ESPE Abstracts

Background: The increase of global childhood obesity has led to an increase of associated co-morbidities also at a young age. The pro-inflammatory state and insulin resistance are two master regulators of several complications, including hypertension and pre-diabetes frequently connected in a complex crosstalk.Aim: To evaluate the relationship between glucose alterations and blood pressure and the pathogenetic involvemen...

Background: The gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays a central role in maintaining energy balance and body weight regulation. These functions are mediated by the secretion of gut hormones, including ghrelin, cholecystokinin (CCK), peptide YY(PYY), oxyntomodulin (OXM) and many other hormones. Some of them are orexigenic hormones that promote food intake, while others act as satiety signals and enhance insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cells. Current evide...

Background: Paediatric pituitary adenomas comprise rare but challenging pathologies in children and adolescents related to their endocrine and neurological characteristics.Objective and Hypotheses: We aimed to describe a case report of growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary adenoma apoplexy.Method: a 11-year-old girl presented with fever, sudden headache with vomiting. She abruptl...

Backround: Craniopharingiomas are rare embryogenic malformations of the sellar and parasellar region with slow growth and high local recurrence rate. Due to their unfavorauble location, presurgical hypothalamic involvement and treatment-related hypothalamic damage is frequent and lead to hypothalamic syndrome.Objective: we compare weigh gain and growth pattern regarding to hypothalamic involvement of pediatric patients a...

Background: Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) is an overgrowth disorder involving a predisposition to tumor development, etiologically connected with genetic/epigenetic dysregulation. The main features of BWS include omphalocele, macroglossia and macrosomia; however there is significant clinical heterogeneity. SHOX mutation is a frequent cause of short stature with high penetrance, but extremely variable clinical expression. The mean adult height is -2.2 SDS. The presence of m...

Background: AAAS is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by adrenal insufficiency, alacrimia, achalasia and neurological symptoms. The disease-causing AAAS gene encodes for the ALADIN nuclear pore protein.Case presentation: Case 1: A girl (born to unrelated parents) presented at age 3.9 years with fatigue and hyperpigmented skin. Clinical examination was normal, clumsy gait was noted. Endocrine studies confirmed adrenal insufficiency (F=9 mg/ml,...

Background: Vitamin D-induced hypercalcemia can result from exogenous vitamin D intoxication, excessive endogenous production or mutations in enzymes involved in vitamin D metabolism.Case Report: We describe an 8-month-old infant referred to the emergency department with history of failure to thrive and weight loss over the past two months. He was consuming type 2 formula milk supplemented with vitamin D plus vitamin D a...

Innervation of the hypothalamic median eminence by Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) neurons is vital to ensure puberty onset and successful reproduction. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying median eminence development and pubertal timing are incompletely understood. Here we show that Semaphorin-6A is strongly expressed by median eminence-resident oligodendrocytes positioned adjacent to GnRH neuron projections and fenestrated capillaries, and that Sem...

GR and GT are diamniotic monochorial preterm twins (32 GA), both AGA (GR: W -1 SDS, L -1.5 SDS; GT: W and L 0 SDS), with normal karyotype and array-CGH on amniotic fluid, with no major complications associated to prematurity. At birth GT presented bilaterally cryptorchidism associated with micropenis, GR presented normal male genitalia. In the first year of life a severe growth deceleration in length (from -3SDS to -5 SDS) was observed, mainly after six months of life in both ...

Background: Congenital hypopituitarism is a rare cause of pituitary insufficiency (incidence: 12–42 new cases/million per year; prevalence: 300–455 cases/million). The aetiology remains largely unclear: the most frequently correlated genetic abnormalities are those involving transcription factors implicated in pituitary organogenesis. The phenotype and neuroradiological findings associated with the underlying genotype may be highly variable (from an isolated hypopitu...