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.

Lawrie W. Powell – 1 November 1986 – We analyzed survival and causes of death among 163 patients with primary hemochromatosis diagnosed between 1959 and 1983. The mean follow‐up period was 10.5 ± 5.6 years (±S.D.). Cu‐ mulative survival was 92 per cent at 5 years, 76 per cent at 10 years, 59 per cent at 15 years, and 49 per cent at 20 years.

Jean‐Pierre Villeneuve, Gilles Pomier‐Layrargues, Claire Infante‐Rivard, Bernard Willems, P.‐Michel Huet, Denis Marleau, André Viallet – 1 November 1986 – We conducted a prospective, randomized single‐blind trial of propranolol for the prevention of recurrent variceal bleeding. Seventy‐nine patients shown to have variceal hemorrhage at endoscopy were included in the study within 72 hr following diagnosis.

Donald M. Mock – 1 November 1986

Samuel W. French – 1 November 1986 – Evidence has been accumulating that Mallory body (MB) is a heritable phenotype of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is closely related to hepatocarcinogenesis in some carcinogen‐fed animals. This prompted us to try to evaluate the MB phenomenon in human HCCs, in which its significance remains unclear to date. Whole liver slices were obtained from 28 autopsied livers in which MB‐positive HCC was found, and distribution of MBs within the HCC was examined. There were three distribution patterns: clustering, diffuse, and sparse types.

Yugen Edward Hsia – 1 November 1986 – Transient neonatal hyperammonemia (TNH) was reviewed in six cases seen by the authors and in 27 selected from the literature. These 33 cases were compared with 13 infants with urea cycle enzyme deficiencies (UCED). The two groups were similar in sex distribution, routes of delivery, time of onset of seizures, Apgar scores and in the prevalence of perinatal complications. Patients with TNH had significantly lower birth weights (2,282±78 gm vs. 3,336±222; mean±SEM; P < 0.001) and gestational ages (35±0.5 vs. 40±0.5 weeks; p e 0.001).