Pediatric fatty liver

INTRODUCTION: Traffic-related air pollution causes fatty liver, inflammation and fibrosis in animal models, but there have been few studies in humans. OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that traffic-related air pollution causes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and increased markers for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH); and that NAFLD increases liver susceptibility to increased NASH risk. METHODS: Data collected prospectively from 74 overweight or obese children were obtained from the Yale Pediatric Obesity Clinic...

Background The observation of fat accumulation in different organs at pediatric autopsy may help determine the cause of death. However, a comprehensive study on fat accumulation and related etiologies is still lacking. Aim To investigate the incidence of fat accumulation in different organs in pediatric autopsies and their relevance to the cause of death. Methods From February 2004 until March 2015, fat accumulation was assessed in 561 routinely performed pediatric autopsies in our center. Age at death ranged from 14 weeks of gestation for fetuses to 16 years...

There is an increasing need to understand long-term metabolic changes and resultant comorbidities because life expectancy is increasing after pediatric kidney and liver transplants. We evaluated differences in classic and novel cardiometabolic biomarkers among obese and normal weight adolescent transplant recipients. We enrolled a total of 80 adolescent (mean±SD, 14.8 years ±3.0) transplant recipients (63 kidney, 17 liver) with mean duration from transplantation of 6.0 (±4.1) years. Among kidney transplant recipients, overweight and obese individuals had higher leptin (16...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic hepatitis driven by the adaptive immunity that affects all age groups. A functional and numerical regulatory T cell (Treg) defect has been reported in pediatric AIH (pAIH), while an intrahepatic increase in adult AIH (aAIH) patients has been detected in current research findings. METHODS: Therefore, we quantified the intrahepatic numbers of Treg, T and B cells, as well as serum cytokine levels before and during therapy in pAIH...

The rising prevalence of childhood obesity in the past decades has made Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) the most common cause of pediatric chronic liver disease worldwide. Currently, a growing body of evidence links NAFLD with cardiovascular disease (CVD) even at an early age. Data on the pediatric population have shown that NAFLD could represent an independent risk factor not only for cardiovascular events but also for early subclinical abnormalities in myocardial structure and function. Briefly, we review the current knowledge regarding the relationship between pediatric NAFLD and cardiovascular risk in an attempt to clarify our understanding of NAFLD as a possible cardiovascular risk factor in childhood...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of overweight/obesity in a cohort of Italian children with Down syndrome (DS) and to investigate the correlation of both obesity and DS with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). STUDY DESIGN: We enrolled 280 children with DS (age range 5-18 years), who were referred to the DS outpatient clinic of the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Rome. For all children, we collected the clinical history and measured anthropometric variables...

Objective: To retrospectively analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP), and to discuss perioperative and anesthetic management. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on the records of pregnant patients with a diagnosis of acute fatty liver of pregnancy in Peking University Third Hospital from January 2007 to December 2015. 12 cases were identified. The clinical features, preoperative laboratory findings, types of delivery, anesthetic techniques for cesarean section, and the outcomes of parturients and fetus were collected and analyzed...

OBJECTIVE: Animal models and studies in adults have demonstrated that copper restriction increases severity of liver injury in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This has not been studied in children. We aimed to determine if lower tissue copper is associated with increased NAFLD severity in children. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of pediatric patients who had a liver biopsy including a hepatic copper quantitation. The primary outcome compared hepatic copper concentration in NAFLD versus non-NAFLD...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common complications of obesity. Several studies have shown that genetic predisposition probably plays an important role in its pathogenesis. In fact, in the last few years a large number of genetic studies have provided compelling evidence that some gene variants, especially those in genes encoding proteins regulating lipid metabolism, are associated with intra-hepatic fat accumulation. Here we provide a comprehensive review of the gene variants that have affected the natural history of the disease...

OBJECTIVE: In the last decade, it was demonstrated that the Mediterranean diet (MD) represents an ideal diet for all age groups and has an important role in the prevention of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, as well as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of the present study was to analyze the association between adherence to the MD and NAFLD, with laboratory and histologic evaluation, in a group of children and adolescents with obesity. METHODS: We enrolled 243 patients with obesity referred to our department from March 2014 to November 2015...

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an underrecognized co-morbidity of obesity. The characteristic features and severity of NAFLD in severe childhood obesity remain unknown. OBJECTIVES: To investigate features of NAFLD in obese children and identify predictors of significant disease. SETTING: Academic center with a standardized pathway for pediatric bariatric surgery and a dedicated multidisciplinary team. DESIGN: This is a baseline cross-sectional analysis for a data set obtained from a prospective clinical outcome study that included severely obese children (≤14 yr of age) and adolescents (14-21 yr of age) who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy between March 2008 and March 2015...

Abstract: With the increase in the prevalence of obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become among the leading causes of chronic liver disease in the pediatric age group. Once believed to be a "two-hit process", it is now clear that the actual pathophysiology of NAFLD is complex and involves multiple pathways. Moreover, NAFLD is not always benign, and patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are at increased risk of developing advanced stages of liver disease. It has also been shown that NAFLD is not only a liver disease, but is also associated with multiple extrahepatic manifestations, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and low bone mineral density...

OBJECTIVES: Our aims in this study were as follows: (1) to determine the cutoff value that can distinguish between advanced liver fibrosis and normal liver tissue for two different elastographic techniques; (2) to determine the cutoff value that can distinguish mild liver fibrosis from normal liver tissue for the techniques; and (3) to assess tissue stiffness in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: Seventy-five patients assessed for liver biopsy on the same day were evaluated by point shear wave elastography...

Despite intensive investigations, mechanisms of liver cancer are not known. Here, we identified an important step of liver cancer which is the neutralization of tumor suppressor activities of an RNA binding protein CUGBP1. The translational activity of CUGBP1 is activated by de-phosphorylation at Ser302. We generated CUGBP1-S302A knock-in mice and found that the reduction of translational activity of CUGBP1 causes development of fatty liver phenotype in young S302A mice. Examination of liver cancer in Diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-treated CUGBP1-S302A mice showed these mice develop much more severe liver cancer which is associated with elimination of the mutant CUGBP1...

OBJECTIVES: Hemoglobin (Hb) and red blood cell distribution width (RDW) have been reported to be a risk marker of metabolic syndrome (MS) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). No study exists on pediatric populations. We aimed to determine the association between hematological parameters, and the severity of disease in children with biopsy proven NAFLD. METHODS: 117 children (85 males, mean age 12 years) with ultrasound (US) evidence of NAFLD undergoing liver biopsy for diagnosis of non alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), were prospectively enrolled between January 2011 and May 2013 in the setting of a tertiary care centre...

The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased at an alarming rate. The increased obesity rate in pediatrics parallels the increased risks for developing metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In particular, the strong relationship between obesity and such health consequences are well explained by the excessive accumulation of depot-specific body adiposity such as visceral adipose tissue (VAT), intrahepatic lipid content, intermuscular AT (IMAT), and/or intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) content...

OBJECTIVES: Small for gestational age (SGA) is associated with an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Our aim was to investigate the correlation of birthweight with the severity of liver damage in a large cohort of children with NAFLD. METHODS: Two hundred and eighty-eight consecutive Caucasian Italian overweight/obese children with biopsy-proven NAFLD were included in the study. We examined the relative association of each histological feature of NAFLD with metabolic alterations, insulin-resistance, I148M polymorphism in the patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) gene, and birthweight relative to gestational age...

PURPOSE: Insulin resistance (IR) has an important role in the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We aimed to analyze the association between liver histopathology and IR in pediatric patients with NASH. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 24 children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), we investigated whether the hepatic pathologic characteristics have relations with following three biochemical indices; IR index including homeostasis model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR), quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), and insulin sensitivity indices-free fatty acid (ISI-FFA)...

BACKGROUND: Soybean oil (SO) emulsions are associated with intestinal failure-associated liver disease (IFALD); fish oil (FO) emulsions are used to treat IFALD. SO and FO differ with respect to their fatty acid and phytosterol content. In children with IFALD whose SO was replaced with FO, we aimed to (1) quantify changes in erythrocyte fatty acids and plasma phytosterols, cytokines, and bile acids and (2) correlate these changes with direct bilirubin (DB). DESIGN: This study enrolled IFALD children who received 6 months of FO...

Importance: Psoriasis is a complex inflammatory skin condition associated with serious medical comorbidities in adults, including obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, psoriatic arthritis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, depression, anxiety, and decreased quality of life. Because psoriasis begins in childhood in almost one-third of patients, early identification of risk may be critical to minimizing effects on future health. Objective: To develop the first set of guidelines for comorbidity screening for patients with pediatric psoriasis based on current evidence...