Alan F. Hofmann, Nicholas F. Larusso – 1 November 1986

Michael A. Gerber, Pedro J. Grases – 1 November 1986 – A new type of ground‐glass hepatocyte is described. The appearance is due to pale, homogeneous, weakly eosinophilic inclusions filling a portion of or the entire hepatocytic cytoplasm. On haematoxylin and eosin stained sections, these cells closely resemble ground‐glass hepatocytes described in other conditions. However, they are negative on special stains for HBsAg and on PAS staining. Immunohistochemically, they reveal a selective and exclusive positivity for fibrinogen.

A. K. Burroughs – 1 November 1986 – Between October, 1981 and December 1983, 46 consecutive unselected cirrhotic patients who had been admitted for variceal hemorrhage were assigned to propranolol for the prevention of variceal rebleeding and followed for a mean period of 13.3 months (ranges: 1 day, 45 months). At the time of inclusion, 87 p. 100 of patients had alcoholic cirrhosis: ascites was present in 43 p. 100, jaundice in 43 p. 100 and encephalopathy in 33 p. 100 of cases.

B. A. Runyon, D. Jüngst, A. L. Gerbes, G. Paumgartner – 1 November 1986

1 November 1986

Harriet C. Mitchison, Margaret F. Bassendine, Alex Hendrick, Mark K. Bennett, Graham Bird, Alexander J. Watson, Oliver F. W. James – 1 November 1986 – Twenty‐nine patients with a positive antimitochondrial antibody titer ≥1/40, who were detected during screening for other autoimmune disease, are described who had a normal serum bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and transaminase and who had no symptoms of liver disease at presentation.

Piero L. Almasio, Robin D. Hughes, Roger Williams – 1 November 1986 – The plasma levels of the opsonic glycoprotein fibronectin are decreased in patients with fulminant hepatic failure, which may be an important factor in their impaired host‐defense. Twenty‐nine patients in fulminant hepatic failure were studied on admission, and the mean fibronectin level in Grade 0–2 encephalopathy was 82 μg per ml (range = 0 to 150) and in Grade 3–4 encephalopathy 61 μg per ml (range = 5 to 158) as compared to normal controls (268 μg per ml, range = 178 to 380, n = 62).

Shiro Bannai, Akira Takada, Hitomi Kasuga, Noriko Tateishi – 1 November 1986 – The uptake of cystine in isolated rat hepatocytes was enhanced after incubation of the cells with sulfobromophthalein. The enhancement was time‐ and dose‐dependent, with a lag of about 6 hr, and an approximately 4‐fold increase in the activity occurred after 24 hr with 0.2 mM sulfobromophthalein. Actinomycin D or cycloheximide completely blocked the time‐related increase in the uptake.

Thierry Poynard, Annie Abella, Jean‐Pierre Pignon, Sylvie Naveau, Robert Leluc, Jean‐Claude Chaput – 1 November 1986 – A prospective study of apolipoprotein AI has been undertaken in 581 alcoholic patients and in 100 controls in order to describe the changes of apolipoprotein AI according to the different stages of the alcoholic liver disease, to correlate the changes to serum liver tests and to estimate its diagnosis and prognostic value.

Cheng‐Po Hu, Shou‐Hwa Han, Wing‐Yiu Lui, Hey‐Chi Hsu, Yeh‐Ming Lin, Pei‐Hui Lin, Liang‐Ru Chen, Hsian‐Guey Hsieh, Pseng‐Tong Kuo, Fang‐Ku P'eng, Chungming Chang – 1 November 1986 – Monoclonal antibodies with selectivity for human hepatoma cell lines were produced by immunizing BALB/c mice with human hepatoma cell lines, HA22T/VGH or Hep 3B, and fusing sensitized mouse spleen cells with mouse myeloma cells. Two monoclonal antibodies recognizing antigens present only on human hepatoma cell lines were investigated.