ESPE Abstracts

Background: High amounts of protein in meals increase blood glucose in patients with type 1 diabetes. Fat delays the increase of blood glucose. Till now we do not know the amount of insulin necessary to prevent the increase of blood glucose after a fat and protein rich meal (FPRM).Aim: To find the Insulin dosage to normalize glucose level after a FPRM.Patients: Sixteen patients with type 1 diabetes (mean±SD; Age 19.7±2.7 ...

Background: Accumulation of fat mass in the development of obesity may result from hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia and is frequently associated with adipose tissue (AT) dysfunction in adults. However, the onset and mechanisms of AT dysfunction are not entirely understood.Objective and hypotheses: We assessed composition, function, lipolysis, and inflammation in 171 AT samples from lean and obese children and adolescents (aged 0 – 18 years) to evaluat...

Background: Many children with short stature (defined as height SDS <−2S.D.) have no identified cause for their growth impairment and are classified as either small for gestational age or idiopathic short stature depending on birth size. Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a useful tool to identify new genetic diagnoses in this group. Here we describe a recurrent NDUFB3 mutation in children with intra-uterine growth retardation, short stature and ...

Background: The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is dramatically increasing among children worldwide. The gold standard for diagnosis is the liver biopsy. Reliable serum markers are lacking. Recently, circulating miRNAs have been studied as biomarkers of disease progression. Specifically, miR-122 was proposed as predictive marker for liver disease in adults, while no data are available for children.Objective and hypotheses: To inves...

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the hypothalamic-pituitary area is extremely useful in the investigation of patients with central diabetes insipidus (CDI) due to infiltrative processes.Objective: We aimed to associate pituitary stalk thickness with the etiology of CDI and hormone deficiencies.Method: A retrospective single-center study of 15 patients (four boys and 11 girls) with CDI was performed and clinical-epide...

Background: Craniopharyngioma is a rare, suprasellar tumour, which, together with associated surgery or radiotherapy, results in damage to the hypothalamus and severe obesity in approximately 50% of cases. The multi-factorial mechanisms underlying the development of obesity in craniopharyngioma are not well understood. Hypothalamic damage in craniopharyngioma has been associated with dysfunctional parasympathetic nervous system activity leading to altered gluc...

Introduction: Paediatric morbid obesity (BMI >99.6th centile for age) causes severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) requiring respiratory support. Patient prognosis is poor and requires urgent intervention. Four patients with morbid obesity and severe OSA were admitted for multidisciplinary team (MDT) intensive weight management and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) initiation.Methods: The patients...

Human growth is a complex trait. A considerable number of gene defects have been shown to cause short stature, but there are only few examples of genetic causes of non-syndromic tall stature. Besides rare variants with large effects and common risk alleles with small effect size, oligogenic effects may contribute to this phenotype. Exome sequencing was carried out in a tall male (height 3.5 SDS) and his parents. Filtered damaging variants with high CADD scores were validated b...

Background: Very tall people attract a lot of attention and represent a clinically and genetically heterogenous group of individuals. Identifying the genetic etiology can provide important insights into the molecular mechanisms regulating linear growth.Methods and Results: We studied a three-generation pedigree with several isolated (non-syndromic) tall members by whole exome sequencing; the tallest man had a height of 2...

Background: Children and young people living with severe obesity experience a range of complications of excess weight (CEW), however the prevalence of complications is not well defined. We have evaluated baseline clinical characteristics and CEW of patients seen in two multi-disciplinary tier-3 paediatric weight management services in different regions of the UK.Methods: All new patients (n=185) aged 2-17 years ...