S Günther, S Baginski, H Kissel, P Reinke, D H Krüger, H Will, H Meisel – 1 October 1996 – In renal transplant recipients, chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection often leads to cirrhosis and liver failure. In this study, we investigated whether or not in these patients viral variants would emerge despite immunosuppression, and whether they are associated with a specific course of liver disease. In a population of 552 renal transplant recipients hepatitis B 24 surface antigen (HBsAg)‐positive patients were available for a 2‐year follow‐up.

J M Crawford – 1 October 1996

D Byron, G Y Minuk – 1 October 1996 – To dispel the common notion that the practice of hepatology in North America largely consists of the care of middle‐aged male patients with alcohol‐induced liver disease, and, in the process, provide undergraduate and postgraduate students with a clearer picture of what patient profiles might resemble in an urban, hospital‐based hepatology practice, 1,226 charts derived from referrals between July 1, 1987, and January 1, 1994, were retrospectively reviewed for the following information: year of referral, age and sex of the patient, practice of the refer

M Tanaka, O Nakashima, Y Wada, M Kage, M Kojiro – 1 October 1996 – A pathomorphological study was conducted to clarify the localization of Kupffer cells in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and such hyperplastic nodular lesions as adenomatous hyperplasia (AH) and focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH). Materials were surgical specimens of 50 HCCs, 7 AHs, and 13 FNHs. These tissues were immunohistochemically stained with an anti‐human macrophage antibody (anti‐CD68 antibody).

P Andreone, C Cursaro, A Gramenzi, C Zavaglia, I Rezakovic, E Altomare, R Severini, J S Franzone, O Albano, G Ideo, M Bernardi, G Gasbarrini – 1 October 1996 – It has recently been shown that thymosin‐α1(T‐α1), a synthetic polypeptide of thymic origin, is able to promote disease remission and inhibition of hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication in patients affected by hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐positive chronic active hepatitis. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of T‐α1 treatment in patients with hepatitis B e antibody (anti‐HBe) and HBV‐DNA‐positive chronic hepatitis.

M G Swain, M Maric – 1 October 1996 – Both interleukin (IL)‐1β and psychological stress activate the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis by stimulating neuronal activity within the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus via different pathways. Because it has been shown previously that cholestatic rats show defective cytokine‐and stress‐induced HPA axis activation, neuronal activation in the paraventricular nucleus of rats with cholestasis caused by bile duct resection and in noncholestatic sham‐resected (sham) controls was examined.

L Krahenbuhl, C Talos, J Reichen, S Krahenbuhl – 1 October 1996 – Liver and skeletal muscle glycogen metabolism were investigated in rats 1 and 4 weeks after bile duct ligation (BDL) and in pair‐fed, sham‐ operated control rats. Livers were subjected to morphometric analysis to express glycogen content and enzyme activities per mL hepatocytes. One week after BDL, the hepatic glycogen content was 28.8 ± 13.8 versus 38.6 ± 16.4 mg/mL hepatocyte in BDL and control rats, respectively. Total activity of glycogen synthase (50.2 ± 7.0 vs.

R Mastai, S Laganiere, I R Wanless, L Giroux, B Rocheleau, P Huet – 1 October 1996 – We assessed hepatic functions and systemic and splanchnic hemodynamics in a new model of hepatic sinusoidal fibrosis. Fibrosis was induced by the simultaneous administration for 8 weeks of diethyl‐stilbestrol (DES) (10 mg twice weekly, subcutaneously) and cholesterol‐supplemented diet (1%) in rabbits.

T Kimura, K Suzuki, S Inada, A Hayashi, M Isobe, Y Matsuzaki, N Tanaka, T Osuga, M Fujiwara – 1 October 1996 – Interaction between intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM‐1) and lymphocyte function‐associated antigen 1 (LFA‐1) might be involved in the pathogenesis of liver diseases. We investigated whether monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against these two adhesion molecules could inhibit the formation of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC)‐like lesions in an animal model using graft‐versus‐host reaction (GVHR) with major histocompatibility complex class II disparity.

I P Hällström, D Liao, Y Assefaw‐Redda, L C Ohlson, L Sahlin, P Eneroth, L Eriksson, J Gustafsson, A Blanck – 1 October 1996 – Synthetic estrogens act as tumor promoters in rat liver. Because estrogen treatment markedly increases the secretion of pituitary prolactin, also shown to be a tumor promoter in rat liver, the possibility of a pituitary influence in estrogen promotion was investigated in Wistar rats.