Rheumatoid arthritis and primary biliary cirrhosis coexist in up to 6% of cases. Tumor necrosis factor alpha seems to have an important role in the pathogenesis of both diseases. Tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitors have become an established therapeutic regimen for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The only approved drug for primary biliary cirrhosis is ursodeoxycholic acid. We describe th...

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The Cox model with time-dependent coefficients has been studied by a number of authors recently. In this paper, we develop empirical likelihood (EL) pointwise confidence regions for the time-dependent regression coefficients via local partial likelihood smoothing. The EL simultaneous confidence bands for a linear combination of the coefficients are also derived based on the strong approximation...

We propose a new estimation method for multivariate failure time data using the quadratic inference function (QIF) approach. The proposed method efficiently incorporates within-cluster correlations. Therefore, it is more efficient than those that ignore within-cluster correlation. Furthermore, the proposed method is easy to implement. Unlike the weighted estimating equations in Cai and Prentice...

BACKGROUND/AIMS In massive hepatic necrosis, hepatic stem cells constitute a canal of Hering derived, cytokeratin 19 (CK19) positive 'ductular reaction' (DR). Whether DRs in cirrhosis are activated stem cells (so called 'buds') or biliary metaplasia of cholestatic, injured hepatocytes is still debated. We investigate derivation of intraseptal hepatocytes (ISHs) from DRs and from the biliary tre...

Primary biliary cirrhosis is a frequent indication for liver transplantation. The purpose of this report is to present our experience with liver transplantation for primary biliary cirrhosis. Attention is given to the causes of hepatic dysfunction seen in allografts. In addition, we review the postoperative problems encountered and the quality of life at time of last follow-up in patients with ...

概要 無 症候性 原発 性胆 汁性 肝硬変,慢 性 甲状 腺炎 お よび三重複 癌 を合 併 した一 男性 症例 を報 告.症 例 は65才,男 性.昭 和58年10月 榎 声の ため 当院受診.喉 頭 癌 と診 断.胆 道 系酵素 上昇, 血沈 お よび血清IgM異 常高値,抗 ミ トコン ドリア抗 体陽性,肝 生検 にて慢性 非化膿性 破壊 性胆 管 炎像 を認 め,掻 痒感,黄 疸 を欠 くことか ら無症 候性 原発性 胆汁性 肝硬 変 と診 断.T3,T4低 下。 TSH上 昇,サ イロ イ ドテス ト,マ イク ロゾーム テス ト強 陽性 で あ り,甲 状 腺 シ ンチ所 見 らよ り 慢 性 甲状 腺炎 と診断.中 部食道 に小 隆起性 病変 と不正 形の び らん を認 め,生 検 にて扁平上 皮癌 と診 断.胃 に も小隆 起性病 変 を認 め,生 検 にて高分化 ...

In this paper we study the Buckley-James estimator of accelerated failure time models with auxiliary covariates. Instead of postulating distributional assumptions on the auxiliary covariates, we use a local polynomial approximation method to accommodate them into the Buckley-James estimating equations. The regression parameters are obtained iteratively by minimizing a consecutive distance of th...

BACKGROUND & AIMS The prevalence of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) reported in different countries varies widely, indicating that genetic or environmental factors may be important in the etiology of the disease. The aim of this study was to examine this issue further by determining the overall prevalence of PBC in one state in Australia and to examine the prevalence among different migrant gro...