ESPE Abstracts

Background: Few studies have assessed 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] status among Italian children.Objective and hypotheses: To assess 25(OH)D in children and adolescents living in Tuscany, Italy, identifing risk factors for vitamin D deficiency in different age groups.Method: We evaluated 446 children children and adolescents (2.4–17.8 years), from Mugello (latitude 44° N), and we determined 25(OH)D, calcium, alkaline ph...

Background: Unlike precocious puberty, early and/or fast puberty have been less studied, despite the fact that this disorder may be associated to an organic lesion at CNS level.Objective and hypotheses: We illustrate a case of early and fast puberty in a girl with an occult intra-cranial tumor.Method: The girl was the first child of non-consanguineous, Italian parents. The family had a positive history of early puberty. Target heig...

Background: OTX2 is expressed in the human brain and plays a key role in the eye development. OTX2 mutations are reported in patients with ano/microphtalmia, optic nerve or optic chiasm hypoplasia, ocular coloboma and retinal dystrophies, associated in some cases with brain or pituitary abnormalities.Objective and hypotheses: Most of OTX2 mutations are nonsense or frameshift, more rarely missense mutations occur.Method: We...

Background: The association of NF1 with optic pathway glioma (OPT) and GH hypersecretion was initially described in some isolated cases, while the presence of PP was more frequently reported in these patients. Association of gigantism and precocious puberty (PP) in five children with OPT (isolated in two and associated with NF1 in three cases) has been recently published.Aims: To evaluate the frequency of GH hypersecretion in children with NF1 and OPT, t...

Background: The success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has dramatically increased life expectancy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients, revealing a range of chronic problems associated with HIV. Among others, low bone mineral density (BMD) has been described in HIV-infected youths. Little is currently known about the changes of BMD over time in these patients.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of the study was to asses...

Objective: To investigate the possible relationship between APO1/Fas, components of metabolic syndrome and Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) in a healthy pediatric population.Study design: 185 children, aged 5-17 years old, were enrolled to the study. The participants were divided intο subgroups according to age and body mass index percentile (BMI%). APO1/Fas was measured by ELISA and MPV by the MEK-6410K.Re...

Introduction: Thyroxine is important for nervous system development. Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH), a mild thyroid dysfunction, is associated with impaired cognitive function in children and mood disorders in adults. Serotonin is also involved in brain development, mood and behavior modulation. The possible interaction between thyroid function tests, serum serotonin concentrations and emotional intelligence, was studied.Method...

Objectives: Among adverse effects of GH, a particular attention should be given to glucose homeostasis. The aim of the study was evaluate the effect of GH therapy on glucose homeostasis in children with GHD after 10 years of treatment.Methods: 30 patients (8 M/22 F, age 7.00 ± 2.61 years) with GHD at diagnosis and 30 healthy children comparable to patients for age, sex and BMI were enrolled. Glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR ...

Introduction: 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis (GD) represents a heterogeneous group of disorders/differences of sex development (DSD) characterized by abnormal gonadal development leading to a wide phenotypic spectrum. Variable degrees of external genitalia undervirilization are observed, ranging from micropenis to female-like genitalia and partially or fully-developed Mullerian derivatives.Case Report: A 6 years-old boy follow...

Introduction: Obesity is considered one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide which is associated with chronic, low-grade, sterile inflammation. It leads to variable changes in metabolic and hormonal homeostasis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of obesity associated chronic inflammation on peripheral complete blood count alterations.Material and Methods: 27 overweight/obese and 15 normal-weight ch...