ESPE Abstracts

Background: The noncoding RNA growth-arrest-specific transcript 5 (Gas5) is abundant in cells whose growth has been arrested owing to lack of nutrients or growth factors. Gas5 is a riborepressor of the glucocorticoid receptor, influencing cell survival and metabolic activities during starvation by inhibiting the latter’s transcriptional activity.Aim: To determine the expression levels of Gas5 in blood samples of obese, overweight and lean children a...

Background: Non-compliance is a major issue for treatment failure in childhood obesity.Objective and hypotheses: To identify the barriers of adherence to weight management programs, of obese children and adolescents.Method: A descriptive, ongoing study based on phone recorded questionnaires with the use of information from the medical records. The study group consisted of 85 overweight and obese children and adolescents (M/F=46/39)...

Background: Van Wyk-Grumbach syndrome (VWGS) is a rare diagnosis that should be suspected in children with signs of peripheral precocious puberty and hypothyroidism. It is characterized by multicystic enlarged ovaries, in the presence of long-term severe hypothyroidism. Treatment of VWGS consists of hormonal replacement with levothyroxine. Usually, ovarian cysts and increased ovarian volume subside within an average of 2 months but can persist up to 12 months after treatment.<...

Introduction: Increased frequency of Grave’s disease (GD) has been reported both in adults and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: To compare the frequency of GD prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Retrospective analysis of children diagnosed with GD over the last 13 years in our Department.Results: A total of 22 children (31.8% boys) with a mean age of 10.55...

Background: Obesity in childhood and adolescence represents a major health problem and its management requires a multidisciplinary approach.Objective and hypotheses: To assess the main eating habits of children and adolescents attending an Out-patient Clinic for the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Greece, as recorded before implementing any intervention.Method: We studied 1005 children and adolescents [age ra...

Background: The term Congenital Hypothyroidism (CH) describes children with subnormal thyroid hormone levels present at birth. According to literature, CH has an incidence of ~1:1500–1:3000 births with a clear predominance of females (female:male ratio 2:1) and is mainly caused by thyroid dysgenesis (80%). Low FT4 levels have been used as important criteria for CH diagnosis and treatment initiation. The Greek neonatal CH screening program has followed the TSH cut-off lowe...

Background: In vitro fertilisation (IVF) has been widely used during the last decades. Increased susceptibility to birth defects and a higher cardiometabolic risk in children born after IVF than naturally conceived (NC) children have been reported. Also, a higher incidence of hyperthyrotropinemia has been noted in children born after IVF with respect to NC children and has been attributed to an epigenetic modification of the TSH set-point.Object...

Background: ICSI is an assisted reproduction technique (ART) mainly used to overcome male infertility. Nowadays, ICSI is employed frequently due to its high success rate, despite it being highly invasive (i.e. epigenetic risk). Recent studies in ART offspring show a higher incidence of cardio-metabolic risk than in naturally-conceived (NC) controls. Thus, in our prior untargeted metabolomic study between ICSI and NC prepubertal girls, we demonstrated insulin resistance in the ...

Background: Several studies have shown that type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) may contribute to the early onset or acceleration of cognitive impairment (intelligence, psychomotor efficiency, information management speed, visual attention, visual perception and cognitive flexibility). Tear proteomics seems to provide useful information for understanding the molecular mechanisms of various ocular and systemic diseases.Objective and H...

Background: Accumulating evidence has indicated that assisted reproductive technologies (ART) influence the metabolic physiology of the offspring, with a higher predisposition to metabolic disorders. Long-term metabolomic studies that separately consider males and females conceived with intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) vs naturally conceived (NC) children are needed. Previously, we had reported that ICSI-conceived prepubertal girls exhibit significant alterations in th...