Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 1 March 1991

Adrian Greenstein – 1 March 1991

S. Chris Pappas – 1 March 1991

Beat Meyer, Hesheng Luo, Mario Bargetzi, Eberhard L. Renner, Georg A. Stalder – 1 March 1991 – Hepatic drug metabolism is decreased in patients with severe liver disease, but it is unclear to what extent this is due to altered hepatic blood flow or reduced intrinsic metabolic capacity. In this study we quantitated in needle‐biopsy specimens the intrinsic capacity of liver tissue from 67 patients with mild liver disease (n = 36), chronic active hepatitis (n = 16) and cirrhosis (n = 15) to metabolize two model compounds in vitro.

Horng‐I Yeh, G. D. V. Van Rossum – 1 March 1991 – We have studied the mechanism by which liver Golgi apparatus maintains the acidity of its contents, using a subcellular fraction from rat liver highly enriched in Golgi marker enzymes. Proton accumulation (measured by quenching of acridine‐orange fluorescence) and anion‐dependent ATPase were characterized and compared. Maximal ATPase and proton accumulation required ATP; GTP and other nucleotides gave 10% to 30% of maximal activity. Among anions, Cl− and Br− approximately doubled the activities; others were much less effective.

Jorge J. Gumucio, Paul Calés – 1 March 1991 – Endoscopic sclerotherapy is widely employed for esophageal variceal hemorrhage. However it has side effects and can aggravate portal hypertension by suppression of portosystemic shunt. The purpose of the present investigation was to study the effect of variceal thrombosis on hepatic venous pressure gradient and azygos blood flow. Eight alcoholic cirrhotic patients with a first variceal hemorrhage were included. According to Child Pugh's classification, 4 patients were group A, 2 group B and 2 group C. At each session 40 to 60 ml of 1 p.

Linda M. Fletcher, Ian Kwoh‐Gain, Elizabeth E. Powell, Lawrie W. Powell, June W. Halliday – 1 March 1991 – We report here the use of the biochemical marker desialylated transferrin to aid in the diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Conventional biochemical tests used for the detection of chronic alcohol consumption fail to differentiate nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients from alcoholic subjects.

Giampaolo Bianchi, Giulio Marchesini, Hendrik Vilstrup, Andrea Fabbri, Maria Stella De Mitri, Marco Zoli, Emilo Pisiél – 1 March 1991 – The functional hepatic nitrogen clearance during amino acid infusion is a measure of liver cell mass. The clinical feasibility of the test has so far been limited by methodological problems. A simplified procedure was used to measure the urea‐nitrogen synthesis rate and functional hepatic nitrogen clearance in nine subjects with normal liver function and in nine patients with cirrhosis.

Philip Carthew, Richard E. Edwards, Andrew G. Smith, Barbara Dorman, Jean E. Francis – 1 March 1991 – The parenteral administration of iron‐dextran complex to gerbils caused hepatic hemosiderosis and fibrosis after 6 wk. Type I and III collagen synthesis in the liver developed from perisinusoidal stellate cells that are often referred to as myofibroblasts. Immunohistologically these cells were shown to have large intracellular deposits of ferritin.

Patrick Marcellin, Nathalie Boyer, Emile Giostra, Claude Degott, Anne Marie Courouce, FrançOise Degos, Henri Coppere, Paul Cales, Patrice Couzigou, Jean‐Pierre Benhamou – 1 March 1991 – We have conducted a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing two doses of recombinant human α‐interferon for efficacy in 60 patients with chronic non‐A, non‐B hepatitis. The source of infection appeared to be transfusion in 30 patients, intravenous drug abuse in 16 patients and was unknown in 14 patients.