaki – 29 October 2008 – The self‐expandable metallic stent (SEMS) has become a common device for palliative treatment of malignant biliary obstructions or benign strictures. Despite the ease of placement of SEMSs, their removal has been reported to be very difficult. Here, we report a case with primary sclerosing cholangitis who developed massive hemorrhage after intraoperative removal of a SEMS.

Kunj K. Desai, George S. Dikdan, Asif Shareef, Baburao Koneru – 29 October 2008 – Utilization of ischemic preconditioning to ameliorate ischemia/reperfusion injury has been extensively studied in various organs and species for the past two decades. While hepatic ischemic preconditioning in animals has been largely beneficial, translational efforts in the two clinical contexts—liver resection and decreased donor liver transplantation—have yielded mixed results.

Michael von Wagner, Wolf Peter Hofmann, Gerlinde Teuber, Thomas Berg, Tobias Goeser, Ulrich Spengler, Holger Hinrichsen, Hans Weidenbach, Guido Gerken, Michael Manns, Peter Buggisch, Eva Herrmann, Stefan Zeuzem – 28 October 2008 – The impact of amantadine on virologic response rates of interferon‐based treatment of chronic hepatitis C is controversial.

Lin Wang, Huiping Dong, Carol J. Soroka, Ning Wei, James L. Boyer, Mark Hochstrasser – 28 October 2008 – The bile salt export pump (Bsep) represents the major bile salt transport system at the canalicular membrane of hepatocytes. When examined in model cell lines, genetic mutations in the BSEP gene impair its targeting and transport function, contributing to the pathogenesis of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type II (PFIC II).

Wei Yang, Brian L. Hood, Sara L. Chadwick, Shufeng Liu, Simon C. Watkins, Guangxiang Luo, Thomas P. Conrads, Tianyi Wang – 28 October 2008 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major human pathogen that causes serious illness, including acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Jennifer A. Tan, Tom A. Joseph, Sammy Saab – 28 October 2008 – The prevalence of chronic hepatitis C infection in U.S. prisons is 12% to 31%. Treatment of this substantial portion of the population has been subject to much controversy, both medically and legally. Studies have demonstrated that treatment of chronic hepatitis C with pegylated interferon (PEG IFN) and ribavirin is a cost‐effective measure in the general population; however, no study has addressed whether the same is true of the prison population.

Paul B. Watkins, Paul J. Seligman, John S. Pears, Mark I. Avigan, John R. Senior – 28 October 2008 – Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is of major interest to hepatologists and clinicians in general, patients, government regulators, and the pharmaceutical industry. Understanding why this form of injury occurs only in certain individuals has major implications for the development and availability of drug therapies and in the prevention of these events.