Douglas M. Heuman, Anastasios A. Mihas, Adil Habib, HoChong S. Gilles, R. Todd Stravitz, Arun J. Sanyal, Robert A. Fisher – 27 December 2006 – Priority for “sickest first” liver transplantation (LT) in the United States is determined by the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD). MELD is a good predictor of short‐term mortality in cirrhosis, but it can overestimate risk when international normalized ratio (INR) is artificially elevated by anticoagulation. An alternate prognostic index omitting INR is needed in this situation.

Daniel Shouval – 27 December 2006

Anna Conti, Simona Scala, Paola D'Agostino, Elena Alimenti, Daniele Morelli, Barbara Andria, Angela Tammaro, Chiara Attanasio, Floriana Della Ragione, Vincenzo Scuderi, Floriana Fabbrini, Maurizio D'Esposito, Ernesto Di Florio, Lucio Nitsch, Fulvio Calise, Antonio Faiella – 27 December 2006 – Ischemia‐reperfusion injury (IRI) causes up to 10% of early liver failures in humans and can lead to a higher incidence of acute and chronic rejection. So far, very few studies have investigated wide gene expression profiles associated with the IRI process.

Giuliano Testa – 27 December 2006

Giuseppe Orlando, Leonardo Baiocchi, Andrea Cardillo, Giuseppe Iaria, Nicola De Liguori, Linda De Luca, Benedetto Ielpo, Laura Tariciotti, Mario Angelico, Giuseppe Tisone – 27 December 2006 – Although mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) monotherapy has been successfully used in liver transplant recipients suffering from calcineurin‐inhibitor (CNI)‐related chronic toxicity, still no consensus has been reached on its safety, efficacy and tolerability.

Sumihito Tamura, Yasuhiko Sugawara, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 27 December 2006

Zeeshan Perveze, Mark W. Johnson, Raymond A. Rubin, Marty Sellers, Carlos Zayas, Jody L. Jones, Rosemary Cross, Kimberly Thomas, Bradley Butler, Roshan Shrestha – 27 December 2006 – Drug‐induced liver disease accounts for about 50% of acute or subacute liver failure in the United States. United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) data suggest 8%‐20% of liver transplantation in this country per year is for fulminant liver failure due to drugs.

Koichiro Hata, Rene Hany Tolba, Lai Wei, Benedict Marie Doorschodt, Reinhard Büttner, Yuzo Yamamoto, Thomas Minor – 27 December 2006 – Chronic shortage of donor organs has led to acceptance of steatotic livers as grafts, although there is a higher risk of primary graft dysfunction. We herein report the beneficial impact of Polysol, a newly developed preservation solution, on cold storage of steatotic rat livers. Dietary hepatic steatosis was induced in Wistar rats by 2‐day fasting and subsequent 3‐day re‐feeding with a fat‐free, carbohydrate‐rich diet.

Ekaterina Katenz, Florian Wolfgang Rudolf Vondran, Ruth Schwartlander, Gesine Pless, Xiaobing Gong, Xiandong Cheng, Peter Neuhaus, Igor Maximilian Sauer – 27 December 2006 – Problems with the limited availability of human hepatocytes for cell transplantation may be overcome by efficient cryopreservation techniques and formation of appropriate cell banking. In this study we investigated the effect of the disaccharide trehalose on the cryopreservation of human hepatocytes.

Norah A. Terrault, Mitchell L. Shiffman, Anna S.F. Lok, Sammy Saab, Lan Tong, Robert S. Brown, Gregory T. Everson, K. Rajender Reddy, Jeffrey H. Fair, Laura M. Kulik, Timothy L. Pruett, Leonard B.