1 June 1993

Sybrand Y. de Boer, Ad A. M. Masclee, Wai Fan Lam, Jaap Schipper, Jan B. M. J. Jansen, Cornelius B. H. W. Lamers – 1 June 1993 – The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of acute stable hyperglycemia on gallbladder motility, plasma cholecystokinin level and pancreatic polypeptide secretion. Gallbladder emptying in response to modified sham feeding and regular feeding was determined in six healthy subjects on two separate occasions during normoglycemia (serum glucose = 5 mmol/L) and during hyperglycemia (serum glucose = 15 mmol/L).

Neil D. Theise, Jonathan D. Lapook, Swan N. Thung – 1 June 1993 – We report an incidental small hepatocellular carcinoma in a patient with chronic hepatitis C infection without cirrhosis. The existence of portal triads and the Meyenburg complexes within the lesion and atypical subnodules suggests that the carcinoma has arisen in the context of a macroregenerative nodule rather than the whole nodule being an early, spreading carcinoma. A growing body of evidence supports macroregenerative nodules as being precursor lesions in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Gitte M. Knudsen, Jes Schmidt, Thomas Almdal, Olaf B. Paulson, Hendrik Vilstrup – 1 June 1993 – We repeatedly measured blood‐brain barrier passage of phenylalanine, leucine, glucose and GABA in nine patients with hepatic encephalopathy using the intravenous double‐indicator technique. Controls were four patients without liver disease and two of the patients who had recovered completely from their hepatic encephalopathy. The corrected cerebral venous output curves were fitted by use of a three‐compartment model with four parameters.

Yamina Lazizi, Pascal Dubreuil, Jacques Pillot – 1 June 1993 – HBcAg and antibody to HBcAg were assayed in chronic hepatitis B virus carriers who were not reactive for HBc antibodies on available commercial tests. HBc antibody–negative sera, collected before the onset of the acute phase in recovering patients, were used as controls. A high level of HBcAg was detected in HBc antibody–negative chronic hepatitis B virus carriers after dissociative treatment. HBcAg levels were correlated with serum hepatitis B virus DNA levels.

Steven N. Fine – 1 June 1993

Harvey J. Alter, James W.‐K. Shih – 1 June 1993 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has not yet been cultured or visualized. We attempted to recover HCV‐associated particles from plasma of infected humans to assess the natural properties of the virus. Starting with 720 ml of donor plasma containing high titer of HCV core antigen ELISA activities, we identified HCV core antigen activity and viral RNA enriched in a potassium bromide density gradient fraction with a density of 1.115 g/ml.

Norman L. Sussman, James H. Kelly – 1 June 1993 – We have developed a novel hepatocyte loaded hollow fiber bioreactor as a potential bioartificial liver. Freshly harvested rat hepatocytes were entrapped in a three‐dimensional gel matrix within hollow fibers in a perfused bioreactor. Gel entrapment allowed cells to be cultured at high density while maintaining tissuespecific function. Hepatocyte function was evaluated in 10 bioreactors, each containing approximately 5 x 107 cells.

Ralph M. Steinman, Kayo Inaba, Jonathan M. Austyn – 1 June 1993

Guadalupe Garcia‐Tsao, Agustin Albillos, G. E. Barden, A. Brian West – 1 June 1993 – Patients with cirrhosis are predisposed to develop spontaneous bacteremias and peritonitis, mainly by enteric bacteria. Portal hypertension, by producing congestion and edema of the bowel wall, could increase the passage of bacteria from the intestinal lumen to regional lymph nodes to the systemic circulation or to both, a process termed bacterial translocation.