Shalimar, Mohammed Faisal Sheikh, Rajeshwar P. Mookerjee, Banwari Agarwal, Subrat Kumar Acharya, Rajiv Jalan – 31 January 2019 – Ammonia is thought to be central to the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy (HE), but its prognostic role in patients with cirrhosis and acute decompensation is unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the relationship between ammonia levels and severity of HE and its association with organ dysfunction and short‐term mortality. We identified 498 patients from two institutions as part of prospective observational studies in patients with cirrhosis.

31 January 2019

Shengtao Lin, Da Dorothy Zhang, Yuan Gao, Yueke Zhu, Bing Hou – 31 January 2019

Alessandro Mantovani, Davide Gatti, Giacomo Zoppini, Giuseppe Lippi, Enzo Bonora, Christopher D. Byrne, Valerio Nobili, Giovanni Targher – 31 January 2019 – Recent cross‐sectional studies have examined the association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and bone mineral density (BMD) in children or adolescents, but these have produced conflicting results. We performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis of these published studies to quantify the magnitude of the association, if any, between NAFLD and BMD.

Vinod Arora, Rakhi Maiwall, Vijayaraghavan Rajan, Ankur Jindal, Saggere Muralikrishna Shasthry, Guresh Kumar, Priyanka Jain, Shiv Kumar Sarin – 31 January 2019

Lan Bai, Ming‐Ming Chen, Ze‐Dong Chen, Peng Zhang, Song Tian, Yan Zhang, Xue‐Yong Zhu, Ye Liu, Zhi‐Gang She, Yan‐Xiao Ji, Hongliang Li – 31 January 2019 – Inhibition of apoptosis signal‐regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) activation has emerged as a promising target for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Multiple forms of posttranslational modifications determine the activity of ASK1. In addition to phosphorylation, recent studies revealed that ubiquitination is essential for ASK1 activation.

Heng Wu, Jonathan M. Ploeger, Sushama Kamarajugadda, Douglas G. Mashek, Mara T. Mashek, Juan C. Manivel, Laurie L. Shekels, Jessica L. Lapiro, Jeffrey H. Albrecht – 30 January 2019 – During normal proliferation, hepatocytes accumulate triglycerides (TGs) in lipid droplets (LDs), but the underlying mechanisms and functional significance of this steatosis are unknown. In the current study, we examined the coordinated regulation of cell cycle progression and LD accumulation. As previously shown, hepatocytes develop increased LD content after mitogen stimulation.

A. Jay Freeman, Zachary M. Sellers, George Mazariegos, Andrea Kelly, Lisa Saiman, George Mallory, Simon C. Ling, Michael R. Narkewicz, Daniel H. Leung – 29 January 2019 – Approximately 5%‐10% of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) will develop advanced liver disease with portal hypertension, representing the third leading cause of death among patients with CF. Cystic fibrosis with advanced liver disease and portal hypertension (CFLD) represents the most significant risk to patient mortality, second only to pulmonary or lung transplant complications in patients with CF.

François Durand, Corinne Antoine, Olivier Soubrane – 29 January 2019 – In France, the main indications for liver transplantation are hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and alcoholic cirrhosis. The number of candidates for decompensated hepatitis C virus–related cirrhosis has markedly decreased since the advent of direct‐acting antiviral agents. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis represents a lower proportion of candidates as compared with the United States.

Nicolas Weiss, Dominique Thabut – 29 January 2019 – Orthotopic liver transplantation (LT) remains the only way to definitively cure patients with the most severe liver diseases. Because the survival rate is now fairly high, important questions about neurological sequelae or quality of life after LT have emerged. Indeed, LT represents a peculiar situation because up to 30% of patients present with neurological symptoms after LT compared with only 4% after cardiac transplant and 0.5% after renal transplant.