Caroline A. Riely, Alexander S. Petrides – 1 July 1995

Paul J. Winwood, Detlef Schuppan, John P. Iredale, Choudhury A. Kawser, Andrew J. P. Docherty, Michael J. P. Arthur – 1 July 1995 – Release of 92‐kd type IV collagenase/gelatinase, also known as gelatinase B, by inflammatory and tumor cells is increasingly recognized and is believed to facilitate cellular migration across basement membranes. It has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases, but little is known of its cellular origin(s) and function in liver.

Yoshiyuki Miwa, Masahiko Kato, Hisataka Moriwaki, Masataka Okuno, Jun'ichi Sugihara, Horoo Ohnishi, Takashi Yoshida, Yasutoshi Muto, Mitsuo Nakayama, Yujiro Morioka, Kouzou Asagi – 1 July 1995 – Branched‐chain amino acids (BCAA) are known to improve hepatic encephalopathy as well as protein malnutrition in cirrhosis. However, such effects in acute hepatic failure (AHF) remain to be elucidated. The current study was conducted to investigate whether BCAA improves protein metabolism in AHF.

Akira Nakano, David L. Marks, Pamela S. Tietz, Piet C. De Groen, Nicholas F. Larusso – 1 July 1995 – The turnover rate of an individual protein is a function of the rates of synthesis and loss of that protein. For most intracellular proteins, loss occurs through digestion by lysosomal or cytosolic proteases. Although a significant proportion of hepatic lysosomal enzymes is released from the hepatocyte by excretion into bile, the contribution of biliary excretion to the turnover of hepatic lysosomal enzymes has never been measured.

Michael Roden, Martin Prskavec, Clemens Fürnsinn, Ibrahim Elmadfa, Jürgen König, Barbara Schneider, Oswald Wagner, Werner Waldhäusl – 1 July 1995 – Selenium, an essential trace element, has been shown to decrease plasma glucose concentrations of diabetic rats. To study the short‐term effects of selenium on hepatic carbohydrate metabolism, isolated perfused livers of fed Sprague‐Dawley rats were continuously infused with sodium selenite for 90 minutes.

Mario Pirisi, Carlo Fabris, Giorgio Soardo, Edmondo Falleti, Daniele Gasparini, Daniela Vitulli, Pierluigi Toniutto, Fabio Gonano, Ettore Bartoli – 1 July 1995 – It has been shown previously that erythropoietin expression in vitro by hepatoma cells increases in response to hypoxia. To verify whether hypoxia of the tumor might result in hepatic release of erythropoietin in vivo, serum erythropoietin concentrations were measured immunoenzymatically in 12 patients (5 women, 7 men) who underwent transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Cheng Qian, Roberto Bilbao, Oscar Bruña, Jesús Prieto – 1 July 1995 – We have analyzed the ability of a recombinant replication‐defective adenovirus to transfer the thymidine kinase gene of herpes simplex virus (HSV‐tk) into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells to confer sensitivity to ganciclovir. Three HCC cell lines (Hep3B, PLC/PRF/5, and HepG2) were efficiently infected in vitro by a recombinant adenovirus carrying lacZ reporter gene (Ad‐CMVlacZ).

Isabel Cirera, Faust Feu, Angelo Luca, Joan C. García‐Pagan, Mercedes Fernández, Angels Escorsell, Jaime Bosch, Joan Rodés – 1 July 1995 – The present double‐blind study was aimed at investigating the hemodynamic and humoral effects of somatostatin or placebo in patients with cirrhosis.

Tadashi Terada, Yasuni Nakanuma – 1 July 1995 – Intrahepatic cholangiography of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is characterized by stricture with or without dilation of the biliary tree. To evaluate whether this cholangiographic appearance is present in non‐PSC livers as well as the histological features seen in non‐PSC livers with this cholangiographic appearance, we performed postmortem intrahepatic cholangiography in 154 liver autopsy specimens.

Ulus S. Akarca, Anna S. F. Lok – 1 July 1995 – Mutations in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) core gene may influence disease activity by altering immune recognition sites or level of virus replication. Sera from 69 Chinese patients with chronic HBV infection were analyzed by direct sequencing of polymerase chain reaction amplification of HBV DNA to determine the frequency and location of naturally occurring HBV core gene mutations. All but one patient had nucleotide changes, and 44 (64%) patients had at least one amino acid change (mean, 3.7; range, 1‐13) when compared with published sequences.