Yoshinao Kobayashi, Shozo Watanabe, Masayoshi Konishi, Masato Yokoi, Ryuichi Kakehashi, Masahiko Kaito, Masahiro Kondo, Yuji Hayashi, Takahito Jomori, Shiro Suzuki – 1 December 1993 – We quantified serum hepatitis C virus RNA titers and determined hepatitis C virus subtypes in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with interferon‐β to investigate relationships among serum ALT response, serum hepatitis C virus titer and hepatitis C virus subtype.

Tse‐Ling Fong, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Michael A. Gerber, Jeanne G. Waggoner, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 1 December 1993 – To determine whether patients with chronic hepatitis B who lose hepatitis B virus DNA and HBsAg from the serum completely resolve the hepatitis and virus infection, we evaluated serum and liver tissue from 11 patients who had lost HBsAg. These patients were evaluated for clinical, histological and serological features and for hepatitis B virus DNA by use of hybridization and polymerase chain reaction techniques.

Robert Perrillo, Larry Mimms, Kenneth Schechtman, David Robbins, Carolyn Campbell – 1 December 1993 – The serological endpoint of response in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B is the loss of hepatitis B virus DNA and HBeAg. Because the quantitative measurement of hepatitis B virus DNA in serum has been shown to be useful for monitoring and predicting response to interferon‐α therapy, we decided to evaluate whether changes in HBeAg concentration could also be used in this manner.

1 December 1993

Antonio Martinez, Paul D. Berk – 1 December 1993

Ekapot Bhunchet, Kaori Fujieda – 1 December 1993 – The processes of capillarization and venularization of sinusoids after porcine serum‐induced rat liver fibrosis were studied by light and electron microscopy. Accompanying the development of fibrosis in the walls of central veins, most of the sinusoidal outlets collapsed, resulting in the formation of hepatic limiting plates around central veins.

Hisayuki Miura, Kurt Jungermann, Andreas Gardemann – 1 December 1993 – In an earlier study it was found (a) that arterial noradrenaline caused increases in glucose and lactate output slower in onset, smaller in peak height and clearly longer in duration than those caused by portal noradrenaline and (b) that arterial noradrenaline was extracted to a much greater extent than portal noradrenaline.

Bruce W. Donaldson, Ramya Gopinath, Ian R. Wanless, M. James Phillips, Ross Cameron, Eve A. Roberts, Paul D. Greig, Gary Levy, Laurence M. Blendis – 1 December 1993 – Early and accurate diagnosis and prognosis of patients with fulminant liver failure is of critical importance for optimum management. We investigated the role of transjugular liver biopsy in the management of patients with fulminant liver failure and assessed its value in comparison with the recently proposed King's College criteria.

Peter Ott, Susanne Keiding, Ludvik Bass – 1 December 1993 – Indocyanine green is used to estimate liver blood flow rate and hepatic intrinsic clearance. However, its use as a test substance for studies of liver function has been limited by two puzzling kinetic observations: a biexponential plasma decay after bolus injection with an extremely slow late phase and an apparently steadily decreasing clearance value during constant infusion. These observations have been made with spectrophotometric concentration analysis.

Mikihiro Tsutsumi, Yoshiro Matsuda, Akira Takada – 1 December 1993 – Cytochrome P‐450 2E1 is a specific isozyme of cytochrome P‐450 induced by ethanol. P‐450 2E1 may also be the only enzyme that metabolizes N‐nitrosodimethylamine at a very low concentration. Because N‐nitrosodimethylamine is a procarcinogen, the possibility that induction of P‐450 2E1 by alcohol abuse may accelerate the carcinogenic action of a very small dose of N‐nitrosodimethylamine should be considered.