Denis Vetter, Jean‐Jacques Wenger, Jean‐Michel Bergier, Michel Doffoel, René Bockel – 1 March 1991 – Transcatheter oily chemoembolization is widely used as palliative therapy for inoperable hepatocellalar carcinoma in high‐incidence Asiatic areas. To assess its usefulness in the Western form of this cancer, 20 French patients were treated between 1987 and 1990 by intraarterial hepatic injection of a Lipiodoldoxorubicin emulsion followed by embolization with 0.5 to 1 mm gelatin sponge particles. The number of procedures ranged from one to five.

Alexander L. Gerbes, Margit C. Kollenda, Angelika M. Vollmar, JÜRg Reichen, Nimish Vakil, Robert M. Scarborough – 1 March 1991 – The renal response to atrial natriuretic factor is blunted in cirrhosis with ascites. This might be due to alterations of renal receptors for atrial natriuretic factor. Therefore density and affinity of glomerular atrial natriuretic factor binding sites of bile duct–ligated rats with ascites (n = 10) and of sham‐operated controls (n = 10) were determined.

Yang‐Te Tsai, Fa‐Yauh Lee, Han‐Chieh Lin, Shou‐Dong Lee, Hsiao‐Chung Hsia, Wen‐Jeh Lin, Sun‐Sang Wang, Chii‐Shyan Lay, Kwok‐Hung Lai, Kwang‐Juei Lo – 1 March 1991 – It has been suggested that vasopressin given during hemorrhage may be less effective than when given during a stable state in a portal‐hypertensive rat model. This study was designed to evaluate the hemodynamic response to vasopressin infusion in 25 HBsAgpositive cirrhotic patients.

Henk J. Blom, Peter Ferenci, Georg Grimm, Sing H. Yap, Albert Tangerman – 1 March 1991 – Mixed disulfides of methanethiol represent a relative estimate for an exposure to methanethiol. The concentrations of methanethiol‐mixed disulfides, methionine, 4‐methylthio‐2‐oxobutyrate and ammonia were measured in patients with different stages of hepatic encephalopathy, in patients with chronic kidney failure and in healthy subjects. In patients with hepatic encephalopathy, the mean serum concentrations of all these compounds were elevated.

Yoshimichi Haruna, Norio Hayashi, Kazuhiro Katayama, Nobukabu Yuki, Akinori Kasahara, Yutaka Sasaki, Hideyuki Fusamoto, Takenobu Kamada – 1 March 1991 – The X protein can act on the enhancer of hepatitis B virus in an in vitro system and elevate the transcriptional level of hepatitis B virus. However, because no relationship had been reported between X protein expression and hepatitis B virus replication in patients with chronic hepatitis B, we focused on its expression in the liver in comparison with markers of hepatitis B virus replication.

Chien‐Jen Chen, Kung‐Yee Liang, Ah‐Seng Chang, Yo‐Chi Chang, Sheng‐Nan Lu, Yun‐Fan Liaw, Wen‐Yu Chang, Maw‐Chang Sheen, Tong‐Ming Lin – 1 March 1991 – Independent and interactive effects related to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma were assessed using a community‐based case‐control study for hepatitis B virus, habitual alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, peanut consumption and history of hepatocellular carcinoma among the immediate family.

Devorah Gurantz, Claudio D. Schteingart, Lee R. Hagey, Joseph H. Steinbach, Thomas Grotmol, Alan F. Hofmann – 1 March 1991 – Using the isolated perfused rat and hamster liver, the relationship between bile flow, bile acid secretion rate and bile acid biotransformation after the injection of a small, bolus dose of radioactive ursodeoxycholate or of its C23 homolog, norursodeoxycholate, was examined. Ursodeoxycholate was promptly secreted into bile mostly as amino acid conjugates; <3% was secreted in unchanged form in the rat and <2% in the hamster.

Z. Reno Vlahcevic, Douglas M. Heuman, Phillip B. Hylemon – 1 March 1991

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

Adrian Greenstein – 1 March 1991