Anders Nyberg, Anna Engström‐Làurent, Lars Lööf – 1 January 1988 – To evaluate serum hyaluronate as a marker for progressive liver injury in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, a longitudinal study including 48 patients was conducted with a mean follow‐up time of 40 months. The patients were examined every 6 months with a standardized set of conventional liver function tests, and a liver biopsy was performed every year.

Kenji Abe, Takeshi Kurata, Toshio Shikata – 1 January 1988 – Localization of woodchuck hepatitis virus in liver tissue from 10 infected woodchucks was investigated immunohistochemically and ultrastructurally. Woodchuck hepatitis virus surface antigen was detected by immunoperoxidase methods in the cytoplasm of hepato‐cytes with a fine granular and/or inclusion body appearance. Woodchuck hepatitis virus surface antigen positive hepatocytes were often found in the peripheral zone of hepatic lobules.

Antonio Martín Duce, Pablo Ortíz, Carmen Cabrero, José M. Mato – 1 January 1988 – We have measured the activity S‐adenosyl‐L‐methio‐nine synthetase in liver biopsies from a group of controls (n = 17) and in 26 cirrhotics (12 alcoholic and 14 posthepatitic). The activity of this enzyme was markedly reduced in the group of cirrhotics (285 ± 32 pmoles per min per mg protein) when compared with that observed in controls (505 ± 37 pmoles per min per mg protein). No differences in S‐adenosyl‐L‐methionine synthetase was observed between both groups of cirrhotics.

John H. Exton – 1 January 1988

Harold O. Conn – 1 January 1988

Peter B. Cotton – 1 January 1988 – One hundred and twenty patients with known common bile duct stones were entered into a prospective randomised study of preoperative endoscopic sphincterotomy and stone clearance (group 1) versus surgery alone (group 2). Five patients were incorrectly entered; the 55 patients randomised to group 1 and the 60 randomised to group 2 were well matched with respect to clinical features and biochemical and medical risk factors.

Anders Nyberg, Berit Berne, Hans Nordlinder, Christer Busch, Ulf Eriksson, Lars Lööf, Anders Vahlquist – 1 January 1988 – In 44 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis serum levels of vitamin A, retinol‐binding protein and transthyretin (prealbumin) were found to be significantly lower than in 25 sex‐ and age‐matched controls. Liver biopsies were available for chemical analyses in 28 of the patients.

Gerald Y. Minuk, Keith L. Maccannell – 1 January 1988 – Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were recorded in 176 ambulant patients with chronic liver disease, including 36 patients with compensated cirrhosis (Group I), 119 patients with noncirrhotic chronic liver disease (Group II) and 21 patients with benign structural or functional liver disease (Group III).

Francesco Salerno, Salvatore Badalamenti, Pierluigi Incerti, Loredana Capozza, Laura Mainardi – 1 January 1988 – Sodium retention in liver cirrhosis is thought to be due to, among other things, lack of a natriuretic factor or failure to respond to one. α‐Human‐atrial natriuretic peptide is a peptide that accounts partly or entirely for the circulating natriuretic activity in man.

The Italian Multicenter Project for Propranolol in Prevention of Bleeding – 1 January 1988 – To assess if propranolol prevents the first bleeding in cirrhosis, we randomly assigned 174 patients with large varices to either propranolol in doses reducing the resting heart rate by 25% (85 patients) or to a placebo (oral vitamin K, 89 patients). Sixty‐nine patients had alcoholic cirrhosis, 24 posthepatitic cirrhosis and 81 cryp‐togenic cirrhosis.