Yuji Hoshino, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Namiki Izumi, Masayuki Kurosaki, Fumiaki Marumo, Chifumi Sato – 1 July 1995 – To study the role of antigen‐specific T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of autoimmune hepatitis, messenger RNA of T‐cell receptors (TCR) was analyzed in liver biopsy specimens from four patients with autoimmune hepatitis. Using the TCR β‐chain variable region family specific oligonucleotides, a remarkable bias for the usage of β‐chain variable region 3 was detected in all four patients.

Francesco Violi, Domenico Ferro, Stefania Basili, Claudio Cimminiello, Mirella Saliola, Edoardo Vezza, Corrado Cordova, The Calc Group – 1 July 1995 – One hundred sixty‐five patients with cirrhosis diagnosed by needle liver biopsy were followed for 2 years to evaluate the relation between clotting factors and survival. Patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatic carcinoma, and cholestatic liver diseases were excluded. Patients were classified as A (n = 34), B (n = 75), or C (n = 56) according to Child‐Pugh criteria.

Søren Møller, Niels Wiinberg, Jens H. Henriksen – 1 July 1995 – Cirrhotic patients have disturbed systemic hemodynamics with reduced arterial blood pressure, but this has not been investigated during daily activity and sleep. Systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), and heart rate (HR) were measured by an automatic ambulant device for monitoring blood pressure in 35 patients with cirrhosis and 35 healthy matched controls. During the daytime, SBP, DBP, and MAP were significantly lower in the patients than in the controls (median 118 vs. 127; 70 vs. 78; 86 vs.

Sophie Hillaire, François Ballet, Dominique Franco, Kenneth D. R. Setchell, Raoul Poupon – 1 July 1995 – Hepatic bile acid concentrations are elevated in chronic cholestasis because of reduced canalicular excretion and active ileal absorption of the fraction eliminated in the gut. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) reduces the intestinal absorption of endogenous bile acids, thereby diminishing the concentrations to which liver cells are exposed.

Olivier Rosmorduc, Marie‐Anne Petit, Stanislas Pol, Francis Capel, Flavia Bortolotti, Pierre Berthelot, Christian Brechot, Dina Kremsdorf – 1 July 1995 – The mechanisms involved in hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistence are still poorly understood. We have previously shown that the encapsidation of the singly spliced 2.2 kb‐HBV RNA leads to the secretion of circulating HBV defective particles in patients with chronic hepatitis. We have now investigated the presence of the HBV defective particles in sera from patients with acute and chronic hepatitis, using polymerase chain reaction.

Gian Luca Grazi, Alighieri Mazziotti, Cristina Legnani, Elio Jovine, Rita Miniero, Antonio Gallucci, Gualtiero Palareti, Giuseppe Gozzetti – 1 July 1995 – The assessment of new and more sensitive serum markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a useful contribution to the diagnosis of small liver tumors, still amenable by surgery.

Harold O. Conn – 1 July 1995 – Objective Results of the first prospective randomized clinical trial comparing partial and total portacaval shunt for variceal hemorrhage are reported. Summary Background Data Total portacaval shunts produce subnormal portal pressures, completely diverting hepatic portal flow. Partial shunts maintain higher pressures and preserve hepatopedal flow. No randomized trials of these two approaches have been performed.

Chia Chiao, Yingchun Zhang, David G. Kaufman, William K. Kaufmann – 1 July 1995 – An immortal line of chemically altered rat hepatocytes was used to study the effects of the liver tumor promoter, phenobarbital (PB), on hepatocyte growth and viability in vitro. When the serum concentration in medium was changed from 10% to 0.5%, cell proliferation decreased and hepatocytes died. Death of the hepatocytes occurred after 2 days in low‐serum medium. PB appeared to control the type of cell death that occurred.

Karin Vanderkerken, Luc Bouwens, Nico Van Rooijen, Kit Van Den Berg, Marijke Baekeland, Eddie Wisse – 1 July 1995 – Pit cells, or hepatic natural killer (NK) cells, present in rat liver sinusoids, represent an organ‐associated NK cell population, with a higher level of activation and a different morphology when compared with peripheral blood NK cells. These cells are the result of an influx of peripheral blood NK cells in the liver microenvironment, followed by an activation or differentiation process toward the highly activated phenotype.

Eugene R. Schiff – 1 July 1995