Albert Maroto, Pere Ginés, Vicente Arroyo, Angels Ginés, Joan Saló, Joan Clária, Wladimiro Jiménez, Concepció Bru, Francisca Rivera, Joan Rodés – 1 May 1993 – Brachial artery and common femoral artery blood flows and cardiac output were measured with duplex‐Doppler ultrasonography in 12 normal subjects, 12 patients with compensated cirrhosis and 35 patients with cirrhosis and ascites (8 with functional kidney failure). The aim of this study was to investigate whether arteriolar vasodilation in these vascular territories contributes to hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhosis.

Nicole Domingo, Huguette Lafont, Zamir Halpern, Yohanan Peled, Jean Grosclaude, Tuvia Gilat – 1 May 1993 – With the demonstration of pronucleating and antinucleating proteins, the role of biliary proteins became of considerable research interest. Anionic polypeptide fraction is the third most abundant biliary protein; it is found in association with biliary lipids, has antinucleating properties for calcium and is found in gallstones. Its levels in various human biles have not been studied as of this writing.

John D. Lutton, Margaret O. Griffin, Miki Nishimura, Richard D. Levere, Attallah Kappas, Nader G. Abraham, Shigeki Shibahara – 1 May 1993 – Exposure of Hep3B cells to metalloporphyrins (tinprotoporphyrin and heme) or cobalt chloride resulted in the production of a significant number of heme oxygenase transcripts, erythropoietin transcripts or both, as indicated by in situ hybridization.

Thomas Judge – 1 May 1993 – We have previously reported data from clinical and laboratory animal observations which suggest that organ tolerance after transplantation depends on a state of balanced lymphodendritic cell chimerism between the host and donor graft. We have sought further evidence to support this hypothesis by investigating HLA‐mismatched liver allograft recipients.

Krzysztof Krawczynski – 1 May 1993

Wei Liao, Claes‐Henrik Florén – 1 May 1993 – Tumor necrosis factor mediates most biological activities of endotoxin and also, in part, mediates endotoxin‐induced disturbances in lipid metabolism. In this study, the effect of tumor necrosis factor on low‐density lipoprotein receptor activity was investigated in cells of HepG2, a well‐differentiated human hepatoma cell line. Pretreatment of the cells with tumor necrosis factor leads to enhanced binding, uptake and degradation of 125I‐labeled low‐density lipoprotein. This effect of tumor necrosis factor was dose and time dependent.

Joan M. Salmerón, Luis Ruiz Del Arbol, Angels Ginès, Joan C. García‐Pagán, Pere Ginés, Faust Feu, Joan Claria, Francisca Rivera, Jaume Bosch, Vicente Arroyo, Joan Rodés – 1 May 1993 – The aim of this study was to assess the effects of an oral dose (20 mg) of isosorbide‐5‐mononitrate on systemic hemodynamics, kidney function, plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone and atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations in 16 nonazotemic cirrhotic patients.

Henry H. Hsu, Mikhail Donets, Harry B. Greenberg, Stephen M. Feinstone – 1 May 1993 – We cloned and expressed the sequences encoding the structural proteins of the hepatitis C virus in a baculovirus eukaryotic expression system. Four recombinant constructs expressed sufficient hepatitis C virus–specific proteins in insect cell culture to allow analysis of protein cleavage, glycosylation and immunoreactivity. Using immunoblot analysis, we detected a 22‐kD protein corresponding to the hepatitis C virus capsid protein cleaved from a larger precursor.

Sun Miao, Parmjeet K. Suri, Liu Shu‐Ling, Ann Abraham, Nanette Cook, Patrice Milos, Mark A. Zern – 1 May 1993 – Fibronectin expression is of considerable importance in normal and fibrotic liver. Plasma fibronectin levels are correlated with good prognosis in liver failure, and cellular fibronectin plays a crucial role in fibrogenesis. In this study, we observed that the H4II rat hepatoma cell line does not express fibronectin. Furthermore, a recombinant vector (pFGH) containing the promoter elements of the fibronectin gene showed no promoter function when transfected into this cell line.

Dieter Schrenk, Timothy W. Gant, Karl‐Heinz Preisegger, Jeffrey A. Silverman, Pamela A. Marino, Snorri S. Thorgeirsson – 1 May 1993 – P‐glycoprotein, an energy‐dependent plasma membrane drug‐efflux pump capable of reducing the intracellular concentration of a variety of hydrophobic xenobiotics, is encoded by mdr 1, a member of the multidrug‐resistant (mdr) gene family. The physiological function of this protein is unknown.