Christopher Tracey, Carmel Hawley, Anthony Donald Griffin, Geoff Strutton, Stephen Lynch – 20 July 2005 – The use of sirolimus as an alternative to calcineurin antagonists has enabled the continuation of immunosuppression in patients with renal impairment with preservation of kidney function. Sirolimus is generally well tolerated, with the main causes of cessation of therapy related to its effect on blood lipid profile as well as leukopenia and thrombocytopenia.

Silvio Nadalin, Massimo Malagó, Camino Valentin‐Gamazo, Giuliano Testa, Hideo A. Baba, Chao Liu, Nils R. Frühauf, Randolph Schaffer, Guido Gerken, Andrea Frilling, Christoph E. Broelsch – 20 July 2005 – The role of liver biopsy (LB) in donor selection for adult living donor liver transplantation remains controversial, since the procedure is associated with additional potential risks for the donor. From April 1998 to August 2004, 730 potential living donors for 337 adult recipients underwent our multistep evaluation program. In 144 candidates, LB was performed.

Gary L. Davis, David R. Nelson, Norah Terrault, Timothy L. Pruett, Thomas D. Schiano, Courtney V. Fletcher, Christine V. Sapan, Laura N. Riser, Yufeng Li, Richard J. Whitley, John W. Gnann, Collaborative Antiviral Study Group – 20 July 2005 – Chronic hepatitis C is the most common indication for liver transplantation, but viral recurrence is universal and progressive graft injury occurs in most recipients.

J. Peter A. Lodge, Sven Jonas, Robert M. Jones, Michael Olausson, José Mir‐Pallardo, Soeren Soefelt, Juan Carlos Garcia‐Valdecasas, Vivian McAlister, Darius F. Mirza, for the rFVIIa OLT Study Group – 20 July 2005 – Patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) have excessive blood loss during surgery that requires blood transfusions, leading to increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. We studied the efficacy and safety of activated recombinant factor VII (rFVIIa) in reducing transfusion requirements in OLT.

Gunda Millonig, Ivo W. Graziadei, Dagmar Eichler, Karl‐Peter Pfeiffer, Gerd Finkenstedt, Petra Muehllechner, Alfred Koenigsrainer, Raimund Margreiter, Wolfgang Vogel – 20 July 2005 – Bone loss is a common complication in patients before and after liver transplantation (LT). The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of prophylactic treatment with bisphosphonates after LT in preventing progressive bone loss in LT patients. We included 136 patients with end‐stage liver diseases awaiting LT.

Martin Wolff, Nico Schaefer, Christian Rabe, Ulrich Spengler, Andreas Hirner – 20 July 2005

Peter Schemmer, Rui Liang, Marius Kincius, Christa Flechtenmacher, Hartwig Bunzendahl, Carsten N. Gutt, Arianeb Mehrabi, Martha‐Maria Gebhard, Markus W. Büchler, Thomas W. Kraus – 20 July 2005 – Relevant mechanisms of reperfusion injury after liver transplantation are most likely mediated by activated Kupffer cells. Recently, it has been demonstrated that taurine prevents Kupffer cell‐activation in vitro. Thus, this study was designed to assess the effects of taurine after liver transplantation.

Scott L. Nyberg, Joseph Hardin, Bruce Amiot, Upendra A. Argikar, Rory P. Remmel, Piero Rinaldo – 20 July 2005 – We have developed a novel bioreactor based on the observation that isolated porcine hepatocytes rapidly and spontaneously aggregate into spheroids under oscillation conditions. The purpose of this study was to characterize the influence of oscillation frequency (0.125 Hz, 0.25 Hz), cell density (1‐10 × 106 cells/mL), and storage condition (fresh, cryopreserved) of porcine hepatocytes on the kinetics of spheroid formation.

Robert P. Perrillo, James D. Eason – 20 July 2005

Ian W. Udell, Neal R. Barshes, Theodoros Voloyiannis, Timothy C. Lee, Saul J. Karpen, Beth A. Carter, Milton Finegold, John A. Goss – 20 July 2005