Shinichi Kakumu, Kentaro Yoshioka, Takaji Wakita, Tetsuya Ishikawa, Masahiro Takayanagi, Yasuyuki Higashi – 1 August 1993 – Ribavirin is a nucleoside analog that inhibits the replication of many DNA and RNA viruses. To evaluate the efficacy of oral ribavirin, we randomly assigned 24 HBeAg‐positive patients with chronic active hepatitis to a 12‐wk course of treatment with 0.8 to 1.0 gm/ribavirin day, 3 mU interferon‐β three times a week intravenously or a combination of those drugs.

Domenico Sansonno, Franco Dammacco – 1 August 1993 – A pool of murine monoclonal antibodies developed against c100 antigen, a hepatitis C virus–associated protein encoded by the NS3/NS4 virus genome, was used to detect hepatitis C virus in liver biopsy specimens from patients with acute and chronic hepatitis C virus infection. The antigen was present in the cytoplasm of liver cells only. The immunoreactive signal appeared as large, distinct, brilliant fluorescent granules with no clear relationship to cellular structures. No obvious membrane c100 antigen accumulation was observed.

Taizo Hijioka, Moritaka Goto, John J. Lemasters, Ronald G. Thurma – 1 August 1993 – Kupffer cells, the resident hepatic macrophages, are activated by calcium, and several reports indicate that their function (e.g., phagocytosis and cytokine production) is altered by ethanol. We recently found that Kupffer cells contain L‐type voltage‐dependent Ca2+ channels. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the effect of short‐term ethanol treatment on voltage‐dependent Ca2+ channels in Kupffer cells.

Li Yang, Ronald A. Faris, Douglas C. Hixson – 1 August 1993 – Hybridomas were produced with immune spleen cells generated by immunization of Balb/c mice with oval cell antigen (OC.2)–positive 17‐day fetal liver cells isolated on antibody‐coated magnetic beads. A primary screen by indirect immunofluorescence on frozen sections of fetal and adult liver identified several hybridomas secreting antibodies reactive with bile ducts and oval cells.

Albert Tran, Jean François Quaranta, Sylvia Benzaken, Valerie Thiers, Hoang Trong Chau, Patrick Hastier, Daniel Regnier, Gilles Dreyfus, Christian Pradier, Jean‐Louis Sadoul, Xavier Hebutern, Patrick Rampa – 1 August 1993 – After describing two cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis associated with chronic hepatitis C, we set up a prospective study to assessthe prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies (thyroglobulin and thyroid microsomal autoantibodies) in 72 chronic hepatitis C patients (43 men and 29 women; mean age = 51 ± 2.1 yr) before interferon therapy admitted between January and December 199

Yaron Ilan, Arnon Nagler, Ruth Adler, Elizabeth Naparstek, Reuven Or, Shimon Slavin, Chaim Brautba, Daniel Shouva – 1 August 1993 – Recipients of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation are pancytopenic for several weeks and immunosuppressed for many months as a result of myeloablative therapy required to eliminate the basic disease and to prevent allograft rejection. After bone marrow transplantation, these patients remain profoundly immunosuppressed by the chemotherapy and immunotherapy used as prophylaxis against graft‐vs.‐host disease, treatment of established disease or both.

Susumu Takano, Masao Omata, Masao Oht, Yoichi Satomura – 1 August 1993 – Since December 1989, the Japan Red Cross Blood Bureau has screened blood donors for hepatitis C virus antibody on the basis of enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and high titers of antibody to HBc antigen. To elucidate the effectiveness of the new screening tests in preventing posttransfusion hepatitis, the incidence of posttransfusion hepatitis after the introduction of the new tests (December 1989 to December 1990) was compared with the incidence before their introduction (January 1982 to December 1988).

James E. Parker – 1 August 1993

Hirohisa Yano, Akihiro Iemura, Kazunori Fukuda, Atsushi Mizoguchi, Makoto Haramaki, Masamichi Kojiro – 1 August 1993 – Hepatocellular carcinomas often contain tumor cells of more than one histological grade. The clonal relationship and biological behavior of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in histologically heterogeneous areas have not been fully explored. We established two distinct human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HAK‐1A and 1B) from a single nodule showing a three‐layered structure with a different histological grade in each layer.

Tomoaki Tomiya, Kenji Fujiwara – 1 August 1993 – A sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay for measuring serum transforming growth factor‐α levels was developed with monoclonal IgM and polyclonal IgG antihuman transforming growth factor‐α antibodies and a system to amplify the activity of the conjugated enzyme. The assay detected serum transforming growth factor‐α levels as low as 5 pg/ml. Serum transforming growth factor‐α levels were below the detection limit of the assay in 19% of healthy adults, with a mean (± S.D.) detectable level of 22.0 ± 16.7 pg/ml.