Nutritional status and in vivo immune responses were investigated in 30 patients with alcoholic liver disease who were drinking heavily up until emergency hospital admission. Investigations were performed on admission and after 2 wk abstention and adequate hospital diet. No relationship was found between the severity of liver disease revealed histologically and the recent quantity or total duration of alcohol intake, inadequacy of diet, or nutritional status. Skin anergy was more common in those patients with cirrhosis but did not relate to depletion in circulating T lymphocytes, poor nutritional status, or to the direct effect of alcohol toxicity. Acute alcohol toxicity did, however, produce extensive and rapidly reversible metabolic and cellular changes including reduction in serum potassium, magnesium and phosphate and depletion of all circulating lymphocyte subpopulations.

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SUMMARY Serum enzymes (aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), y-glutamyltransferase, and creatine kinase (CK)) were measured in 296 young persons who admitted to recent inhalation of solvents, usually toluene based glues. In general, results fell within expected adult reference ranges except for ALP and CK. About 60% of subjects had CK activities above the upper reference limit and these activities were investigated in terms of their isoenzyme composition.CK B subunit activity was measured in 90 subjects with raised total CK activities. In five instances the CK B subunit activity was judged abnormal and in two subjects the presence of CK BB was confirmed. These two subjects were thought to have a circulating macro CK, type 1.

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