ESPE Abstracts

Background: minipuberty (MP) consists in a postnatal activation of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which occurs physiologically in both sexes during the first months of life. FSH and LH peak between 1 and 3 months, stimulating sex hormones secretion. In preterm infants, MP might lead to a stronger and more protracted hormonal stimulation, even if specific literature data are limited and not univocal. Immaturity of the hypothalamic feedback has been ...

Background: Heterozygous loss-of-function variants of fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) are genetic causes of Combined Pituitary Hormone Deficiency (CPHD), Kallmann syndrome (KS) with anosmia/iposmia, Congenital Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism (CHH) with normosmia and Septo-Optic Dysplasia. It is well-known that these variants are the main genetic factor underlying the development of CHH and KS; however, they have only occasionally been identified in C...

Background: Asprosin is an adipokine involved in glucose homeostasis and its plasma levels physiologically increases in fasting conditions and decreases with refeeding. In non-diabetic children and adolescents with obesity, insulin resistance (IR) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) seem to influence the physiological variation in meal-related asprosin levels 120 minutes after an oral glucose load (Corica et al. doi:10.3389/fendo.2021.805700). No data ...

Background: The typical biochemical phenotype related to obesity, that is high serum thyrotropin (TSH) within normal range, low/normal free thyroxine (FT4) and increased free triiodothyronine (FT3) levels, can be interpreted as a resistance to thyroid hormones. It is unclear the role played by thyroid hormones in the pathogenesis of metabolic derangement associated with obesity.Aim: To investigate the association between...

Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) is an hereditary disorder characterized by resistance to parathyroid hormone (PTH) and in varying degrees to TSH, GHRH and FSH/LH, and caused by loss-of-function mutations in the GNAS gene, encoding the membrane protein Gs-alpha. Pathognomonic of these patients is a dysmorphic phenotype, called Albright's Osteodystrophy, which includes short stature, obesity, round face, mental delay, subcutaneous ossifications and brachydactyly. The most fr...

Objectives: Increased central and peripheral sensitivity to thyroid hormones seems to be associated with an increased risk of developing prediabetes in adulthood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the severity of obesity, the presence of glyco-metabolic alterations, and tissue sensitivity to thyroid hormones in prepubertal euthyroid children with simple obesity.Methods: Eighty prepubert...

Introduction: Pediatric obesity is associated with an increased risk of serious long-term complications. Therapeutic failure is influenced by several factors, such as the high dropout rate. A retrospective study was conducted on a cohort of children and adolescents with essential obesity, in order to evalute (1)the average duration of a correct follow-up and the percentage of weight loss at the end of it, (2)the rate of drop-out, researching related factors.</...

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is diagnosed in up to 60% of overweight children. Diagnosis and management of NAFLD is challenging due to the lack of non-invasive imaging biomarkers. Ultrasound (US) is the most widely non-invasive method used to identify liver steatosis, however it has low sensitivity to detect mild steatosis and to quantify hepatic fibrosis. Liver Elastography (LE) is a non-invasive methodology used to evaluate hep...

Introduction: NR5A1 (nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1) is a transcriptional regulator of adrenal and gonadal development and function. Heterozygous and homozygous NR5A1 mutations have been described in 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD). The clinical, endocrine and genetic features of three 46,XY children from two unrelated families (A and B) with NR5A1 genetic variants are reported.P...

Introduction: Childhood obesity is known to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic complications in adulthood.Objectives: To evaluate precocious cardiovascular sonographic modifications in a cohort of overweight (OW) and obese (OB) children and adolescents brought to Outpatient Clinic of Pediatric Endocrinology for first evaluation, compared with normal weight controls. 2) To investigate the association between clinical and ...