Kenneth A. Somberg, John R. Lake, Stephen J. Tomlanovich, Jeanne M. Laberge, Vickie Feldstein, Nathan M. Bass – 1 March 1995 – Cirrhosis is frequently complicated by ascites that may become resistant to diuretic therapy. Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) represent a new treatment for this debilitating condition. The aim of this study was to ascertain the clinical efficacy of TIPS, as well as its impact on renal function and on hormonal parameters. Five inpatients with refractory ascites were studied prospectively before TIPS, and 3 and 14 days after TIPS.

Josep M. Barrera, Miguel Bruguera, M. Guadalupe Ercilla, Cristina Gil, Raquel Celis, M. Pilar Gil, M. Valle Del Onorato, Joan Rodés, Antoni Ordinas – 1 March 1995 – Persistent viremia after clinical or subclinical hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is believed to occur in patients with chronic hepatitis C, but little is known about the duration of HCV replication in patients with acute hepatitis who have recovered or the relation of HCV viremia with the kinetics of antibodies to HCV (anti‐HCV).

Terumi Takahara, Kei Furui, Jun Funaki, Yoshihide Nakayama, Hiroyuki Itoh, Chiharu Miyabayashi, Hiroshi Sato, Motoharu Seiki, Akira Ooshima, Akiharu Watanabe – 1 March 1995 – Matrix metalloproteinase‐II (MMP‐II, 72‐kd type IV collagenase, or gelatinase) is one of the gene families of zinc enzymes capable of degrading extracellular matrix molecules, and specifically of degrading type IV and V collagens, gelatin, fibronectin, and elastin.

Gijsbert Heuff, Arjan A. De Van Loosdrecht, Michiel G. H. Betjes, Robert H. J. Beelen, Sybren Meijer – 1 March 1995 – A new rapid method is described for the isolation and purification of functional active human Kupffer cells without the need of in situ perfusion techniques. Liver wedge biopsies (3 to 5 g), obtained after laparotomy, were incubated with pronase under continuous pH registration. Human Kupffer cells were subsequently separated from other nonparenchymal cells by Nycodenz gradient centrifugation and purified by counterflow centrifugal elutriation.

Lawrence Serfaty, Jean Baptiste Nousbaum, Marie Helene Elghouzzi, Phillipe Giral, Claire Legendre, Raoul Poupon – 1 March 1995 – In a cohort of 483 blood donors positive for antibody to hepatitis C virus on second‐generation enzyme‐linked immunosorbent, the confirmatory second‐generation recombinant immunoblot assay (Ortho Diagnostic Systems) was positive in 172 cases (36%), indeterminate in 113 (23%), and negative in 198 (41%). We further studied 94 of the donors (recombinant immunoblot assay positive in 85, indeterminate in 6, and negative in 3).

John J. Lemasters, Hartwig Bunzendahl, Ronald G. Thurman – 1 March 1995

W. Kenneth Washburn, Seichi Noda, W. David Lewis, Roger L. Jenkins – 1 March 1995 – Primary malignant melanoma of the biliary tract is an obscure entity, with only four previously reported cases. We report two cases involving the common bile duct. A 43‐year‐old male who underwent a right hepatectomy and excision of the extrahepatic biliary tree for a lesion at the bifurcation of the common bile duct. He remains alive and well 11 months after resection. The second patient is a 45 year old male with obstructive jaundice due to an ampullary lesion.

Juergen Mueller, Emmet B. Keeffe, Carlos O. Esquivel – 1 March 1995 – Giant hepatocellular adenomas are associated with a high incidence of rupture with intraabdominal hemorrhage and may also undergo malignant transformation. If resection is not technically feasible, liver transplantation should be a treatment option. The aim of this report is to describe the indications, feasibility, and outcome of liver transplantation for hepatocellular adenomas.

Abraham P. Bautista, John J. Spitzer – 1 March 1995 – This work is based on the hypothesis that low‐dose lipopolysaccharide (LPS) suppresses the stimulatory and priming effects of a subsequent high‐dose endotoxin on the formation of toxic oxygen‐derived radicals by the perfused liver and isolated hepatic nonparenchymal cells. Such effects may in turn contribute to hyposensitivity to the lethal effect of large doses of endotoxin.

Roser Pagan, Miquel Llobera, Senén Vilaró – 1 March 1995 – When hepatocyte‐enriched fractions from neonatal rat livers were cultured for different times in the absence of added growth factors, a population of highly proliferating and migrating fibroblastlike cells appeared. Double immunofluorescence with antibodies to cytokeratin and to vimentin showed a progressive reduction in the number of cytokeratin‐positive cells parallel to an increase in the vimentin‐positive cells. Some cells with transitional epithelial or migrating morphology coexpressed both intermediate filament proteins.