Chronic Liver Disease and Hepatitis-B Antigen: A Prospective Study

A long-term follow-up of 45 patients with chronic hepatitis and 41 with cirrhosis is reported. Hepatitis-B antigen (HBAg) was present in 19 (42%) of the chronic hepatitis patients and in 20 (49%) of those with cirrhosis. The clinical course and biochemical and histological findings in the HBAg-positive and the HBAg-negative cases were similar, suggesting that HBAg-positive chronic liver disease is not a distinct clinical entity. The presence of antigen and autoantibodies was not found to be mutually exclusive. In HBAg-positive cases antigen tended to persist for months and years. When no irreversible lesions exist disappearance of the antigen may be a sign that the liver disease will resolve.     

Contribution to a revision of Floscularia Cuvier, 1798 (Rotifera: Monogononta): notes on some Neotropical taxa

The taxonomy of some Neotropical representatives of the genusFloscularia Cuvier, 1798 (Rotifera: Monogononta) is discussed, basedon SEM studies of trophi and external morphology. Flosculariaarmata n.sp. and F. bifida n. sp. are described, and F. conifera (Hudson, 1886) is restored at full species rank. Ahypothesis on the functional relevance of differences in trophimorphology for niche segregation is formulated.