Junko Kobayashi, Sadako Yamada, Hironaka Kawasaki – 1 December 1994 – To clarify the clinical significance of vitronectin, we compared the concentration of plasma vitronectin with serum fibrous markers and liver function test values in patients with chronic liver diseases. We also evaluated the vitronectin content in the liver by means of enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and the localization of vitronectin in liver tissue with enzyme immunohistochemistry.

Stefano Bellentani, Claudio Tiribelli, Gioconda Saccoccio, Marino Sodde, Nicoletta Fratti, Christina De Martin, Giovanni Christianini – 1 December 1994 – Data on the prevalence of chronic liver disease, derived from selected series of hospitalized patients or from mortality registers, underestimate the prevalence of chronic liver disease. The Dionysos Study is a cohort study that investigated for the first time the prevalence of chronic liver disease in a general population.

Yicheng Ni, Gregorius Lukito, Prof.Dr. Guy Marchal, Erwin Cresens, Jie Yu, Carine Petré, Albert L. Baert, Johan Fevery – 1 December 1994 – Obstructive cholestasis induced in animals at the level of the lobar and common bile ducts is known to be reversible with time. This study was conducted not only to test the hypothesis that formation of bile duct collaterals is responsible for the recovery of biliary obstruction but also to assess the potential of hepatobiliary agent‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for visualizing cholestasis.

Mercedes Fernández, Maria Casadevall, Rufina Schuligoi, Pilar Pizcueta, Julián Panés, M. Dolores Barrachina, Josef Donnerer, Josep M. Piqué, Juan V. Esplugues, Jaume Bosch M.D., Juan Rodés, Peter Holzer – 1 December 1994 – It has been suggested that the peripheral sensory neurons are involved in the splanchnic hemodynamic changes of portal hypertension. Therefore the influence of permanent ablation of sensory neurons by neonatal capsaicin pretreatment (50 mg/kg, subcutaneously) on the development of the hyperdynamic splanchnic circulation in portal‐hypertensive rats was studied.

Gerry T. M. Wagenaar, Robert A. F. M. Chamuleau, Martinus A. W. Maas, Kora De Bruin, Hans A. M. Korfage, Wouter H. Lamers – 1 December 1994 – The zonal patterns of gene expression in the liver of the rat are not affected by alteration of the afferent hepatic blood source. We investigated whether afferent hepatic blood source or flow rate affects the metabolic capacity of the liver. Using microsurgical techniques, we changed the afferent hepatic blood source to solely arterial blood, solely portal blood or solely caval blood.

Elihu M. Schimmel – 1 December 1994

Miau‐Ju Huang – 1 December 1994

Mohamed G. Saleh, Christopher J. Tibbs, John Koskinas, Leila M. M. B. Pereira, Adrian B. Bomford, Bernard C. Portmann, Ian G. McFarlane, Roger Williams – 1 December 1994 – Response to a 1‐yr course of interferon‐α2b was assessed in 18 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection in relation to clinical, biochemical and histological parameters and to the presence or absence of hepatitis C virus RNA and the presumed replicative form of the virus (negative‐strand hepatitis C virus RNA) in serum, liver and peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Samy A. Azer, Geoffrey W. McCaughan, Neill H. Stacey – 1 December 1994 – Acute graft rejection is still a major cause of morbidity after orthotopic liver transplantation, and its diagnosis necessitates an invasive liver biopsy. Our aim has been to determine whether changes in individual serum bile acid levels after engraftment are sensitive, specific and reliable indicators of graft function and whether these changes can antedate other biochemical indicators of hepatic allograft rejection.

Rosa Maria Morillas, Ramon Planas, Eduard Cabré, Amparo Galán, Juan Carlos Quer, Faust Feu, Joan Carles García Pagán, Jaume Bosch, Miquel Angel Gassull – 1 December 1994 – The effect on kidney function, vasoactive systems and ascites outcome of long‐term treatment with propranolol plus isosorbide‐5‐mononitrate, a combined therapy proven more effective than propranolol alone in decreasing portal pressure in the cirrhotic patient, is unknown. Thirty cirrhotic patients who survived acute variceal bleeding and were treated with propranolol plus isosorbide‐5‐mononitrate were studied.