P G Smith, L B Tee, G C Yeoh – 1 January 1996 – Epidemiological studies show an increased risk of developing liver cancer among alcoholics. There is some agreement that ethanol itself is not carcinogenic, but it may enhance the tumorigenic process by inducing drug‐metabolizing enzymes, suppression of the immune system or by affecting DNA repair enzymes. Precisely how ethanol predisposes or promotes the development of hepatoma is unknown.

L S Friedman – 1 January 1996

M. Lucia Ferraz, A. Eduardo Silva, Graeme A. Macdonald, Sergei A. Tsarev, Adrian M. Di Biscelgie, Michael R. Lucey – 1 January 1996 – Fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) in the absence of serum markers of hepatitis A (HAV) or B (HBV) infection or another cause is called non‐A, non‐B (NANB) FHF. The pathogenetic role of viral infection in NANB FHF remains controversial. To better define this relationship, we studied patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) for FHF. Thirty‐six patients with FHF underwent transplantation between 1987 and 1992.

1 January 1996

F Lin, C M Noyer, Q Ye, J Courvalin, H J Worman – 1 January 1996 – Autoantibodies from rare patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) recognize LBR, or lamin B receptor, an integral membrane protein of the inner nuclear membrane. Human LBR has a nucleoplasmic, amino‐terminal domain of 208 amino acids followed by a carboxyl‐terminal domain with eight putative transmembrane segments. Autoantibodies against LBR from four patients with PBC recognized the nucleoplasmic, amino‐terminal domain but not the carboxyl‐terminal domain.

L Frost, J Mahoney, J Field, G C Farrell – 1 January 1996 – To characterize the early events in liver injury produced by halothane, experiments were performed in genetically susceptible guinea pigs 19 hours after halothane exposure. Serum bile acid concentrations were fourfold increased in halothane‐exposed animals compared with controls. In isolated perfused liver experiments, livers from halothane‐exposed animals did not differ in hepatic oxygen uptake or in perfusion pressure at the end of experiments, but bile flow and biliary bile salt concentrations were reduced.

A Y Howe, M J Robins, J S Wilson, D L Tyrrell – 1 January 1996 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication is mediated by the viral polymerase that possesses three functional domains: primer, DNA polymerase/reverse transcriptase, and RNase H. Using the Pekin duck as an animal model, we demonstrate a novel mechanism of inhibition of duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) by 2,6‐diaminopurine 2′,3′‐dideoxyriboside (ddDAPR), a prodrug of 2′,3′‐dideoxyguanosine (ddG).

F B Kasravi, L Wang, X Wang, G Molin, S Bengmark, B Jeppsson – 1 January 1996 – Acute liver injury is associated with a high rate of infectious and septic complications. Most of these infections are produced by gram negative enteric bacteria. We evaluated bacterial translocation, intestinal permeability, blood flow, portal pressure, and intestinal microflora after induction of liver injury and 70% liver resection in the rat.

J Geraldo, P Ferraz, J L Wallace – 1 January 1996 – Cirrhotic rats have an increased susceptibility to ethanol‐induced gastric injury, related to an inability to mount a defensive gastric hyperemic response to luminal irritants, and associated with an impaired reactivity of the gastric microcirculation to nitric oxide (NO)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)‐dependent vasodilators. Whether this hyporesponsiveness is in some way related to depressed prostaglandin synthesis by the stomach of cirrhotic rats is not clear.

V Arroyo, P Ginès, A L Gerbes, F J Dudley, P Gentilini, G Laffi, T B Reynolds, H Ring‐Larsen, J Schölmerich – 1 January 1996