Paul C. Pinto, Jim Amerian, Telfer B. Reynolds – 1 March 1988 – In patients with portal hypertension and tense ascites, large‐volume paracentesis improves patient comfort and may improve systemic hemodynamics. However, it has been avoided in nonedematous patients because of concern for complications, including intravascular volume depletion. In this study, 12 nonedematous patients with chronic liver disease, portal hypertension and tense ascites underwent 14 large‐volume (5‐liter) paracenteses for the relief of discomfort and/or respiratory distress.

Alex P. Mowat – 1 March 1988 – Fifty‐six patients with moderate to severe neonatal hepatitis were followed for 12 to 78 months. Two died from causes other than hepatitis itself and were free from liver disease at the time of death. Of the remaining 54 patients, seven died of hepatitis, two are living with chronic liver disease and psychomotor retardation, and 45 are living without liver disease.

Mei‐Hwei Chang, Lu‐Yu Hwang, Hey‐Chi Hsu, Chin‐Yun Lee, R. Palmer Beasley – 1 March 1988 – Liver histologic findings were studied in 18 children who were 4 to 9 years old, and who had been HBsAg carriers since having been infected by their mothers in the perinatal period. All were born to HBeAg‐HBsAg carrier mothers; the children were followed periodically from birth. Throughout their entire course, none developed symptoms or signs suggestive of liver disease.

Charles D. Surh, Anne E. Cooper, Ross L. Coppel, Patrick Leung, Aftab Ahmed, Rolland Dickson, M. Eric Gershwin – 1 March 1988 – Autoantibodies against inner mitochondrial membrane proteins are a hallmark of primary biliary cirrhosis. Specifically, these antimitochondrial autoantibodies recognize two polypeptides of approximately 70 and 52 kD, respectively. Although the specificity of antimitochondrial autoantibodies has been studied for the past 2 decades, the complementary DNA encoding the major primary biliary cirrhosis‐specific 70 kD antigen has only recently been cloned.

Philippe Mavier, Anne‐Marie Preaux, Bernard Guigui, Marie‐Claude Lescs, Elie‐Serge Zafrani, Daniel Dhumeaux – 1 March 1988 – Human polymorphonuclear neutrophils, when exposed to soluble or particulate stimuli, can destroy various types of cells. The aim of this study was to investigate their toxicity against hepatocytes. Human polymorphonuclear neutrophils were incubated in basal conditions and after stimulation with 5 mg per ml opsonized zymosan in the presence of rat hepatocytes isolated by collagenase digestion.

Anna Mae Diehl, Marco Chacon, Patrick Wagner – 1 March 1988 – The effects of ethanol on liver regeneration are poorly understood. Acute and chronic exposure to ethanol have been found to exert opposite effects on the induction of ornithine decarboxylase, the rate‐limiting enzyme for polyamine biosynthesis. Polyamines are necessary for DNA synthesis and liver regeneration after chemical or surgical liver injury.

Glancarlo Spinzi, Vittorio Terruzzi, Giogio Minoli – 1 March 1988 – Percutaneous liver biopsies were performed in 40 adult patients with acute or chronic liver disease. Real‐time sector scan ultrasound of the right upper quadrant was obtained just before biopsy, 1 day after biopsy, and in 10 randomly selected cases 7 days after biopsy. Twenty patients were randomized, by sealed envelope, to 6‐h and 20 patients to 24‐h postbiopsy bed rest. Nine patients (23%) had ultrasound‐detected hematomas 1 day after liver biopsy (7 intrahepatic, 2 subcapsular).

Michiko Shindo, Tadao Okuno, Masayuki Matsumoto, Makoto Takeda, Tatsuro Takino, Junko Sokawa, Akira Iwata, Yoshihiro Sokawa – 1 March 1988 – We measured 2′,5′‐oligoadenylate synthetase activities in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 10 patients with chronic hepatitis B who were being treated with interferon so as to determine whether 2′,5′‐oligoadenylate synthetase activity in serum reflected 2′,5′‐oligoadenylate synthetase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and whether it could be used to monitor interferon treatment.

Robert B. Kirkpatrick, Mitchell D. Green, Lee R. Hagey, Alan F. Hofmann, Thomas R. Tephly – 1 March 1988 – The effect of side chain length on bile acid conjugation by human and rat liver fractions was examined. The rate of conjugation with glucuronic acid, sulfate and coenzyme A of several natural (C24) bile acids was compared with that of their corresponding nor‐bile acids. The rate of coenzyme A ester formation by nor‐bile acids was much lower than that of the natural bile acids.

Robert A. F. M. Chamuleau, Joris H. N. Creyghton Ineke De Nie, Marinus A. Moerland, Otto R. Van der Lende, Jaap Smidt – 1 March 1988 – During the development of liver fibrosis in rats by an individual dose‐titrated CCl4 administration, hepatic proton spin‐lattice relaxation time (T1) has been measured in vivo every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. Liver content of collagen, triglycerides and water has been measured biochemically in biopsy material.