Steven D. Lidofsky, Nathan M. Bass, Marie C. Prager, Denna E. Washington, Alexandra E. Read, Teresa L. Wright, Nancy L. Ascher, John P. Roberts, Bruce F. Scharschmidt, John R. Lake – 1 July 1992 – Cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension, commonly present in fulminant hepatic failure, may lead to brainstem herniation and limit the survival of comatose patients awaiting liver transplantation before a donor organ becomes available. Also, they are likely responsible for postoperative neurological morbidity and mortality.

Peter M. Price, Ranjit Banerjee, Alan M. Jeffrey, George Acs – 1 July 1992 – The carbocyclic analog of deoxyguanosine inhibits hepatitis B virus replication by greater than 95% in the hepatitis B virus‐producing cell line (2.2.15) as monitored by decreases of secreted hepatitis B virus DNA, hepatitis B virus polymerase activity and intracellular episomal hepatitis B virus DNA. Transcription of hepatitis B virus RNA from chromosomally integrated hepatitis B virus DNA was unaffected.

Marlies Otter, PETRA Žočková, Johan Kuiper, Theo J. C. Van Berkel, Marrie M. Barrett‐Bergshoeff, Dingeman C. Rijken – 1 July 1992 – Various studies have shown that mannose receptors rapidly eliminate glycoproteins and microorganisms bearing high mannose–type carbohydrate chains from the blood circulation. The purpose of this study was to characterize the mannose receptor in the liver, which in vivo is involved in the rapid clearance of tissue‐type plasminogen activator from the circulation.

Marios Z. Panos, John V. Anderson, Nadia Payne, Peter Langley, Jeremy D. H. Slater, Lesley Rees, Roger Williams – 1 July 1992 – Measurements of plasma atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations at 8 AM showed raised levels in 21 patients with cirrhosis and ascites (10.5 ± 0.8 pmol/L) compared with levels in 10 age‐matched controls (4.1 ± 0.64 pmol/L; p < 0.0001). In eight patients and 10 controls, atrial natriuretic peptide, plasma renin activity, plasma aldosterone and urinary sodium excretion were measured every 4 hr for 24 hr.

Luigi Barbara, Giovanna Benzi, Stefano Gaiani, Fabio Fusconi, Gianni Zironi, Sebastiano Siringo, Alessandra Rigamonti, Carlotta Barbara, Walter Grigioni, Alighieri Mazziotti, Luigi Bolondi – 1 July 1992 – We analyzed the growth pattern of tumor masses and the survival of 39 asymptomatic Italian patients with a total of 59 small (⩽ 5 cm in diameter) hepatocellular carcinomas arising from cirrhosis. The total length of the observation period ranged from 90 to 962 days, with an average of 364 ± 229 (mean ± S.D.).

S. Sushma, S. Dasarathy, Rakesh K. Tandon, Satish Jain, Surya Gupta, Mahender S. Bhist – 1 July 1992 – A prospective randomized double‐blind study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of sodium benzoate in the treatment of acute portal‐systemic encephalopathy. Seventy‐four consecutive patients with cirrhosis or surgical portasystemic anastamosis and hepatic encephalopathy of less than 7 days duration were randomized to receive lactulose (dose adjusted for 2 or 3 semiformed stools/day) or sodium benzoate (5 gm twice daily).

Thomas W. Mc Closkey, Jeanine A. Todaro, Debra L. Laskin – 1 July 1992 – Endothelial cells and macrophages are located within the hepatic sinusoids. These two cell types play an important role in the clearance of bacterially derived lipopolysaccharide from the portal circulation. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that treatment of rats with lipopolysaccharide results in the accumulation of macrophages in the liver that display properties of activated mononuclear phagocytes. This study was designed to analyze the effects of lipopolysaccharide on hepatic endothelial cells.

Beat Hornstein, Lukas Stammler, Leonardo Bianchi, Lukas Landmann – 1 July 1992 – Structural alterations of liver parenchyma caused by ethinylestradiol, a synthetic estrogen known to induce cholestasis and to act as a tumor promoter factor, were investigated. Male rats treated with 17α‐ethinylestradiol (5 mg/kg body weight for 5 days) were compared with controls (n = 5 each). After perfusion fixation and systematic random sampling, paraffin sections, semithin sections and thin sections were examined observing standard stereological techniques.

1 June 1992

Michiko Shindo, Adrian M. di Bisceglie, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 1 June 1992 – We reanalyzed the results of a pilot study of recombinant α‐interferon therapy for chronic non‐A, non‐B hepatitis in light of the recent discovery of the hepatitis C virus and the development of diagnostic assays for this agent. Stored serum samples from 10 patients treated between 1984 and 1986 were tested for antibody to hepatitis C virus and hepatitis C virus RNA before, during and after therapy.