1 January 1993

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.

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.

Raymond S. Koff, Raymond S. Koff – 1 January 1993

Melissa P. Upton – 1 January 1993

Bertram I. Cohen, Shigeo Miki, Erwin H. Mosbach, Nariman Ayyad, Richard J. Stenger, Takahiro Mikami, Michiko Yoshii, Kenji Kihira, Takahiko Hoshita – 1 January 1993 – The prevention of cholesterol gallstone formation by three bile acid analogs, sodium 3α,7α‐dihydroxy‐5β‐cholane‐24‐sulfonate, sodium 3α,7β‐dihydroxy‐5β‐cholane‐24‐sulfonate and sodium 3α, 6α‐dihydroxy‐5β‐cholane‐24‐sulfonate, was examined in a hamster model of cholesterol cholelithiasis. Sodium taurochenodeoxycholate, sodium tauroursodeoxycholate and sodium taurohyodeoxycholate were studied simultaneously for comparison.

Hiroshi Adachi, Shuichi Kaneko, Eiki Matsushita, Yutaka Inagaki, Masashi Unoura, Kenichi Kobayashi – 1 December 1992 – The natural history of chronic hepatitis B patients who spontaneously cleared serum HBsAg was investigated. A total of 351 patients with chronic hepatitis B were observed in our hospital for at least 3 yr. Seven of these patients became HBsAg negative during the follow‐up period. HBsAg disappeared within 6 mo (range = 11 to 169 days, mean = 70 days) after acute elevation of ALT.

Christine Challen, John Lunec, William Warren, Jane Collier, Margaret F. Bassendine – 1 December 1992 – Human hepatocellular carcinomas from patients in Britain, an area of low prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma and low dietary exposure to aflatoxin B1, were analyzed for mutations in the p53 tumorsuppressor gene. Abnormalities in the p53 gene were detected in 2 of 19 hepatocellular carcinomas by polymerase chain reaction—single‐stranded conformation polymorphism.

Shinji Tanaka, Yasushi Toh, Hiroko Minagawa, Ryoichi Mori, Keizo Sugimachi, Yoichi Minamishima – 1 December 1992 – Human cytomegalovirus causes severe and often fatal infections in immunocompromised patients. After organ transplantation cytomegalovirus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is thought to be activated by alloreaction and to spread because of immunosuppression, and it may cause endogenous cytomegalovirus diseases. Patients with cirrhosis, one group of candidates for liver transplantation, often show various grades of immunosuppression before transplantation.

Tomoki Furuya, Noriko Murase, Kenjiro Nakamura, Jacky Woo, Satoru Todo, Anthony J. Demetris, Thomas E. Starzl – 1 December 1992 – The effect on liver and heart allograft survival (ACI rats to Lewis rats) was studied after three methods of recipient presensitization and after different intervals between sensitization and transplantation. With comparable lymphocytotoxic antibody titers, liver allografts always survived longer than heart grafts. The titer, class and specificity of the antibodies varied with the method of sensitization.