Tse‐Ling Fong, Sugantha Govindarajan, Boontar Valinluck, Allan G. Redeker – 1 November 1988 – Two reports have shown hepatitis B virus DNA in serum and liver tissue in alcoholic liver disease with negative serum HBsAg, suggesting a pathogenetic role for hepatitis B virus. We studied hepatitis B virus DNA in serum and liver from three groups of alcoholic patients; (Group 1) 50 patients without liver disease, (Group 2) 108 patients with alcoholic liver disease and (Group 3) five patients with alcoholic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Kenneth K. Wang, Albert J. Czaja – 1 November 1988 – To determine the frequency of hepatocellular cancer in corticosteroid‐treated severe autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and to identify risk factors for its development, 124 patients who were selected by uniform criteria, treated comparably and followed systematically for 111 ± 6 months were evaluated. Hepatocellular cancer was diagnosed in three patients (2%) after 66, 99 and 174 months of observation, respectively. The incidence of hepatocellular cancer was 1 per 350 patient‐years of follow‐up.

Peter Van Der Sluijs, Ineke Braakman, Dirk K. F. Meijer, Geny M. M. Groothuis – 1 November 1988 – Desialylated glycoprotein is rapidly cleared from plasma by a receptor‐mediated endocytic mechanism located on hepatocytes. We studied the hepatic acinar distribution of this asialoglycoprotein transport system with the ligand 125I‐asialoorosomucoid using rat liver perfused in either antegrade or retrograde direction in combination with quantitative light microscopic autoradiography. Grain distribution along the acinus appeared dependent on the perfusion direction.

Andrzej S. Tarnawski, I. James Sarfeh, Jerzy Stachura, Andrew Hajduczek, Hai X. Bui, Wojciech Dabros, Hella Gergely – 1 November 1988 – Compared with normotensive mucosa, the portal hypertensive gastric mucosa has increased susceptibility to injury by noxious agents such as alcohol and aspirin, but the mechanism of this phenomenon is unclear.

Peter R. Gibson, Gilles Pomier‐Layrargues – 1 November 1988

Jennifer L. Cruise – 1 November 1988 – The autonomic nervous system in rats has been assessed by means of indirect immunofluorescence using monospecific antibodies to neuron‐specific enolase, neurofilaments, glial fibrillary acidic protein and S‐100 protein [10 days after partial (70%) hepatectomy]. Different groups of rats were studied: group A: 70% resection and normal dual blood supply (n = 5);group B: 70% resection with only portal blood to the liver remnant (n = 5);group C: 70% resection with only arterial blood to the liver remnant (n = 5);group D: sham operated controls (n = 5).

Koshi Sakuma, Nobuteru Saitoh, Misako Kasai, Hiroshi Jitsukawa, Izumi Yoshino, Momoko Yamaguchi, Kouichi Nobutomo, Makoto Yamumi, Fumio Tsuda, Tsutomu Komazawa, Tetsuo Nakamura, Yasuo Yoshida, Kunio Okuda – 1 November 1988 – Taking advantage of the compulsory annual medical check‐up at the Central Institute of Health, Japan National Railways, hepatitis B seromarkers were tested in male employees at work and their “dead and alive” status was followed for more than 6 years for their prognostic significance. Two prospective studies were carried out.

Johann Christian Bode, Peter Hanisch, Harald Henning, Wolfgang Koenig, Friedrich‐Wilhelm Richter, Christiane Bode – 1 November 1988 – The hepatic zinc content was determined in liver biopsies of patients with alcoholic and nonalcoholic liver disease using proton‐induced X‐ray emission. The values obtained in postmortem specimens of the liver from 27 patients with no evidence of acute or chronic liver disease served as controls. The mean value and the range of the zinc content in the controls (75 ± 24 ppm wet weight) are in good agreement with those reported in the literature.

Aldo Roda, Rita Aldini, Brunella Grigolo, Patrizia Simoni, Enrico Roda, Roberto Pellicciari, Pier Luigi Lenzi, Benedetto Natalini – 1 November 1988 – A side chain derivative of ursodeoxycholic acid, 23‐methylursodeoxycholic acid, was synthesized and the effect of i.v. infusion of the acid at different doses (0.75, 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0 μmoles per min per kg body weight over 1 hr) on bile flow, on its hepatic biotransformations and on biliary lipid secretion has been studied in bile fistula rats.

Norman D. Grace, Harold O. Conn, Robert H. Resnick, Roberto J. Groszmann, Colin E. Atterbury, Stephen C. Wright, Richard J. Gusberg, Rudolph Vollman, Guadalupe Garcia‐Tsao, Rosemarie L. Fisher, Edward T. O'Hara, William V. McDermott, J. Peter Maselli, Warren Widrich, Daniel S. Matloff, Douglas Horst, Naomi Banks, Jeanne Alberts – 1 November 1988 – Between 1975 and 1983, 303 cirrhotic patients with endoscopically proven major variceal hemorrhage were admitted to the participating hospitals of the Boston‐New Haven Collaborative Liver Group.