Jacob Alexander, Ajit P. Limaye, Cynthia W. Ko, Mary P. Bronner, Kris V. Kowdley – 1 June 2006 – Invasive fungal infection is a serious complication of orthotopic liver transplantation, but its risk factors remain incompletely defined. Iron overload has already been associated with increased risk of fungal infections, but it has not yet been assessed as a risk factor in liver transplantation. We retrospectively studied a cohort of 153 consecutive patients who underwent their first liver transplantation at a single center and who survived at least 7 days after transplantation.

Angelo Luca, Roberto Miraglia, Settimo Caruso, Mariapina Milazzo, Bruno Gidelli, Jaime Bosch – 1 June 2006 – The specific contribution of splenic blood inflow to portal hypertension in patients with cirrhosis is still unclear. In this study, we investigated this contribution by assessing the hemodynamic effects of transient splenic artery occlusion.

Jérôme Dumortier, Marie‐Claude Gagnieu, Janine Salandre, Olivier Guillaud, Philipe Guillem, Mustapha Adham, Olivier Boillot – 1 June 2006 – Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders are one of the main adverse events in patients treated by mycophenolic acid (MPA).

Surakit Pungpapong, Salvador Alvarez, Walter C. Hellinger, David J. Kramer, Darrin L. Willingham, Julio C. Mendez, Justin H. Nguyen, Winston R. Hewitt, Jaime Aranda‐Michel, Denise M. Harnois, Barry G. Rosser, Christopher B. Hughes, Hani P. Grewal, Raj Satyanarayana, Rolland C. Dickson, Jeffrey L. Steers, Andrew P. Keaveny – 1 June 2006 – Peritonitis occurring after liver transplantation (PLT) has been poorly characterized to date. The aims of this study were to define the incidence, risk factors, microbiology profiles, and outcome of nonlocalized PLT.

Chris Rhee, Kiran Narsinh, Robert S. Venick, Ricardo A. Molina, Visal Nga, Rita Engelhardt, Martín G. Martín – 1 June 2006 – The current United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policy is to allocate liver grafts to pediatric patients with chronic liver disease based on the pediatric end‐stage liver disease (PELD) scoring system, while children with fulminant hepatic failure may be urgently listed as Status 1a.

Teh‐Ia Huo, Shou‐Dong Lee, Jaw‐Ching Wu – 25 May 2006

Stephen Kerfoot, Charlotte D'Mello, Henry Nguyen, Maureen Ajuebor, Paul Kubes, Tai Le, Mark G. Swain – 25 May 2006

Agustín Albillos, Leticia Muñoz, Mónica Nieto, María Úbeda, Antonio de‐la‐Hera, Melchor Alvarez‐Mon – 25 May 2006

Pavel Strnad, Tim C. Lienau, Guo‐Zhong Tao, Laura C. Lazzeroni, Felix Stickel, Detlef Schuppan, M. Bishr Omary – 25 May 2006 – Keratins 8 and 18 (K8/K18) protect the liver from various forms of injury. Studies of liver explants from a large cohort of U.S. patients showed that K8/K18 mutations confer a risk to developing end‐stage liver diseases, though which diseases are preferentially involved is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that K8/K18 variants are associated with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and that their presence correlates with progression of fibrosis.

Xandra Volkmann, Markus Cornberg, Heiner Wedemeyer, Frank Lehner, Michael P. Manns, Klaus Schulze‐Osthoff, Heike Bantel – 25 May 2006 – Only half of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and genotype‐1 show a sustained antiviral response to the current antiviral therapy. The reason this treatment fails is unclear, and no reliable marker exists that predicts the treatment outcome. In the present study, we investigated the apoptotic activation of caspases in HCV patients undergoing antiviral therapy with regard to the treatment outcome.