ESPE Abstracts

Background: The initiation of puberty is orchestrated by the augmentation in the secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from a few thousand neurons located in the hypothalamus. Recent findings identified that the neuroendocrine control of puberty is regulated by a network of transcriptional factors hierarchically organized, but this still remains not fully elucidated. Enhanced At Puberty 1 (EAP1) is one of the main regulators of pubertal onset and it is ex...

Background: In young adults patients (pts) with CAH due to 21OHD few and conflicting data have been reported on bone mineral quality (BMQ) evaluated by quantitative ultrasound (QUS).Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate the bone mineral status by QUS variables assessed at proximal phalanges of the hand in a cohort of young adults with classical CAH due to 21OHD and the possible associations with their clinical and metabolic features.<p class="abstext...

Background: Aberrations in the timing of puberty may result in significant adverse health outcomes, including cancers, cardiovascular and neurological pathologies. Self-limited delayed puberty (DP) (i.e. constitutional delay of puberty) runs in families with either autosomal dominant or complex inheritance patterns in >70% of families, indicating a strong genetic basis of the trait. However, only a few genes have been identified underlying DP so far....

Background: The phenotype of SHOX aploinsufficiency is highly variable also in affected members of the same family with broad differences in severity of short stature, disproportion, presence of Madelung deformity.Case presentation: We present a family with a new mutation of SHOX gene. A 2.3 years old girl, born at term from unrelated parents, came to our observation for short stature. Her height was −2.02 SDS, arm span was normal, sitting heigh/he...

Background: Thyroid nodules (TN) are rare in children but often show more aggressive features than in adults. Irradiated childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are at risk for malignant thyroid nodules.Objective and hypotheses: To retrospectively compare the incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), the clinical onset and the medium-term follow-up in a pediatric population (EC <18 years), with and without risk factors examined for TN, among 1990 an...

Background: Endothelial dysfunction is a macrovascular complication of type 1 diabetes. Children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes may suffer of endothelial dysfunction, irrespective of chronological age and disease duration.Objective and hypotheses: After evaluating the prevalence of early endothelial dysfunction, as measured by mean of reactive hyperaemia in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, at baseline and after 1-year follow-up, we started a 6-mon...

Background: A high risk of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) has been documented in multiple pregnancies. Over the years special screening procedures for preterm and twin babies (re-screening at 2–4 weeks of life) have been adopted by many screening laboratories worldwide. However, no extensive studies have been performed to verify how many co-twins with negative test at first screening (3–5 days of life) become positive at re-screening, and the utility of a long-term f...

Background: The isodicentric Y (idic Y) is one of the most common aberrations of the Y chromosome. Most patients (pts) are chromosomal mosaics, including 45,X cell line.Objective and hypotheses: Our aim is to describe clinical and molecular features of our 45,X/46,Xidic(Y) cases.Method: We retrospectively evaluate the clinical description of nine cases (six females, one male, two with ambiguous genitalia) with mosaic karyotype 45,X...

Background: Thyroid dysgenesis has been considered a sporadic disease, but recent observations suggested a possible genetic basis.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of our report is to evaluate the incidence of hormonal and ultrasound thyroid anomalies in siblings of CH patients with thyroid dysgenesis.Method: In Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy) 328 CH infants were diagnosed by neonatal screening between January 2000 and December 2012....

Background: Hypothalamic obesity (HO), due to midline congenital malformations, genetic diseases or hypothalamo-hypophysis tumours, is severe and difficult to treat. Patients are scarcely compliant to diet and physical activity, for disabilities often affecting them. Drugs have been rarely employed.Objective and hypotheses: Aim of the study was to treat hypopituitaric children and adolescents affected by severe HO with a multidisciplinary approach includ...