ESPE Abstracts

Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-κB) is a group of seven transcription factors, including p65 (RelA), c-Rel, RelB, p50/p105 (NF-κB1), and p52/p100 (NF-κB2). Upon activation by a wide variety of stimuli, NF-κB translocates to the nucleus, where it modulates the expression of target genes involved in cell growth, survival, and death.Previous evidence indicates that NF-κB regulates bone growth and development. Mice deficient in both the N...

Background: There is much activity in Africa in Paediatric Endocrinology. The international societies, ESPE, and ISPAD helped significantly in the development of paediatric endocrinology training. Considerable research is being done at the PETCA in Kenya, PETWCA in Lagos and elsewhere, but too few of the studies are published. Owing to the pressure of clinical work in Africa most endocrinologists have difficulty in completing their research.Objective and...

Congenital hyperinsulinism (HI) is the most common cause of persistent hypoglycemia in infants and children. In the past 20+ years there have been tremendous advances in the understanding of the molecular genetics of HI, including the discovery of the mechanisms responsible for a focal form of the disease that can cured surgically. However, treatment options for non-focal HI continue to be limited, with only one drug currently approved for this indication. As a result of delay...

Introduction: Achondroplasia is the most common of the skeletal dysplasias and short stature with severe anatomic disproportion. Bone endochondrial growth is affected. The entity was described by Depaul in 1851 and the name which comes from the Greek word chondros (cartilage) and plasis (formation) was given by Parrot. It is an autosomal dominant monogenic disease with complete penetrance. Incidence is 1/25000 to 1/40000 of live births. It is caused by a mutat...

Introduction: Testicular adrenal rest tumor (TART) is the most important cause of infertility in male with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). TART is a benign tumor, mainly bilateral (75-80%), usually diagnosed in under-treated CAH male with hypercorticotropinemia, which generally regresses after glucocorticoids therapy adjustment. However, it may determine an irreversible damage by compression and toxic-paracrine effects on the surrounding testicular t...

Short stature is a frequent reason for referral to pediatric endocrinologists and this phenotype has been associated with a large number of gene variations during the last decades, highlighting its complex and heterogeneous etiology. We evaluated the detection rate of the analysis of a selected gene panel in a cohort of patients with short stature defined as height below -2 standard deviations (SD). Overall, 134 patients were included in the study: 73 with GH deficiency (GHD),...

Background: Intrauterine growth influences the risk of childhood obesity and its associated metabolic derangement.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the effect of intrauterine growth (as shown by newborn anthropometry) on physical and metabolic features in obese children and adolescents.Method: A retrospective study of 1049 obese children and adolescents (46.8% females/53.2% males; age: 10.31±3.23 years; BMI: +4.00±...

Background: Despite the lack of drugs, conservative management of childhood obesity allows for considerable weight reduction.Objective and hypotheses: i) To evaluate anthropometric and metabolic changes in obese children after intense weight loss. ii) To analyze the influence of the amount of weight loss and the time spent to attain it on the observed changes. iii) To investigate BMI evolution during the first 3 years after weight reduction.<p class=...

Introduction: Several studies showing a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women have been published in recent years. Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy has been related to adverse events both in mother and child. Plasma 25-OH vitamin D (25(OH)D) levels in the newborn are dependent on maternal deposits and show a close correlation with maternal levels; thus, neonates of vitamin D-deficient mothers present a greater risk of hypocalcaemia, rickets and a highe...

Introduction: Despite existing guidelines there is no unified approach to glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Consequently, treatment varies in adults and children as well as across countries.Objective: We used data from the I-CAH Registry to identify geographical and temporal variations in the treatment with glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids of children and adul...