W. Kenneth Washburn, Seichi Noda, W. David Lewis, Roger L. Jenkins – 1 March 1995 – Primary malignant melanoma of the biliary tract is an obscure entity, with only four previously reported cases. We report two cases involving the common bile duct. A 43‐year‐old male who underwent a right hepatectomy and excision of the extrahepatic biliary tree for a lesion at the bifurcation of the common bile duct. He remains alive and well 11 months after resection. The second patient is a 45 year old male with obstructive jaundice due to an ampullary lesion.

John J. Lemasters, Hartwig Bunzendahl, Ronald G. Thurman – 1 March 1995

Lawrence Serfaty, Jean Baptiste Nousbaum, Marie Helene Elghouzzi, Phillipe Giral, Claire Legendre, Raoul Poupon – 1 March 1995 – In a cohort of 483 blood donors positive for antibody to hepatitis C virus on second‐generation enzyme‐linked immunosorbent, the confirmatory second‐generation recombinant immunoblot assay (Ortho Diagnostic Systems) was positive in 172 cases (36%), indeterminate in 113 (23%), and negative in 198 (41%). We further studied 94 of the donors (recombinant immunoblot assay positive in 85, indeterminate in 6, and negative in 3).

Gijsbert Heuff, Arjan A. De Van Loosdrecht, Michiel G. H. Betjes, Robert H. J. Beelen, Sybren Meijer – 1 March 1995 – A new rapid method is described for the isolation and purification of functional active human Kupffer cells without the need of in situ perfusion techniques. Liver wedge biopsies (3 to 5 g), obtained after laparotomy, were incubated with pronase under continuous pH registration. Human Kupffer cells were subsequently separated from other nonparenchymal cells by Nycodenz gradient centrifugation and purified by counterflow centrifugal elutriation.

Terumi Takahara, Kei Furui, Jun Funaki, Yoshihide Nakayama, Hiroyuki Itoh, Chiharu Miyabayashi, Hiroshi Sato, Motoharu Seiki, Akira Ooshima, Akiharu Watanabe – 1 March 1995 – Matrix metalloproteinase‐II (MMP‐II, 72‐kd type IV collagenase, or gelatinase) is one of the gene families of zinc enzymes capable of degrading extracellular matrix molecules, and specifically of degrading type IV and V collagens, gelatin, fibronectin, and elastin.

Josep M. Barrera, Miguel Bruguera, M. Guadalupe Ercilla, Cristina Gil, Raquel Celis, M. Pilar Gil, M. Valle Del Onorato, Joan Rodés, Antoni Ordinas – 1 March 1995 – Persistent viremia after clinical or subclinical hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is believed to occur in patients with chronic hepatitis C, but little is known about the duration of HCV replication in patients with acute hepatitis who have recovered or the relation of HCV viremia with the kinetics of antibodies to HCV (anti‐HCV).

Kenneth A. Somberg, John R. Lake, Stephen J. Tomlanovich, Jeanne M. Laberge, Vickie Feldstein, Nathan M. Bass – 1 March 1995 – Cirrhosis is frequently complicated by ascites that may become resistant to diuretic therapy. Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) represent a new treatment for this debilitating condition. The aim of this study was to ascertain the clinical efficacy of TIPS, as well as its impact on renal function and on hormonal parameters. Five inpatients with refractory ascites were studied prospectively before TIPS, and 3 and 14 days after TIPS.

Oliver Farges, Peter J. Morris, Margaret J. Dallman – 1 March 1995 – Liver allografts are not rejected in the fully incompatible Lewis‐RT11 (LEW) to blood group D Agouti‐RT1a (DA) rat strain combination despite an early infiltration by recipient mononucleated cells that initially display a phenotype, an ability to respond to interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) and donor‐specific cytotoxicity indistinguishable from that observed in the rejected, DA to LEW combination.

Frédéric Prat, Maria Centarti, Alain Sibille, Fatima Abou El Fadil, Luc Henry, Jean‐Yves Chapelon, Dominique Cathignol – 1 March 1995 – High‐Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) can produce radical tissue necrosis. We wanted to assess tumor destruction, proliferation, and tumorigenesis after HIFU, in an animal model of hepatic tumor. New Zealand rabbits bearing VX‐2 solitary liver tumors were treated with extracorporeal HIFU under ultrasound (US) guidance and standardized conditions. Groups differed only for the administration of either one or two consecutive HIFU procedures.

Kunitada Shimotohno – 1 March 1995 – We have built a model of the specificity pocket of the protease of hepatitis C virus on the basis of the known structures of trypsin‐like serine proteases and of the conservation pattern of the protease sequences among various hepatitis C strains. The model allowed us to predict that the substrate of this protease should have a cysteine residue in position P1. This hypothesis was subsequently proved by N‐terminal sequencing of two products of the protease.