Ricard Solà, Montserrat Andreu, Susana Coll, Maria Carme Vila, Maria Isabel Oliver, Vicente Arroyo – 1 February 1995 – Diuretic treatment in cirrhotic patients with ascites increases ascitic fluid concentration of total protein and complement components, and opsonic activity. These changes are not observed in patients treated with paracentesis. Based on these data it has been suggested that therapeutic paracentesis may be associated with an increased risk of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) development.

Patrizia Paterlini, Karine Poussin, Michael Kew, Dominique Franco, Christian Brechot – 1 February 1995 – In HBsAg‐negitive patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes are present at a low copy number per cell, and the role of HBV in liver transformation is still unclear.

Keith D. Lindor, Christine H. Janes, Jeffrey S. Crippin, Roberta A. Jorgensen, E. Rolland Dickson – 1 February 1995 – Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has been proposed as beneficial therapy for patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The effects of UDCA on metabolic bone disease, a major source of morbidity in patients with PBC, are essentially unknown. Preliminary information suggests that UDCA may improve biochemical indices of bone disease, although information about the effects of bone disease, although information about the effects of UDCA on bone density is lacking.

Betty L. Slagle – 1 February 1995 – We studied 80 hepatocellular carcinomas from three continents for p53 gene (TP53) mutations and hepatitis B virus (HBV) sequences. p53 mutations were frequent in tumors from Mozambique but not in tumors from South Africa, China, and Germany. Independent of geographic origin, most tumors were positive for HBV sequences. X gene coding sequences of HBV were detected in 78% of tumors, whereas viral sequences in the surface antigen‐ and core antigen‐encoding regions were present in less than 45% of tumors.

Eugenio Morsiani, Mary Mazzoni, Arrigo Aleotti, Paolo Gorini, Daniele Ricci – 1 February 1995 – Accumulation of lipids in the hepatocyte cytoplasm after partial hepatectomy (PH) has long been recognized, but the mechanism behind this phenomenon is still poorly understood. In this study, rats subjected to a standard two‐thirds PH showed early and marked increase in portal venous pressure (P < .01).

Per Stål, Rolf Hultcrantz, Lennart Möller, Lennart C. Eriksson – 1 February 1995 – The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary iron on hepatocarcinogenesis in an animal model mimicking noncirrhotic genetic hemochromatosis. Iron overload may lead to liver cirrhosis and an increased risk of developing primary hepatocellular carcinoma. It is unknown if iron is of pathogenic importance for the carcinogenic process, or whether the increased cancer risk results solely from the cirrhotic process.

Cheryl Hanau, Santiago J. Munoz, Raphael Rubin – 1 February 1995 – The clinicopathological features of 38 patients admitted consecutively for fulminant hepatic failure were studied. Histopathological material was reviewed in all patients. Both percutaneous and whole livers (either explanted or autopsy specimens) were available in 16 patients: whole livers only in 12 patients and biopsy specimens only in 10 patients. All patients were negative for antibodies to hepatitis C, whereas 24% had hepatitis B infection and 10% had adverse drug reactions.

Domenico Sansonno, Vito Cornacchiulo, Anna Rina Iacobelli, Rita Di Stefano, Mario Lospalluti, Franco Dammacco – 1 February 1995 – Skin and/or liver biopsy specimens were obtained from the following patients: 15 anti–hepatitis C virus (HCV), HCV RNA–positive patients and 3 anti‐HCV, HCV RNA–negative patients with type II mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC); 7 anti‐HCV, HCV RNA–positive patients with chronic active liver disease (CALD); 5 anti‐HCV, HCV RNA–negative patients with noncryoglobulinemic vasculitis; and 7 anti‐HCV, HCV RNA–negative patients with lichen ruber planus.

Mark B. Sostek – 1 February 1995

Josefa Ros, Wladimiro Jiménez, Santiago Lamas, Joan Clària, Vicente Arroyo, Francisca Rivera, Joan Rodés – 1 February 1995 – Indirect evidence exists implicating vascular nitric oxide in the pathogenesis of arterial vasodilation in cirrhosis. In the current study, a coincubation assay to estimate the vascular nitric oxide production was developed and the nitric oxide production by arterial segments of cirrhotic and control rats was assessed.