Summary
Background : Children with non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis are insulin‐resistant and metformin has been proposed as a potential therapy. However, paediatric safety and efficacy data are absent.
...Aim : To test the hypothesis that metformin therapy will safely improve markers of liver disease in paediatric non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Methods : Single‐arm open‐label pilot study of metformin 500 mg twice daily for 24 weeks in non‐diabetic children with biopsy‐proven non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Results : Ten obese children (mean body mass index 30.4) enrolled and completed the trial. Mean alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) improved significantly (P < 0.01) from baseline (184, 114 U/L) to end of treatment (98, 68 U/L). Alanine aminotransferase normalized in 40% and AST normalized in 50% of subjects. Children demonstrated significant improvements in liver fat measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (30–23%, P < 0.01); insulin sensitivity measured by quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (0.294–0.310, P < 0.05); and quality of life measured by pediatric quality of life inventory 4.0 (69–81, P < 0.01).
Conclusion : Open‐label treatment with metformin for 24 weeks was notable for improvement in liver chemistry, liver fat, insulin sensitivity and quality of life. A large randomized‐controlled trial is needed to definitively determine the efficacy of metformin for paediatric non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Molecular dynamics simulations of realistic, united atom models of polyethylene undergoing uniaxial extension are described. Systems composed of chains ranging from 25 to 400 carbons have been ...studied, under a variety of processing histories, including isothermal deformation at constant applied stress below the melt temperature Tm, isothermal deformation below Tm followed by annealing, isothermal deformation above Tm followed by crystallization at a quench temperature below Tm, and non-isothermal crystallization during simultaneous deformation and cooling through Tm. Extension and orientation of large segments of flexible chains by uniaxial deformation accelerates the primary nucleation rate to a time scale accessible by molecular dynamics simulation. Entanglements operative during active deformation promote extension and orientation without nucleation of a crystal phase, while relaxation of stress at constant strain is sufficient to allow slippage of chains past pinning points and rapid nucleation and growth of crystallites as neighboring oriented chains come into registry. Isothermal crystallization of pre-oriented systems shows an apparent increase in nucleation density at lower temperatures; the resulting ordered regions are smaller and more closely aligned in the direction of orientation. During non-isothermal deformation, where stretching and cooling occur simultaneously, a first order transition is observed, with discontinuities in the volume and global order parameter, when the system crystallizes.
Printing emulsions and foams in 3D Lavine, M. S.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
11/2016, Volume:
354, Issue:
6312
Journal Article
Push both ways to avoid a jam Lavine, M. S.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
10/2016, Volume:
354, Issue:
6309
Journal Article
Seeing the disorder in the ordered Lavine, M. S.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2016, Volume:
353, Issue:
6306
Journal Article
Can you feel what I feel? Lavine, M. S.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2016, Volume:
353, Issue:
6306
Journal Article
Brushing out uniform nanorods Lavine, M. S.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2016, Volume:
353, Issue:
6305
Journal Article
Stretching the connections Lavine, M. S.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2016, Volume:
353, Issue:
6305
Journal Article
PDF
