Bernard Willems, Jean‐Pierre Villeneuve, P.‐Michel Huet – 1 January 1986 – Propranolol has been reported to reduce portal and wedged hepatic vein pressures in man and may be useful for the prevention of variceal bleeding. However, its mechanism of action remains unclear. We have examined the effect of propranolol on the systemic and hepatic circulations in dogs with chronic bile duct ligation and secondary biliary cirrhosis. Underanesthesia, eight dogs received four increasing doses of propranolol as an i.v. bolus followed by continuous infusion.

Carlos Caramelo, Dolores Fernandez‐Muñoz, Juan C. Santos, Alicia Blanchart, Diego Rodriguez‐Puyol, José M. López‐Novoa, Luis Hernando – 1 January 1986 – General and splanchnic hemodynamics (radioactive microspheres), renal function, spontaneous and histamine‐mediated vasopermeability and albumin distribution space were studied in conscious control and nonascitic cirrhotic rats, before and after a moderate and sustained saline infusion (3% of body weight per 30 min + repletion of urinary losses).

John R. Lake, Bruce F. Scharschmidt, Peter Thomas, Norman Zamcheck – 1 January 1986

Ignacio Mora, Juan Carlos Porres, Carlos Hernández Guio, Julia Gutiez, Vicente Carreño – 1 January 1986 – The binding activity of polymerized human serum albumin was determined in 202 HBsAg carriers. The presence of polymerized human serum albumin receptor sites was tested by hemagglutination and differentiated from antihuman albumin antibodies by immunofluorescence, isolation of IgG and IgM fractions and testing of HBsAg anti‐HBs immune complexes. A granular pattern with anti‐HBs was specific for polymerized human serum albumin receptor sites as demonstrated with purified HBsAg.

Akira Takada, Jinichi Nei, Shujiro Takase, Yoshiro Matsuda – 1 January 1986 – Although primary hepatoma is not very frequent in alcoholics, the incidence of hepatoma in cases of hepatitis B infection combined with heavy alcohol drinking is high. In the present study, the effects of chronic alcohol administration onthe development of chemicalinduced hepatic cancer in rats were analyzed. In 70% hepatectomized Wistar strain male rats, asingle dose (1 mg per 100 gm body weight) of diethylnitrosamine was injected intraperitoneally.

Pierre Reding, Daniel Urbain, André Grivegnee, Daniel Frere – 1 January 1986 – The portal venous‐esophageal luminal pressure gradient may be more important than the absolute portal venous pressure in explaining hemorrhages caused by esophageal varices. A continuous recording of portal venous pressure and the esophageal luminal pressure enabled the authors to study the gradient between these pressures in 12 cirrhotic patients with varices of different size and under different circumstances, in particular inspiration, expiration, coughing and a Valsalva maneuver.

Anthony S. Tavill, Bruce R. Bacon – 1 January 1986

A. William Holmes – 1 January 1986

Akinori Kasahara, Norio Hayashi, Kazuhei Kurosawa, Yutaka Sasaki, Nobuhiro Sato, Takenobu Kamada – 1 January 1986 – Hepatic blood flow and estimated hepatic oxygen consumption were studied in rats treated chronically with ethanol by organ‐reflectance spectrophotometry and the hydrogen clearance method.

Siegfried Walker M.D., Adolf Stiehl, Richard Raedsch, Burkhard Kommerell – 1 January 1986 – The effect of terlipressin (N‐α‐triglycyl‐8‐lysinevasopressin) in bleeding esophageal varices was evaluated in a prospective placebo‐controlled study. Fifty bleeding episodes from esophagealvarices in 34 patients were randomized. Standard therapy with transfusions, fluid and electrolyte correction, and lactulose was performed in both groups. Balloon tamponade was used in 20 bleeding episodes in the terlipressin group and in 19 bleeding episodes in the control group.