Kevin Mahaney, Valeria Tedeschi, Geert Maertens, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, John Vergalla, Jay H. Hoofnagle, Richard Sallie – 1 December 1994 – We examined hepatitis C virus genotypes in 98 American patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection by means of two methods; restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and line probe assay, which is based on type‐specific sequence variations in the 5′ untranslated region. Type 1 was present in 73 patients (74%), type 2 in 15 (15%), type 3 in 6 (6%) and type 4 in 1 (1%).

1 December 1994

Raymond S. Koff – 1 December 1994

Catherine M. St. George, James C. Russell, Eldon A. Shaffer – 1 December 1994 – Obesity, a known risk factor in cholesterol gallstone disease, is a favorable factor in the formation of bile supersaturated with cholesterol. Previous studies have been indirect and limited to human beings. To better define the hepatic secretory defect, we directly measured bile secretion and bile salt kinetics in a genetically obese rat.

Antoinette Lemoine, Daniel Azoulay, Ashley Dennison, Liliane Kiffel, Lydiane Pichard, Valérie Furlan, Thierry Bienvenu, Gilles Fredj, Brigitte Debuire, Patrick Maurel, Henri Bismuth, Philippe Beaune – 1 December 1994 – Many commonly used drugs are substrates for hepatic cytochrome P‐450 3A in human beings, and its role in the metabolism of potentially toxic immunosuppressants has been highlighted (cyclosporine, FK 506).

Jens H. Henriksen, Søren Møller, Flemming Bendtsen, Helmer Ring‐Larsen, K. Heine Stokholm, Jens Møgelvang, Thorkild I. A. Sørensen, Alexander L. Gerbes, Florence Wong, Peter Liu, Laurence Blendis – 1 December 1994

Nicole Colas‐Linhart, Bernard Bok, Patrick Marcellin, Michèle Pouteau, Jean‐Pierre Bengamou – 1 December 1994

1 December 1994

Steven A. Weinman – 1 December 1994 – Using expression cloning in Xenopus laevis oocytes, we have isolated a cDNA encoding a rat liver organic anion‐transporting polypeptide (oatp). The cloned oatp mediated Na+‐independent uptake of sulfobromophthalein (BSP) which was Cl−‐dependent in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) at low BSP concentrations (e.g., 2 μM). Addition of increasing amounts of BSA had no effects on the maximal velocity of initial BSP uptake, but it increased the Km value from 1.5 μM (no BSA) to 24 μM (BSA/BSP molar ratio, 3.7) and 35 μM (BSA/BSP ratio, 18.4).

Stelios Karatapanis, P. Aiden McCormickM.D.MRCP, Shilpa Kakad, Jason K. T. Chin, Mohammed Islam, Jamie Jeremy, David Harry, Neil McIntyre, Andrew K. Burroughs, Michael Jacobs – 1 December 1994 – It has been suggested that increased production of nitric oxide by an inducible nitric oxide synthase isoenzyme is important in the pathogenesis of the vascular abnormalities seen in human beings and animals with portal hypertension. We investigated this hypothesis by studying the in vitro vascular reactivity of isolated aortic rings from portal vein—constricted and sham‐operated rats.