ESPE Abstracts

We present the case of a five-day female admitted to our Paediatric Unit due to TSH elevation (bTSH 303 mIU/L) on routine neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH). The patient was born at 38 weeks’ gestation by c-section presenting with adequate auxological parameters. Her mother suffered from Hashimoto’s disease, already diagnosed before pregnancy, and requiring Levo-thyroxine therapy (L-T4). Blood tests performed at five days of life revealed the pre...

Background: Turner syndrome (TS) arises from a complete or partial loss of one X chromosome (45,X) and is the most common genetic cause of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) in women. Surprisingly little is understood about the pathogenesis of POI in TS beyond an acknowledged germ cell loss throughout the second trimester. Although X chromosome haploinsufficiency likely contributes, the variability in reproductive phenotype in 45,X TS suggests it is not the o...

The standard of care for the treatment of hypothyroidism is the administration of daily tablets of levothyroxine (LT4) at doses that normalize serum TSH levels. In most patients, this approach elevates serum thyroid hormone (TH) levels and eliminates symptoms of overt hypothyroidism. Nonetheless, treatment with LT4 in adults does not fully normalize the TH economy. Despite normal TSH levels, many patients exhibit a reduction in the serum T3/T4 ratio due to a relative excess of...

Brother 1: 7 years old boy, with right genu valgum and short stature (−2,11 DS); X ray shows rickets features. Plasmatic Calcium 9.3 mg/dl; phosphate 2.5 mg/dl; Alkaline phosphatasas 460 U/l; Parathyroid hormone 83 pg/ml; 25OH Vitamin D 24 ng/ml. Urine calcium 159 mg/24 h (9.2 mg/K per day); Urine phosphate 870 mg/24 h; TmP/GFR 2.6 (NV:3.8 −5.0); proteinuria 100 mg/dl.Brother 2: 4 y.o boy with frequent respiratory diseases in infant period. G...

Background: Osteoporosis is a complex disorder, influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Primary osteoporosis is a rare early onset disorder with high morbidity and mortality. Wnt signaling pathway has been shown to be involved in the regulation of bone remodeling.Case: Native Argentinean boy born from a consanguineous family with history of retinal detachment in the maternal line. Delivered at term, birth weight 2900 g (−0.95 SDS), bi...

Background: The easypodTM auto-injector is designed to make daily administration of recombinant human growth hormone (r-hGH) comfortable and easier to patients. EasypodTM device delivers pre-set doses of r-hGH (Saizen®) and stores a digital record of adherence to therapy that can be shared with healthcare providers for evaluation.Objective: To assess adherence to r-hGH therapy delivered via the easypodTM device in ea...

Background: Primary IGF1 deficiency can result from molecular defects in genes encoding for the GHR, IGF1, STAT5b and ALS. Heterozygous, activating mutations in the STAT3 gene have been recently described in children with severe growth failure associated with a spectrum of early-onset autoimmune disease.Case presentation: We report the molecular diagnosis in two unrelated patients with severe growth failure and IGF1 deficiency: P1, a 3.6 year ol...

Background: Gonadotropin releasing hormone analogs (GnRHa) are effective in improving adult height in children with precocious onset of puberty, rapid progression, and good growth potential. In last years, however, some transient metabolic complications have been described during the treatment without the reassurance of long-term data yet. The aim of our study is to clarify if body mass index (BMI) at diagnosis of idiopathic central precocious puberty (iCPP) c...

ERF protein is a major binding target of ERK1/2 kinases, key effectors of the RAS–MEK–ERK signaling cascade. ERF has a role as a negative transcriptional regulator of RAS/MAPK mitogenic pathway (1) and, in theory, a loss-of-function mutation (LOF) in ERF could cause a Rasopathy phenotype. To date, LOF variants of ERF have been reported in 45 individuals with craniosynostosis but without a Noonan-like phenotype. There is only one case report describing a patient wit...

Introduction: Pediatric obesity is associated with an increased risk of serious long-term complications. Therapeutic failure is influenced by several factors, such as the high dropout rate. A retrospective study was conducted on a cohort of children and adolescents with essential obesity, in order to evalute (1)the average duration of a correct follow-up and the percentage of weight loss at the end of it, (2)the rate of drop-out, researching related factors.</...