Zhiping Li, Mark J. Soloski, Anna Mae Diehl – 20 September 2005 – Dietary factors promote obesity and obesity‐related disorders, such as fatty liver disease. Natural killer T (NKT) cells are components of the innate immune system that regulate proinflammatory (Th‐1) and anti‐inflammatory (Th‐2) immune responses.

Harvey J. Alter – 20 September 2005

Claudia O. Zein, Roberta A. Jorgensen, Bart Clarke, Doris E. Wenger, Jill C. Keach, Paul Angulo, Keith D. Lindor – 20 September 2005 – Bone loss is a well‐recognized complication of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Although it has been suggested that alendronate might improve bone mineral density (BMD) in PBC, no randomized placebo‐controlled trial has been conducted. The primary aim of this study was to compare the effects of alendronate versus placebo on BMD and biochemical measurements of bone turnover in patients with PBC‐associated bone loss.

Cristina Ripoll, Rafael Bañares, Diego Rincón, María‐Vega Catalina, Oreste Lo Iacono, Magdalena Salcedo, Gerardo Clemente, Oscar Núñez, Ana Matilla, Luis‐Miguel Molinero – 20 September 2005 – Measurements of portal pressure, usually obtained via the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) may be a prognostic marker in cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of HVPG on survival in patients with cirrhosis in addition to the Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score.

Adrian Reuben – 20 September 2005

Ariane Mallat, Christophe Hezode, Sophie Lotersztajn – 20 September 2005

Peter Simmonds, Jens Bukh, Christophe Combet, Gilbert Deléage, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Stephen Feinstone, Phillippe Halfon, Geneviève Inchauspé, Carla Kuiken, Geert Maertens, Masashi Mizokami, Donald G. Murphy, Hiroaki Okamoto, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky, François Penin, Erwin Sablon, Tadasu Shin‐I, Lieven J. Stuyver, Heinz‐Jürgen Thiel, Sergei Viazov, Amy J.

Thomas A. Gonwa – 25 August 2005

Paolo De Simone, Paola Carrai, Lidiana Baldoni, Stefania Petruccelli, Laura Coletti, Luca Morelli, Franco Filipponi – 25 August 2005 – We report the results of a retrospective review of the outpatient pretransplantation workup for United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) 3 patients adopted at a liver transplantation (LT) center and illustrate the efficiency indicators used for quality evaluation and cost‐analysis. A single‐center, pre‐LT evaluation workup was performed on an outpatient basis at a cost per patient evaluation of 2,770 Euros (€).

J. Ignacio Herrero, Agustín España, Jorge Quiroga, Bruno Sangro, Fernando Pardo, Javier Alvárez‐Cienfuegos, Jesús Prieto – 25 August 2005 – Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is a frequent complication after liver transplantation, but the risk factors of posttransplant NMSC have not been well defined. In a prospectively followed series of 170 liver transplant recipients, we assessed the incidence of NMSC, compared it with the expected incidence in the general population, and investigated which risk factors were related to NMSC.