Jose Ribalta, Humberto Reyes, Manuel C. Gonzalez, Joaquin Iglesias, Marco Arrese, Jaime Poniachik, Claudina Molina, Nelly Segovia – 1 June 1991 – S‐Adenosyl‐L‐methionine has been reported to induce beneficial effects in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. Because cholestasis of pregnancy has a high prevalence in Chile and a deleterious effect on fetal prognosis, we decided to verify the efficacy of S‐adenosyl‐L‐methionine in this disease.

Andrea Crosigani, Mauro Podda, Emanuela Bertolini, Pier Maria Battezzati, Massimo Zuin, Kenneth D. R. Setchell – 1 June 1991 – Ursodeoxycholic acid was administered to a patient with benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis to prevent cholestatic episodes. A detailed study of bile acid metabolism in this patient was carried out in the anicteric and icteric phases before and after ursodeoxycholic acid (750 mg/day) administration. Urinary, biliary and serum bile acids were measured by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and by highperformance liquid chromatography techniques.

T. Jake Liang, Yaacov Baruch, Edna Ben‐Porath, Rafael Enat, Lucyna Bassan, Nancy V. Brown, Nurit Rimon, Hubert E. Blum, Jack R. Wands – 1 June 1991 – We studied 67 HBsAg‐negative Israeli patients (36 negative for all HBV serological markers as group 1 and 31 positive for antibodies to HBs and HBc as group 2) with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis of unknown origin using a rapid, sensitive and specific assay for the detection of low levels of hepatitis B virus in serum.

Kayhan T. Nouri‐Aria, Joachim Arnold, Fergus Davison, Bernard C. Portmann, Anthony Meager, Alan G. Morris, Graeme J. M. Alexander, Adrian L. W. F. Eddleston, Roger Williams – 1 June 1991 – In this study we have examined the localization of interferon‐α in liver tissue from acute and chronic hepatitis B virus carriers to establish whether the defect in interferon‐α production reported in chronic hepatitis B virus infection is at a pretranscriptional or posttranscriptional level using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques.

Michael J. Krowka, Patricia M. Grambsch, Eric S. Edell, Denis A. Cortese, E. Rolland Dickson – 1 June 1991 – We studied the relationship between selected variables of hepatic and pulmonary function in 47 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, who were participating in a prospective study to assess sequential pulmonary function at yearly intervals. An additional 20 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, who were liver transplant candidates awaiting transplantation, were studied. None of the 67 patients ever smoked cigarettes.

Kiyohiko Kurai, Shiro Iino, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Kazumi Shimoda, Kunihiko Hino – 1 June 1991 – We have separated circulating HBeAg into small and large molecular forms by agarose gel electrophoresis and analyzed the relationship between the two forms and other clinical features of chronic hepatitis B, especially in regard to liver cell damage.

Kazuaki Chayama, Satoshi Saitoh, Yasuji Arase, Kenji Ikeda, Toyomi Matsumoto, Yoko Sakai, Mariko Kobayashi, Masamitsu Unakami, Tsuto Morinagaa, Hiromitsu Kumada – 1 June 1991 – Hepatitis C virus RNA as detected by reverse transcription and nested polymerase chain reaction was monitored in 16 patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon. Hepatitis C virus RNA became undetectable after 4 to 8 wk of interferon administration in 13 of the 16 patients.

1 June 1991

Albert Geerts, Jean‐Marc Lazou, Pieter de Bleser, Eddie Wisse – 1 June 1991 – In this study, we have investigated the cell population kinetics of fat‐storing cells in livers of rats intoxicated with CCl4. Fat‐storing cells were identified in cryostat sections by immunoperoxidase staining of desmin. The peroxidase label was visualized using diaminobenzidine/hydrogen peroxide containing Ni2+ and Co2+‐ions (Nico/diaminobenzidine method). In normal rats, we found 12.8 fat‐storing cells/0.1 mm2 in periportal areas vs. 9.4 in pericentral fields.

Giacomo Laffi, Fabio Marra, Giampiero Buzzelli, Giuseppe Azzena, Egidio Meacci, Maria Laura De Feo, Giorgio La Villa, Paolo Gentilini – 1 June 1991 – In a randomized double‐blind trial we compared the effects of torasemide, a new loop diuretic, and furosemide in nonazotemic cirrhotic patients with ascites during a 3‐day period in association with potassium canrenoate (200 mg/day) administration. Doses of loop diuretics administered in this trial (10 and 25 mg/day of torasemide and furosemide, respectively) had been shown to be equipotent in healthy subjects.