ESPE Abstracts

Background: Achondroplasia (ACH), the most common short-limbed skeletal dysplasia, is characterized by impaired endochondral ossification resulting from gain-of-function pathogenic variants in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) gene, a negative regulator of endochondral bone growth. People with ACH are at risk for several significant co-morbidities, including brainstem compression due to foramen magnum stenosis, sleep-disordered breathing, chronic...

Background: Pancreatic epithelial cells represent an attractive cell source for replacement therapy of type 1 diabetes. Previously, we designed a protocol for expansion of human pancreatic duct-derived cells (HDDCs) and showed their β-cell engineering potential.Objective and hypotheses: In this study, we reprogrammed HDDCs into β-cell-like lineage by over-expressing mRNAs of key pancreatic transcription factors (TFs).Meth...

Background: Growth monitoring of apparently healthy children aims at early detection of severe underlying conditions. Strong empirical evidence shows that current practices of growth monitoring are suboptimal. Practice standardisation with validated tools requires answering two questions: Which conditions should be targeted? How should abnormal growth be defined?Objective and hypotheses: To obtain consensus on a short list of priority target conditions o...

Insulin resistance and hepato-visceral (central) fat excess are thought to contribute to an earlier timing of adrenarche/pubarche and puberty/menarche; this earlier timing in turn relates often to a mismatch between pre- and postnatal weight gain, which can be estimated by calculating the Z-score change from birth weight (BW) to body mass index (BMI) in childhood. We tested the hypothesis that this calculation may serve as a proxy of insulin resistance and hepato-visceral adip...

Introduction: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic disease characterized by absolute insulin deficiency, it’s usually diagnosed in children and adolescents. According to a recent report from the International Diabetes Federation, Saudi Arabia has 14,900 children with T1DM. The incidence is increasing over the last years with prevalence rates of 48 per 100,000 in the eastern region. Parents play an important role in the management of T1DM in children. As a result, ...

Background: Oligo-ovulatory androgen excess in women (polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) by NIH definition) is a major cause of subfertility and relates to hepatic steatosis, independently of obesity.Objective: To test whether early treatment of PCOS affects subsequent ovulation rate.Method: Adolescent girls with hyperinsulinemic androgen excess – a subgroup of PCOS – (mean age 16 year; BMI 23.7 kg/m2) randomly r...

Keywords: Gender Dysphoria/ İncongruence, child and adolescent, attitudes toward transgendered individualsObjective: To investigate physicians' knowledge and attitudes evaluating children and adolescents with gender dysphoria/incongruence (GD/GI) concerning care and treatment.Materials and Methods: A questionnaire targeting the knowledge and experiences of physicians and ...

Kallman syndrome is defined by the association of anosmia due to an agenesis of the olfactory bulbs and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism due to a GnRH deficiency which is currently explained by a deficit of GnRH neuron migration from the olfactory placode toward the hypothalamus. In fact, the X-linked form of KS is due to loss of function mutations in ANOS1 which encodes an extracellular protein (ANOSMIN) interacting with cell membrane heparin sulfate proteoglycans but a...

Background: Given the absence of a systematic evaluation of general public’ attitudes towards the storage and use of newborn screening (NBS) blood samples for research in China, we firstly conducted this internet-based survey to explore these issues.Methods: We conducted a national-based internet survey with self-designed questionnaire. We mainly studied three categories: 1) the willingness to have their children’s residual NBS samples used for...

Background: Abnormalities of cervical spine have been described in association with pituitary anomalies in the context of malformative syndromes with midline defects. Several genes are involved in the control of pituitary gland development, differentiation and function. In particular, the presence of os odontoideum has been reported in one case of pituitary hypoplasia, associated with leg anomalies, renal dysplasia and no aberrations of the BMP4, BMP2 and PTX1 genes. In anothe...