ESPE Abstracts

Background: The gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays a central role in maintaining energy balance and body weight regulation. These functions are mediated by the secretion of gut hormones, including ghrelin, cholecystokinin (CCK), peptide YY(PYY), oxyntomodulin (OXM) and many other hormones. Some of them are orexigenic hormones that promote food intake, while others act as satiety signals and enhance insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cells. Current evide...

Pediatric obesity is constantly increasing and exposes to serious cardiovascular and metabolic risks. The first treatment against obesity is lifestyle change. Actually, any intervention seems to be effective on the evolution of this condition, especially in the long term. For this reason, the interest in non-pharmaceutical compounds is growing. Several studies mentioned the use of zinc and inositol as compounds acting on weight loss and insulin resistance. The aim of this stud...

Background: The increase of global childhood obesity has led to an increase of associated co-morbidities also at a young age. The pro-inflammatory state and insulin resistance are two master regulators of several complications, including hypertension and pre-diabetes frequently connected in a complex crosstalk.Aim: To evaluate the relationship between glucose alterations and blood pressure and the pathogenetic involvemen...

Introduction: Genetic factors play an important role in determining individual susceptibility to weight gain and obesity. In the last few years, several genetic variants have been identified as monogenic forms of obesity. Among them, Leptin (LEP) and its receptor on hypothalamic neurons (LEPR) are key players in the regulation of body weight, food intake and energy homeostasis. Pathogenic variants in the LEPR gene cause severe childhood-onset obesity with an a...

Early life events can profoundly affect an individual’s metabolic phenotype, inducing adaptive responses that may be protective in utero but potentially disadvantageous for long-term health. Indeed, environmental cues during sensitive windows of development may result in altered growth and lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic alterations later in life. In this talk, I will discuss several models of exposure to early life events, which were th...

Decreased resting metabolic rate (RMR) is a risk factor for the development and progression of obesity. Childhood obesity is accompanied by the development of metabolic disorders, which often persist in adults. The relationship between the rate of basal metabolism and development of childhood obesity complications is not well understood.Objective and hypotheses: Measure resting metabolic rate in obese children and assess the pronouncement of metabolic di...

Introduction: Noonan syndrome (NS) is an autosomal dominant disorder that involving multiple organ systems, with an incidence of 1:1,000 to 1:2,500.The clinical features as short stature, dysmorphic facial features, congenital heart defects most commonly pulmonary valve stenosis, typical chest, cryptorchidism. The PTPN11 gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 12q24.1 and encodes for the non-receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-2 (SHP2), generating ...

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex, multisystem disorder and is the most frequent cause of syndromic obesity that arises from lack of expression of paternally inherited imprinted genes on chromosome 15q11-q13. Its major clinical features include neonatal hypotonia, short stature, developmental delay, behavioral abnormalities, hyperphagia, childhood onset obesity, hypothalamic hypogonadism, and characteristic appearance.Case history: We ...

Background: Patients with Turner’s syndrome (TS) develop osteoporosis, resulting from chromosomal deficiency and estrogen deficiency by gonadal dysgenesis.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this study was to assess bone mineral density (BMD) and parameters of bone remodeling during somatropin therapy in prepubertal girls with TS.Population and/or methods: We examined 22 girls with TS of the age of 11–15 years (the mean ...

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex multisystem genetic disorder arising from lack of expression of paternally inherited imprinted genes on chromosome 15q11–q13. Hyperphagia represents one of the most serious symptoms of the PWS, leading to develop premature mortality.Objective and hypotheses: To compare orexigenic (ghrelin) and anorexigenic factor (brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)) concentration in non-GH-treated obese pati...