Hubert E. Blum – 1 January 1994 – Background and Methods. To detect potentially curable cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, outpatients with chronic hepatitis or compensated liver cirrhosis who were seen at the Center for Adult Diseases (Osaka, Japan) were examined periodically by means of ultrasonography and measurement of serum alpha‐fetoprotein. Risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma were identified with a Cox proportional‐hazards model.

Xin Xu, Andreas J. Schwab, Ford Barker Iii, Carl A. Goresky, K. Sandy Pang – 1 January 1994 – The hepatocellular entry of salicylamide sulfate conjugate, which binds to both red blood cells and albumin, was examined with the multiple‐indicator dilution technique in the perfused rat liver, with medium containing both 20 red cells and 1 albumin (set A), red cells only (set B), albumin only (set C) and neither red cells nor albumin (set D).

Motoko Sasaki, Naoko Kono, Yasuni Nakanuma – 1 January 1994 – We examined the expression of Lewis antigens, particularly Lewis Y, on the intrahepatic biliary epithelial cells in normal livers and various hepatobiliary diseases with immunohistochemical and immunoelectron microscopic methods. In normal livers, Lewis Y was consistently and generally negative in the bile ductules and small bile ducts, respectively.

Anthony S. Basile, Phil M. Harrison, Robin D. Hughes, Zi‐Quang Gu, Lewis Pannell, Angelique McKinney, E. Anthony Jones, Roger Williams – 1 January 1994 – Levels of benzodiazepine receptor ligands were measured in plasma samples from 25 patients in various stages of hepatic encephalopathy due to fulminant liver failure who were not exposed to pharmaceutical benzodiazepines immediately before or during hospitalization.

Amar P. Dhillon, Andrew K. Burroughs, Mark Hudson, Neil Shah, Keith Rolles, Peter J. Scheuer – 1 January 1994 – Fibrous stenosis of hepatic venules and other features of venous outflow obstruction, including zone 3 congestion and hemorrhage, are sometimes seen after orthotopic liver transplantation. Similar changes associated with endothelial damage have recently been ascribed to azathioprine toxicity and may be forerunners of chronic rejection. Other potential causative agents such as viral hepatitis have yet to be considered.

Loreto Boix, Jose Luis Rosa, Francesc Ventura, Antoni Castells, Jordi Bruix, Joan Rodés, Ramon Bartrons – 1 January 1994 – This study was aimed at assessing the presence of c‐met overexpression in human hepatocellular carcinoma and at determining whether this feature is associated with a definite clinical or pathological characteristic. Expression of c‐met was determined by Northern‐blot hybridization of a specific probe (human met proto‐oncogene) in 18 tumoral and nontumoral liver samples obtained in 18 cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma submitted to surgical treatment.

Julián Panés, Josep M. Piqué, Josep M. Bordas, Josep Llach, Jaime Bosch, Josep Terés, Juan Rodés – 1 January 1994 – Gastric mucosal perfusion is increased in portalhypertensive gastropathy, and this may contribute to gastric bleeding from these lesions. Therefore drugs reducing gastric mucosal perfusion may be beneficial in the treatment of overt bleeding from portal‐hypertensive gastropathy.

Pietro Lampertico, Mariagrazia Rumi, Raffaella Romeo, Antonio Craxi, Roberta Soffredini, Daniela Biassoni, Massimo Colombo – 1 January 1994 – To assess whether interferon‐α might prevent non‐A, non‐B hepatitis from becoming chronic, 45 consecutive patients with transfusion‐associated hepatitis were enrolled in a randomized clinical trial. Thirty‐eight patients had hepatitis C virus infection, and 7 had non‐A, non‐B, non‐C hepatitis. Twenty‐six patients (22 with HCV) were given 3 MU of recombinant interferon‐α2b three times a week for 12 wk, whereas 19 (16 with HCV) were not.

David H. van Thiel, Stefano Fagiuoli, Harlan I. Wright, Mei‐Chen Chien, Judith S. Gavaler – 1 January 1994 – Chronic hepatic encephalopathy is highly responsive to changes in diet, to antibiotic therapy and to ingestion of nondigestible disaccharides. The precise pathophysiology of chronic hepatic encephalopathy in individual cases is highly variable, although ammonia toxicity and production of neurotransmitterlike substances in the gut have been proposed to contribute to the overall syndrome of chronic hepatic encephalopathy.

Geoffrey Dusheiko, Hemda Schmilovitz‐Weiss, David Brown, Fiona McOmish, Pong‐Lee Yap, Sheila Sherlock, Neil McIntyre, Peter Simmonds – 1 January 1994 – Because of the nucleotide sequence diversity of different isolates of hepatitis C virus, it has become important to clarify whether distinct genotypes of hepatitis C virus vary with respect to pathogenicity, infectivity, response to antiviral therapy and geographic clustering.