Kunio Suzuki, Norio Hayashi, Yukinori Yamada, Harumasa Yoshihara, Yasuhide Miyamoto, Yoshiki Ito, Toshihumi Ito, Kazuhiro Katayama, Yutaka Sasaki, Akihiko Ito, Yutaka Kisida, Toru Kashiwagi, Hideyuki Fusamoto, Takenobu Kamada – 1 November 1994 – The c‐met protooncogene is a growth factor receptor with tyrosine kinase activity. Recently the hepatocyte growth factor was identified as the ligand for this receptor. Because the hepatocyte growth factor is a most potent mitogen in hepatocytes, possible involvement of c‐met expression in hepatocarcin genesis is suspected.

Shuichi Kawakami, Hirohito Tsubouchi, Shiro Nakagawa, Shuichi Hirono, Naokatu Arakaki, Osamu Nakamura, Yasushi Daikuhara, Terukatsu Arima – 1 November 1994 – We examined hepatocyte growth factor–producing organs in normal and carbon tetrachloride–treated Japanese monkeys, a species more related to human beings than rats, by measuring hepatocyte growth factor protein and hepatocyte growth factor mRNA in various tissues.

Carlo De Bac, Tommaso Stroffolini, Giovanni B. Gaeta, Gloria Taliani, Giuseppe Giusti – 1 November 1994 – We designed a multicenter cross‐sectional study to evaluate the role of alcohol abuse, the hepatitis viruses and other pathogenic factors in cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A total of 1,829 consecutive cirrhosis patients, with or without HCC, was enrolled over 6 mo in 21 centers throughout Italy. The etiological categories and diagnostic criteria were preestablished.

Wajahat Z. Mehal, Wendy L. Gregory, Y‐M. Dennis Lo, Susan J. Cross, Kenneth A. Fleming, Margaret F. Bassendine, Oliver F. W. James, R. Duncan Campbell, Roger W. Chapman, William M. C. Rosenberg – 1 November 1994 – Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic cholestatic disease, thought to be immune‐mediated with genetic susceptibility encoded in the major histocompatibility complex. In northern Europeans, the best established associations are with HLA‐DR8 and the complement allele, C4B2.

1 November 1994

Arieh Bomzon, Laurence M. Blendis – 1 November 1994

Morio Yamada, Takashi Nishigami, Keiji Nakasho, Yukiyasu Nishimoto, Hideki Miyaji – 1 November 1994 – An increasing amount of evidence suggests that the sigma (σ) sites, putative targets for a variety of psychotomimetic and antipsychotic drugs, exist not only in the brain but also in various peripheral organs. However, there are many ambiguities as to their biological roles, subcellular distributions, endogenous ligands and so on. We therefore performed our study for clarification of some of these ambiguities.

Yoshiyuki Kanazawa, Norio Hayashi, Eiji Mita, Tiancheng Li, Hideki Hagiwara, Akinori Kasahara, Hideyuki Fusamoto, Takenobu Kamada – 1 November 1994 – The quasispecies nature of hepatitis C virus genome distribution is most evident in hypervariable regions of the putative envelope 2 domain. Eight patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon‐α were studied as to heterogeneity of the hypervariable regions to clarify the implications of quasispecies.

Ai‐Min Hui, Seiji Kawasaki, Masatoshi Makuuchi, Jun Nakayama, Toshihiko Ikegami, Shinichi Miyagawa – 1 November 1994 – The influence of normothermic ischemia on steatotic liver was compared with that on healthy liver in rats. Steatotic liver was induced with 4 wk of a cholinedeficient diet. We used a procedure of subcutaneous spleen transposition to develop portosystemic collaterals to avoid splanchnic stasis during total hepatic vascular occlusion.

Daniel Alvarez, Diego Golombek, Patricia Lopez, Marcelo De Las Heras, Luis Viola, Susana Sanchez, Miguel Kolker, Ricardo Mastai – 1 November 1994 – A close temporal relationship between higher levels of portal pressure during the night and the peak incidence of acute variceal bleeding has recently been demonstrated in patients with cirrhosis. Because hemodynamic changes may have a role in triggering this hemorrhagic episode, we measured systemic and portal hemodynamic parameters at 4‐hr intervals for 24 hr in 12 cirrhotic patients.