Ernst Stechemesser, Reinhild Klein, Peter A. Berg – 1 July 1993 – The isolation of a marker antigen from rat liver and pancreas tissue, which reacts with antibodies in a subtype of autoimmune hepatitis by complement fixation test, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot, is described. The liver‐pancreas antigen could be detected in tissue from different human or animal organs, but liver and pancreas yielded the highest activity.

Andrea Fabbri, Giulio Marchesini, Giampaolo Bianchi, Elisabetta Bugianesi, Lucia Bortoluzzi, Marco Zol, Emilio Pis – 1 July 1993 – Glucagon exerts an up‐regulatory effect on hepatic nitrogen metabolism in healthy subjects, but its potential role in the presence of liver failure is uncertain.

Takeshi Seki, Kendo Kiyosawa, Masao Ota, Seiichi Furuta, Hirofumi Fukushima, Eiji Tanaka, Kaname Yoshizawa, Toshiko Kumagai, Nobuhisa Mizuki, Asako And, Hidetoshi Inok – 1 July 1993 – To investigate the relationship between distribution of human leukocyte antigen alleles and susceptibility to primary biliary cirrhosis among Japanese, we performed serological typing and human leukocyte antigen DP genotyping in 47 Japanese patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Christian Cortinovis, Fritz Klimek, Enrique Nogueira – 1 July 1993 – Adenylate cyclase activity was measured in microdissected samples from lyophilized cryostat sections of rat liver by means of an improved assay. Livers were obtained from adult Sprague‐Dawley rats fasted for 22 hr. Adenylate cyclase activities, basal and those elicited by various agents, were determined in dissected samples from periportal and pericentral regions of the classic liver lobule.

Katsuaki Tanaka, Konomi Mitsui, Manabu Morimoto, Kazushi Numata, Shuji Inoue, Yutaro Takamur, Makoto Masumura – 1 July 1993 – To evaluate the effect of acute viral hepatitis on hepatic arterial blood flow, we performed color Doppler sonography with point‐spectral analysis in 15 patients with acute viral hepatitis and compared the results with those in 15 normal volunteers. During the acute phase of hepatitis, the peak‐systolic and enddiastolic velocity of the hepatic artery were significantly larger than those in normal arteries (p <0.01).

Nick Sheron, George Bird, John Koskinas, Bernard Portmann, Miroslav Ceska, Ivan Lindley, Roger William – 1 July 1993 – Acute alcoholic hepatitis is characterized by a unique degree of liver neutrophil infiltration, often accompanied by marked peripheral neutrophilia in the absence of demonstrable bacterial or fungal infection. In this study we assayed plasma and tissue levels of a potent neutrophil activator and chemotaxin, interleukin‐8, in patients with a spectrum of alcoholic liver diseases and in normal and diseased control subjects.

Christine Silvain, Stéphane Carpentier, Denis Sautereau, Bella Czernichow, Jean‐michel Métreau, Eric Fort, Pierre Ingrand, Jean Boyer, Bernard Pillegand, Michel Doffël, Daniel Dhumeaux, Michel Beauchan – 1 July 1993 – We undertook a multicenter randomized trial to compare the efficacy of terlipressin combined with transdermal nitroglycerin and that of octreotide in the emergency control of acute variceal hemorrhage in cirrhosis.

Jen‐Hwey Chiu, Li‐Hwa Wu, Hwa‐Li Kao, Hwey‐May Chang, Shyh‐Haw Tsay, Che‐Chuan Loong, Gar‐Yang Cha, Wing‐Yu Lui – 1 July 1993 – To test the hypothesis that increased proliferative capacity of cells in a liver remnant is a risk factor for tumor recurrence in patients who have undergone liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma, DNA flow‐cytometric measurement and cell‐cycle analysis of the nontumor parts of resected hepatocellular carcinomas (tumor size <5 cm) were performed. The disease‐free survival rates 1, 2, 3 and 4 yr after surgery were 64%, 58%, 43%, and 36%, respectively.

Florence Lacaille, Khazal Paradis – 1 July 1993 – Ursodeoxycholic acid is an efficient treatment for putatively immune‐mediated liver diseases, but its mechanism of action is unknown. We studied human mononuclear cell proliferation as an in vitro model for cell‐mediated immunity in the presence of ursodeoxycholic acid, its glycoconjugate and tauroconjugate and chenodeoxycholic acid at concentrations of 5, 25 and 50 μmol/L.

1 July 1993