ESPE Abstracts

Backgound: Alopecia areata (AA) or Alopecia Totalis (AT) is an autoimmune disease directed at the hair follicle, either limited to patchy hair loss over the scalp (focalis), or as total loss of scalp hair (totalis) or as total loss of both scalp and body hair (universalis). Management can be challenging, and despite multiple treatment modalities, no therapy still stands. While localized AA may respond well to topical corticosteroids, many patients require more aggressive secon...

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is a chronic disease with increasing incidence and major impact on the health care costs.Objective and hypotheses: To estimate the direct cost of pediatric T1DM in the Greek National Health System (NHS) and its distribution by service category.Method: This is a retrospective cost-of-illness study, focusing on the direct costs from the healthcare system’s point of view. All patients aged 0&#15...

Bakground: There is a dearth of data examining the direct costs of diabetes type 1 (T1DM) in Greece and their predictors.Objective and hypotheses: To examine the predictors of elevated direct costs of T1DM in the National Health System in Greece.Method: All patients diagnosed with T1DM, who were followed in the Diabetic Clinic of the University Pediatric Department of one of the two major Children’s hospitals in Athens, from 1...

Background: Short stature is a recognized complication of Crohn’s disease (CD) in children. Less is known on the impact of disease on final adult height and body proportions.Objective and hypotheses: To assess height and body proportions in 48 adults (F: 30; M: 18) with childhood (ACO) or adult (AAO) onset CD and 44 children (C) (F:22; M:22) with CD.Method: Standing, sitting height (SH) and leg length (SILL) were measured and ...

Background: Current literature suggests an important role of both endocrine disruptors and genetic factors in the occurrence of cryptorchidism.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of variants in INSL3 and HOXD13 genes in the pathogenesis of isolated cryptorchidism in Greece. 43 boys with isolated cryptorchidism and 50 healthy non-cryptorchidic boys (control group) were enrolled.<p class="abstex...

Background: Coping with a chronic medical condition requiring prolonged treatment may have an effect on psychological adaptation and self-esteem of patients.Objective and hypotheses: To identify key factors that influence self-perception and well-being in children and adolescents on GH therapy.Method: A prospective study with the use of validated questionnaires SPP (the Greek version). The patient cohort included 272 Greek children...

Background: Glucocorticoids regulate a broad spectrum of physiologic functions essential for life and exert their actions through their ubiquitously expressed glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The GR interacts with several molecules, including the non-coding RNA growth arrest-specific 5 (Gas5), which decreases the transcriptional activity of the GR by preventing its binding to DNA, and reduces tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids.Objective and Hypotheses: T...

Introduction: Compelling evidence suggests that Primary Aldosteronism (PA) is much more prevalent than previously thought, accounting for more than 20% of patients with resistant hypertension. Although, major advances have been made in the field of genetics underpinning sporadic and familial forms of PA, the etiology of mild forms of PA is poorly understood. In previous studies, we identified a distinct cohort of patients without PA who exhibited ACTH-dependen...

Background: Protein subfamilies within the Nuclear receptor (NR) family share common domain architecture. These closely related receptors and their cognate ligand compounds play a key role in homeostasis, reproduction, growth, and development. Despite their biological significance, their evolution and diversification remains to be elucidated. SNPs and mutations are characterized by the permanent alteration of the nucleotide sequence in the genome of an organism. These alterati...

Background: Obesity represents one of the most challenging public health problems of the 21st century. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is a need to create reliable monitoring and behavioral systems, and to investigate their effectiveness in preventing childhood obesity.Objective: To evaluate a range of novel technologies for collecting photographs, information regarding physical activity and geogr...