ESPE Abstracts

Despite the fact that patients with diabetes and medical staff are doing their best to achieve tight glycemic control, most patients all over the world do not achieve the goal. Good glycemic control is crucial to prevent diabetes related complications as well as hypoglycemic episodes, seizure, coma and death. The Diabetes wiREless Artificial Pancreas ConsortiuM (DREAM) was established by three diabetes centers in Slovenia, Germany and Israel, with a goal to reduce the risk of ...

The McCune–Albright syndrome can be a disease of striking complexity, the management of which can be challenging. However, an understanding of the physiologic consequences of the underlying molecular and developmental biology makes the evaluation and treatment of this disease relatively straightforward. MAS arises from activating mutations in the ubiquitously expressed cAMP-signaling protein, Gsα. The mutations occur very early in development, prior to gas...

Osteoclasts are bone-resorbing cells important in normal growth plate development and bone remodeling. The development of osteoclasts is potently driven by mononuclear RANK and osteogenic cell RANKL interaction. Denosumab is a monoclonal antibody drug that targets RANKL and inhibits osteoclastogenesis. It is a potent and effective treatment for pathologic processes that involve bone resorption, such as osteoporosis and bone metastases, conditions for which it is approved. Deno...

Background: It is well known that growth hormone (GH) brings about several effects, involving bone, body composition, lipids and glucose homeostasis. However, the complex interplay between these parameters is rather poorly studied in children with childhood-onset-GH deficiency (CO-GHD).Objective and hypotheses: To investigate lipids, adipokines (leptin- adiponectin- resistin) and glucose homeostasis and their relationship with bone and body composition i...

Despite significant advances in the medical management of childhood diseases, glucocorticoids (GCs) continue to be the mainstay of therapy for numerous serious conditions, including hematological malignancies, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and inflammatory disorders. In order to understand the natural history of bone development in GC-treated children, a pan-Canadian longitudinal observational research study called "STOPP" (STeroid...

Catch-up growth (CUG) is characterized by a period of supranormal height velocity following a transient period of growth inhibition. The two classical hypotheses on the mechanism are the neuro-endocrine hypothesis (a central mechanism that would recognize the degree of mismatch between actual size and target size) and the growth plate hypothesis (local regulation of growth according to a preset cellular program of senescence, characterized by decreasing growth proliferation ra...

Study of the histopathology of human type 1 and 2 diabetes through the national pancreatic organ donor (nPOD) consortium has yielded interesting new insights that should also aid us in developing improved therapeutic approaches.1. When insulitis is observed, it usually shows a predominance of CD8 T cells, some of which are autoantigen specific (see also Coppieters et al. JEM 2012). It will be therapeutically challenging to remove/prevent CD8 mem...

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of mortality in diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1DM). Dyslipidemia will increase this risk. Several guidelines have been published, how to treat dyslipidemia in T1DM, yet some studies have shown that the number of patients who are treated according to these guidelines is low.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the frequency of dyslipidemia in children and adolescents with T1DM and if they are tr...

The transient activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis shortly after birth has been described as early as in the 70ies. This discovery has since been applied clinically as a ‘window of opportunity’ for diagnostic evaluation of patients suspected of endocrine disorders and differences of sex development. With the advent of increasingly more sensitive and specific analytical methods for peptide and steroid hormones produced in the pituitary, gonads...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain in disorders of sexual development (DSD) is still relatively scarce despite the opportunities it offers for understanding the influence of sex hormones on emotion and cognition. In this talk I will give an update on current structural and functional MRI research in different DSDs such as Klinefelter syndrome, Turner syndrome, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, or Familial Male Precocious Puberty. Finally, parallels will be drawn to cu...