ESPE Abstracts

Background: miRNAs are valuable circulating biomarkers and therapeutic targets for metabolic diseases. A differential pattern of miRNAs has been described in pregnant women with preeclampsia or gestational diabetes; however, it is unknown whether maternal obesity affects the profile of circulating miRNAs.Aims and objectives: To define the circulating pattern of miRNAs in pregestational and gestational obesity; and to explore their associations with mater...

Background: The MAMLD1 gene (Xp28) is thought to cause disorder of sex development (DSD) in 46, XY patients, mostly presenting with hypospadias, and, recently, also gonadal dysgenesis. However, there is some controversy about the role of MAMLD1 in sex development because i) some MAMLD1 variants are also detected in normal individuals, ii) others are not present in all affected DSD individuals of the same family; iii) several MAMLD1 mutations...

Background: It is well known that ingestion of a high fat diet (HFD) can induce rapid weight gain and metabolic imbalances. However, males and females are not equally susceptible to these effects. Furthermore, an individual may be more prone to gain weight during specific developmental periods.Aims and objectives: We aimed to analyse the response to the acute exposure to a HFD during pubertal/adolescent period and to determine whether males and females r...

Background: Obesity is a worldwide epidemic affecting adults and children. Social changes throughout history have contributed to modifications in nutrition and physical activity levels. These changes in lifestyle affected health, increasing the number of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Obese children already have a low grade systemic inflammation as well as markers of increased cardiovascular risk. The endothelial function is an important and early marker of atheroscler...

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the hypothalamic-pituitary area is extremely useful in the investigation of patients with central diabetes insipidus (CDI) due to infiltrative processes.Objective: We aimed to associate pituitary stalk thickness with the etiology of CDI and hormone deficiencies.Method: A retrospective single-center study of 15 patients (four boys and 11 girls) with CDI was performed and clinical-epide...

Background: Previously we showed that pubertal children born small for gestational age (SGA) with a poor adult height (AH) expectation can benefit from treatment with GH 1 mg/m2 per day (~0.033 mg/kg per day) in combination with 2 years of GnRH analogue (GnRHa) and even more so with a double GH dose. GnRHa treatment is thought to have negative effects on body composition and blood pressure. Long-term effects and GH-dose effects on metabolic health in children treate...

Background: Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) in children is an uncommon condition. Diagnosis is usually challenging especially in resource limited settings where facilities for antibodies and genetic testing are constrained. Many genetic etiologies have been reported in children with PAI due to congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and Allgrove syndrome are the commonest identified genetic causes to date in Sudan. Studies from Africa are rare and here we des...

Nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (NNT) is expressed in the heart, thyroid, and testicles, where it maintains the balance of reactive oxygen species in the mitochondria. It is linked, by an insufficiently described mechanism, to primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) with or without mineralocorticoid insufficiency and several extra-adrenal manifestations (i.e. gonadal adrenal rest tumors, cardiomyopathy, hypothyroidism, and precocious puberty). A comprehensive and chronolo...

Introduction: Childhood obesity is associated with alterations in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. We tested the hypothesis that multiple alterations in the metabolism of glucocorticoids are required for the development of hypertension in children who become overweight.Methods: Timed spot urine for targeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry steroid metabolome analysis was collected from (1) overweight/hyp...

Context: The response to lifestyle modification (LSM) in children with obesity is variable and difficult to predict.Aim: A systematic search for molecular markers to predict outcomes of LSM in pediatric obesity management.Patients/Methods: Out of 240 children with obesity (BMI>97%) recruited to a prospective ‘multi-OMICS’ study granted by ESPE Research Unit, 159 subj...