Peter T. Donaldson, Derek G. Doherty, Karen M. Hayllar, Ian G. McFarlane, Philip J. Johnson, Roger Williams – 1 April 1991 – After nearly 18 years of research, the association between human leukocyte antigens A1‐B8‐DR3 and autoimmune chronic active hepatitis still provokes debate. The principal reasons for this are disease heterogeneity and racial variation in the distribution of human leukocyte antigens between populations.

Alastair J. Macgilchrist, David Sumner, John L. Reid – 1 April 1991 – The blood pressure responses to intravenous infusions of norepinephrine and angiotensin II, sympathetic and nonsympathetic vasoconstricting agents, respectively, were measured in 20 patients with cirrhosis (10 Child‐Pugh grade A and 10 Child‐Pugh grades B or C) and in 20 healthy subjects. The log PD20 (dose of agonist required to raise blood pressure by 20 mm Hg) for norepinephrine was 4.78 ± 0.36 (mean ± S.D.) in patients with severe cirrhosis and 4.36 ± 0.37 in controls, p < 0.01.

Kenneth R. Feingold, Mary E. Barker, Albert L. Jones, Carl Grunfeld – 1 April 1991 – Tumor necrosis factor and other cytokines mediate the body's response to infection and inflammation. Long‐term administration of tumor necrosis factor causes liver hypertrophy, and our laboratory has shown that tumor necrosis factor acutely increases hepatic DNA synthesis. The purpose of this study was to determine which specific cell types in the liver undergo DNA synthesis in response to tumor necrosis factor.

Steven N. Lichtman, John Keku, Richard L. Clark, John H. Schwab, Ryan B. Sartor – 1 April 1991 – Small bowel bacterial overgrowth, which develops in surgically created jejunal self‐filling blind loops, is associated with hepatic injury in susceptible rat strains. The histological findings are portal tract inflammation and bile duct proliferation and destruction.

Hiroshi Eguchi, Patricia A. McCuskey, Robert S. McCuskey – 1 April 1991 – After acute ethanol ingestion in C57B1/6 mice, phagocytic activity of Kupffer cells and hepatic microcirculation were examined by in vivo and electron microscopy. A ratio of Kupffer cells that phagocytosed 0.8 μm fluorescent latex particles to sinusoids containing blood flow (number of Kupffer cells/number of sinusoids containing blood flow) was used as a measure of Kupffer cell phagocytic activity.

Carlo Sabbá, Giovanna Ferraioli, Paul Genecin, Luis Colombato, Paolo Buonamico, Emanuel Lerner, Kenneth J. W. Taylor, Roberto J. Groszmann – 1 April 1991 – In an operator‐blind design, we used an echo‐Doppler duplex system to examine superior mesenteric artery and portal vein hemodynamics on two consecutive mornings in 12 fasting cirrhotic patients and 12 matched controls, randomized to a standardized 355 kcal mixed‐liquid meal vs. water.

1 April 1991

Alessandro Casini, Mike Cunningham, Marcos Rojkind, Charles S. Lieber – 1 April 1991 – We previously reported that acetaldehyde increases the production of type I collagen in cultured rat fat‐storing cells. We studied the regulation of this effect by determining the expression of procollagen type I, fibronectin and transforming growth factor‐β1 messenger RNAs in passage 1 and 2 cultures of fatstoring cells exposed to acetaldehyde for up to 24 hr.

Pamela M. Lindroos, Reza Zarnegar, George K. Michalopoulos – 1 April 1991 – An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the level of hepatocyte growth factor in rat plasma at various times after two‐thirds partial hepatectomy or CCl4 administration. An initial 17‐fold rise and 13‐fold rise in the level of hepatocyte growth factor was observed 2 hr after partial hepatectomy and CCl4 treatment, respectively, well before the onset of DNA synthesis in the liver.

Kunio Okuda, Yoichiro Kondo, Masayuki Nakano, Masayoshi Kage, Masahiro Arakawa, Masamichi Kojiro, Toshio Ohtsuki, Yutaka Shimokawa, Masao Hirata, Kunihiko Kohno – 1 April 1991 – In the past 26 years we have encountered five patients with primary liver malignancy clinically characterized by high remittent fever and leukocytosis mimicking liver abscess. Two patients underwent exploratory laparotomy, and drainage was carried out in another. The clinical courses went rapidly downhill. The liver was cirrhotic in two patients.