Pierre Blanc, Jean‐Pierre Daures, Jean‐Michel Rouillon, Pascale Peray, Robert Pierrugues, Dominique Larrey, François Gremy, Henri Michel – 1 February 1992 – Lactitol (β‐galactosido‐sorbitol) has been recently compared with lactulose for the treatment of chronic hepatic encephalopathy in a few studies, each comprising a small number of patients. The results are controversial. We studied the efficiency and tolerance of both compounds by using a meta‐analysis on the basis of published controlled trials.

Sucha Kim – 1 February 1992 – PURPOSE: Abnormalities in pulmonary function have been reported in association with chronic liver disease of varied etiology. The aim of this study was to better define the frequency and nature of these abnormalities in patients who were being evaluated for liver transplantation.

Hitoshi Ikeda, George Y. Wu, Catherine H. Wu – 1 February 1992 – Iron chelation has been shown previously to decrease collagen synthesis at a posttranslational level by inhibiting prolyl 4‐hydroxylase, one of the key enzymes in collagen metabolism. On the other hand, recent in vivo studies of iron overload in rats suggest that iron could specifically activate collagen gene expression in liver tissues. These findings led us to investigate whether iron chelation might also affect collagen gene expression and posttranslational modification.

Tilman Sauerbruch, Joseph Holl, Michael Sackmann, Gustav Paumgartner – 1 February 1992 – Over 5 yr, 103 elderly patients (mean age = 70 yr) with bile duct stones (mainly not amenable to endoscopic extraction) underwent adjuvant extracorporeal shock‐wave lithotripsy using a first‐generation kidney lithotripter. Disintegration of stones was achieved after a mean of 1.4 sessions in 92% of the patients.

Francis R. Weiner, William S. Blaner, Mark J. Czaja, Anish Shah, Albert Geerts – 1 February 1992 – Although it has been suggested that retinoids regulate Ito cell proliferation and collagen synthesis, little is known about the ability of Ito cells to respond to retinoids in vivo. Because retinoids may mediate their molecular effects through nuclear receptors, Ito cells were examined for the presence of one of these receptors, nuclear retinoic acid receptor‐β. The modulation of nuclear retinoic acid receptor‐β expression was also studied during cell culture and hepatic fibrogenesis.

Henricus M. J. Nijssen, Tjaard Pijning, Dirk K. F. Meijer, Geny M. M. Groothuis – 1 February 1992 – Besides being excreted into bile, several anionic drugs and anionic drug conjugates are excreted from liver into plasma by a carrier‐mediated process (sinusoidal efflux). In the study presented here, we investigated the influence of albumin on the net sinusoidal efflux of an organic anion from isolated perfused liver, with net sinusoidal efflux defined as the resultant of efflux and reuptake.

Gary P. Bray, J. Michael Tredger, Roger Williams – 1 February 1992 – Because S‐adenosylmethionine promotes synthesis of hepatic glutathione in chronic liver disease and is well tolerated in man, we investigated its use as an antidote to acetaminophen hepatotoxicity in two mouse models.

Riccardo Volpes, Joost J. van den Oord, Valeer J. Desmet – 1 February 1992 – Adhesion to and penetration through the sinusoidal vascular endothelium is a mandatory step for leukocyte migration and accumulation at sites of liver inflammation. This leukocyte trafficking is controlled by interactions between adhesion molecules on leukocytes and corresponding ligands on endothelial cells.

Paul C. Adams, Ann E. Kertesz – 1 February 1992 – To assess the clinical value of human leukocyte antigen typing in the diagnosis and management of hereditary hemochromatosis, 105 siblings of 35 proband cases of hemochromatosis were retrospectively analyzed to study whether the exclusion of human leukocyte antigen typing would have adversely affected management. All siblings and probands had already been tested for human leukocyte antigen‐A and human leukocyte antigen–B typing, serum ferritin and transferrin saturation. The median age of siblings was 55 yr (range = 11 to 82).

Scott L. Friedman, Don C. Rockey, Richard F. McGuire, Jacquelyn J. Maher, Janet K. Boyles, Glenn Yamasaki – 1 February 1992 – The development of techniques for isolating hepatic lipocytes (Ito, stellate or fat‐storing cells) from rodents has been instrumental in defining their role in hepatic vitamin A storage and fibrogenesis. In this study, we developed a method for the purification of lipocytes and Kupffer cell from wedge sections of normal human liver and examined their properties in primary culture.