Francesco Violi, Domenico Ferro, Claudio Quintarelli, Antonio Musca, Francesco Balsano, Corrado Cordova, Stefania Basili, The Calc Group – 1 January 1993 – This study explored the relationship between clotting activation and tissue plasminogen activator and its inhibitor in cirrhotic patients with different degrees of liver failure. Sixty‐seven patients (40 men, 27 women; age = 31–77 yr) with cirrhosis diagnosed by liver biopsy were divided into three subgroups (A, B and C) on the basis of Child‐Pugh classification.

Hiroyasu Okuno, Masashi Takasu, Haruhiko Kano, Toshihito Seki, Yasuko Shiozaki, Kyoichi Inoue – 1 January 1993 – The depressant effect of interferon beta on drugmetabolizing activity in the human liver was investigated. Seven patients with chronic hepatitis C were treated with interferon beta at doses of 3 × 106 to 9 × 106 IU/day for 8 wk. The activities of 7‐methoxycoumarin O‐demethylase and 7‐ethoxycoumarin O‐deethylase in specimens obtained by liver biopsy were examined before and after interferon treatment.

1 January 1993

Yves M. Deugnier, Bruno Turlin, Romain Moirand, Olivier Loréal, Pierre Brissot, Lawrie W. Powell, Kim M. Summers, Linda Fletcher, June W. Halliday – 1 January 1993 – The biochemical hepatic iron index, defined as the ratio of hepatic iron concentration (expressed as micromoles per gram dry weight) to age permits accurate prediction of genetic status in patients with genetic hemochromatosis. However, the hepatic iron concentration is not always available.

Patrizia Paterlini, Françoise Driss, Bertrand Nalpas, Emilio Pisi, Dominique Franco, Pierre Berthelot, Christian Bréchot – 1 January 1993 – The role of HBV and HCV in the course of primary liver cancer in patients who are negative for HBsAg has been debated. Using a combination of serological and polymerase chain reaction assays, we investigated the association between HCV and HBV infections and primary liver cancer in 24 HBsAg‐negative patients living in France. The presence of HCV RNA and HBV DNA sequences was tested for in serum and in tumorous and nontumorous liver samples.

Tak Mao Chan, Anna Suk Fong Lok, Ignatius Kum Po Cheng, Rachel Tzun Chan – 1 January 1993 – We longitudinally studied 51 patients from two hemodialysis centers to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in hemodialysis patients. Serum samples were tested for antibody to HCV by first‐ and second‐ generation enzyme immunoassays and for hepatitis C virus RNA by nested polymerase chain reaction assay.

Pierre‐Alain Clavien, P. Robert C. Harvey, Juan R. Sanabria, Robert Cywes, Gary A. Levy, Steven M. Strasberg – 1 January 1993 – Leukocyte adhesion may play a central role in the pathogenesis of preservation‐reperfusion injury to liver grafts. We previously showed that lymphocyte adhesion to sinusoids is dependent on the length of cold ischemia. In the present study we examined the mechanisms of lymphocyte adherence after harvesting combined with a short and a long preservation time. The effects of lymphocyte adherence on liver function were also examined.

Gregory T. Everson – 1 January 1993

Kazunori Fukuda, Masamichi Kojiro, Jen‐Fu Chiu – 1 January 1993 – We investigated transglutaminase‐induced crosslinking of cytokeratin polypeptides in liver and hepatoma cells. To overcome the difficulties in the biochemical analysis of highly cross‐linked polymers and aggregates of cytokeratins, cross‐linked cytokeratin dimers were analyzed by immunoblotting to evaluate the degree of cross‐linking of cytokeratins. Covalently cross‐linked cytokeratin dimers were not detectable in normal rat liver cells.

Fa‐Yauh Lee, Luis A. Colombato, Agustin Albillos, Roberto J. Groszmann – 1 January 1993 – In portal hypertensive states, peripheral vasodilation leads to sodium retention and plasma volume expansion. Nω‐nitro‐L‐arginine, a specific biosynthesis inhibitor of the vasodilator nitric oxide, has been shown to acutely reverse peripheral vasodilation and the vascular hyporesponsiveness to endogenous and exogenous vasoconstrictors observed in portal hypertensive rats.