Norman D. Grace – 1 April 1989 – There is preliminary evidence that colchicine, an inhibitor of collagen synthesis, may be beneficial in the treatment of cirrhosis of the liver. To evaluate the use of colchicine (1 mg per day, five days per week) in the treatment of hepatic cirrhosis, we performed a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial in which 100 patients were followed for up to 14 years. Forty‐five patients had alcoholic cirrhosis, 41 had posthepatitic cirrhosis, and the remaining 14 had cirrhosis with various other causes.

1 April 1989

Felix J. Frey, Heinz J. Schaad, Eberhard L. Renner, Fritz F. Horber, Brigitte M. Frey, Rudolf Preisig – 1 April 1989 – Hepatic failure as a cause of death is increased in stable renal allograft recipients when compared with patients on dialysis. In order to assess the magnitude and the natural history of the hepatic functional derangement, the kinetics of xenobiotics which are metabolized by cytosolic (galactose) or microsomal (prednisolone, cyclosporine A) enzymes were determined in 28 consecutive stable kidney transplant patients 1 month and 1 year after transplantation.

A. Brian West – 1 April 1989

Valerie Keegan‐Rogers, George Y. Wu – 1 April 1989

Subramanian Ranganathan, Bruce A. Kottke – 1 April 1989 – The uptake and degradation of low‐density lipoproteins and the esterification and synthesis of cholesterol were poorly down‐regulated by low‐density lipoproteins in HepG2 cells. Addition of low‐density lipoproteins to the cells increased the free and esterified cholesterol in the cells. The heavier fraction of high‐density lipoproteins enhanced the degradation of low‐density lipoproteins and cholesterol synthesis and decreased acyl CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase activity.

Andrew Macfadyen, Kang‐Jey Ho – 1 April 1989 – This experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that orally administered D‐glucaro‐1,4‐lactone might be excreted in the bile and thus suppress the activity of biliary β‐glucuronidase, which is believed to play a key role in the development of pigment gallstones. D‐Glucaro‐1,4‐lactone, 50 to 2,600 μmoles, was fed to adult Sprague‐Dawley rats which had a bile fistula and were kept in metabolic cages for bile and urine collection. A total of 21 feeding experiments were carried out.

Sugantha Govindarajan – 1 April 1989

1 April 1989

Nimish Vakil, Ali Abu‐Alfa, Salim K. Mujais – 1 April 1989 – The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that the presence of a specific hepatobiliary disease, namely common bile duct obstruction, in the absence of other risk factors will exacerbate gentamicin nephrotoxicity. Furthermore, since bile duct ligation decreases urinary calcium excretion, we studied the role of calcium supplementation in the prevention of gentamicin nephrotoxicity in this model. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats were allocated to sham groups and common bile duct ligation groups.