Ivor J. Benjamin – 1 December 1993

Kenji Fjuiwara, Sumiko Nagoshi, Akihiko Ohno, Keiichi Hirata, Yasuhiko Ohta, Satoshi Mochida, Tomoaki Tomiya, Kanji Higashio, Kiyoshi Kurokawa – 1 December 1993 – Human hepatocyte growth factor stimulates DNA synthesis by cultured rat hepatocytes. When human hepatocyte growth factor prepared from the culture medium of human embryonic lung fibroblasts was intravenously injected into normal rats and rats after 70% hepatectomy, it was detected in hepatocytes but not in nonparenchymal cells isolated 30 min after injection.

Tomasz R. Kurzawinski, Alastair Deery, James S. Dooley, Robert Dick, Kenneth E. F. Hobbs, Brian R. Davidson – 1 December 1993 – In patients with obstructive jaundice due to biliary tract stricture a tissue diagnosis is essential because of the varied treatment options available. Radiological imaging of a biliary stricture may suggest that it is malignant, but only a tissue diagnosis can be conclusive. The difficulty of obtaining biopsy tissue has encouraged the use of cytology in this field.

J. Ricardo B. Pernambuco, Peter G. Langley, Robin D. Hughes, Satoru Izumi, Roger Williams – 1 December 1993 – Abnormalities of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis are a major part of fulminant liver failure. In this study, the key components of the fibrinolytic system were determined in 42 patients with this condition. Admission levels of plasma plasminogen activity were low (9.1% of normal), as to a lesser extent were the activities of its inhibitors α2‐antiplasmin (20.5% of normal) and C1 inhibitor (64% of normal).

Masayuki Kurosaki, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Fumiaki Marumo, Chifumi Sato – 1 December 1993 – To evaluate the clinical significance of sequence variations in the hypervariable region of hepatitis C virus during the course of chronic infection, we performed pairwise comparison of the predominant nucleotide sequences. Hepatitis C virus RNA was extracted from two plasma samples obtained from 12 chronically infected Japanese patients over approximately 1 yr.

Jonathan M. Koff – 1 December 1993

Yuping Wu, R. Cartland Burns, James V. Sitzmann – 1 December 1993 – Portal hypertension is associated with splanchnic hyperemia and increased plasma levels of prostacyclin. Recently, nitric oxide was proposed as a mediator of this arterial vasodilatation. We hypothesized that portal hypertension alters the relative contribution of prostacyclin and nitric oxide to splanchnic vasomotor control.

Raymond S. Koff, Mark A. Zern – 1 December 1993

Fred Askari – 1 December 1993 – We have combined a receptor‐mediated DNA delivery system with the endosomal lysis ability of adenovirus and shown that DNA can be delivered into primary hepatocytes, resulting in a high level of gene expression. When asialoorosomucoid conjugated with poly(L‐lysine) was used to deliver the Escherichia coli β‐galactosidase gene into primary hepatocytes through binding with the hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor, only a low level of β‐galactosidase was detectable, with less than 0.1% of the hepatocytes being transfected.

Wayne W. Lamorte, Daniel P. O'Leary, Michael L. Booker, Thayer E. Scott – 1 December 1993 – Epidemiological studies have provided conflicting information about the relationship between fat consumption and gallstone formation. We studied cholesterol gallstone formation in prairie dogs after 1 wk of the following diets: (group A) a control diet with no added cholesterol and 5% of calories from corn oil, (group B) 1.2% cholesterol with 5% of calories from corn oil or (group C) 1.2% cholesterol with 40% of calories from corn oil.