P H McGuinness, G A Bishop, D M Painter, R Chan, G W McCaughan – 1 April 1996 – The balance between a direct cytopathic effect by hepatitis C virus (HCV) and immune‐mediated injury remains unclear. This report aims to test the following hypotheses: (1) that intrahepatic HCV load would correlate with the degree of liver injury; (2) that interferon alfa (IFN‐α) would decrease intrahepatic HCV‐RNA levels. Liver tissues (n = 56) were obtained from 47 patients with chronic HCV (9 before and after IFN‐α therapy).

P K Yuet, D Blankschtein, J M Donovan – 1 April 1996 – To accurately determine the cholesterol (Ch) distribution between mixed micelles and vesicles in lithogenic bile, both ultracentrifugation and gel chromatography with the correct intermixed micellar/vesicular bile salt concentration (IMC) have been proposed. We have systematically compared both separation techniques with physiological model biles to ascertain their quantitative separation ability.

Norah A. Terrault, Connie Combs Holland, Linda Ferrell, Judith A. Hahn, John R. Lake, John P. Roberts, Nancy L. Ascher, Teresa L. Wright – 1 March 1996 – Reinfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) after liver transplantation is nearly universal in patients not receiving immunoprophylaxis. Because reinfection reduces graft and patient survival, treatment of recurrent infection is important. Interferon alfa (IFN‐α) is an effective therapy for chronic hepatitis B infection in immunocompetent patients, but its efficacy in transplant recipients has not been established.

1 March 1996

Christine M. Hunt, Julie S. Tart, Elaine Dowdy, Barbara Philips Bute, Diane M. Williams, Pierre‐Alain Clavien – 1 March 1996 – Employment, functional status, health status, and prevalence of anxiety and depression were assessed in patients who had undergone orthotopic liver transplantation at Duke University from 1984 to 1993 to identify social and economic factors that might influence return to work after liver transplantation. Patients were asked to complete mailed questionnaires. A transplant nurse coordinator assigned patients a Karnofsky score, unaware of the questionnaire responses.

Jean C. Emond, Scott D. Kelley, Thomas G. Heffron, Tomonori Nakagawa, John P. Roberts, Robert C. Lim – 1 March 1996 – Total vascular exclusion (TVE) of the liver is accomplished by complete occlusion of inflow and outflow of the liver during hepatectomy. It affords the opportunity for bloodless, anatomically precise parenchymal transection but has not been widely used in this country. TVE should make it possible to treat large or unfavorably located lesions safely. To evaluate the benefit of this modality, we have examined the results of TVE in 49 major resections.

G D Schapiro, L S Friedman – 1 March 1996

H Lin, M C Yang, M Hou, S Li, Y Huang, P Yu, Y Tsai, S Lee – 1 March 1996 – The hemodynamic effects of long‐term administration of octreotide in portal hypertension has not been established. In addition, whether long‐term octreotide treatment prevents the development of portosystemic shunts has not yet been evaluated. Hence, the current study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of long‐term administration of octreotide in rats with portal vein stenosis.

Y Tameda, M Hamada, K Takase, T Nakano, Y Kosaka – 1 March 1996 – The cause of fulminant hepatic failure is reported to be unknown in more than half the cases in Japan. We recently reviewed 23 cases of fulminant hepatic failure that had been treated at our hospital. The cause of disease had been regarded as unknown before this study. It was found that seven of these patients had been under ecarazine hydrochloride therapy when they developed fulminant hepatic failure.

S Moteki, P S Leung, E R Dickson, D H Van Thiel, C Galperin, T Buch, D Alarcon‐Segovia, D Kershenobich, K Kawano, R L Coppel, S Matuda, M E Gershwin – 1 March 1996 – Five different target mitochondrial autoantigens recognized by sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) have been identified as subunits of the following 2‐oxo acid dehydrogenase complexes: the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), the branched chain 2‐oxo acid dehydrogenase complex (BCOADC), and the 2‐oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (OGDC).