A previous report from this institution demonstrated significant improvement of caloric intake and survival in patients with alcoholic hepatitis and hepatic encephalopathy given prednisolone when compared with placebo. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of prednisolone with a regimen of 1600 calories per day without prednisolone. Fourteen patients with alcoholic hepatitis and encephalopathy were studied. All 7 on caloric supplementation and 2 of 7 given prednisolone died (p less than 0.01). These results suggest that prednisolone therapy reduces the mortality of those patients with alcoholic hepatitis and hepatic encephalopathy. This effect does not appear to be related to total caloric intake.

Cimetidine inhibits basal and nocturnal acid secretion and acid secretion stimulated by histamine, pentagastrin, caffeine, insulin, sham feeding, and food. Cinetidine (300 mg) inhibits basal acid secretion in duodenal ulcer patients by 95% for at least 5 hr. When taken at bedtime, cimetidine inhibits nocturnal acid secretion by greater than 80% for most of the night. Cimetidine markedly inhibits food-stimulated acid secretion and is more effective than anticholinergic drugs. However, to get adequate suppression of food-stimulated acid secretion throughout the day, cimetidine should be given with each meal. Cimetidine has no effect on nocturnal serum gastrin concentration, but, when stimulated by food, serum gastrin concentration is higher after cimetidine than after placebo.

A double blind trial involving 21 patients on carbenoxolone and 23 patients on placebo was conducted under endoscopic control to assess the healing of duodenal ulcers over a period of 6 weeks. The two groups were adequately matched with the exception that larger ulcers predominated in the carbenoxolone group. Relief of symptoms showed poor correlation with ulcer healing. Fourteen of the 21 patients in the carbenoxolone group and 7 of the 23 in the placebo group showed endoscopic evidence of complete healing. The result is highly significant (P less than 0.016) and confirms the therapeutic efficacy of carbenoxolone sodium positioned-release capsules in the treatment of duodenal ulcers. Side effects of carbenoxolone therapy in the form of weight gain, rise in diastolic blood pressure and hypokalaemia were observed, but with adequate monitoring and appropriate countermeasures, no patient suffered any ill effects.

To determine the amount of lactose that could be tolerated in a meal, 59 lactase-deficient American Indians, ranging in age from 5 to 62, were given graded doses of lactose. The diagnosis of lactase deficiency had beeen documented previously by showing increased breath hydrogen after an oral lactose load (2 g per kg, maximum 50 g). With this load, 88% of the subjects had symptoms. On 6 consecutive mornings, each subject was given a breakfast that contained graded doses of lactose ranging from 0 to 18 g. The order of the breakfasts was randomized and the contents were double-blinded. Symptoms, which were assessed by a "blinded" observer, were present after 9% of the breakfasts at all dosage levels, including the lactose-free breakfast. Thus, under the conditions of this study, a modest amount of lactose, equivalent to that present in 1 to 1 1/2 glasses of milk, when taken with a meal, is well tolerated by the lactase-deficient American Indian.

We have studied the gastric response to an ordinary solid-liquid meal in 12 patients with active duodenal ulcer and 8 healthy volunteers. Our method employs gastric and duodenal markers to quantify acid, pepsin, and volume outputs in response to the meal, without manipulating intragastric pH. Intragastric volume, rate of gastric emptying, delivery of acid into the duodenum, and serum gastrin response were also measured simultaneously. On a separate day, peak acid output in response to betazole (1.5 mg per kg subcutaneously) was determined. Our results indicate an inappropriately prolonged gastric secretory response to meals in duodenal ulcer disease, without a concomitant increase in peak postprandial secretory rates or an increase in serum immunoreactive gastrin levels. Further, the stomach in duodenal ulcer disease did not "retain" the additional acid secreted in the later postprandial period, and abnormally high rates of acid delivery into the duodenum occurred. Our data are consistent with a dual defect in the duodenal mechanisms regulating both acid secretion and acid delivery into the duodenum.

Papular acrodermatitis of childhood (PAC) is characterized by papular eruption of skin, lymphadenopathy, and acute hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive anicteric hepatitis. To study the course of hepatitis B virus infection we followed 16 patients with PAC, 2 to 7 years of age, for periods ranging from 6 to 46 months. All patients tested developed hepatitis B surface antigenemia subtype ay, and produced antibody to hepatitis B core antigen with the highest incidence after 3 to 5 months. Half of the children investigated developed antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen 4 to 18 months (mean, 6.5) after the onset of PAC. At the end of the investigation, 31% of the children were still HBsAg-positive, 50% were antibody to hepatitis B core antigen-positive, and in 43% the activity of serum aminotransferases was abnormal. Liver biopsy repeated in 2 children showed chronic aggressive hepatitis. The pattern of antibody response to hepatitis B virus is similar in both HBsAg-positive hepatitis and PAC. The frequent development of HBSAg carrier state and the high proportion of children with liver abnormalities at the end of the investigation suggest an impaired clearance of hepatitis B virus and a tendency to chronicity.

A new ferromagnetic method for the measurement of gastric emptying is described. An inert tracer, magnesium ferrite, is added to a test meal. Its amount in the stomach is then measured at regular intervals by an external transducer using its ferromagnetic properties. The method is noninvasive and devoid of radiation exposure. The magnetic fields used are harmless. The feasibility, reliability, and reproducibility of the method are described. Gastric emptying was studied in 61 subjects. The shape of the gastric emptying curve conformed best to an exponential function. The mean half-time of gastric emptying was 49 +/- 17.4 min. In this limited series age and sex did not affect gastric emptying.

Esophageal function was determined in 50 unselected patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Fourteen age-matched healthy subjects served as controls. The presence of peripheral neuropathy (PN) was determined by a neurological examination and by nerve conduction studies. An intraluminal transducer assembly placed in the distal esophagus measured pressure in the lower esophageal sphincter and body of the esophagus. Esophageal function was studied both before and after edrophonium chloride, 80 microgram per kg intravenously. There was no significant difference in peristaltic amplitude between the controls and diabetics. There was also no difference in amplitude when DM was divided into presence or absence of PN. However, there was a significant decrease in velocity of peristalsis in DM with PN when compared to DM without PN and to controls. Resting lower esophageal sphincter pressure in DM was similar to controls, with no difference with or without PN. Twenty-eight patients (56%) with DM had abnormal motility, characterized by frequent spontaneous contractions, and decreased prevalence of peristalsis. Abnormal motility in DM was associated with PN and was characterized by a dysfunction of esophageal innervation with intact smooth muscle function.

Students attending a Mexican university who developed diarrhea were randomly treated with bismuth subsalicylate or a placebo. One hundred and eleven were given 30 ml each 1/2 hr until eight doses (total dose of active drug 4.2 g) were given and 58 students received twice this dose (8.2 g of active drug) over the 3 1/2-hr treatment period. The number of unformed stools was significantly decreased in both bismuth subsalicylate treatment groups compared to the placebo controls for the period 4 to 24 hr after therapy. A reduction in diarrhea was additionally noted for the duration of the 48-hr surveillance period for the students receiving the higher dose of active drug. Subjective relief within 24 hr of therapy of the symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal pain or cramps was reported with a significantly increased frequency in the bismuth subsalicylate group. The most pronounced effect of the treatment occurred in the United States students with diarrhea who had recently arrived in Mexico. This appeared to be related to the favorable effect of bismut subsalicylate on the course of toxigenic Escherichia coli infection. Students with shigellosis did not experience a prolonged illness in either treatment group.

Forty-three patients with decompensated alcoholic liver disease and ascites of recent onset were randomized to salt and water restriction alone (control group) or to salt and water restriction plus diuretics (diuresis group). The two treatment groups were comparable in clinical findings and laboratory results. Seven patients in the control group and 5 patients in the diuresis group died during the acute illness. Weight loss was more marked and the disappearance of ascites more common in those given diuretics. A modest decrease in serum sodium and increase in serum potassium, and readily reversible elevations of blood urea nitrogen were noted in the diuresis group. Eight patients in each treatment group developed either the hepatorenal syndrome, marked electrolyte abnormalities, or encephalopathy. Diuresis can be accomplished in these critically ill patients without serious complications that can be attributed to the diuretic treatment.

Bile acids have been proposed to be important in the pathophysiology of the syndrome of "bile reflux gastritis" after surgery. To examine the role of cholestyramine, an ion exchange resin that binds bile acids, on symptoms of this syndrome, we did a randomized, double-blind crossover study on 16 patients. No differences in frequency of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or bitter taste were observed among cholestyramine (4 g, three times daily for 3 weeks), placebo, and routine (dietary restriction and ad libitum antacid) treatment periods. We conclude that this regimen of cholestyramine was ineffective in symptomatic treatment of bile reflux gastritis.

Relief of duodenal ulcer pain by aluminum hydroxide gel (AG) was compared with that obtained by a dummy gel (DG) in randomized trials. In 44 individual pain episodes, complete relief was obtained by 15-ml doses of AG in 79% and by DG in 45% (P less than 0.05). In 48 identical blind trials replicated at another hospital the difference was not significant. The gels were also tested against ulcer pain induced by intragastric acid instillation (Palmer test) in 35 patients; pain was relieved by AG in 63% and by DG in 62%. Presumed effectiveness in terminating ulcer episodes was studied in 65 patients admitted for pain; 37 received milk and cream hourly and 28 did not. All were treated with 15 ml of AG or DG during waking hours. Median time for complete disappearance of spontaneous pain was 3 days for AG and 7 days for DG, the same in both groups. In all patients the acid instillation test was repeated every few days. For the milk and cream group it became negative after 4 days with AG and after 6 days with DG. In 18 patients with gastric ulcer treated for 4 weeks AG led to greater reductions in size than did DG. A number of these trials indicate AG to be more effective than DG, but sampling and other methodological problems limit the certainty of any conclusions.

An improved catheter infusion system is needed for esophageal intraluminal manometry. Using conventional syringe-pump infusion systems undesirably rapid infusion rates of 6 ml per min or more are often needed to achieve accurate recording of esophageal peristaltic pressure. These rapid base line infusion rates are necessitated by the high compliance of syringe-pump systems which causes substantial reduction in the infusion rate during dynamic pressure transients. In this study we tested a hydraulic-capillary infusion system designed to have low compliance. This minimally compliant system yields accurate recording of esophageal peristaltic pressure at infusion rates of 0.6 ml per min or less. We believe that the hydraulic-capillary infusion system is a useful tool for performing both clinical and investigative studies of esophageal motor function.