ESPE Abstracts

Background: There are currently no specific growth charts for use in Nigerian children over the age of 5 years. Health workers rely on charts developed by the Center for Disease Control for children in USA (2000CDC US) or the UK 1990 growth charts for British children. It is unknown whether Nigerian children grow to the same height or at the same tempo as American or British children.Objective and hypotheses: To compare the growth of the Nigerian child t...

Background: Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1/NR5A1) plays a crucial role in regulating adrenal development, gonad determination and differentiation, and in the hypothalamic-pituitary control of reproduction and metabolism. In men (46, XY) mutations in SF-1/NR5A1 gene cause a wide phenotypic spectrum that ranges from complete testicular dysgenesis with Müllerian structures and amenorrhea, through individuals with mild clitoromegaly or genital ambiguity, to severe penoscrotal h...

Background: Individuals with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) have an increased risk for developing a germ cell cancer (GCC). The risk is low during childhood; therefore, gonads are commonly preserved until after puberty. Little is known about GCC development in AIS during adulthood. This question is particularly relevant as many adult AIS women decline gonadectomy.Objective and hypotheses: To gain insight in attitudes towards gonadectomy in various...

Background: The incidence of perinatal stress hyperinsulinism (PSHI) requiring diazoxide treatment is estimated to be 1:12,000 (Hoe et al., 2006). Diazoxide is used to treat PSHI, but it has been shown to have adverse effects including pulmonary hypertension. Gray et al, reported that of 1.25 million infants admitted to NICUs for hypoglycemia over a period of 18 years, only 1066 received diazoxide suggesting 1:1172 babies had HI however 92% o...

Background: The presentation of early-onset Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (EO-POI), most often with primary amenorrhea, is at one end of a spectrum spanning 40 years. The aetiology of POI is frequently unclear but next generation sequencing of varied age groups has identified several associated genetic variants. Whether girls with EO-POI are more likely to have a genetic aetiology than those with later presentations remains unknown.<stro...

Background: The need to understand the relationship between bone, muscle, and fat within the bone-muscle unit has recently gained great prominence. Although high resolution (HR) MRI is a non-invasive imaging modality that can provide this information, there is limited expertise in children and young people.Objectives: To establish MRI-based normative data for bone, bone marrow adiposity and muscle adiposity in children a...

Stress is increasingly associated with cardiac disease. Glucocorticoids are primary stress hormones that regulate homeostasis through two nuclear receptors, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). Cardiomyocytes express both receptors but little is known concerning their specific and coordinated actions in heart physiology and pathology. To examine the in vivo function of glucocorticoid signaling in the heart, we generated mice with cardi...

Background: The pathophysiological mechanism of skeletal fragility in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is unclear.Objective: To compare trabecular bone microarchitecture, cortical geometry, muscle area and fat fraction (FF) at distal femur and vertebral bone marrow adiposity (BMA) between DMD and controls.Method: Bone-muscle and muscle FF were assessed using 3T MRI and Dixon technique. BMA was assessed using 1H-MRS. Results expres...

Background: The Low dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST) is an important investigation for suspected Cushing’s Syndrome (CS). The traditional definition of normal suppression of serum cortisol to ≤50 nmol/l during the LDDST (0.5 mg 6 hrly × 48 h) comes from a time when biochemical autoanalysers did not routinely detect very low values. Previous studies reported 5.1–8.3% of patients with Cushing’s Disease (CD) suppressed to <50 nmol/l at 48 ...

Context: Alkindi® (Hydrocortisone Granules, Diurnal Ltd, UK), was recently licensed for oral administration to children with adrenal insufficiency (AI) from birth to 18 years. Previously, children received compounded hydrocortisone to achieve age appropriate dosing, however almost 25% of batches were out of specification for mass and content uniformity and clinically evident under- and over-dosing was reported.Objectives: Primary: long-te...