R. Paul Aftring, Mason W. Freeman – 1 April 1994 – We employed homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells to produce mice lacking functional LDL receptor genes. Homozygous male and female mice lacking LDL receptors (LDLR−/− mice) were viable and fertile. Total plasma cholesterol levels were twofold higher than those of wild‐type littermates, owing to a seven‐ to ninefold increase in intermediate density lipoproteins (IDL) and LDL without a significant change in HDL. Plasma triglyceride levels were normal.

Kazuhiko Koike, Kyoji Moriya, Shiro Iino, Hiroshi Yotsuyanagi, Yasuo Endo, Tatsuo Miyamura, Kiyoshi Kurokawa – 1 April 1994 – We studied the development of liver tumors in male HBx gene transgenic mice.

Makoto Yoshiba, Kazuhiko Dehara, Kazuaki Inoue, Hiroaki Okamoto, Makoto Mayumi – 1 April 1994 – To assess the contribution of hepatitis C virus to non‐A, non‐B fulminant hepatitis in Japan, we compared 10 major clinical features among 7 patients with type B fulminant hepatitis (type B group), 13 patients with non‐A, non‐B fulminant hepatitis with evidence of hepatitis C virus infection (type C group) and 10 patients without evidence of hepatitis C virus infection (NANB group).

J. Carlos Teran, Kevin D. Mullen, Jay H. Hoofnagle, Arthur J. McCullough – 1 April 1994 – Interferon‐α induces remission in 30% to 40% of patients with chronic hepatitis B, but its effect on hepatic connective tissue turnover has not been well documented. We studied the changes in serum procollagen III propeptide and laminin‐P1 peptide (Lam‐P1) in 33 patients with chronic hepatitis B (11 nontreated controls and 22 treated patients) during a 4‐mo randomized trial of interferon‐α. Liver biopsy specimens were obtained at the start of treatment and 12 mo later.

Shou‐Dong Lee, Yuan‐Jen Wang, Ruey‐Hwa Lu, Cho‐Yu Chan, Kwang‐Juei Lo, Randolph Moeckli – 1 April 1994 – Recently, with an available serological hepatitis E virus diagnostic kit, the prevalence of IgG antibody to hepatitis E virus among Chinese subjects in Taiwan was evaluated by means of a solid‐phase enzyme‐linked immunoassay based on two recombinant hepatitis E virus antigens. The overall prevalence of hepatitis E virus antibody was 10.7% among 384 healthy subjects older than 20 yr but only 0.3% among 600 school‐children and young adolescents younger than 20 yr (p < 0.0001).

Ruth M. Dixon, Peter Styles, Faris N. Al‐Refaie, Graham J. Kemp, Sarah M. Donohue, Beatrix Wonke, A. Victor Hoffbrand, George K. Radda, Bheeshma Rajagopalan – 1 April 1994 – The transverse relaxation time of water protons is shortened by the presence of iron. This shortening depends on the amount and the environment of iron in the sample. We have developed a method for measuring short transverse relaxation time noninvasively by magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Mitchell L. Shiffman, Velimir A. Luketic, Arun J. Sanyal, P. Frederick Duckworth, Preston P. Purdum, Melissa J. Contos, A. Scott Mills, Leslie E. Edinboro, Alphonse Poklis – 1 April 1994 – Recent advances in the medical and surgical treatment of chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis have made it increasingly important to develop noninvasive tests of liver function.

Hartmut Jaeschke, Anwar Farhood, C. Wayne Smith – 1 April 1994 – The role of complement as potential activator for tissue macrophages and neutrophils was investigated in an experimental model of endotoxin‐induced liver injury in male Fischer rats.

Samuel H. Sigal, Shlomo Brill, Lola M. Reid, Isabel Zvibel, Sanjeev Gupta, Douglas Hixson, Ronald Faris, Patricia A. Holst – 1 April 1994 – We developed methods for enriching fetal hepatoblasts by combining panning and multiparametric fluorescence‐activated cell sorting. In unpurified, dissociated fetal liver cell suspensions of embryonic age day 15, 3.2% ± 1.3% and 2.5% ± 0.7% cells expressed albumin and α‐fetoprotein, respectively. The remainder exhibited a hemopoietic, endothelial or stromal cell phenotype.

William M. Pandak, Z. Reno Vlahcevic, Douglas M. Heuman, Kaye S. Redford, John Y. L. Chiang, Philip B. Hylemon – 1 April 1994 – Cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase, the rate‐limiting enzyme in the bile acid synthesis pathway, is downregulated by taurocholate by way of negative feedback control at the level of gene transcription. The molecular basis of regulation of cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase by other hydrophobic bile salts and under more physiological conditions is not known.