Agneta E. Ganning, Ulf Brunk, Gustav Dallner – 1 May 1984 – The advantageous properties of polyvinyl chloride plastics make these materials indispensable at all levels of human life, and there is no reason to believe that the upward trend of their use will change. One third of most polyvinyl chloride plastics consists of plasticizers, mostly phthalate esters, which may migrate out contaminating our environment and consequently our bodies. Experimental results indicate that chronic exposure to phthalic esters may be responsible for a number of adverse health effects.

Arie J. Zuckerman – 1 May 1984

Patricia S. Latham, Douglas R. Labrecque, John W. Mcreynolds, Gerald Klatskin – 1 May 1984 – The liver ultrastructural findings in two girls with partial carbamyl phosphate synthetase I (CPS) deficiency and their heterozygote parents and two siblings with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency are described. Liver ultrastructure in the four patients with inherited deficiences of urea cycle enzymes showed minimal alterations with essentially normal mitochondria when biopsy was performed during periods of good control of their hyperammonemia.

David Kravetz, Jaime Bosch, Josep Terés, Jordi Bruix, Antoni Rimola, Juan Rodés – 1 May 1984 – The present trial compared the effectiveness and complications of intravenous somatostatin and vasopressin in treatment of variceal bleeding. Sixty‐one cirrhotic patients with endoscopically proven active variceal bleeding were included. Both drugs were given as continuous intravenous infusions for 48 hr. Thirty patients received somatostatin (250 #ig per hr after a bolus of 50 ng) and 31 vasopressin (0.4 units per min).

Elinor H. Chen, Jorge J. Gumucio, Norman H. Ho, Deborah L. Gumucio – 1 May 1984 – The capacity of hepatocytes of Zones 1 and 3 of the liver acinus to conjugate sulfobromophthalein (BSP) with glutathione and to secrete the conjugate into bile was studied. BSP was infused into the in situ perfused rat liver in concentrations of 0.01 and 0.05 mM. Perfusions were performed either in the portal to hepatic vein direction (forward perfusion) or in the hepatic vein to portal vein direction (retrograde perfusion).

R. K. Chandra – 1 May 1984

Raymond S. Koff – 1 May 1984

Jaime Bosch, Roberto J. Groszmann – 1 May 1984 – A method to quantitate blood flow through the gastroesophageal collaterals in portal hypertensive patients was developed. Since gastroesophageal collaterals drain into the azygos system, it is postulated that measurement of blood flow in the azygos vein should provide a quantitative measurement of gastroesophageal collateral blood flow changes in portal hypertensive patients. Azygos blood flow was measured using a double thermodilution catheter directed under fluoroscopy to the azygos vein. Ten patients with alcoholic cirrhosis were studied.

Erik Christensen, Poul Schlichting, Lis Fauerholdt, Christian Gluud, Per Kragh Andersen, Erik Juhl, Hemming Poulsen, Niels Tygstrup, The Copenhagen Study Group For Liver Diseases – 1 May 1984 – The Child‐Turcotte criteria (CTC) (based on serum bilirubin and albumin, ascites, neurological disorder and nutrition) are established prognostic factors in patients with cirrhosis having portacaval shunt surgery. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of CTC in conservatively treated cirrhosis.

Hanspeter Spichtin, Fred Gudat, Hans Berthold, Gunthild Krey, Martin Schmid, Mauro Pirovino, Josef Altorfer, Georg Stalder, Gerald Eder, Leonardo Bianchi – 1 May 1984 – In an electron microscopic study, nuclear aggregates of virus‐like spherical and tubular particles measuring 20 to 29 nm in diameter were found in 5 of 7 clinically healthy volunteers with normal liver histology, 6 of 10 patients with hepatitis B and 17 of 18 patients with hepatitis non‐A, non‐B. The incidence of hepatocytes containing nuclear particles was approximately 0.5 to 2% in all three groups.