ESPE Abstracts

Growth Hormone insensitivity (GHI) is characterized by short stature, GH resistance and IGF-1 deficiency. Classical GHI includes defects in the GH receptor and other genetic abnormalities downstream the GH cascade. Various short stature syndromes have phenotypes that overlap with GHI. This report discusses two cases of nonclassical GHI. Patient 1 is a boy with STAT3 gain-of-function syndrome (STAT3 GOF), characterized by immune dysregulation and growth failure. He developed ea...

Background: Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder caused by a loss of function of specific genes on chromosome 15. It is characterized by infantile lethargy and hypotonia causing poor feeding and failure to thrive, childhood obesity, short stature, and hypogonadism, that causes incomplete, delayed, and sometimes disordered pubertal development.1 Precocious puberty is very rare in PWS. We report a girl with PWS and idiopathic p...

Introduction: Developed countries have shown, among the 20th century, a time trend towards a younger age at menarche. Tanner described an anticipation of 3 months every decade. In the last two decades of twenty century we have observed an apparent stabilization of menarche age in most of Western countries.Objective: analyze average age of menarche in Tuscany girls and compare our results with those in literatu...

Background: Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a multifactorial condition, which implies symptoms as fatigue, tachycardia, sleep disorders and autonomic symptoms. The fundamental clinical sign is the manifestation of an abnormal increase in heart rates of at least 40 bpm within 10 minutes assuming an upright position, delineating a condition of orthostatic intolerance and decreasing quality of life.Objective</str...

Background: Precocious puberty is defined as the development of secondary sexual characteristics before the age of 8 years in girls and 9 years in boys. This condition results from a constant and complex interplay between predisposing genes and environmental factors. To date, the molecular analysis are all focused on reproductive-endocrine disorders such as Kallmann syndrome and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, while the genetic bases of pubertal timing are still unclear.<p ...

Background: Isolated hyperreninemic hypoaldosteronism due to aldosterone synthase deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder linked to aldosterone biosynthesis defect (involving CYP11B2 gene). Its clinical presentation varies with age: during the first weeks of life it usually presents with salt-wasting syndrome (with severe hyponatremia, hyperkalemia, metabolic acidosis, vomiting, signs of dehydration) while in children it is usually characterized by failure to thrive,...

Background: Various aspects of IGF1R defects have been analysed to date, but the effects of IGF1R haploinsufficiency bone status and metabolism were rarely investigated.Objective and hypotheses: To study bone metabolism and structure in a case of Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) receptor (IGF1R) gene deletion.Method: Genetic analysis, GH stimulation, rhGH treatme...

Background: Patients with chromosome 2 pericentromeric duplication are rarely reported in literature.Objective and hypotheses: To describe a young girl with a congenital malformations syndrome, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and impaired bone quality associated with a chromosome 2 pericentromeric duplication.Results: The proposita was born at 37th weeks of gestation from a twin pregnancy with a cesarean delivery presenting low birth...

Background: GAIA is a health service of Meyer Children Hospital composed of a multidisciplinary team specialized in the management of children victims of child abuse. Sexual abuse occurs when a child is engaged in sexual activities that cannot comprehend, for which the child is developmentally unprepared and cannot give consent, and/or that violate the law or social taboos of society. The sexual activities may include all forms of oral-genital, genital, or anal contact by or t...

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents a spectrum of clinicopathological conditions frequently discovered in obese patients and characterized by multifactorial pathogenesis. Hypoadiponectinaemia and higher interleukin (IL)-6 levels has been related to NAFLD, even if some contradictory findings have emphasized our incomplete understanding of the role of the cytokines in NAFLD.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the relations...