J. Michael Henderson, Mark A. Codner, Bettye Hollins, Michael H. Kutner, Alfred H. Merrill – 1 May 1986 – This study established the fasting plasma and urine profiles of vitamin B6 in cirrhotics and assessed the response to an oral dose of pyridoxine. High‐performance liquid chromatography was used to measure all vitameric coenzymatic and degradatory forms.

Chi‐Woon Kong, Chii‐Shyan Lay, Yang‐Te Tsai, Ching‐Lan Yeh, Kwok‐Hung Lai, Shou‐Dong Lee, Kwang‐Juei Lo, Benjamin N. Chiang – 1 May 1986 – Wedged hepatic venous pressure, free hepatic venous pressure and cardiac index were measured before and 1 hr after i.v. administration as well as 1 month and 3 months after chronic oral administration of verapamil in 10 patients with HBsAg‐positive cirrhosis.

Alexander E. S. Gimson, David Westaby, John Hegarty, Alastair Watson, Roger Williams – 1 May 1986 – A randomized trial was undertaken to determine efficacy of nitroglycerin when added to a vasopressin infusion in both reducing the complication rate and giving improved control of acute variceal hemorrhage. Seventy‐two bleeding episodes in 57 patients were included, with vasopressin beng used on 34 occasions and vasopressin plus nitroglycerin on 38 occasions, for an infusion period of 12 hr.

Mauro Bernardi, Rossana De Palma, Franco Trevisani, Costanza Santini, Daniela Patrono, Roberto Motta, Donatella Servadei, Govanni Gasbarrini – 1 May 1986 – Muzolimine is a loop diuretic with both the dosedepend increasing effectiveness of loop diurexctics and the long‐lasting effect of thiazides. This is a potential advantage in the treatment of ascites in advanced cirrhosis since these patients have a low tolerance to sudden reductions of blood volume.

Thierry Frébourg, Bertrand Delpech, Eric Bercoff, Jacques Senant, Philippe Bertrand, Yves Deugnier, Jacques Bourreille – 1 May 1986 – It has been suggested that glycosaminoglycans are involved in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis. Furthermore, recent studies have reported that one of them, hyaluronate, was mainly taken up and degraded by the liver. Using an enzymoimmunological assay, based on hyaluronate‐hyaluronectin interaction, serum levels of hyaluronate were measured in 113 patients with various liver diseases.

Shakuntla Seetharam, Norman L. Sussman, Tsugikazu Komoda, David H. Alpers – 1 May 1986 – Alkaline phosphatase activity in the liver and intestine increases after bile duct ligation, reportedly by increased enzyme synthesis. To ascertain the mechanism of this increased synthesis in the absence of a cDNA clone encoding the enzyme, we have estimated the concentration of liver and intestinal alkaline phosphatase mRNA by translational analysis. Monospecific antiserum to rat placental alkaline phosphatase was raised.

Massimo Pignatelli, Jenny Waters, Dave Brown, Andrew Lever, Sten Iwarson, Zsuzsa Schaff, Robert Gerety, Howard C. Thomas – 1 May 1986 – In a chimpanzee model of acute type B hepatitis, at the time of onset of hepatitis B virus replication and before the development of immunity to hepatitis B virus, interferon is present in the plasma. This is followed by an increase in the display of HLA class I, but not class II proteins, on the hepatocyte membrane.

I. James Sarfeh, A. Tarnawski – 1 May 1986 – This paper reports the incidence and natural history of macroscopic gastritis in a series of 127 consecutive patients with portal hypertension of various aetiologies. Gastritis was observed endoscopically in 65 patients (51%) and was of two main types. Twenty eight patients had severe or persistent gastritis which caused clinically significant bleeding on 80 occasions and accounted for 25% of the bleeds from all sources. The remainder had mild gastritis.

Gregory J. Gores, Louis J. Kost, Nicholas F. Larusso – 1 May 1986

Santiago Muñoz, Mackenzie Walser – 1 May 1986 – The incorporation of orally administered 1‐14C‐α‐ketoisocaproate into the leucine of proteins in rats was compared with the incorporation of [3H]leucine itself administered simultaneously and expressed as a ratio, R. This ratio in whole body protein has been shown to be approximately equal to the nutritional efficiency of α‐ketoisocaproate as a dietary substitute for leucine.