Ulrich Gärtner, Tobias Goeser, Adolf Stiehl, Richard Raedsch, Allan W. Wolkoff – 1 October 1990 – In patients with cholestasis, levels of sulfated bile acids rise. Sulfate esters of chenodeoxycholic acid are the most abundant of these bile acid sulfates. These compounds are taken up by the liver and excreted into bile, although their plasma clearance and biliary excretion are reduced compared with that of unsulfated bile acids. It is not clear whether this is due to differences in intrinsic hepatic uptake or biliary excretion.

John Carl Hoefs – 1 October 1990

Marshall M. Kaplan – 1 October 1990 – Ten histological criteria were evaluated semiquantitatively in the liver biopsies of 60 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before initiation of methotrexate (MTX) and were compared with 40 biopsies taken during MTX treatment (mean cumulative dose 1,322 mg). Mesenchymal changes (Kupffer cell proliferation, portal tract infiltration) and parenchymal alterations (nuclear variability, ballooning, fatty infiltration) were very common without statistically significant difference between the 2 groups.

Kendo Kiyosawa, Takeshi Sodeyama, Eiji Tanaka, Yukio Gibo, Kaname Yoshizawa, Yoshiyuki Nakano, Seiichi Furuta, Yoshihiro Akahane, Kusuya Nishioka, Robert H. Purcell, Harvey J.

Bruce A. Runyon – 1 October 1990 – Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is diagnosed when (a) the ascitic fluid culture is positive, (b) the ascitic fluid neutrophil count is ≥ 250 cells/mm3 and (c) there is no evident intraabdominal surgically treatable source for infection. Few details are available regarding the variant of ascitic fluid infection in which the culture grows bacteria (pure growth of a single type of organism), but the neutrophil count is <250 cells/mm3.

Douglas B. McGill – 1 October 1990

Wouter H. Lamers, Willem Been, Robert Charles, Antoon F. M. Moorman – 1 October 1990 – Urea cycle enzymes and glutamine synthetase are essential for NH3 detoxification and systemic pH homeostasis in mammals. Carbamoylphosphate synthetase, the first and flux‐determining enzyme of the cycle, is found only in a large periportal compartment, and glutamine synthetase is found only in a small, complementary pericentral compartment.

1 October 1990

Fergus D. Davison, Elizabeth A. Fagan, Bernard Portmann, Roger Williams – 1 October 1990 – One patient with the fibrolamellar variant of hepatocellular carcinoma was found to be seropositive for HBsAg and anti‐HBe. DNA from tumor and nontumor areas of the liver was examined by molecular hybridization for hepatitis B virus DNA sequences. Undigested DNA from the tumor gave a high‐molecular‐weight smear, and restriction‐enzyme analysis indicated a single instance of integration. Nontumor liver tissue was analyzed from three separate areas.

Cihan Yurdaydin, Heide Hörtnagl, Petra Steindl, Christof Zimmermann, Christian Pifl, Ernst A. Singer, Erich Roth, Peter Ferenci – 1 October 1990 – Functional changes of various neurotransmitter systems have been implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy. In this study the role of brain monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems in hepatic encephalopathy was investigated in rats with thioacetamide‐induced acute liver failure.