Acute viral hepatitis in childhood: etiology and evolution.

A study of 164 consecutive patients (97 males, 67 females; aged 3-11 years) with acute hepatitis was done. Hepatitis A was the most frequent etiologic type. It occurred in 82.

Influence of delta infection on severity of hepatitis B.

The prevalence of serum markers of primary delta infection was determined in 532 patients with acute benign hepatitis B seen in Italy, and in 111 patients with fulminant hepatitis B seen in Italy, France and England. Patients with fulminant hepatitis had significantly higher prevalence of delta markers (43/111, 39%) than did those with benign hepatitis (101/532, 19%). In 25 of the 43 patients with delta-positive fulminant hepatitis, serum markers indicated a primary hepatitis B infection while in the remaining 18, IgM antibody to hepatitis B core antigen was absent, indicating that hepatitis B preceded superinfection with the delta agent.

T and B lymphocytes in patients with chronic active liver disease and in healthy HBsAg carriers.

E-rosette and surface Ig tests were used to study circulating T and B lymphocytes in 65 patients with chronic active liver disease (CALD), 15 healthy HBsAg carriers and 30 healthy controls. No significant variation in B lymphocytes was observed in CALD and in healthy HBsAg carriers. On the other hand, the absolute number and the percentage of T lymphocytes were significantly decreased in CALD, especially in cases negative for HBV infection markers.

[Gastrin stimulation of salivary secretion: preliminary observations].

The authors have investigated the effect of pentagastrin and of meat extract on salivary secretion. Both stimuli significantly increase the secretion of saliva. Factors such as taste and deglutition don't influence the increase of salivary secretion due to meat extract, as it remains even when meat extract was administered by naso-gastric tube.

[Metabolism of thyroxine in acute viral hepatitis].

Aim of this report was to define the correlation between hepatic acute damage and thyroxine metabolism. We have studied plasma levels of T4, T3, rT3 and TSH in 18 adult male subjects with acute viral hepatitis. No significant variation of T4, T3 and TSH plasma levels was found in different phases of disease.

[Comparative study of the plasma levels of alpha-1 fetoprotein and carcinoembryonic antigen in chronic liver diseases and malignant neoplasias (author's transl)].

We have measured the plasma levels of alpha-1 fetoprotein (AFP) and carcinembryonic antigen (CEA) by RIA in 98 chronic liver diseases (20 chronic aggressive hepatitis and 75 cirrhosis), in 46 subjects with several varieties of malignant neoplasias and in 30 normal controls. In cirrhosis levels higher than the media +/- 2 DS of controls were found in 25.3% for AFP (Max.

[Geographical differences in the incidence of Australia antigen in chronic liver diseases].

In order to evaluate the role of the Australia Antigen and of the many other factors commonly invoked in the etiology of chronic liver diseases a series of study have been performed by radioimmunoassay on: a group of blood donors who showed persistent antigenemia and two groups of patients with chronic hepatitis who were studied respectively at Brescia General Hospital and at the Departement of Internal Medicine of the University of Naples. The results were as it follows: 1) Liver damage, from mild to severe (from transient increase of GOT and GPT levels to cirrhosis) was present in 69 out of 145 blood donors with persistent antigenemia. 2) Antigenemia was more frequent in the neapolitan group of patients not only when considering the entire study population (39%) but also when the cirrhotic group was considered (40.