Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) are poorly understood autoimmune liver diseases. Immunosuppression is used to treat AIH and ursodeoxycholic acid is used to slow the progression of PBC. Nevertheless, a proportion of patients with both disorders progress to liver failure. Following liver transplantation, up to a third of patients with PBC experience recurrent diseas...

UNLABELLED Substantial evidence supports dysregulated B-cell immune responses in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), including the presence of serum antimitochondrial antibodies (AMAs). However, recent reports from murine models of PBC suggest that B cells may also provide regulatory function, and indeed the absence of B cells in such models leads to exacerbation of disease. The vast...

The voltage source converter-high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) transmission is the ideal integration technology for grid-connected wind farms. A passivity-based control (PBC) method for VSC-HVDC when the wind farm voltage is unbalanced is proposed in this paper. The mathematical model of a VSC with unbalanced voltage is established. The PBC theory including dissipation inequality and syste...

We read with interest the recent letter to the editor entitled “Primary Biliary Cirrhosis: Time to Replace a Misnomer” published by Wahl et al. We congratulate the authors for their study based on interviewing new patients and opening again the debate for the name of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The authors concluded that it is time to replace this misnomer with an adequate name for the dis...

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an autoimmune disease of the liver, characterized by lymphocytic infiltrates in portal tracts, selective destruction of biliary epithelial cells, and anti-mitochondrial Abs (AMAs). The elucidation of early events in the induction of tissue inflammation and autoimmunity in PBC has been hampered by the cryptic onset of the disease, the practical limitations in a...

Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) studies have identified perceived behavioural control (PBC) as the key determinant of walking intentions. The present study investigated whether an intervention designed to alter PBC and create walking plans increased TPB measures concerning walking more, planning and objectively measured walking. One hundred and thirty UK adults participated in a waiting-list ...

Background. Recent GWAS in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) showed strong associations with SNPs located within interleukin-12 receptor (IL12R) beta-2 (IL12RB2) gene. Aims. We assessed whether genetic variation of IL12RB2 is associated with laboratory and clinical features of PBC. Methods. Genomic DNA was isolated from 306 patients with PBC and 258 age/gender-matched controls. PBC-specific ant...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Fatigue is the commonest symptom in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), affecting individuals at all stages of disease. The pathogenesis of fatigue in PBC is unknown although rat models suggest a central nervous system (CNS) cause. We examined the hypothesis that a CNS abnormality related to cholestasis, rather than cirrhosis per se, underlies this symptom. PATIENTS AND METHOD...

BACKGROUND Previous studies reported associations between specific alleles of non-HLA immunoregulatory genes and higher fatigue scores in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). AIM To study the relationship between variables of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and single nucleotide polymorphisms of TRAF1-C5, a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family. PATIENTS AND M...

BACKGROUND Brain change can occur in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), potentially as a result of cholestatic and/or inflammatory processes. This change is linked to systemic symptoms of fatigue and cognitive impairment. AIM To identify whether brain change occurs early in PBC. If the change develops early and is progressive, it may explain the difficulty in treating these symptoms. METHOD...