K F Petersen, A B West, A Reuben, D L Rothman, G I Shulman – 1 July 1996 – Hepatic lipid content was assessed noninvasively in 15 patients with hepatic steatosis by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and compared in a double‐blind fashion with histological grading and morphometric quantitation of fat in liver biopsies taken within 2 weeks of the study. The lipid content in the liver biopsies was expressed as the volume fraction of total parenchyma occupied by fat.

K Maezono, K Kajiwara, K Mawatari, A Shinkai, K Torii, T Maki – 1 July 1996 – The liver is the main organ involved in amino acid metabolism, and it utilizes glucogenic amino acids as substrates for glucose or adenosine triphosphate (ATP), but this process is impaired in clinical and experimental liver diseases. In this study, we administered high doses of amino acids in rats or cultured hepatocytes with experimental models of liver injury to examine whether such supplementation could attenuate liver damage.

S Suzuki, S Nakamura, A Serizawa, T Sakaguchi, H Konno, H Muro, I Kosugi, S Baba – 1 July 1996 – The hypothesis that both activated Kupffer cells and the spleen may be responsible for endotoxin‐induced liver injury following partial hepatectomy was investigated.

Rifaat Safadi, Daniel Shouval, Ran Tur Kaspa, Yaffa Ashur, Yaron Ilan – 1 July 1996 – Mixed cryoglobulinemia is a well‐known complication after hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We report five cases in which cryoglobulinemia appeared or grossly exacerbated following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Cryoglobulinemia and the associated clinical symptoms resolved or improved in two patients treated with ribavirin after liver transplantation, while plasmapheresis was ineffective in another patient.

1 July 1996

Giuseppe Francesco Stefanini, Francesco Giuseppe Foschi, Lorenzo Marsigli, Cristiana Fumelli, Gian Luca Grazi, Gunnar Söderdahl, Ole Suhr, Gösta Holmgren, Gustaf Herlenius, Bo‐Göran Ericzon, Jean‐Francois Desjardins, Jean‐Piere Campion, Bruno Clement, Pierre‐Alain Clavien – 1 July 1996

G Nardone, M Romano, A Calabrò, P V Pedone, I de Sio, M Persico, G Budillon, C B Bruni, A Riccio, R Zarrilli – 1 June 1996 – Increased prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been found in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression of insulinlike growth factor II (IGF‐II) has been linked to hepatocarcinogenesis in the experimental animal and in humans.

C Colombo, P M Battezzati, M Podda, N Bettinardi, A Giunta – 1 June 1996 – Liver disease is increasingly recognized as a major cause of morbidity in cystic fibrosis (CF). Preliminary data suggest that ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) may be beneficial for treatment of this manifestation. We performed a double‐blind, multicenter trial in these patients to establish efficacy and safety of UDCA in terms of the improvement of clinical and nutritional indicators besides standard liver function tests.

P J De Bleser, C D Scott, T Niki, G Xu, E Wisse, A Geerts – 1 June 1996 – The liver is reported to be the main source of soluble insulin‐like growth factor‐II/mannose 6‐phosphate (IGF‐II/M6P) receptor in adults. In view of the role of this receptor in the activation of transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) during hepatic fibrogenesis, we have investigated the correlation between serum levels and tissue expression of the receptor during acute CCl4 intoxication of the rat.

T Niki, P J De Bleser, G Xu, K Van der Berg, E Wisse, A Geerts – 1 June 1996 – Fat‐storing cells are the major producers of extracellular matrix in the liver. A good immunocytochemical marker is, however, still lacking for this cell type. Desmin, frequently used by most investigators, fails to stain many pericentral fat‐storing cells in normal rat liver. The aim of the present study is to evaluate glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as an alternative marker of fat‐storing cells.