ESPE Abstracts

Background: Autosomal dominant neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus (adNDI) is characterized by arginine vasopressin (AVP) deficiency resulting from mutations in the AVP-NPII genePatients and Methods: We analyzed AVP-NPII gene in 13 kindreds with familial NDIAim: To describe the clinical and molecular features of Italian kindreds with adNDIResults</str...

Background: Over the past several decades, the age of pubertal onset in girls has shifted downward worldwide. Several factors including genetic predisposition, psychosocial and socio-economic conditions, diet and ethnicity may have contributed to this phenomenon. Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that the exposure to BPA and DEHP may be associated with early onset of puberty in girls.Objective: To investigate...

Background: The increasing incidence of obesity is a global public health challenge. Although energy imbalance is the major cause of obesity, evidence suggests that other risk factors such as exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may contribute to the development of obesity. Early life exposure to obesogens may result in a higher risk of developing obesity. Among the chemicals suspected to have obesogenic effects, bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates are under worldwid...

Background and Aims: Turner Syndrome (TS), 45X0, is the most common chromosomal pathology affecting females, occurring in 1:2500 to 1:5000 female infants. The typical phenotype includes short stature, gonadal dysgenesis leading to sexual infantilism, low-set ears, low rear hairlin, mamary hypertelorism, neck webbing, gothic palate, irregular rotation of the elbows, shield chest, shortening of the 4th metacarpal, low hairline, shortening of lower extremities, renal disorders a...

Background: Over the past several decades, the age of pubertal onset in girls has shifted downward worldwide. Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) during critical windows of development may play a role in this trend. Epidemiological and animal studies showed that exposure to phthalates and BPA could be associated with earlier puberty onset in girls.Objective: To investigate the association between the exposure to BPA, DEHP’s metabolites...

Background: The diagnosis of GH deficiency (GHD) in children and adolescents is classically established when GH concentrations fail to reach an arbitrary cut-off level (usually 7–10 μg/l) after at least two provocative tests (PT).Objective and hypotheses: Aim of the study was to define optimal GH cut-offs to different PT in children and adolescent with short stature.Method: This was a retrospective study in 437 subjects w...

Purpose: Isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) is a rare condition mainly caused by mutations in GH1. The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of GHRHR mutations to IGHD in a very large cohort of patients.Methods: All GHRHR coding exons and flanking intronic regions were sequenced in 312 unrelated patients with non-syndromic IGHD. Functional consequences of all newly identified missense variants were assessed <e...

Background: In 2011, nationwide growth charts were introduced, replacing different regional references (ZLS, Prader 1989; Sempé 1979 and, for BMI only, Kromeyer 2001).Objective and hypotheses: The aim was to examine the influence of new growth charts (WHO 2010) on the prevalence of nutrition- and growth-related disorders compared the ‘old’ references.Method: 6007 anonymised weight and height datasets of children meas...

Background: For many patients with high-risk cancers, allogeneic stem cell transplant (SCT) is the only curative option. A major risk of SCT is acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD). About 50% of SCT patients develop aGVHD as a part of their course. Glucocorticoids are the mainstay of therapy in aGVHD patients. Of the patients that develop aGVHD, about 50% develop a steroid refractory/resistant form. These patients tend to require higher doses of steroids and many will requi...

Background: Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a complex disease resulting from donor T-cell recognition of a genetic disparate recipient, which is unable to reject donor cells after allogeneic transplant. Glucocorticoids (steroids) are the mainstay of acute GVHD therapy. Glucocorticoid resistance has been characterized in several inflammatory conditions including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, erythematosus, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease. Glucoc...