Ulrich Lauer, Ludwig Weiß, Martin Lipp, Peter Hans Hofschneider, Alexander S. Kekulé – 1 January 1994 – Integrated hepatitis B virus DNA cloned from hepatitis B virus‐associated hepatocellular carcinoma frequently contains 3′‐truncated middle surface genes (preS2/St), which were recently found to have a transcriptional transactivator function. Because preS2/St, among others, is able to transactivate the promoters of the cellular oncogenes c‐myc and c‐fos, it has been speculated that integrated preS2/St genes might contribute to hepatitis B virus‐associated liver carcinogenesis.

1 January 1994

Robert K. Ockner – 1 December 1993

Nelson Fausto – 1 December 1993 – In previous studies hepatocytes undergoing cell death by apoptosis but not normal hepatocytes in rat liver showed immunostaining for transforming growth factor β1 (TGF‐β1). Staining was much stronger with antibodies recognizing the pro‐region of TGF‐β1 than the mature peptide itself. Therefore we investigated the ability of both forms of TGF‐β1 to induce apoptosis in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. Mature TGF‐β1 induced rounding up of the cells and fragmentation into multiple vesicles.

Jorge J. Gumucio – 1 December 1993

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.