R. J. Anderson, H. T. Sponsel, S. E. Brown, R. Breckon, C. Ray, F. R. Simon, P. S. Guzelian – 30 December 2003 – The effect of ethanol on the ability of a denuded hepatocyte cell surface to recover is unknown. We therefore determined the effect of ethanol on the rate of renewal of mechanical wounds made in near‐confluent monolayers of primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. We found that ethanol exerted a dose‐dependent effect to impair rat hepatocyte recovery and that at least 12 hours of exposure to ethanol was required to induce this impairment.

M. A. Gertz, R. A. Kyle – 30 December 2003 – The purpose of this study was to assess prognostic factors and survival in patients with liver involvement in immunoglobulin light‐chain amyloidosis. Comparisons were made with other patients with immunoglobulin light‐chain amyloidosis who did not have liver involvement. A total of 77 consecutively seen patients were evaluated: 19 had hepatic amyloidosis and 58 had amyloidosis without liver involvement. Eighteen of 19 patients with liver amyloidosis could be histologically diagnosed without needle biopsy of the liver.

W B Coleman, S C Presnell – 1 December 1996

D Luo, K Vanderkerken, L Bouwens, P J Kuppen, M Baekeland, C Seynaeve, E Wisse – 1 December 1996 – Previous studies showed that blood large granular lymphocytes (LGL), which possess natural killer (NK) activity, develop within rat liver sinusoids into high‐density (HD) and subsequently into low‐density (LD) pit cells which show an increasing level and spectrum of tumor cytotoxicity. In this study, we investigated the role of adhesion molecules, such as CD2, CD11a, CD18, and CD54 in the recruitment of pit cells to the liver.

J Salo, W Jimenez, M Kuhn, A Gines, P Gines, G Fernandez‐Esparrach, P Angeli, J Claria, R Bataller, V Arroyo, W Forssmann, J Rodes – 1 December 1996 – Cirrhotic patients with ascites show increased plasma levels of natriuretic peptides from cardiac origin (i.e., atrial natriuretic peptide [ANP] and brain natriuretic peptide [BNP]). Urodilatin is a unique member of the natriuretic peptide family because it is exclusively synthesized in the kidney acting on a paracrine fashion in the regulation of sodium excretion.

T Dorner, E Feist, C Held, K Conrad, G R Burmester, F Hiepe – 1 December 1996 – Antibodies against the 52‐kd Ro(SS‐A) protein are significantly associated with the primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS). A small proportion of patients suffering from primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) with secondary Sjogren's syndrome (PBC/SS) who are serologically characterized by antimitochondrial type 2 antibodies also express anti‐52‐kd Ro(SS‐A) antibodies.

1 December 1996

K G Benner – 1 December 1996

M L Shiffman – 1 December 1996

M Van de Castelle, G Van Roey, F Nevens, J Fevery – 1 December 1996 – The optimal dose of spironolactone to reduce portal vein pressure, alone or in combination with isosorbide‐5‐mononitrate (IsMn), has not been identified. We studied the effects of 8 days oral treatment with spironolactone, IsMn or both on portal pressure, plasma volume and renal sodium handling in rats with partial portal vein ligation. At daily doses of 0.33; 0.50; 1, and 1.50 mg/kg, spironolactone reduced portal pressure (all P < .05) as compared with placebo.