K. W. O'Connor – 1 July 1986 – A model has been developed for ordering diagnostic tests in jaundiced patients. The system proceeds in two steps: (i) diagnostic hypotheses are calculated for each patient from the results of physical examination and routine biological investigations; (ii) given these hypotheses, the most efficient test (out of 22) for reaching the final diagnosis is selected using four criteria: diagnostic value, risk, financial cost, and time in obtaining the result. This model was tested in 62 patients.

Juan J. Díaz‐Gil, Gonzalo Sánchez, Luis Santamaría, Carolina Trilla, Paloma Esteban, Pedro Escartín – 1 July 1986 – A liver DNA synthesis promoter activity was detected in human plasma from subjects with hepatitis. The assay procedure consisted of intraperitoneal injection into mice of aliquots of plasma, previously chromatographed on Sephadex G‐25. After 24 hr, [3H]thymidine was injected and its incorporation into liver DNA measured.

Mikio Hikata, Katsumi Tachibana, Mitsunobu Imai, Shigeko Naito, Akira Oinuma, Fumio Tsuda, Yuzo Miyakawa, Makoto Mayumi – 1 July 1986 – Solid‐phase radioimmunoassays using monoclonal antibodies were used to assay antibody to hepatitis B core antigen of immunoglobulin A class in terms of polymeric and monomeric forms, as well as of IgA1 and IgA2 subclasses, in the serum of persons infected with hepatitis B virus.

Paul Weber, Judith Brenner, Ernst Stechemesser, Reinhild Klein, Ulrike Weckenmann, Günter Klöppel, Manfred Kirchhof, Volker Fintelmann, Peter A. Berg – 1 July 1986 – A new complement‐fixing antimitochondrial antibody–anti‐M8–was detected in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. Anti‐M8 was only found in association with anti‐M2, however, not all anti‐M2 positive patients had anti‐M8.

Roger Williams – 1 July 1986 – The analgesic effect, toxicity and kinetics of oral paracetamol were compared with those of paracetamol + l‐methionine (5:1). The analgesic effect of paracetamol, studied in the Randall‐Selitto test in rats, was not changed by methionine: ED50 was 94.6 mg/kg without methionine and 94.1 mg/kg with it. However, methionine reduced the acute toxicity (LD50) of paracetamol by 50% (p < 0.05) in non‐fasted, fasted and phenobarbital‐pre‐treated mice.

Amador Schuller, José A. Solis‐Herruzo, Jorge Moscat, J. C. Fernandez‐Checa, Angel M. Municio – 1 July 1986 – The physical properties of cell membranes play an important role in cellular homeostasis. Previous studies with animal models have shown that the hepatocyte membrane fluidity has important effects in cellular function. In order to further investigate the relationship between physical properties of membranes and liver disease, the present study was performed. Twenty‐nine patients with different degrees of liver injury and 10 control individuals were studied.

Mauro Pirovino, Michel Aguet, Marcel Huber, Josef Altorfer, Martin Schmid – 1 July 1986 – Amounts of interferon were measured in sera from 59 patients with acute viral hepatitis and 49 patients with chronic hepatitis B and compared to those from patients with nonviral liver disease or influenza, and from healthy controls. In all patients with acute and chronic viral hepatitis, no serum interferon could be detected, confirming data from earlier studies of acute viral hepatitis in which no circulating interferon was found.

Hubertus Nederbragt, Aart J. Lagerwerf – 1 July 1986 – Biliary copper excretion was studied in male, bilecannulated rats of the inbred strains Fischer, Brown Norway, WAG/Rij and Lewis. After intravenous injection of 10, 30 and 50 μg copper per 100 gm body weight, two patterns of copper excretion were observed; their profiles varied with the copper dose and the strain of the rats used. The lowest amounts of copper were excreted by Fischer rats, the highest by WAG/Rij rats; this was related to the effect of the copper dose on both patterns.

Jerome B. Zeldis – 1 July 1986 – Nucleocapsid‐pol fusion proteins have been detected by serological screening hepatocellular carcinoma tissues that contain hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA. The existence of these fusion proteins suggests that HBV may synthesize its reverse transcriptase in a fashion analogous to the way that retroviruses synthesize and process a precursor. The accumulation of HBV reverse transcriptase intermediates in tumorous tissues and not in other tissues may be related to the absence of viral core particles and possibly contributes to tumor development.

Lawrence Lumeng – 1 July 1986