ESPE Abstracts

Background: Hoffmann syndrome is a specific and rare form of hypothyroid myopathy in adults characterized by presence of muscle stiffness, proximal weakness and pseudohypertrophy. When this occurs in a cretin child it is known as Kocher–Debré–Sémélaigne syndrome. Patients with more severe or longstanding untreated hypothyroidism are more likely to develop clinically significant muscle disease. Serum muscle enzyme levels as CK, myoglobin and lactate deh...

Background: Approximately 15 million children are born preterm worldwide yearly.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate spontaneous growth during the first 8 years of life.Hypotheses: Preterm born children have spontaneous recovery of weight and height in the first 8 years of life.Method: Measurements at birth, 6, 12 and 24 months of corrected age and at recall [6.4±0.5 years (5.2–8.0)]. Weight, lengt...

Background: Transverse Myelitis (TM) is an auto-immune syndrome with neural injury to the spinal cord. The TM may be first clinical manifestation of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It is known that Turner’s Syndrome (TS) is associated to the presence of autoimmune diseases.Case Report: A 15-year old female, began with manifestations of loss of strength on the lower limbs evolving rapidly with sensorial loss, tetraparesis and hemodynamic instability, requir...

Stress is increasingly associated with cardiac disease. Glucocorticoids are primary stress hormones that regulate homeostasis through two nuclear receptors, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). Cardiomyocytes express both receptors but little is known concerning their specific and coordinated actions in heart physiology and pathology. To examine the in vivo function of glucocorticoid signaling in the heart, we generated mice with cardi...

Background: Hyperphosphatemic familial tumoral calcinosis (HFTC) is a condition characterized by hyperphosphatemia and abnormal deposit of phosphate and calcium most often around the hips, shoulders and elbows and rarely in the brain.Case presentation: A four-year-old-girl from Arabian origin was referred to the regional paediatric endocrine clinic from the Orthopedics Team due to: recurrent calcinosis of the right calcaneus and incipient left wrist pain...

Background: Muscle is key to glucose metabolism. Myogenesis is completed in early infancy, partly under the inhibitory control of myostatin, a myokine whose actions can be influenced by follistatin. Early lowering of myostatin actions is thus a potential strategy to reduce the risk for later diabetes.Objective and hypotheses: We performed a first screening of whether such lowering is among the natural mechanisms whereby some human infants augment their l...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism due to impaired activity of one enzyme required for cortisol biosynthesis. Steroid 21-hydroxylase (21OH) deficiency is the cause in more than 90% of the patients. The 21OH is encoded by the CYP21A2 gene located on the chromosome 6 in the region known as the RCCX module. Due to the high homology and tandem-repeat organization of the RCCX module, this region of the genome is subjected to...

Introduction: Differences of sex development (DSD) encompass a variety of conditions with atypical development of chromosomal, gonadal or anatomic sex. 46, XX ovotesticular (OT) DSD is a rare condition, in which the presence of testicular and ovarian tissues is identified in the same individual. These patients present variable phenotypes with a wide spectrum of atypical genitalia and their sex assignment can be male or female. Short stature is a frequent issue...

Background: Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) comprise several phenotypes due to dysfunction in genes involved in human sexual determination and differentiation. The most frequent aetiologies among 46,XY DSD are androgen insensitivity syndrome and 5-alpha-reductase type 2 deficiency due mutations in AR and SRD5A2 genes, respectively.Objective and hypotheses: The purpose of this study was to investigate mutations in AR and ...

Background: Counselling adolescents with chronic diseases can be challenging when it comes to appropriate interview techniques and the doctor's attitude towards the patient. Successful communication can be a key element of treatment. Motivational interviewing (MI) is widely applicable in the management of behavioural problems and illnesses, as it increases patients' motivation for lifestyle changes. This plays a particularly important role in the tre...