Kiyoaki Ito, Hiroshi Yotsuyanagi, Hiroshi Yatsuhashi, Yoshiyasu Karino, Yasuhiro Takikawa, Takafumi Saito, Yasuji Arase, Fumio Imazeki, Masayuki Kurosaki, Takeji Umemura, Takafumi Ichida, Hidenori Toyoda, Masashi Yoneda, Eiji Mita, Kazuhide Yamamoto, Kojiro Michitaka, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Junko Tanuma, Yasuhito Tanaka, Masaya Sugiyama, Kazumoto Murata, Naohiko Masaki, Masashi Mizokami, the Japanese AHB Study Group – 29 July 2013 – The proportion of patients who progress to chronicity following acute hepatitis B (AHB) varies widely worldwide.

Ragunath Singaravelu, Ran Chen, Rodney K. Lyn, Daniel M. Jones, Shifawn O'Hara, Yanouchka Rouleau, Jenny Cheng, Prashanth Srinivasan, Neda Nasheri, Rodney S. Russell, D. Lorne Tyrrell, John Paul Pezacki – 29 July 2013 – MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs that posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression. Their aberrant expression is commonly linked with diseased states, including hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Herein, we demonstrate that HCV replication induces the expression of miR‐27 in cell culture and in vivo HCV infectious models.

Alan Wigg, Kenneth Hon, Leigh Mosel, Nicole Sladden, Kevin Palumbo – 25 July 2013 – Despite the widespread use of locoregional therapies [radiofrequency ablation and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE)], there is currently a lack of high‐quality evidence supporting their use for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients on the liver transplantation (LT) waiting list or requiring down‐staging. Radiotherapy has rarely been used in this setting and has usually been in the form of more complex and less accessible techniques such as proton‐beam and stereotactic body radiation therapy.

Antonio J. Carcas‐Sansuán, Loreto Hierro, Gonzalo N. Almeida‐Paulo, Esteban Frauca, Hoi Yan Tong, Carmen Díaz, Enrique Piñana, Jesús Frías‐Iniesta, Paloma Jara – 25 July 2013 – The recommended dose of Advagraf for conversion from Prograf is considered to be 1:1 on a milligram basis. However, the long‐term equivalence of Prograf and Advagraf has been questioned.

Jessica Howell, Rohit Sawhney, Adam Testro, Narelle Skinner, Paul Gow, Peter Angus, Dilip Ratnam, Kumar Visvanathan – 25 July 2013 – Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) play a key role in transplantation biology. The effect of immunosuppression on TLR function after liver transplantation is unknown. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 113 post–liver transplant patients and 13 healthy controls were stimulated with TLR‐specific ligands [lipopolysaccharide (TLR4), pan‐3‐cys (P3C) (TLR2), Poly (I:C) (PIC) (TLR3), R848 (TLR7/8), and CpG (TLR9)] for 24 hours.

Eric R. Kallwitz, Veronica Loy, Praveen Mettu, Natasha Roenn, Jamie Berkes, Scott J. Cotler – 25 July 2013 – There is a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in liver transplant recipients, a population that tends to be physically inactive. The aim of this study was to characterize physical activity and evaluate the relationship between physical activity and metabolic syndrome after liver transplantation. A cross‐sectional analysis was performed in patients more than 3 months after transplantation.

Hirofumi Tomita, Ken Hoshino, Yasushi Fuchimoto, Hirotoshi Ebinuma, Kiyoshi Ohkuma, Yutaka Tanami, Wenlin Du, Yohei Masugi, Naoki Shimojima, Akihiro Fujino, Motohiro Kano, Takumi Fujimura, Hideo Ishihama, Takahiro Shimizu, Minoru Tanabe, Hidetsugu Saito, Michiie Sakamoto, Toshifumi Hibi, Yuko Kitagawa, Tatsuo Kuroda – 25 July 2013 – Graft fibrosis is a common finding during protocol biopsy examinations after pediatric liver transplantation.

Daniel Nils Gotthardt, Jonas Senft, Peter Sauer, Karl Heinz Weiss, Christa Flechtenmacher, Isabella Eckerle, Yvonne Schaefer, Peter Schirmacher, Wolfgang Stremmel, Peter Schemmer, Paul Schnitzler – 25 July 2013 – Cholestatic complications, important causes of morbidity and mortality after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), often have an unclear etiology. Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections occur in immunosuppressed patients and can be detected in blood samples. However, CMV analyses of body fluids and biopsies are more sensitive.

Toru Ikegami, Huanlin Wang, Daisuke Imai, Yuki Bekki, Tomoharu Yoshizumi, Yo‐Ichi Yamashita, Takeo Toshima, Yuji Soejima, Ken Shirabe, Yoshihiko Maehara – 25 July 2013 – Although the round ligament, including the umbilical vein, could be used as a venous graft in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), no studies have determined its appropriate use on the basis of pathological findings. We prospectively examined 19 LDLT cases in which the donor's round ligament was procured and used as a venous graft.

Quirino Lai, Alfonso W. Avolio, Ivo Graziadei, Gerd Otto, Massimo Rossi, Giuseppe Tisone, Pierre Goffette, Wolfgang Vogel, Michael B. Pitton, Jan Lerut, on behalf of the European Hepatocellular Cancer Liver Transplant Study Group – 19 July 2013 – Locoregional therapy (LRT) is being increasingly used for the management of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) in patients listed for liver transplantation (LT). Although several selection criteria have been developed, stratifications of survival according to the pathology of explanted livers and pre‐LT LRT are lacking.