Gerald Y. Minuk, James K. Kelly, Wei‐Sek Hwang – 1 March 1988 – Three of five family members experienced symptoms and biochemical evidence of hepatitis that could not be explained on the basis of infectious, metabolic or immunologic disorders of the liver. A history of prolonged ingestion of moderate amounts of vitamin A (20,000 to 45,000 IU per day for 7 to 10 years) was obtained in each of the three family members and was absent in the remaining two unaffected individuals. A liver biopsy performed in one family member confirmed the diagnosis of vitamin A toxicity.

Philippe Marteau, François Ballet, Yves Chrétien, Colette Rey, Patrice Jaillon, Raoul Poupon – 1 March 1988 – We studied the effects of a series of 16 vasodilators on the intrahepatic vasoconstriction induced by norepinephrine in the isolated perfused rat liver.

K. N. Jeejeebhoy – 1 March 1988 – Total parenteral nutrition is now widely used in the treatment of nutritional depletion. Among problems that persist in the use of this technique, the development of hepatic abnormalities has received increasing attention. In this review, the current understanding of the pathogenesis and management of liver injury during short‐term total parenteral nutrition is summarized. These complications include fatty liver, cholestasis, and nonspecific triaditis. The experience with hepatic complications during long‐term total parenteral nutrition is also reviewed.

Raymond F. Burk – 1 March 1988 – Serum selenium concentrations were found to be significantly lower in women with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy than in women with normal pregnancies during the last trimester of pregnancy and post partum. The activity of the seleno‐enzyme glutathione peroxidase had a significant positive correlation with selenium concentration and it was also significantly lower in women with the disease.

Francisco Guarner, Nigel K. Boughton‐Smith, Geoffrey J. Blackwell, Salvador Moncada – 1 March 1988 – The effect of prostacyclin on acetaminophen‐induced liver injury has been investigated in the mouse. Two structurally unrelated thromboxane synthetase inhibitors, OKY 1581 and benzyl imidazole, were also examined in order to investigate the role of the prostacyclin‐thromboxane balance in the development of hepatic lesions.

Henk F. J. Hendriks, Edith Elhanany, Adriaan Brouwer, A. Margreet de Leeuw, Dick L. Knook – 1 March 1988 – The role of rat liver cell organelles in retinoid uptake and processing was studied by electron microscopic autoradiography. [3H]Retinoids were administered either orally, to make an inventory of the cell organelles involved, or intravenously as chylomicron remnant constituents to study retinoid processing by the liver with time. No qualitative differences were observed between the two routes of administration.

Paul C. Pinto, Jim Amerian, Telfer B. Reynolds – 1 March 1988 – In patients with portal hypertension and tense ascites, large‐volume paracentesis improves patient comfort and may improve systemic hemodynamics. However, it has been avoided in nonedematous patients because of concern for complications, including intravascular volume depletion. In this study, 12 nonedematous patients with chronic liver disease, portal hypertension and tense ascites underwent 14 large‐volume (5‐liter) paracenteses for the relief of discomfort and/or respiratory distress.

Alex P. Mowat – 1 March 1988 – Fifty‐six patients with moderate to severe neonatal hepatitis were followed for 12 to 78 months. Two died from causes other than hepatitis itself and were free from liver disease at the time of death. Of the remaining 54 patients, seven died of hepatitis, two are living with chronic liver disease and psychomotor retardation, and 45 are living without liver disease.

Mei‐Hwei Chang, Lu‐Yu Hwang, Hey‐Chi Hsu, Chin‐Yun Lee, R. Palmer Beasley – 1 March 1988 – Liver histologic findings were studied in 18 children who were 4 to 9 years old, and who had been HBsAg carriers since having been infected by their mothers in the perinatal period. All were born to HBeAg‐HBsAg carrier mothers; the children were followed periodically from birth. Throughout their entire course, none developed symptoms or signs suggestive of liver disease.

Charles D. Surh, Anne E. Cooper, Ross L. Coppel, Patrick Leung, Aftab Ahmed, Rolland Dickson, M. Eric Gershwin – 1 March 1988 – Autoantibodies against inner mitochondrial membrane proteins are a hallmark of primary biliary cirrhosis. Specifically, these antimitochondrial autoantibodies recognize two polypeptides of approximately 70 and 52 kD, respectively. Although the specificity of antimitochondrial autoantibodies has been studied for the past 2 decades, the complementary DNA encoding the major primary biliary cirrhosis‐specific 70 kD antigen has only recently been cloned.