Marina Bortolami, Romilda Cardin, Andromachi Kotsafti, Fabio Farinati – 27 February 2008

Rubén Francés, Pedro Zapater, José M. González‐Navajas, Carlos Muñoz, Rocío Caño, Rocío Moreu, Sonia Pascual, Pablo Bellot, Miguel Pérez‐Mateo, José Such – 27 February 2008 – Bacterial infections and severity of associated inflammatory reaction influence prognosis in patients with advanced cirrhosis. We compared the innate immune response to bacterial DNA (bactDNA) translocation with that caused by viable bacteria translocation in patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and the relationship between the cytokine response and serum levels of bactDNA.

Cristiano Quintini, Kenzo Hirose, Koji Hashimoto, Teresa Diago, Federico Aucejo, Bijan Eghtesad, David Vogt, Gregory Pierce, Mark Baker, Dympna Kelly, Charles M. Miller – 27 February 2008 – Splenic artery embolization (SAE) improves hepatic artery (HA) flow in liver transplant (OLT) recipients with so‐called splenic artery steal syndrome. We propose that SAE actually improves HA flow by reducing the HA buffer response (HABR). Patient 1: On postoperative day (POD) 1, Doppler ultrasonography (US) showed patent vasculature with HA resistive index (RI) of 0.8.

Robert Flisiak, Andrzej Horban, Philippe Gallay, Michael Bobardt, Suganya Selvarajah, Alicja Wiercinska‐Drapalo, Ewa Siwak, Iwona Cielniak, Jozef Higersberger, Jarek Kierkus, Christian Aeschlimann, Pierre Grosgurin, Valérie Nicolas‐Métral, Jean‐Maurice Dumont, Hervé Porchet, Raf Crabbé, Pietro Scalfaro – 26 February 2008 – Debio‐025 is an oral cyclophilin (Cyp) inhibitor with potent anti–hepatitis C virus activity in vitro. Its effect on viral load as well as its influence on intracellular Cyp levels was investigated in a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study.

J. Eileen Hay – 26 February 2008 – Abnormal liver tests occur in 3%–5% of pregnancies, with many potential causes, including coincidental liver disease (most commonly viral hepatitis or gallstones) and underlying chronic liver disease. However, most liver dysfunction in pregnancy is pregnancy‐related and caused by 1 of the 5 liver diseases unique to the pregnant state: these fall into 2 main categories depending on their association with or without preeclampsia.

Song Hee Lee, Ran Song, Mi Nam Lee, Chon Saeng Kim, Hanna Lee, Young‐Yun Kong, Hoguen Kim, Sung Key Jang – 26 February 2008 – The hepatitis C virus (HCV) E2 protein has been shown to block apoptosis and has been suggested to facilitate persistent infection of the virus.

Keane K. Y. Lai, Deepak Kolippakkam, Laura Beretta – 26 February 2008 – We report a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the mouse liver and plasma proteomes. The method used is based on extensive fractionation of intact proteins, further separation of proteins based on their abundance and size, and high‐accuracy mass spectrometry. This analysis reached a depth in proteomic profiling not reported to date for a mammalian tissue or a biological fluid, with 7099 and 4727 proteins identified with high confidence in the liver and in the corresponding plasma, respectively.

Michael R. Beard, Karla J. Helbig – 26 February 2008

Go Anegawa, Hirofumi Kawanaka, Daisuke Yoshida, Kozo Konishi, Shohei Yamaguchi, Nao Kinjo, Akinobu Taketomi, Makoto Hashizume, Hiroaki Shimokawa, Yoshihiko Maehara – 26 February 2008 – In liver cirrhosis, down‐regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) has been implicated as a cause of increased intrahepatic resistance. We investigated whether Rho‐kinase activation is one of the molecular mechanisms involved in defective eNOS signaling in secondary biliary cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis was induced by bile duct ligation (BDL).

Diana Klein, Alexandra Demory, Francis Peyre, Jens Kroll, Hellmut G. Augustin, Wijnand Helfrich, Julia Kzhyshkowska, Kai Schledzewski, Bernd Arnold, Sergij Goerdt – 26 February 2008 – The mechanisms regulating the growth and differentiation of hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (HSECs) are not well defined. Because Wnt signaling has become increasingly important in developmental processes such as vascular and hepatic differentiation, we analyzed HSEC‐specific Wnt signaling in detail.