Cara L. Mack, Rebecca M. Tucker, Brandy R. Lu, Ronald J. Sokol, Andrew P. Fontenot, Yoshiyuki Ueno, Ronald G. Gill – 20 October 2006 – Biliary atresia is an inflammatory fibrosclerosing lesion of the bile ducts that leads to biliary cirrhosis and is the most frequent indication for liver transplantation in children. The pathogenesis of biliary atresia is not known; one theory is that of a virus‐induced, subsequent autoimmune‐mediated injury of bile ducts.

Nora V. Bergasa, Monnie McGee, Iona H. Ginsburg, Danielle Engler – 20 October 2006 – Pruritus is defined as the second order of nociception, the first being pain; thus, there is a rationale to study gabapentin, a drug that increases the threshold to experience nociception. The aim of this double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled trial was to study the effect of gabapentin on the perception of pruritus and its behavioral manifestation, scratching, in cholestasis. The participants were 16 women with chronic liver disease and chronic pruritus.

Andrew J. Burtenshaw, John L. Isaac – 20 October 2006 – Patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation frequently display considerable physiological changes during the procedure as a result of both the disease process and the surgery. Anaesthesia is often challenging and relies upon advanced monitoring techniques to provide data pertinent to peri‐operative management. Traditionally the pulmonary artery flotation catheter has been regarded as the gold standard for cardiac output and right heart monitoring.

Tim O. Lankisch, Ulrike Moebius, Michael Wehmeier, Georg Behrens, Michael P. Manns, Reinhold E. Schmidt, Christian P. Strassburg – 20 October 2006 – Gilbert's disease leads to intermittent non‐hemolytic hyperbilirubinemia by a reduction of hepatic bilirubin glucuronidation associated with the presence of the UDP‐glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A1*28 polymorphism. It is considered benign because it does not result in hepatocellular damage. However, pharmacogenetic analyses have linked UGT1A1*28 to drug toxicity and cancer predisposition.

Dirk Graf, Caroline Kohlmann, Katrin Haselow, Thor Gehrmann, Johannes G. Bode, Dieter Häussinger – 20 October 2006 – Interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) is a major regulator of the acute phase reaction in the liver and is thought to mediate protective effects in response to hepatotoxins. In this study, the influence of bile acids on IL‐6 signal transduction was analyzed. It was shown that hydrophobic bile acids such as glycochenodeoxycholate (GCDC) inhibited IL‐6–induced tyrosine phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 in hepatocytes and in perfused rat liver.

Cheng‐Hsu Chen, Liang‐Mou Kuo, Yigang Chang, Wenhan Wu, Christina Goldbach, Mark A. Ross, Donna B. Stolz, Liepin Chen, John J. Fung, Lin Lu, Shiguang Qian – 20 October 2006 – Accumulating data suggest that hepatic tolerance, initially demonstrated by spontaneous acceptance of liver allografts in many species, results from an immune regulatory activity occurring in the liver. However, the responsible cellular and molecular components have not been completely understood. We have recently described profound T cell inhibitory activity of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in vitro.

Charles S. Landis, Kosho Yamanouchi, Hongchao Zhou, Sankar Mohan, Namita Roy‐Chowdhury, David A. Shafritz, Alan Koretsky, Jayanta Roy‐Chowdhury, Hoby P. Hetherington, Chandan Guha – 20 October 2006 – Hepatocyte transplantation (HT) is being explored as a substitute for liver transplantation for the treatment of liver diseases. For the clinical application of HT, a preparative regimen that allows preferential proliferation of transplanted cells in the host liver and a noninvasive method to monitor donor cell engraftment, proliferation, and immune rejection would be useful.

Javier Fernández, Angels Escorsell, Michel Zabalza, Vanessa Felipe, Miguel Navasa, Antoni Mas, Antonio M. Lacy, Pere Ginès, Vicente Arroyo – 20 October 2006 – Relative adrenal insufficiency is frequent in patients with severe sepsis and is associated with hemodynamic instability, renal failure, and increased mortality. This study prospectively evaluated the effects of steroids on shock resolution and hospital survival in a series of 25 consecutive patients with cirrhosis and septic shock (group 1).

Henrik Toft Sørensen, Timothy L. Lash, Kenneth J. Rothman – 20 October 2006 – Observational analogs of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are well accepted in the study of disease risk factors, diagnosis, and prognosis. There is controversy about observational studies when the focus is on the intended benefit due to lack of blinding and poor control for unmeasured confounding. Well‐designed randomized clinical trials are costly both in time and money. Therefore, existing databases are used increasingly and are often the only feasible source with which to examine delayed health effects.

Rupert Abdalian, E. Jenny Heathcote – 20 October 2006 – Secondary sclerosing cholangitis (SSC) is a disease that is morphologically similar to primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) but that originates from a known pathological process. Its clinical and cholangiographic features may mimic PSC, yet its natural history may be more favorable if recognition is prompt and appropriate therapy is introduced.