Piero L. Almasio, Robin D. Hughes, Roger Williams – 1 November 1986 – The plasma levels of the opsonic glycoprotein fibronectin are decreased in patients with fulminant hepatic failure, which may be an important factor in their impaired host‐defense. Twenty‐nine patients in fulminant hepatic failure were studied on admission, and the mean fibronectin level in Grade 0–2 encephalopathy was 82 μg per ml (range = 0 to 150) and in Grade 3–4 encephalopathy 61 μg per ml (range = 5 to 158) as compared to normal controls (268 μg per ml, range = 178 to 380, n = 62).

Harriet C. Mitchison, Margaret F. Bassendine, Alex Hendrick, Mark K. Bennett, Graham Bird, Alexander J. Watson, Oliver F. W. James – 1 November 1986 – Twenty‐nine patients with a positive antimitochondrial antibody titer ≥1/40, who were detected during screening for other autoimmune disease, are described who had a normal serum bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and transaminase and who had no symptoms of liver disease at presentation.

1 November 1986

B. A. Runyon, D. Jüngst, A. L. Gerbes, G. Paumgartner – 1 November 1986

A. K. Burroughs – 1 November 1986 – Between October, 1981 and December 1983, 46 consecutive unselected cirrhotic patients who had been admitted for variceal hemorrhage were assigned to propranolol for the prevention of variceal rebleeding and followed for a mean period of 13.3 months (ranges: 1 day, 45 months). At the time of inclusion, 87 p. 100 of patients had alcoholic cirrhosis: ascites was present in 43 p. 100, jaundice in 43 p. 100 and encephalopathy in 33 p. 100 of cases.

Michael A. Gerber, Pedro J. Grases – 1 November 1986 – A new type of ground‐glass hepatocyte is described. The appearance is due to pale, homogeneous, weakly eosinophilic inclusions filling a portion of or the entire hepatocytic cytoplasm. On haematoxylin and eosin stained sections, these cells closely resemble ground‐glass hepatocytes described in other conditions. However, they are negative on special stains for HBsAg and on PAS staining. Immunohistochemically, they reveal a selective and exclusive positivity for fibrinogen.

Alan F. Hofmann, Nicholas F. Larusso – 1 November 1986

Karen L. Lindsay, J. Anne Nizze, Ronald Koretz, Gary Gitnick – 1 November 1986 – Numerous tests to detect anti‐HBc IgM have been developed and shown to have different degrees of sensitivity and specificity. One of these assays, Corzyme®‐M (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill.), recently became commercially available. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the clinical utility of this anti‐HBc IgM test in establishing the diagnosis of acute hepatitis B using sera from a group of 42 prospectively followed individuals who had been exposed to hepatitis B virus.

Robert P. Perrillo, Fredric G. Regenstein – 1 November 1986

Louis M. Havekes, Hans Verboom, Elly de Wit, Sing Hiem Yap, Hans M. G. Princen – 1 November 1986 – The low density lipoprotein receptor activity was measured in primary cultures of human hepatocytes. The receptor‐mediated association and degradation of low density lipoprotein increased gradually up to 140 and 190%, respectively, upon incubation of the cells with increasing amounts of whole serum (up to 100%).