James D. Perkins – 28 May 2009 – Patients with end‐stage liver disease (ESLD) are predisposed to bleeding complications due to thrombocytopenia, reduced synthesis of coagulation factors, and increased fibrinolytic activity. The exact incidence of vascular access site and bleeding complications related to cardiac catheterization in this group remains unknown. Eighty‐eight consecutive patients with ESLD who underwent left‐sided cardiac catheterization from August 2004 to February 2007 were identified.

Anna S. Lok, James E. Everhart, Raymond T. Chung, Hae‐Young Kim, Gregory T. Everson, John C. Hoefs, Joel K. Greenson, Richard K. Sterling, Karen L. Lindsay, William M. Lee, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Herbert L. Bonkovsky, Marc G. Ghany, Chihiro Morishima, HALT‐C Trial Group – 28 May 2009 – Hepatic steatosis is a common histologic feature in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) but there are no large longitudinal studies describing the progression of steatosis in CHC.

Luca Miele, Venanzio Valenza, Giuseppe La Torre, Massimo Montalto, Giovanni Cammarota, Riccardo Ricci, Roberta Mascianà, Alessandra Forgione, Maria L. Gabrieli, Germano Perotti, Fabio M. Vecchio, Gianlodovico Rapaccini, Giovanni Gasbarrini, Chris P. Day, Antonio Grieco – 28 May 2009 – The role played by the gut in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is still a matter of debate, although animal and human studies suggest that gut‐derived endotoxin may be important.

Jui‐Chu Yang, Chiao‐Fang Teng, Han‐Chieh Wu, Hung‐Wen Tsai, Huai‐Chia Chuang, Ting‐Fen Tsai, Yung‐Hsiang Hsu, Wenya Huang, Li‐Wha Wu, Ih‐Jen Su – 28 May 2009 – Ground glass hepatocytes (GGH) in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection harbor HBV pre‐S deletion mutants in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and exhibit complex biologic features such as ER stress, DNA damage, and growth advantage. The presence of pre‐S mutants in serum has been shown to predict the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in HBV carriers. GGHs hence represent a potentially preneoplastic lesion.

Heping Yang, Komal Ramani, Meng Xia, Kwang Suk Ko, Tony W.H. Li, Pilsoo Oh, Jiaping Li, Shelly C. Lu – 28 May 2009 – Glutathione (GSH) provides important antioxidant defense and regulates multiple critical processes including fibrogenesis. There are conflicting literature studies regarding changes in GSH during cholestasis. Here we examined changes in the GSH synthetic enzymes during bile duct ligation (BDL) in mice and how treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and/or S‐adenosylmethionine (SAMe) affects the expression of these enzymes and liver injury.

Marina Berenguer – 28 May 2009

Stephen Harrison, Brent Neuschwander‐Tetri, Elizabeth Brunt – 28 May 2009

Leif E. Sander, J. Magarian Blander – 28 May 2009

Nicholas Onaca, Gary L. Davis, Linda W. Jennings, Robert M. Goldstein, Goran B. Klintmalm – 28 May 2009 – Improved outcome after liver transplantation (LTX) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) made LTX a legitimate treatment of the disease. We analyzed trends of LTX for HCC with tumors known before transplantation in 902 patients in a large international registry across 3 periods: 1983–1990, 1991–1996, and 1997–2005.

Ping Zhou, Sara Hohm, Yetunde Olusanya, David A. Hess, Jan Nolta – 28 May 2009 – Human cord blood stem cells (hCBSCs) have been reported to generate hepatocyte‐like cells and thus hold promise for repairing damaged liver. However, the frequency of hCBSC‐derived hepatocytes varies tremendously between different studies, and it is still controversial as to whether hCBSC‐derived cells can transdifferentiate into hepatocytes or simply fuse to recipient hepatocytes.