ESPE Abstracts

Background: Secretion of Wnt-proteins by adipose cells plays an important role in the control of adipogenesis. The Wnt-antagonist, dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), is secreted by human pre-adipocytes and influences adipocyte maturation and growth. DKK-1 mRNA increases 6 h after onset of human adipogenesis followed by an increase in DKK-1 protein. Of note, DKK-1 protein has been implicated also in bone remodeling pathways.Patients and Methods: In this study we measure...

Background and aims: Fat and bone are linked by a multitude of pathways supporting a skeleton appropriate for the mass of adipose tissue of the organism. We aimed to investigate the relations of adipose tissue hormones such as leptin, adiponectin, retinol-binding-protein-4 (RBP-4) and lipocalin-2 along with the low grade inflammation marker hs-CRP with markers of bone metabolism such as osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor-activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL), osteocalcin, C-term...

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder worldwide. Evidence suggests dysfunction of the fronto-subcortical pathways and the dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems, as well as dysregulation of the stress system, i.e., the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).Objective and hypotheses: The aim of the study was to examine i) the diurn...

Background: Data regarding the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in Greek adolescents and the effect of school interventions are scarce.Objective and hypotheses: To study the prevalence of MS in a representative sample of Greek adolescents and evaluate the impact of a 6-month educational-behavioral intervention.Method: Cross-sectional anthropometric data ((height, weight, waist circumference (WC)), blood pressure (BP), fasting ...

Background: Endocrine impairments, such as diabetes insipidus (DI), growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and, to a lesser degree, thyroid or cortisol deficiencies, have been reported after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adults and much less in children both at the acute post-traumatic phase and after a lag period of time. However, no prospective data exist on the endocrine and acute phase protein response to TBI in childhood.Aim/objective: To unravel possibl...

Background: The ability to respond to stress constitutes a defensive protective mechanism; both inadequate and excessive responses may be detrimental.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the effect of increased body weight on the hormonal response to stress in children. Scheduled surgical procedures include two stressful parts, a psychological one (anticipation of operation) and a biological one (surgical stress per se) and were chosen as a study mod...

Background: Obesity has been associated with perturbations of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Scalp hair cortisol has been recognized as a reliable index of long-term cortisol concentrations.Objective and hypotheses: Aim of this study was to compare indices of HPA axis and SNS activities, such as, respectively, the salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase diurnal patterns, and their relations i...

Background: Honey is known for its medicinal and health promoting properties. It contains phytochemicals with high phenolic and flavonoid content, which contribute to its high antioxidant activity. Recent studies performed in adult healthy subjects suggest that honey has a beneficial effect on plasma glucose and serum insulin concentrations compared with monosacharides and disaccharides from different sources.Objective/hypotheses: To compare the effects ...

Background: The noncoding RNA growth-arrest-specific transcript 5 (Gas5) is abundant in cells whose growth has been arrested owing to lack of nutrients or growth factors. Gas5 is a riborepressor of the glucocorticoid receptor, influencing cell survival and metabolic activities during starvation by inhibiting the latter’s transcriptional activity.Aim: To determine the expression levels of Gas5 in blood samples of obese, overweight and lean children a...

Background: ICSI is an assisted reproduction technique (ART) mainly used to overcome male infertility. Nowadays, ICSI is employed frequently due to its high success rate, despite it being highly invasive (i.e. epigenetic risk). Recent studies in ART offspring show a higher incidence of cardio-metabolic risk than in naturally-conceived (NC) controls. Thus, in our prior untargeted metabolomic study between ICSI and NC prepubertal girls, we demonstrated insulin resistance in the ...