ESPE Abstracts

Background: Small for gestational age (SGA) children, especially those with postnatal catchup growth, have increased risk of insulin resistance and adult metabolic diseases. Adipokines produced by adipose tissue play crucial role in fetal growth and early postnatal life. Low adiponectin (adipokine) is marker of insulin resistance.Objective: To evaluate adiponectin levels in term SGA at 15–18 months age and its relationship with postnatal catchup gro...

Background: Obese children are known to be at high risk for vascular complications and there is paucity in Indian literature regarding the onset and magnitude of vascular complications. Carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) and Brachial artery distensibility are known to predict future atherogenesis.Objective and hypotheses: To compare vascular parameters of obese children aged 5–18 years with age and sex matched controls and its relationship with p...

Background: Childhood obesity associated with risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MetS) and paucity in Indian literature regarding correlation between clinical and biochemical parameters in obese and MetS.Objective and hypotheses: Comparing clinical and biochemical correlation of obese children, controls and MetS.Method: Eighty children (40 obese and 40 age and sex matched controls) 5–18 years recruited after approval by In...

Background: Steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) is the most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Patients present with cortisol and aldosterone deficiency as well as with hyperandrogenism, leading to virilisation in females and early adrenarche in both sexes. Requiring life-long glucocorticoid (GC) replacement, patients frequently experience daily fluctuations between GC overexposure and deficiency. Increased prevalence of metabolic disease con...

Introduction: The UK 100,000 Genomes Project (100KGP) recently investigated the genetic basis of rare disease using whole genome sequencing. The genetic aetiology of most rare paediatric endocrine disease remains unexplained.Methods: Children with genetically unexplained rare endocrine disease attending a subspecialist paediatric endocrinology clinic underwent whole genome sequencing as part of the 100KGP. Parental DNA w...

The zebrafish is established as an important model system for studying development and disease, and characterisation of the developmental and functional roles of steroids is crucial for its effective employment in this remit. Whilst oestrogens are known to be essential for female development in zebrafish, the roles of androgens in the development, maintenance and function of the male reproductive system remain unclear.In order to investigate these proces...

Cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage enzyme, encoded by the CYP11A1 gene, catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step of steroid hormone biosynthesis. Previous morpholino knockdown studies described the divergent functions of the two cyp11a paralogs in zebrafish. Cyp11a1 has been suggested to be required for early development, whereas cyp11a2 is a functional equivalent of human CYP11A1 and is essential for the initiation and maintenan...

Normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism (NPHPT) has been recognized as a variant of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and it is characterized by elevated PTH with persistently normal concentrations of albumin-adjusted total and ionized calcium. It is related to increased risk in development of osteopenia/osteoporosis as well of parathyroid adenoma and hypercalcemia/hypercalciuria. In order to identify biochemical disorders of PTH in normocalcemic children we performed in al...

Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare, inherited, systemic disease characterized by deficient tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase activity. Common manifestations in children include impaired skeletal mineralization, short stature, and reduced physical function. Asfotase alfa is an enzyme replacement therapy approved for treatment of patients of any age with pediatric-onset HPP. The utility of dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as a diagnostic tool or measure of treatment effective...

Background: 46,XX gonadal dysgenesis is a rare condition linked to delayed puberty, absence of spontaneous pubertal development, and primary amenorrhea related to hypergonadotropic hypogonadism (Hh). External genitalia are typically female with no ambiguity. Although ovarian development is an active process with multiple gene involvement, the genetic etiology of this condition is usually unknown. DCAF17 has recently been implicated in the development ...