Benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis (BRIC) is a rare genetic disease often causing episodes of jaundice since childhood. Its triggering factors are still unknown. Hyperthyroidism solely is an infrequent cause of jaundice, and it was never described in association with BRIC. In this article, we reported a woman presenting with a new episode of BRIC and was found to have concomitant hyperthyroidism in the absence of any other potential trigger factor. We conclude that hyperthyroidism may trigger cholestasis in patients with BRIC.

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Benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis (BRIC) is a rare genetic disorder that is characterized by episodes of cholestasis followed by complete resolution. The episodic nature of BRIC raises concerns about its possible trigger factors. Indeed, case reports of this orphan disease have associated BRIC to some triggers. In the absence of any reviews, we reviewed BRIC trigger factors and its pathophysiology. The study consisted of a systematic search for case reports using PubMed. Articles describing a clear case of BRIC associated with a trigger were included resulting in 22 articles that describe 35 patients. Infection was responsible for 54.3% of triggered episodes, followed by hormonal, drugs, and miscellaneous causes reporting as 30%, 10%, and 5.7% respectively. Females predominated with 62.9%. The longest episode ranged between 3 months to 2 years with a mean of 32.37 weeks. The mean age of the first episode was 14.28 ranging between 3 months to 48 years. Winter and autumn were the major seasons during which episodes happened. Hence, BRIC is potentially triggered by infection, which is most commonly a viral infection, hormonal disturbances as seen in oral contraceptive pills and pregnancy state, and less commonly by certain drugs and other causes. The appearance of cholestasis during the first two trimesters of pregnancy compared to intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy could help to differentiate between the two conditions. The possible mechanism of BRIC induction implicates a role of BSEP and ATP8B1. While estrogen, drugs, and cytokines are known to affect BSEP, less is known about their action on ATP8B1.

PurposeThe purpose of this work is to highlight the evolutions of the switching times parameters of commercial vertical diffuse metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors after a hot carrier injection in the reverse bias pn junction.Design/methodology/approachExperiment was done basically by hot carrier injection, where a large drain‐source voltage VDS is applied to reverse bias the body drain junction, then inducing a 30 mA reverse current. The drain polarization was increased gradually, by steps of 0.5 V/s, up to desired VDS value in order to prevent sudden breakdown. Switching time parameters were measured at different temperatures and up to 300°C.FindingsThe experimental results show that the device rise time decreases significantly for the first period of stress time at room temperature, which increases the speed of the device during this turn‐on switch. This event was associated with the high‐electric field in the junction region that pulls electrons from the oxide gate into the channel, thus leaving trapped holes in the oxide bulk due to their low mobility.Originality/valueThis research study has an important value in terms of engineering application where speed of electronic devices is one of the most valuable parameters in the communication and information technology fields.