Nobukazu Yuki, Norio Hayashi, Kazuhiro Katayama, Akinori Kasahara, Keiji Ueda, Hideyuki Fusamoto, Nobuhiro Sato, Takenobu Kamada – 1 January 1990 – Sera from four patients with acute hepatitis B and 87 patients with chronic hepatitis B were examined quantitatively for pre‐S1 and pre‐S2 antigens by solid‐phase enzyme immunoassays. Pre‐S1 and pre‐S2 antigens were detected in HBsAg‐positive sera irrespective of the presence of viral replicative markers, and their titers correlated with those of HbsAg(r = 0.74, p < 0.01; r = 0.74, p < 0.01, respectively).

Graeme Alexander, Bernard Portmann – 1 January 1990 – Clinically evident, generalized graft‐vs.‐host disease is not thought to occur as a consequence of transplantation of most solid organs. The large inoculum of donor lymphoid cells required and the inability of the recipient to destroy these passenger cells are apparently rarely produced by solid‐organ transplantation. However, there is a risk of graft‐vs.‐host disease when normal spleens are included in vascularized pancreas transplants.

Swan N. Thung – 1 January 1990

Robert Scheig – 1 January 1990 – The hepatic sinusoidal endothelium separates sinusoidal blood from hepatocytes; changes in the porosity of this endothelium may affect the passage of chylomicrons into hepatocytes and influence lipid metabolism. Chronic exposure to ethanol reduces the porosity of the endothelium; this mechanism may underlie the hyperlipoprotelium; hyperlipoproteinaemia observed in some people who drink heavily.

James S. Morgan, Roberto J. Groszmann, Marcos Rojkind, Rosa Enriquez – 1 January 1990 – A hamster model of schistosomiasis has provided the first opportunity to sequentially examine the early phases of the development of portal hypertension in a natural model of chronic liver disease.

Nancy Rolando, Felicity Harvey, Javier Brahm, John Philpott‐Howard, Graeme Alexander, Alexander Gimson, Mark Casewell, Elizabeth Fagan, Roger Williams – 1 January 1990 – Fifty consecutive patients admitted with acute liver failure, minimal grade II encephalopathy, were studied prospectively to determine to incidence, timing and cause of bacterial infection, the relationship to clinical criterial for infection; and the influence of early microbiological diagnosis on clinical outcome.

Mordechai Rabinovitz, Judith S. Gavaler, Robert R. Schade, Vincents J. Dindzans, Mai‐Ching Chien, David H. Van Thiel – 1 January 1990 – Primary sclerosing cholangitis often occurs in association with inflammatory bowel disease, particularly ulcerative colitis but also Crohn's disease of the colon either with or without terminal ileal disease. Little data exist as to the effect of inflammatory bowel disease on the presenting symptoms, radiological features, response to liver transplantation, and potential risk of bile duct carcinoma in individuals with primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Swan N. Thung – 1 January 1990 – Nodular regenerative hyperplasia, a disorder characterized by regenerative nodules scattered diffusely throughout the liver without associated fibrosis, is most often recognized at autopsy when the entire liver is available for inspection. Diagnosis by needle biopsy is much more subtle.

Tien‐Chun Chang, Jyh‐Jian Lin, Shan‐Chang Yu, Tien‐Jye Chang – 1 January 1990 – Hepatocellular carcinoma is a hormone‐sensitive tumor. It has been reported that thyroxine and prolactin significantly stimulated hepatoma growth, whereas growth hormone failed to do so. To learn whether the growth hormone receptor is present in human hepatocellular carcinoma, we used radioreceptor assays in samples of human hepatocellular carcinoma. The liver tissues adjacent to hepatocellular carcinoma (mostly cirrhotic) and control liver tissues (taken during various surgical procedures) were also studied.

Francesco Negro, Ferruccio Bonino, Adrian Di Bisceglie, Jay H. Hoofnagle, John L. Gerin – 1 December 1989 – The intrahepatic distribution of hepatitis delta virus RNA was studied by in situ hybridization in 33 formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded biopsies from 17 chronic hepatitis B virus carriers superinfected with hepatitis delta virus. The findings were correlated with the expression of the hepatitis delta antigen, the duration of the hepatitis delta virus infection and the eosinophilic degeneration of the hepatocytes.