Barbara S. Höroldt, Marco Burattin, Bridget K. Gunson, Simon R. Bramhall, Peter Nightingale, Stefan G. Hübscher, James M. Neuberger – 23 June 2006 – The Banff schema incorporates a semiquantitative scoring system for grading of acute cellular rejection (ACR) of the liver allograft. The Banff rejection activity index (RAI) comprises 3 components scored from 0 to 3: venous endothelial inflammation (E); bile duct damage (B); and portal inflammation (P); the scores are combined to an overall score (the RAI).

Raymond M. Planinsic – 23 June 2006

Charalambos Gustav Antoniades, Philip A. Berry, Edward T. Davies, Munther Hussain, William Bernal, Diego Vergani, Julia Wendon – 23 June 2006 – Acute liver failure (ALF) shares striking similarities with septic shock where a decrease in HLA‐DR expression on monocytes is associated with disease severity and predicts outcome. We investigated monocyte HLA‐DR expression in ALF in relation to inflammatory mediator levels and clinical outcome. Monocyte HLA‐DR expression was determined in 50 patients with acetaminophen‐induced ALF (AALF) and 20 non–acetaminophen‐induced ALF (NAALF).

Vasilica Matei, Aina Rodríguez‐Vilarrupla, Ramon Deulofeu, Dolors Colomer, Mercedes Fernández, Jaime Bosch, Juan‐Carlos Garcia‐Pagán – 23 June 2006 – In cirrhosis, intrahepatic endothelial dysfunction is one of the mechanisms involved in the increased resistance to portal blood flow and therefore in the development of portal hypertension. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) uncoupling due to deficiency of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) results in decreased production of NO and plays a major role in endothelial dysfunction in other conditions.

Lucio F Pacheco‐Moreira, Marcelo Enne, Elizabeth Balbi – 23 June 2006

Douglas Thorburn, Kirsty Roy, Karen Wilson, David Stell, Sheila Cameron, William Wall, Peter R. Mills, David Goldberg – 23 June 2006 – The risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission to surgeons is related to the HCV prevalence in the surgical patient population. As HCV‐related cirrhosis is the commonest indication for liver transplantation in Europe and North America, liver transplant surgeons are at particular risk. The prevalence of HCV infection in liver transplant surgeons is unknown.

Andrea Frilling, Massimo Malago, Frank Weber, Andreas Paul, Silvio Nadalin, Georgios C. Sotiropoulos, Vito Cicinnati, Susanne Beckebaum, Andreas Bockisch, Jan Mueller‐Brand, Michael Hofmann, Kurt W. Schmid, Guido Gerken, Christoph E. Broelsch – 23 June 2006 – In contrast to other secondary liver malignancy, orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is considered as a treatment modality for nonresectable endocrine liver metastases in selected patients.

Nicolas Jabbour, Singh Gagandeep – 23 June 2006

Ulrich Beuers, Guido Gerken, Thomas Pusl – 23 June 2006

Anne Bessard, Alexandre Coutant, Claude Rescan, Frédéric Ezan, Christophe Frémin, Brice Courselaud, Gennady Ilyin, Georges Baffet – 23 June 2006 – We show that MLCK (myosin light chain kinase) plays a key role in cell cycle progression of hepatocytes: either chemical inhibitor ML7 or RNA interference led to blockade of cyclin D1 expression and DNA replication, providing evidence that MLCK regulated S phase entry. Conversely, inhibition of RhoK by specific inhibitor Y27632 or RhoK dominant‐negative vector did not influence progression in late G1 and S phase entry.