1 December 1995

Juan Antonio Quiroga, Jan van Binsbergen, Chang Yi Wang, Margarita Pardo, Sonia Navas, Chantal Trines, Montserrat Herrero, Vicente Carreno – 1 December 1995 – Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody to hepatitis C core antigen (anti‐HCV‐core) was tested by enzyme immunoassay against a synthetic peptide representing amino acids 1 to 62 of the core protein. Of 214 patients with different categories of histological activity, 193 (90%) showed positive results for IgM anti‐HCV‐core, and 207 (97%) had HCV RNA; most cases (186, 87%) had both markers detectable simultaneously.

Hiroshi Hayashi, Kenji Sugio, Takashi Matsumata, Eisuke Adachi, Kenji Takenaka, Keizo Sugimachi – 1 December 1995 – To clarify the clinical significance of the mutation of p53 gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 90 resected specimens from Japanese patients were assayed using a polymerase chain reaction‐single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR‐SSCP) analysis. p53 mutations were detected in 25 cases (27.8%) at exons 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and the most frequent region of the mutation was at exons 5 and 7.

Andres T. Blei – 1 December 1995

Peter Karayiannis, Alexandra Alexopoulou, Stephanos Hadziyannis, Mark Thursz, Richard Watts, Seiji Seito, Howard C. Thomas – 1 December 1995 – The precore stop‐codon variant of hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been implicated in fulminant hepatitis. The precore/core regions of such variants from two sets of patients with interpartner transmission resulting in fulminant hepatitis in the contact, were sequenced to establish whether further sequence variations in the core region are specifically associated with the fulminant disease.

Ignazio Roberto Marino, Howard R. Doyle, Luca Aldrighetti, Cataldo Doria, John McMichael, Timothy Gayowski, John J. Fung, Andreas G. Tzakis, Thomas E. Starzl – 1 December 1995 – We correlated donor and recipient factors with graft outcome in 436 adult patients who underwent 462 liver transplants. Donor variables analyzed were age, gender, ABO blood group, cause of death, length of stay in the intensive care unit, use of pressors or pitressin, need for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, terminal serum transaminases, and ischemia time.

Andre L. Weigert, Pierre‐Yves Martin, Michel Niederberger, Elisa M. S. Higa, Ivan F. McMurtry, Pere Gines, Robert W. Schrier – 1 December 1995 – The present experiments were designed to test if induction of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) plays a role in the systemic vasodilation observed in hepatic cirrhosis. Because endotoxin levels are elevated in cirrhosis, and endotoxin stimulates inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in several cell lines, aortas of carbon tetrachloride‐induced cirrhotic rats with ascites were evaluated for iNOS expression.

Raymond S. Koff – 1 December 1995

Giacomo Laffi, Marco Foschi, Emanuela Masini, Antonella Simoni, Laura Mugnai, Giorgio la Villa, Giuseppe Barletta, Pier Francesco Mannaioni, Paolo Gentilini – 1 December 1995 – An increased release of nitric oxide (NO), a powerful vasodilating agent, has been proposed to play a role in the pathogenesis of vasodilation and hyperdynamic circulation associated with advanced cirrhosis.

Paul C. Adams, Ann E. Kertesz, Leslie S. Valberg – 1 December 1995 – Although hereditary hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disease, most homozygotes are concerned with the genetic implications for their children. The optimal age for testing children and the cost implications of screening their children have not been clearly established.