William F. Balistreri – 1 March 1994 – “When medicine has really succeeded brilliantly in technology, as in immunization or endocrine‐replacement therapy, so that the therapeutic measures can be directed straight at the underlying disease mechanism and are decisively effective, the cost is likely to be very low indeed. It is when our technologies have to be applied halfway along against the progress of disease, or must be brought in after the fact to shore up the loss of destroyed tissue, that health care becomes enormously expensive.

Daniel P. O'Leary – 1 March 1994 – The more hydrophobic bile salts cause rapid release of preformed gallbladder mucin and other glycoproteins by gallbladder explants in vitro, whereas the less hydrophobic bile salts elicit a lesser response. This study was designed to determine (a) whether this short‐term effect was matched by a sustained increase in glycoprotein secretion over 24 hr and (b) whether it occurred when bile salts were presented in model biles rather than aqueous solution.

Jacquelyn J. Maher, Christina Tzagarakis – 1 March 1994 – Laminin is a heterotrimeric glycoprotein found in the perisinusoidal space of adult rat liver. The principal cellular source of laminin in liver is the lipocyte, with its three subunits measuring 324, 200 and 200 kD. The large subunit of lipocyte‐derived laminin is distinct from the A subunit of murine laminin (440 kD); its size suggests that it represents a peptide, called M, recently cloned from human placenta.

Rein M. J. Hoedemakers, Gerrit L. Scherphof, Toos Daemen – 1 March 1994 – We examined the effects of several hemopoietic growth factors on proliferation of rat liver macrophages in vitro. The proliferative response of liver macrophages to hemopoietic growth factors was assayed on the basis of [methyl‐3H]thymidine uptake. Macrophage colony‐stimulating factor and recombinant murine granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor stimulated [methyl‐3H]thymidine incorporation in a concentration‐dependent manner.

Sanjeev Gupta, Chang‐Don Lee, Ravikumar P. Vemuru, Kuldeep K. Bhargava – 1 March 1994 – Hepatocyte transplantation is useful for ex vivo gene therapy and liver repopulation. Methods for hepatic reconstitution have recently been developed but optimization of hepatocyte transplantation systems is necessary. To develop systems for noninvasive assessment of the biodistribution of transplanted cells, we labeled hepatocytes with 111indium‐oxine. Our initial studies showed that hepatocytes incorporated 111indium‐oxine with an efficiency of approximately 20%.

Massimo Bolognesi, Carlo Merkel, Simone Bianco, Paolo Angeli, David Sacerdoti, Piero Amodio, Angelo Gatta – 1 March 1994 – The reticuloendothelial system plays an important role in the prevention of bacterial infection in patients with cirrhosis. Few data are available, however, on its activity in such patients.

Joan C. García‐Pagán, Faust Feu, Antoni Castells, Angelo Luca, Ramón C. Hermida, Francisca Rivera, Jaume Bosch, Joan Rodés – 1 March 1994 – This study was aimed at investigating whether portal pressure, which is usually measured in the morning, is subject to circadian variations in patients with cirrhosis. Furthermore, a possible circadian variation for the occurrence of variceal bleeding was also investigated.

Tse‐Ling Fong, Gary C. Kanel, Andrew Conrad, Boontar Valinluck, Francine Charboneau, Rodney H. Adkins – 1 March 1994 – The significance of antibodies to hepatitis C virus in patients with chronic alcoholic liver disease is unclear. Prior studies have utilized the first‐generation enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, which is limited by problems with sensitivity and specificity.

Massimo Pinzani, Stefano Milani, Cecilia Grappone, Frederick L. Weber, Paolo Gentilini, Hanna E. Abboud – 1 March 1994 – Platelet‐derived growth factor has been shown to play an important role in the repair process after acute tissue injury and in the pathogenesis of several fibrogenic disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether increased expression of platelet‐derived growth factor and its β‐receptor subunit occurs in a model of acute liver injury.

Ching‐Yih Lin, Pin‐Wen Lin, Hong‐Ming Tsai, Xi‐Zhang Lin, Ting‐Tsung Chang, Jeng‐Shiann Shin – 1 March 1994 – To determine the diagnostic accuracy of computer tomography in the detection of venous collaterals surrounding the esophagus in patients with portal hypertension, preoperative computer tomography interpretations of these veins in 15 patients who were candidates for the Sugiura procedure for treatment of esophageal varices were correlated with those of the intraoperative assessment.