Forum on critical care issues in liver transplantation: Neurological concerns

David J. Plevak – 1 September 1995 – This edition of “The Crucible” contains the first installment of what we hope will become an ongoing discussion of critical care issues in liver transplantation. After considering an agenda of salient critical care topics, we chose to inaugurate the Critical Care Forum with this discussion on neurological concerns. Intensivists, transplant surgeons, and others involved in the immediate postoperative care of liver transplant recipients generally do not expect a serious neurological setback after transplantation.

Prevalence of hypertransaminasemia in adult celiac patients and effect of gluten‐free diet

Maria Teresa Bardella, Mirella Fraquelli, Maurizio Quatrini, Nicoletta Molteni, Paolo Bianchi, Dario Conte – 1 September 1995 – The prevalence of hypertransaminasemia and the effect of gluten‐free diet (GFD) were evaluated in 158 consecutive adult celiac patients, 127 women and 31 men, aged 18 to 68 years (mean, 32). At diagnosis, 67 patients (42%) had raised aspartate and/or alanine transaminase levels (AST and ALT; mean, 47 IU/L, range, 30 to 190; and 61 IU/L, range, 25 to 470, respectively), whereas 91 patients had normal liver function tests (LFT).

Specific inhibition of hepatitis C viral gene expression by antisense phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides

Michael Alt, Renate Renz, Peter H. Hofschneider, Gustav Paumgartner, Wolfgang H. Caselmann – 1 September 1995 – The inhibitory effect of antisense phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides (S‐ODN) on hepatitis C viral gene expression was analyzed in an in vitro test system and in cell culture. S‐ODN were directed against different stem loop structures in the 5′noncoding region (NCR) of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA and against a nucleotide stretch, including the start codon of the polyprotein precursor.

Issues in xenotransplantation absence of hyperacute rejection in newborn pig‐to‐baboon cardiac xenografts

Nancy L. Ascher – 1 September 1995 – The shortage of organs for transplantation is especially severe for the critically ill newborn infant, for whom donors of the appropriate size are particularly scarce. One way to overcome this problem is to use animals in lieu of human as organ donors. The major limitation to using animals for this purpose is the susceptibility of animal organs to hyperacute rejection, a violent rejection reaction thought to be mediated by antidonor antibody and complement.

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