Harold O. Conn – 1 December 1994 – An inverse relation is known to link blood potassium with renal synthesis and the release of ammonia. Given the liability of hyperammonemia for precipitating hepatic encephalopathy (HE), 28 patients affected by stage I HE were equally divided into two groups and maintained up to their death at the highest (5.4–5.5 mEq/l) or the lowest (3.5–3.6 mEq/l) normokalemia levels.

1 December 1994

Judith A. Marlett, Kathryn B. Hosig, Nicholas W. Vollendorf, Fred L. Shinnick, Valerie S. Haack, Jon A. Story – 1 December 1994 – Nine normolipidemic young men consumed a constant diet for 2 mo into which oat bran was incorporated during the second month so that we might test the hypotheses that oats lower serum cholesterol concentrations by decreasing bile acid and fat absorption and increasing bile acid synthesis. Bile acid kinetics were determined by measuring the 13C enrichment of serum cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids.

Fumio Nomura, Kunihiko Ohnishi, Hidetaka Terabayashi, Toshiaki Nakai, Kazumasa Isobe, Kazuhiro Takekoshi, Kunio Okuda – 1 December 1994 – Increased plasma ammonia levels in patients with advanced cirrhosis have been attributed to reduced conversion of enteric ammonia to urea by the diseased liver and to entry of enteric ammonia into systemic circulation by way of portal‐systemic shunts. Because single‐pass extraction is high for portal venous ammonia, reduction of portal blood supply to hepatocytes may have detrimental effects on the hepatic extraction of ammonia.

Joan Clària, Wladimiro Jiménez Ph.D., Josefa Ros, Montserrat Rigol, Paolo Angeli, Vicente Arroyo, Francisca Rivera, Joan Rodés – 1 December 1994 – To assess whether aortic vessels of rats with cirrhosis and ascites possess an enhanced vascular response to endothelium‐derived, nitric oxide—dependent vasodilators, we performed relaxation studies in isolated aortic rings of 21 control rats and 24 rats with carbon tetrachloride—induced cirrhosis and ascites. We carried out studies after contracting the vessels with norepinephrine.

Andrea E. Reid, T. Jake Liang – 1 December 1994

Christian Madl, Georg Grimm, Peter Ferenci, Ludwig Kramer, Wafa Yeganehfar, Walter Oder, Rudolf Steininger, Christian Zauner, Klaus Ratheiser, Felix Stockenhuber, Kurt Lenz – 1 December 1994 – Sensory evoked potentials are markedly changed in patients with fulminant liver failure. It is unknown, however, whether serial recordings of sensory evoked potentials provide useful prognostic informations for patient management in fulminant liver failure.

Cyrille Féray, Michelle Gigou, Didier Samuel, Valérie Paradis, Judith Wilber, Marie France David, Mickey Urdea, Michel Reynes, Christian Bréchot, Henri Bismuth – 1 November 1994 – Hepatitis C virus—induced liver disease is becoming a main indication for liver transplantation. Recurrence of hepatitis after transplantation has been reported, but its long‐term consequences are unknown.

Simon D. Taylor‐Robinson, Janet Sargentoni, Rosemary J. Mallalieu, Jimmy D. Bell, David J. Bryant, Glyn A. Coutts, Marsha Y. Morgan – 1 November 1994 – Cerebral phosphorus‐31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy was undertaken in 33 patients with biopsyproven cirrhosis: 6 had no evidence of neuropsychiatric impairment on standard clinical, psychometric and electrophysiological testing; 8 had evidence of subclinical hepatic encephalopathy; and 19 were classified as having overt hepatic encephalopathy. The reference population comprised 15 healthy volunteers.

Kathryn A. Quinn, Alice C. Cavanagh, Narelle C. Hillyard, Dorothy A. McKay, Halle Morton – 1 November 1994 – Early pregnancy factor is not only a product of dividing embryonic and neoplastic cells, as demonstrated previously, but also of normal proliferating cells. Eight hours after partial hepatectomy in rats, early pregnancy factor was detected in serum. It rose to a peak by 48 hr.