Binje Vick, Achim Weber, Toni Urbanik, Thorsten Maass, Andreas Teufel, Peter H. Krammer, Joseph T. Opferman, Marcus Schuchmann, Peter R. Galle, Henning Schulze‐Bergkamen – 28 January 2009 – Myeloid cell leukemia‐1 (Mcl‐1) is an antiapoptotic member of the Bcl‐2 protein family. It interacts with proapoptotic Bcl‐2 family members, thereby inhibiting mitochondrial activation and induction of apoptosis. Mcl‐1 is essential for embryonal development and the maintenance of B cells, T cells, and hematopoietic stem cells.

Seong Hoon Kim, Seong Yeon Cho, Kwang Woong Lee, Sang‐Jae Park, Sung‐Sik Han – 28 January 2009 – Innovations and refinements in the techniques of living donor right hepatectomy (LDRH) have been made over the past decades, but the type and size of abdominal incision have been at a standstill since its inception. We introduce herein the upper midline incision for LDRH using the standard open technique. A prospective case‐matched study was conducted on 23 consecutive donors who underwent LDRH under a supraumbilical upper midline incision (I group) from February to May 2008.

Masahiro Ohira, Minoru Ishifuro, Kentaro Ide, Toshimitsu Irei, Hirotaka Tashiro, Toshiyuki Itamoto, Katsuhide Ito, Kazuaki Chayama, Toshimasa Asahara, Hideki Ohdan – 28 January 2009 – Interferon (IFN) therapy with or without ribavirin treatment is well established as a standard antiviral treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected patients. However, susceptibility to thrombocytopenia is a major obstacle for initiating or continuing this therapy, particularly in liver transplant (LTx) recipients with HCV.

Jennifer R. Gamble, Mathew A. Vadas – 28 January 2009

Mathis Heydtmann, David H. Adams – 28 January 2009 – Chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus, a noncytopathic hepatotropic RNA virus, affects over 170 million people worldwide. In the majority of cases, neither the early innate immune response nor the later adaptive immune response succeeds in clearing the virus, and the infection becomes chronic. Furthermore, in many patients, the ineffective inflammatory response drives fibrogenesis and the development of cirrhosis. It is critical to understand this immune pathology if preventative and curative therapies are to be developed.

Anna Ludovica Fracanzani, Luca Valenti, Silvia Fargion – 28 January 2009

Abhinav Humar, Joy Beissel, Shaina Crotteau, Melissa Cohen, John Lake, William D. Payne – 28 January 2009 – We looked at the impact of delayed splenic artery occlusion (SAO) on recipients with established small‐for‐size syndrome (SFSS) after partial graft liver transplantation [either from a living donor (LD) or split from a deceased donor (DD)]. Between 1999 and 2007 we performed a total of 100 partial liver transplantations in adult recipients: 66 LD transplantations and 34 DD split transplantations.

Ralf Weiskirchen, Hermann E. Wasmuth – 28 January 2009

Alessio Aghemo, Maria Grazia Rumi, Gian Maria Prati, Massimo Colombo – 28 January 2009

Martin‐Walter Welker, Stefan Zeuzem – 28 January 2009