Mitchell L. Shiffman, Velimir A. Luketic, Arun J. Sanyal, P. Frederick Duckworth, Preston P. Purdum, Melissa J. Contos, A. Scott Mills, Leslie E. Edinboro, Alphonse Poklis – 1 April 1994 – Recent advances in the medical and surgical treatment of chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis have made it increasingly important to develop noninvasive tests of liver function.

Ruth M. Dixon, Peter Styles, Faris N. Al‐Refaie, Graham J. Kemp, Sarah M. Donohue, Beatrix Wonke, A. Victor Hoffbrand, George K. Radda, Bheeshma Rajagopalan – 1 April 1994 – The transverse relaxation time of water protons is shortened by the presence of iron. This shortening depends on the amount and the environment of iron in the sample. We have developed a method for measuring short transverse relaxation time noninvasively by magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Shou‐Dong Lee, Yuan‐Jen Wang, Ruey‐Hwa Lu, Cho‐Yu Chan, Kwang‐Juei Lo, Randolph Moeckli – 1 April 1994 – Recently, with an available serological hepatitis E virus diagnostic kit, the prevalence of IgG antibody to hepatitis E virus among Chinese subjects in Taiwan was evaluated by means of a solid‐phase enzyme‐linked immunoassay based on two recombinant hepatitis E virus antigens. The overall prevalence of hepatitis E virus antibody was 10.7% among 384 healthy subjects older than 20 yr but only 0.3% among 600 school‐children and young adolescents younger than 20 yr (p < 0.0001).

J. Carlos Teran, Kevin D. Mullen, Jay H. Hoofnagle, Arthur J. McCullough – 1 April 1994 – Interferon‐α induces remission in 30% to 40% of patients with chronic hepatitis B, but its effect on hepatic connective tissue turnover has not been well documented. We studied the changes in serum procollagen III propeptide and laminin‐P1 peptide (Lam‐P1) in 33 patients with chronic hepatitis B (11 nontreated controls and 22 treated patients) during a 4‐mo randomized trial of interferon‐α. Liver biopsy specimens were obtained at the start of treatment and 12 mo later.

Makoto Yoshiba, Kazuhiko Dehara, Kazuaki Inoue, Hiroaki Okamoto, Makoto Mayumi – 1 April 1994 – To assess the contribution of hepatitis C virus to non‐A, non‐B fulminant hepatitis in Japan, we compared 10 major clinical features among 7 patients with type B fulminant hepatitis (type B group), 13 patients with non‐A, non‐B fulminant hepatitis with evidence of hepatitis C virus infection (type C group) and 10 patients without evidence of hepatitis C virus infection (NANB group).

Kazuhiko Koike, Kyoji Moriya, Shiro Iino, Hiroshi Yotsuyanagi, Yasuo Endo, Tatsuo Miyamura, Kiyoshi Kurokawa – 1 April 1994 – We studied the development of liver tumors in male HBx gene transgenic mice.

R. Paul Aftring, Mason W. Freeman – 1 April 1994 – We employed homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells to produce mice lacking functional LDL receptor genes. Homozygous male and female mice lacking LDL receptors (LDLR−/− mice) were viable and fertile. Total plasma cholesterol levels were twofold higher than those of wild‐type littermates, owing to a seven‐ to ninefold increase in intermediate density lipoproteins (IDL) and LDL without a significant change in HDL. Plasma triglyceride levels were normal.

Alan J. Young, Gregory M. T. Hare, John B. Hay – 1 March 1994 – The process of lymphocyte migration is required for the systemic dissemination of immunological memory and immune surveillance. We report here experiments to quantitate the normal traffic of lymphocytes that occurs from blood to lymph through the liver and hepatic node in the sheep. Comparisons were made with known lymphocyte homing pools.

Alexander S. Petrides, Christoph Vogt, Dirk Schulze‐Berge, Dwight Matthews, Georg Strohmeyer – 1 March 1994 – Glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus are both prevalent in cirrhosis, yet the pathogenesis of impaired glucose metabolism remains unknown.

Derek G. Doherty, Peter T. Donaldson, James A. Underhill, J. Mark Farrant, Ann Duthie, Giorgina Mieli‐Vergani, Ian G. McFarlane, Philip J. Johnson, Adrian L. W. F. Eddleston, Alex P. Mowat, Roger Williams – 1 March 1994 – Susceptibility to autoimmune hepatitis in white patients is associated with the human leukocyte antigen class II antigens DR3 and DR4. To analyze the molecular basis of these associations, we used oligonucleotide probes to determine the DRB, DQA and DQB hypervariable nucleotide sequences in 119 patients with autoimmune hepatitis and 177 matched controls.