E Walter, R Keist, B Niederöst, I Pult, H E Blum – 1 July 1996 – For the systematic analysis of various clinical and molecular aspects of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, an experimental small animal system of HBV infection would be a great advance. The susceptibility to HBV infection, therefore, of hepatocytes from the tree shrew species tupaia belangeri was studied in vitro and in vivo. Primary hepatocytes isolated from livers of tupaias can be reproducibly infected with HBV.

K Tokushige, T Wakita, C Pachuk, D Moradpour, D B Weiner, V R Zurawski, J R Wands – 1 July 1996 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major worldwide cause of acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The development of vaccines against HCV have been complicated by the high variability of the envelope region, and it is likely that the cellular immune responses to viral structural proteins may be important for eradicating persistent viral infection.

S Moteki, P S Leung, R L Coppel, E R Dickson, M M Kaplan, S Munoz, M E Gershwin – 1 July 1996 – The detection of antimitochondrial autoantibodies (AMAs) is critical in the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). However, conventional laboratory assays to detect AMA are dependent on the time‐consuming method of immunofluorescence microscopy, a method often plagued by problems of nonspecificity.

D M Heuman – 1 July 1996

Joseph R. Bloomer, Jeffrey M. Rank, William D. Payne, Dale C. Snover, Harvey L. Sharp, R. Jeff Zwiener, Robert L. Carithers – 1 July 1996 – Protoporphyria is a genetic disorder in which patients may develop severe protoporphyrin‐induced liver damage and require transplantation. Because unique problems occur in the perioperative period and because excess production of protoporphyrin by the bone marrow continues after liver transplantation, the efficacy of this procedure for protoporphyric liver disease is uncertain. We present follow‐up of nine patients who underwent liver transplantation.

Elizabeth M. Brunt, Beverly B. Kraemer – 1 July 1996 – DNA ploidy analysis of 22 lesions arising from the intrahepatic and extrahepatic biliary systems and gallbladder was performed on Feulgen‐stained 5‐μm sections from archival paraffin‐embedded tissue on an image analyzer (CAS‐200). The cases included intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (n = 6), extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma (n = 5), carcinoma of the gallbladder (n = 11), and appropriate controls. All malignancies were stage III and IV adenocarcinomas with the exception of 1 stage II moderately differentiated gallbladder adenocarcinoma.

David J. Plevak – 1 July 1996

H Bozkaya, B Ayola, A S F Lok – 1 July 1996 – Cross‐sectional studies reported that hepatitis B core gene mutations are associated with active liver disease and responsiveness to interferon therapy. In view of the heterogeneity in published sequences, it is not possible to tell whether the differences in sequences observed were true mutations that developed during the course of infection.

C Chen, L Wang, S Lu, M Wu, S You, Y Zhang, L Wang, R M Santella – 1 July 1996 – To elucidate the importance of aflatoxin in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a community‐based cohort study combined with molecular dosimetry of aflatoxin exposure was performed in the Penghu Islets where the HCC mortality rate is highest in Taiwan. A total of 6,487 residents aged 30 to 65 years were recruited in the two‐ stage screening survey and underwent regular follow‐up examination.

J H Hoofnagle, M Lombardero, R K Zetterman, J Lake, M Porayko, J Everhart, S H Belle, K M Detre – 1 July 1996 – To evaluate the effect of donor age on graft and patient outcome after liver transplantation an analysis of a large‐scale cohort study was performed at three tertiary referral liver transplant centers. Between April 1990 and June 1994, 772 adults underwent an initial single‐organ liver transplantation. The age of the donors averaged 35 years;193 (25%) were 50 or above, the age used to define “older” donors. Groups were compared for demographic, clinical, and biochemical features.