ESPE Abstracts

Background: Congenital hypopituitarism (CH) is a group of disorders characterized by deficiencies in one or more hypophyseal hormones and a marked variability in genotype-phenotype correlations. Central diabetes insipidus (DI) is caused by a decreased release of ADH and results in a variable degree of polyuria. Their association is normally found in congenital cerebral midline abnormalities, such as septo-optic dysplasia.Objectiv...

Background: rhGH therapy may improve linear growth in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Poor bone health and abnormal body composition are recognised complications in paediatric IBD.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the effects of rhGH on bone health and body composition.Method: Sub-analysis of 13 children with IBD (12CD; 1UC) in a randomized controlled trial. Either rhGH (0.067 mg/kg per day) as daily s.c. inj...

Background: Children born small for gestational age (SGA) exhibit wide variations in the activity of growth hormone (GH)/insulin–like growth factor–I (IGF-I) axis and this heterogeneity may result in supra physiological concentrations of IGF-I during GH treatment. The long-term effects of elevated IGF-I levels has been a matter of concern. We explored the variations in total IGF-I and bioactive IGF-I and the associations with growth and glucose metab...

Introduction: About 15% of children born small for gestational age (SGA) do not reach final height within normal range. Recombinant human growth Hormone (rhGH) has shown to be effective in catching up growth velocity and height in children born SGA.The objective of our study is to identify the predictive factors of final height in children born SGA treated with rhGH.Materials and Methods: Monocentric, retrospective s...

Background: One of the main concerns in patients with growth disorders is to achieve optimal adherence to growth hormone (GH) treatment. For this it is important to identify patients with low adherence to treatment and to evaluate actions to improve it.The Merck Patient Support Program (PSP) carried out educational actions aimed at patients with low adherence and their parents, to raise their awareness of the importance of good adherence...

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of neuropeptide, neurokinin B (NKB) and amyloid beta fragment Aβ (25-35) on 17β estradiol (E2) treated aging female rat brain of 3 months (young), 12 months (adult) and 24 months (old) age groups.Methods: The aged rats (12 and 24 months old) were given subcutaneous injection of E2 (0.1 µg/g body weight) for 30 days. Synaptosomes we...

Background and aims: Studies in adults and experimental animals suggest an inverse and bidirectional relationship between cognitive abilities and obesity. Clinical studies on cognition and obesity in children are scarce and methodologically heterogeneous. Indeed, various factors related to obesity including diet, physical activity, socioeconomic status and maternal obesity can affect neuropsychological development. We aimed to study the cognitive function in s...

Background: Ectopic posterior pituitary gland (EPP) is characterized by an abnormal pituitary stalk and hypoplasia of the anterior hypophysis. The genetic mechanisms involved in the development of EPP remain uncertain.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this study is to determine whether mutations in the three genes, PROP-1, LHX2, and POU1F1, are associated with the risk for and the characteristics of EPP.Method: In the Endocrinol...

Objective: To evaluate musculoskeletal development using pQCT in children with coeliac disease (CD) on gluten free diet (GFD) compared with age and gender matched healthy controls.Method: Prospective cross sectional study. 38 children (18 males) with CD on GFD for a duration of 3.6 years (0.6, 12.5) and 38 age and sex matched healthy controls underwent pQCT at 4, 38 and 66% tibial sites. Bloods were collected in CD children only. Results reported as medi...

Introduction: Although, there are several studies that use the external masculinisation score (EMS) for numerical description of the external genitalia in infants with DSD, data on change in EMS in the routine clinical setting are lacking.Objectives: To determine the longitudinal change in EMS and its determinants in a cohort of boys with XY DSD in one specialist centre.Methods: Ob...