Enrico Roda, Franco Bazzoli, Antonio M. Morselli Labate, Giuseppe Mazzella, Aldo Roda, Claudia Sama, Davide Festi, Rita Aldini, Francesco Taroni, Luigi Barbara – 1 November 1982 – Cholesterol gallstones are dissolved in man by chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). To test the comparative efficacy of these two cholelitholytic bile acids, 223 gallstone patients were randomly treated with either UDCA or CDCA at two different doses: 7 to 8 mg per kg per day and 14 to 15 mg per kg per day.

S. Victor Feinman, Lacy R. Overby, Barnet Berris, Kurt Chau, Charles A. Schable, James E. Maynard – 1 November 1982 – IgM antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (IgM anti‐HBc) was determined in 60 patients whose serum was positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and 18 patients whose serum was negative for HBsAg, but positive for antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti‐HBc). Two radioimmunoassays were done utilizing either anti‐u antibody to capture IgM or Staphylococcus A protein to separate IgG and IgM.

Pui C. Wu, Ching L. Lai, Kui C. Lam, Joana Ho – 1 November 1982 – To study the value of corticosteroids in HBsAg‐positive chronic active hepatitis, 18 pairs of liver histology comprising 36 liver biopsies from a prospective, randomized, controlled trial were evaluated. The median interval between the initial and follow‐up histology was 8 1/2 months in 8 patients given prednisolone and 8 1/4 months in 10 patients given placebo tablets.

Albert L. Jones, Sandra Huling, Gary T. Hradek, Henry S. Gaines, William D. Christiansen, Brian J. Underdown – 1 November 1982 – It is well documented that the liver provides an important source of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in the gut fluid. In the rat, liver parenchymal cells can actively sequester the dimeric form of IgA (dIgA) from plasma and transfer it attached to its receptor, secretory component (SC), via vesicles into the bile.

Maxwell Finland – 1 November 1982

Kunihiko Ohnishi, Akihiko Mishima, Kunio Okuda – 1 November 1982 – The localization of the form of cytochrome P‐450 that is induced by phenobarbital was studied by direct immunofluorescence in the hepatocytes of rats pretreated with phenobarbital in comparison with saline‐treated rats. Specific fluorescence was seen in the hepatocyte cytoplasm in saline‐ and phenobarbital‐treated rats; a more concentrated halo of fluorescence was detected surrounding the nuclei in the centrilobular zones after phenobarbital treatment.

M. James Phillips, Chikara Oshio, Mamoru Miyairi, Hart Katz, Charles R. Smith – 1 November 1982 – Living hepatocytes observed under standard methods of cell isolation and culture show frequent active contractions of bile canaliculi when viewed by time‐lapse cinephotomicrography. This report gives details of the methods used to show the contractions. In addition, the characteristics of the contraction pattern are defined and analyzed. The contractions are regular, canalicular contraction time (systole) lasts 60 sec, and the most probable interval between contractions is 5 1/2 min.

Roberto J. Groszmann, David Kravetz, Jaime Bosch, Mortom Glickman, Jordi Bruix, James Bredfeldt, Harold O. Conn, Juan Rodes, Edward H. Storer – 1 November 1982 – This study was designed to investigate whether the addition of nitroglycerin to vasopressin infusion could avoid the deleterious systemic effects of vasopressin while maintaining or enhancing the therapeutic benefits of portal pressure reduction. The effect of nitroglycerin on splanchnic and systemic hemodynamics was studied in cirrhotic patients and portal hypertensive dogs receiving i.v. vasopressin. During i.v.

M. Sawkat ANWER, Dietmar Hegner – 1 September 1982 – Ion substitution studies were carried out in the isolated perfused rat liver to define the importance of solvent drag and diffusion in bile acid‐dependent bile formation. Two different methods, namely single injection (20 μmoles) and continuous infusions at 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, and 1.6 μmoles per min taurocholate (TC), were used to determine the bile acid‐dependent bile flow (BADF). Both methods gave essentially the same results. Replacement of Na+ (146 mM) by 120 or 146 mM Li+ and Cl− (127 mM) by 120 mM NO3− increased BADF significantly.

C. S. Davidson – 1 September 1982