Effects of alcohol ingestion on cardiac rhythm in patients with ischaemic heart disease.

The effect of alcohol on cardiac rhythm was examined in ten male volunteers with a history of acute myocardial infarction. ECG monitoring with a portable ECG recorder was carried out for a period of 48 hours. After a control period of 15-18 hours an exercise test was performed and repeated after a standard dose (0.

Demonstration of an intracellular copper-binding protein by orcein staining in long-standing cholestatic liver diseases.

Liver biopsies from eight patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, two with chronic active hepatitis of a cholestatic form, three with long-standing alcoholic liver cirrhosis, and one with extrahepatic biliary obstruction were studied. In each case dark brown cytoplasmic material was seen after staining of the tissue sections with Shikata's orcein method. In exactly the same cellular and subcellular locations as the orcein-positive material, and with morphologically equal granules, two different ordinary staining methods for copper (rubeanic acid and Mallory-Parker's haematoxylin) gave positive reactions.

Clinical correlations and significance of orceinpositivity in chronic active hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis.

Clinical, biochemical and immunological variables were analyzed in 30 patients with orcein-negative (ON) chronic active hepatitis (CAH), 4 patients with ON primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), 8 patients with orcein-positive (OP; intracellular copper-binding protein seen histologically in liver biopsy specimens) CAH and 15 patients with OP-PBC. A marked elevation of serum bile acids, alkaline phosphatase, leusine aminopeptidase, gammaglutamyl transpeptidase and cholesterol concentrations, and highly pathological BSP Tm values were characteristic for OP-cases. In addition the faecal fat level was increased and bile acids decreased in OP-cases.

Histological characteristics of chronic hepatides and primary biliary cirrhosis with special reference to orcein positive hepatocellular accumulations.

The histological criteria of chronic hepatides (chronic persistent and aggressive hepatitis) and primary biliary cirrhosis are well characterized and documented in the literature. Histology forms the diagnostic basis for chronic hepatides. Diagnostic changes are seen, however, only in some cases of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and only in the early stages of the disease.

Immunological parameters, viral antibodies, and biochemical and histological findings in relatives of patients with chronic active hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis.

The familial occurrence of immunological, virological, biochemical and histopathological abnormalities has been studied in 39 first degree relatives of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and in 58 first degree relatives of patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH). Tissue antibodies were more frequent in relatives than in age- and sex-matched controls. Abnormal immunoglobulin levels were demonstrated in about half of the relatives.

The occurrence of orcein-positive hepatocellular material in various liver diseases.

Liver specimens from 103 patients with various hepatic diseases and from 297 consecutive liver biopsies examined routinely were stained with orcein after oxidation of the tissue sections with potassium permanganate. Orcein-positive dark brown cytoplasmic material could be demonstrated in 27 cases with long-standing cholestasis. These patients had either primary biliary cirrhosis, the cholestatic liver disease of ulcerative colitis or chronic active hepatitis, advanced alcoholic cirrhosis or secondary biliary cirrhosis due to extrahepatic biliary obstruction.

Orcein positive hepatocellular material in histological diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis.

Liver biopsies from 18 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and from 25 patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH) were stained by orcein after oxidation of the tissue sections with potassium permanganate. In 15 out of the 18 cases which could be classified on clinical, biochemical and immunological basis as PBC, the hepatocytes, usually periportally, contained cytoplasmic stainable material. 5 out of the 25 CAH patients contained the same material, but four of these patients were clinically atypical and showed features of cholestatic form of CAH and features crosslinking with PBC.

Ethanol and galactose metabolism as influenced by 4-methylpyrazole in alcoholics with and without nutritional deficiencies. Preliminary report of a new approach to pathogenesis and treatment in alcoholic liver disease.

4-Methyl pyrazole (4-MP, a specific inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase) reduced ethanol elimination by 30-50% and completely removed the ethanol-induced inhibition of galactose elimination in 2 control subjects. Ethanol elimination was accelerated in 2 alcoholics with adequate nutrition, but the effect of 4-MP was comparable to that in controls. In 2 other alcoholic subjects, who reported poor nutritional intake, intermediate rates of ethanol elimination were observed and 4-MP had almost no effect on ethanol or galactose elimination.

Serum alpha-fetoprotein: diagnostic significance in liver disease.

Raised serum alpha-fetoprotein levels measured by radioimmunoassay were found in 19 out of 24 (79%) patients with primary liver cancer and in 32 out of 311 (10%) patients with other liver diseases. The rise was transient in cases of hepatitis and a transient rise was also seen after alcohol intake ceased in two patients with cirrhosis. alpha-Fetoprotein levels exceeding 500 ng/ml were 30-50 times more common in primary liver cancer than in other liver diseases.

Influence of ethanol on the metabolism of perfused normal, fatty and cirrhotic rat livers.

1. The influence of ethanol on the metabolism of perfused livers from normal rats and rats in various stages of development of dietary cirrhosis was studied. A choline-deficient, low-protein and high-fat diet was used.

INFLUENCE OF ETHANOL ON THE LIVER METABOLISM OF FED AND STARVED RATS.

1. The influence of ethanol on the metabolism of livers from fed and starved rats has been studied in liver-perfusion experiments. Results have been obtained on oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, on glucose release and uptake by the liver and on changes in the concentrations of lactate and pyruvate and of beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate in the perfusion medium.