Pengfei Liu, Montserrat Rojo Vega, Matthew Dodson, Fei Yue, Boyun Shi, Deyu Fang, Eli Chapman, Leyuan Liu, Donna D. Zhang – 15 March 2019 – Spermidine (SPD), a naturally occurring polyamine, has been recognized as a caloric restriction mimetic that confers health benefits, presumably by inducing autophagy. Recent studies have reported that oral administration of SPD protects against liver fibrosis and hepatocarcinogenesis through activation of microtubule associated protein 1S (MAP1S)–mediated autophagy.

Lovkesh Anand, Ashok Choudhury, S.K. Sarin – 15 March 2019

Shahid Habib – 15 March 2019

Raymond J. Lynch, Fei Ye, Quanhu Sheng, Zhiguo Zhao, Seth J. Karp – 14 March 2019 – Allocation of livers for transplantation faces regulatory pressure to move toward broader sharing. A current proposal supported by the United Network for Organ Sharing Board of Directors relies on concentric circles, but its effect on socioeconomic inequities in access to transplant services is poorly understood.

Yun‐Long Wang, Jin‐Yu Liu, Jin‐E Yang, Xiao‐Man Yu, Zhan‐Li Chen, Ya‐Jing Chen, Ming Kuang, Ying Zhu, Shi‐Mei Zhuang – 13 March 2019 – Although thousands of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been annotated, only a limited number of them have been functionally characterized. Here, we identified an oncogenic lncRNA, named lnc‐UCID (lncRNA up‐regulating CDK6 by interacting with DHX9). Lnc‐UCID was up‐regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and a higher lnc‐UCID level was correlated with shorter recurrence‐free survival of HCC patients.

Noriki Okada, Yukihiro Sanada, Yasuharu Onishi, Taizen Urahashi, Yoshiyuki Ihara, Naoya Yamada, Yuta Hirata, Takumi Katano, Toshimi Imai, Kentaro Ushijima, Keiko Ogaki, Shinya Otomo, Koichi Mizuta – 13 March 2019 – Early relaparotomy of adult recipients after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is significantly associated with poor prognosis. However, there are few reports focusing on pediatric recipients after LDLT. The aim of this study is to clarify the causes and outcomes of early relaparotomy after pediatric LDLT.

Daniel Rizzolo, Kyle Buckley, Bo Kong, Le Zhan, Jianliang Shen, Mary Stofan, Anita Brinker, Michael Goedken, Brian Buckley, Grace L. Guo – 12 March 2019 – Bile acids (BAs) are diverse molecules that are synthesized from cholesterol in the liver. The synthesis of BAs has traditionally been shown to occur through two pathways. Cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (CYP7A1) performs the initial and rate‐limiting step in the classical pathway, and sterol 27‐hydroxylase (CYP27A1) initiates the hydroxylation of cholesterol in the alternative pathway.

Ryutaro Hirose – 12 March 2019

Erik L. Lum, Andrés Cárdenas, Paul Martin, Suphamai Bunnapradist – 12 March 2019 – On August 10, 2017, a formal policy was enacted in the United States that defined listing criteria for simultaneous liver‐kidney transplantation and priority for patients who received a liver transplantation (LT) and subsequently developed significant kidney disease after LT. This article reviews and summarizes the rationale for such policies, the policies themselves, and the potential impact on LT candidates.

Manisha Verma, Jay Horrow, Victor Navarro – 12 March 2019 – Alcohol use disorder, substance abuse, and depression are illnesses that deteriorate the quality of life (QOL) of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). Screening and behavioral health programs integrated into routine practice can mitigate the deleterious effects of such illnesses but have not been adopted in hepatology practices. We implemented a behavioral health program based on the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) model and assessed its acceptability and effectiveness in improving QOL.