ESPE Abstracts

Background: Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is a very rare dominantly inherited autosomal bone disorder mainly characterized by hypoplasia or aplasia of clavicles, failure of cranial suture closure, dental anomalies, short stature, and other changes in skeletal patterning and growth. Heterozygous loss-of-function mutations cause the majority of the abnormalities in the run-related transcription factor 2 gene (RUNX2). This gene is located on chromosome 6p21 and i...

Background: Obesity in childhood and adolescence represents one of the most challenging public health problems of our century. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Greece is approximately 21% in children younger than 6 years and up to 40% in older children and adolescents. Mild elevations of TSH concentrations are often detected in obese children and adolescents.Aim: To investigate the thyroid function in overweig...

Introduction: The placenta is an endocrine organ vital to fetal growth. It has multiple functions: pregnancy maintenance, nutrient and oxygen transport to the fetus, and removal of waste products among other functions. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and proteins are significant mediators of these functions. A description of their global expression in healthy placenta may increase our understanding of the molecular biological pathways that are important for normal fetal gr...

Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (sJIA) is a chronic autoinflammatory disease, with significant complications that can give short-term and long-term disability with reduced quality of life. Growth delay and short stature are described in >40% of cases, with a complex pathogenesis. Chronic inflammation, long-term corticosteroids treatment, hepatic involvement, malnutrition decrease IGF-1 and GH biological effects. Corticosteroids inhibit growth velocity, bone maturatio...

Introduction: Diagnosing growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in children is complex. Spontaneous growth hormone (GH) pulses during late night may influence the pituitary GH response to provocation tests. We evaluated refractoriness during arginine-insulin-tolerance test (AITT) when having a GH-peak during a short spontaneous nocturnal profile in children with short stature.Methods: Altogether 257 children 0-18 years were exa...

Background: The diagnosis of GH deficiency (GHD) is not straightforward in childhood and adolescence, requiring comprehensive clinical, anthropometric, biochemical, endocrine, and neuroradiological assessment. Although pharmacological GH stimulation tests are still considered the gold standard for GHD diagnosis, they are burdened by both poor specificity and side effects. Several studies have addressed the issue of sensitivity and specificity of IGFBP-3 assess...

Introduction: Septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) is an uncommon, highly heterogeneous entity of multifactorial etiology, consisting in the association of 2 or more of the following characteristics: ophthalmological abnormalities [most frequently optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH)], midline brain abnormalities [such as aplasia/hypoplasia of the septum pellucidum (SP) and/or corpus callosum (CC)] and variable degree of hypotalamo-pituitary insufficiency (HPI)<p class="ab...

Background: Rickets is a disease due to a reduced mineralization of the rapidly growing bones (skull, ribs, wrists, knees, ankles) with consequent accumulation of non-mineralized bone matrix, called osteoid tissue. The most frequent cause of rickets is vitamin D and/or calcium deficiency caused by reduced sun exposure, inadequate dietary intake or malabsorption (nutritional rickets).Clinical history: R., a 1 year and 6 m...

On 01/14/2021, the European Commission authorized the marketing of Baqsimi® 3 mg (nasal glucagon), a powder medicine, ready to be used, in the treatment of severe hypoglycemia in adults, adolescents and children over four years of age with diabetes mellitus. Baqsimi® is the first and only nasal glucagon treatment available approved in the European Union (EU), and has been designed as a rescue treatment in cases of severe hypoglycemia, being absorbed passively into the ...

Almost 100 years ago, a major turning point in the life expectancy of people with diabetes around the world was reached with the discovery of insulin. In 1936, Hagedorn had the ingenious idea of combining insulin with a protein, protamine, and zinc and his NPH was used almost mainly in pediatrics until the end of 2003, when glargine U100 made its appearance.Objective: To evaluate the clinical experience in the incorporation of different ...