Bruce A. Runyon, Dennis E. Van Epps – 1 May 1986 – Serial ascitic fluid samples were obtained during diuresis in seven patients with portal hypertension‐related ascites. The samples were tested for concentrations of total protein, CH100, C3 and C4 as well as for in vitro opsonic activity. These parameters were all found to increase to a statistically significant degree when the initial specimen was compared to the final specimen: total protein=1.5 vs. 2.7 gm per dl; CH100=9.3 vs. 20.2 units per ml; C3=13.4 vs. 23.8 mg per dl; C4=1.9 vs. 3.6 mg per dl, and opsonic activity=0.8 vs.

Agata Budkowska, Pascal Dubreuil, Francis Capel, Jacques Pillot – 1 May 1986 – A solid‐phase radioimmunoassay involving specific antibody was developed for determination of the pre‐S gene‐encoded epitopes of hepatitis B virus and anti‐pre‐S antibody in sera of hepatitis B patients. The reaction for pre‐S determinants associated with HBsAg was quantitatively inhibited by soluble, polymerized human serum albumin, and the lower limit of the assay was about 1.6 ng of HBsAg per ml.

Lynwood Hammers – 1 May 1986

I. A. Sherman, M. M. Fisher – 1 May 1986 – Experiments were undertaken to evaluate the role of intravital epifluorescent TV microscopy in the study of the hepatic transport of sodium fluorescein and fluorescently labeled sodium glycocholate in rats and hamsters.

Masahiro Arakawa, Masayoshi Kage, Shin‐Ichi Matsumoto, Yasuhisa Akagi, Takemi Noda, Kazunori Fukuda, Toshiro Nakashima, Kunio Okuda – 1 May 1986 – Histological examination of the wall of the stomach and esophagus in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma associated with cirrhosis demonstrated intravariceal tumor thrombi in 13 (23.6%) of 55 cases studied. There were distant hematogenous metastases in 31 of them, of whom 12 (38.7%) had variceal tumor thrombi. Tumor thrombi were of varying sizes, and tumor cells appeared either intact, degenerated or necrotic.

Harold O. Conn – 1 May 1986

Emanuel Sikuler, Roberto J. Groszmann – 1 May 1986 – It is not known whether the hyperdynamic state which has been observed in several experimental models and in patients with portal hypertension reflects a temporary phase during the evolution of the portal hypertensive syndrome or is an expression of a permanent steady state. A hemodynamic study was performed in a group of rats with long‐standing portal hypertension induced by portal vein constriction performed 6.2 ± 0.1 months earlier.

Burton Combes – 1 May 1986

Michel Doffoel, Marie M. Tongio, Jean‐Pierre Gut, Guy Ventre, Alain Charrault, Denis Vetter, Marc Ledig, Marie L. North, Simone Mayer, René Bockel – 1 May 1986 – In order to study the genetic risk of alcoholic cirrhosis, the frequency of 26 HLA‐A and ‐B antigens was compared in 184 normal controls, 175 alcoholic cirrhotic patients and 83 alcoholic patients with hepatic steatosis of carefully selected ethnic origin. Eight HLA‐DR antigens were also determined in 95 subjects of the normal control group and 63 patients of the alcoholic cirrhosis group.

Edward Penner, Hans Goldenberg, Siegfried Meryn, Julian Gordon – 1 May 1986 – A dot‐immunobinding assay was established for the detection of antimitochondrial antibodies. Nitrocellulose strips were coated with sonicated rat liver mitochondria and incubated in the presence of human sera. The resulting immune complexes were visualized with an enzyme‐linked second antibody. Antimitochondrial antibodies were found in the sera of 96% of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, 17% of patients with autoimmune hepatitis and 4% of patients with progressive systemic sclerosis.