Researchers unravel genetic mechanism of fatty liver disease in obese children
2012-03-27
(Press-News.org) Obese youths with particular genetic variants may be more prone to fatty liver disease, a leading cause of chronic liver disease in children and adolescents in industrialized countries, according to new findings by Yale School of Medicine researchers.
The study, which focused on three ethnic groups, is published in the March issue of the journal Hepatology.
Led by Nicola Santoro, M.D., associate research scientist in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, the authors measured the hepatic, or liver, fat content of children using magnetic resonance imaging. The study included 181 Caucasian, 139 African-American and 135 Hispanic children who were, on average, age 13.
"We observed that a common genetic variant known as Patatin-like phospholipase domain containing protein-3 (PNPLA3) working with a regulatory protein called glucokinase (GCKR), was associated with increased triglycerides, very low-density lipoproteins levels, and fatty liver," said Santoro.
Santoro explained that his observations could help unravel the genetic mechanisms that contribute to liver fat metabolism. "This may drive the decisions about future drug targets to treat hypertriglyceridemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease," he said.
Childhood obesity is a global health concern. Experts say nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is now the leading cause of chronic liver disease in children and adolescents in industrialized countries.
"Our findings confirm that obese youths with genetic variants in the GCKR and PNPLA3 genes may be more susceptible to fatty liver disease," said Santoro, who is cautious about automatically extending this observation to the overall population.
"Our data refer to a population of obese children and adolescents," he said. "I think that further studies in a larger sample size involving lean subjects and adults may help to further define in more details these associations."
INFORMATION:
Other authors on the study included Clarence K. Zhang, Hongyu Zhao, Andrew J. Pakstis, Grace Kim, Romy Kursawe, Daniel J. Dykas, Allen E. Bale, Cosimo Giannini, Bridget Pierpont, Melissa M. Shaw, Leif Groop, and Sonia Caprio.
The work was also funded, in part, by the Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award grant from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health.
Citation: Hepatology Vol. 55, No. 3 (March 2012)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hep.24806/abstract.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2012-03-27
Intensive research around the world has focused on improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost. But very little attention has been paid to the best ways of arranging those cells, which are typically placed flat on a rooftop or other surface, or sometimes attached to motorized structures that keep the cells pointed toward the sun as it crosses the sky.
Now, a team of MIT researchers has come up with a very different approach: building cubes or towers that extend the solar cells upward in three-dimensional configurations. Amazingly, ...
2012-03-27
PROSSER, Wash. -- While Washington winemakers grow most of their grapes on their natural rootstock, the coveted quality of their crop--and wines--is unlikely to change if they join the rest of the world and start grafting their varieties to more disease- and pest-resistant roots. That day will probably come, say WSU experts, but growers have little to fear.
The spectre of a vine-destroying invasion has been lurking in the shadows of Washington vineyards for years. What if, wine industry professionals have fretted, growers had to start grafting in order to beat the insects ...
2012-03-27
The Lint Center, a non-profit charity, focused on supporting the educational pursuits of the next generation of America's Counterintelligence and National Security Workers, today formally announced Miguel Ibarra was awarded the Special Agent/SSG Richard S. Eaton Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship award aims to support undergraduate and post-graduate educational pursuits of scholars interested in National Security.
Lint Center scholarship winners are chosen on various grounds but are all well-rounded individuals whom the scholarship namesake would be or would have ...
2012-03-27
Amsterdam, NL -- Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the only cause of death among the top 10 in America without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Today, 5.4 million Americans are living with the disease, and another American develops it every 69 seconds.
Unfortunately, many Alzheimer's disease drugs targeting the misfolding of the amyloid beta protein have failed clinical trials, leading some to question the validity of the amyloid hypothesis.
In upcoming issues ...
2012-03-27
Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is a key foundational species in an ecosystem that is threatened by invasion of cheatgrass and the subsequent increase in fire frequency. Critical to the conservation, reestablishment, and restoration of the sagebrush steppe ecosystem (which comprises 63 million hectares of the Great Basin of North America) is understanding the dynamics of A. tridentata seeds—how long do they remain viable and are they able to persist in the seed bank for any length of time?
Previously it was thought that A. tridentata seeds did not persist in the ...
2012-03-27
Continuing to ride the wave of success, the Panic Room Company has just returned from Madrid's eminent security show SICUR 2012 (Salón Internacional de la Seguridad) where its innovative product gained centre of attention and screen time on several of Spain's most-viewed TV channels.
Ignacio Sanchez-Teran, Director of SIMEC, the Panic Room Company's Spanish dealer and stand-holder in Madrid, said, "This Spanish debut for the Panic Room has been nothing short of a triumph. We attracted significant media interest and featured in nationwide news reports on the likes ...
2012-03-27
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A team of scientists from the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station and the University of Córdoba in Spain recently developed a new methodology that measures the economic impact of forest fires on timber resources.
When evaluating and planning fire management program activities, it is important to know the value of the forest ecosystems protected. However, determining the true volume or economic value of the resources lost during a fire can be difficult. For example, when a fire burns through a timber stand, the market value lost ...
2012-03-27
Caring Transitions of North Central Ohio, a company specializing in estate sales, downsizing and senior moves today announced the sale of a vast Barbie collection on the company's exclusive online auction Web site, http://www.ctonlineauctions.com/ncentraloh.
The auction, starting at 9 a.m. EST today, Sunday, March 25th, features more than 400 lots of Barbie dolls, clothing ensembles, accessories, furniture, vehicles, novelties, convention items and other Barbie collectibles. This extensive collection has been fueled by a local collector's passion for Barbie and it has ...
2012-03-27
This press release is available in French and German.
A study led by Dr Janet Shipley from The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London in collaboration with Dr Mauro Delorenzi from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics in Lausanne has shown that a simple genetic test could help predict the aggressiveness of rhabdomyosarcoma tumours in children. The test, which should be introduced into clinical practice, would lead to changes in treatment for many patients, allowing some children to escape potentially long-term side-effects whilst giving others the intense ...
2012-03-27
SAN DIEGO, March 27, 2012 — Scientists today reported striking new evidence that green, or unroasted, coffee beans can produce a substantial decrease in body weight in a relatively short period of time.
In a study presented at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, Joe Vinson, Ph.D., and colleagues described how a group of overweight or obese people who consumed a fraction of an ounce of ground green coffee beans each day lost about 10 percent of their body weight.
"Based on our results, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Researchers unravel genetic mechanism of fatty liver disease in obese children
