ESPE Abstracts

Background: Using ultrasound to examine the glandular breast tissue is a promising method for staging pubertal breast development. However, breast ultrasound for this purpose has not been explored in a large sample of healthy girls in different developmental stages, and normative data have been unavailable.Objective: To present novel pubertal references for breast ultrasound stages, Tanner breast (B) and pubic hair (PH) ...

Background: Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is frequent in adrenocortical tumors (ACTs). This pathway and DAX1, a negative regulator of SF1 expression, control adrenal stem/progenitor cells, which can be involved in ACTs formation.Objective: To analyse the association between the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and the expression of a stem cell marker (NANOG), STAT3, DAX1 and SF1 in ACTs.Methods: Patients:...

Introduction: The human fecal microbiota is known to shift in composition during adolescence, but whether fecal microbiota is associated with timing of sexual maturation is unknown. In mice, the change in the composition of fecal microbiota during puberty appears to be sex-specific and associate with changes in testosterone. We investigated the association between intestinal microbiota and pubertal timing in adolescents.Subjects ...

Introduction: DSD patients present varied degrees of atypical genitalia. The social sex assignment and the surgery decisions must be proceeded by a multidisciplinary team approach with the family. Surgeries should be only performed by experienced surgeons. The current trend is the early correction, but some patients and non-governmental entities argue that the surgeries should be delayed until the patient’s consent.Objective...

Background: Disproportional short stature (DSS) is the most frequent clinical presentation of skeletal dysplasias, which are a heterogeneous group of more than 450 disorders of bone. Skeletal survey is important to establish the diagnosis and to guide the genetic test, but has several limitations, especially in mild and atypical cases.Objective and hypotheses: To identify the genetic aetiology of DSS by exome sequencing.Method: Who...

Background: Hypogonadism has been associated with cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about the cardiovascular impact of hypogonadism during development. Using hypospadias as a surrogate of hypogonadism, we investigated whether hypospadias is associated with vascular dysfunction during childhood and whether it is a risk factor for adult cardiovascular disease.Methods: Our human study spanned molecular mechan...

Background: Puberty onset results from the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. During COVID-19 pandemic, children experienced epidemic-related changes, such as stress, sedentary lifestyle, excessive use of electronic devices, all leading to weight gain.Objective: The aim of our study is to retrospectively evaluate the incidence of premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, as eviden...

Background: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD) is worldwide the most common autosomal recessive disorder caused by defects in the CYP21A2 gene.Objective: The main objective of the study was to evaluate CAH in Cyprus over a 10 year period.Methods: All known patients were included in a population retrospective subset analysis of Cypriot patients with confirmed CAH and their clinica...

Introduction: Prohormone convertases are a family of proteins that mediate the processing and activation of peptide hormones and neuropeptide precursors. Homozygous mutations of the PCSK1 gene result in prohormone convertase 1 deficiency that is characterized by diarrhea, hypoglycemia, multiple pituitary hormone deficiency beginning from neonatal period and obesity beginning after infancy.Case: A 35-day-old boy was referred to our hospit...

Background: Protein intake is crucial for growth. Many inherited metabolic diseases (IMD) require a strict controlled protein diet.Aim: to evaluate growth, pubertal status and body composition in IMD requiring a strict controlled protein diet.Patients & Méthods: Longitudinal follow up cohort study. We recorded data before 4years (early childhood, n=189); betwe...