ESPE Abstracts

Background: Public health research shows that the prevalence of obesity is increasing rapidly not only among adults, but especially among adolescents and children. Obese children and adolescents are at risk of early chronic complications such as cardiovascular diseases, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), type 2 diabetes mellitus, various types of tumors, orthopedic problems, serious psychological and neurological problems.<strong...

Prediction of growth hormone (GH) therapy effectiveness in children with short stature is an important issue for optimizing its course. Recently, our research group has published prediction models derived with neural networks. The main predictors of final height (FH) in our model were: patient’s height SDS at therapy onset, pre-treatment change of height SDS (HSDS V0) and pre-treatment IGF-I and IGFBP-3 secretion but not the results of GH stimulation tests; the...

Background: Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) have been suggested to slow down estrogen-dependent skeletal maturation in pubertal boys with short stature. In the literature, few studies evaluate the efficacy and safety of AIs in boys with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). Objective: To evaluate the auxologic effects and short-term laboratory profiles of combined AI and rhGH therapy in adolescent males with GHD.Subjects and Methods:</stro...

Introduction: Placental hormones can control the transfer of maternal nutrients to the fetus and modulate fetal and neonatal growth. Data about the interaction between maternal, placental and fetal IGF1/IGFBP in relation to newborn size is not clear,Aim: To review research paper published in Pubmed, Google scholar, Research gate, and Scopus in the past 20 years on the relation between maternal, placental and fetal/infant...

Background: Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is a possible candidate gene that may influence both body fatness and blood pressure. Although several genetic studies have been conducted in adults, relatively few studies have examined the contribution of ACE candidate genes for development of the obesity-hypertension phenotype early in life.Aim: To screen Egyptian obese children and adolescents for insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in the gene encodi...

Background: We describe our experience in medical therapy for invasive somatotroph pituitary macroadenomas in 8 children or adolescents presenting with acromegaly/gigantism, in terms of growth and IGF-I levels control.Patients: Eight children, aged 5 to 17 years (median 12.4 years), presented with growth hormone (GH) hypersecretion related to somatotroph pituitary macroadenomas with cavernous sinus invasion in 6/8. Genetic testing revealed AIP mutation i...

Background: The human growth pattern varies from intrauterine to extrauterine life, with the GH-IGF axis being immature at birth and IGF-I assuming an important role in promoting postnatal growth. The actions of IGF-I are modulated by its interactions with IGFBPs, with this interaction being regulated by pappalysins (PAPP-A, PAPP-A2) and stanniocalcins (STC-1, STC-2), and thus modifying the amount of free IGF-I.Objective:</strong...

Accumulating evidence indicates various interactions between the GH-IGF1 axis and the immune system in infants and children during undernutrition.Objectives and Methods: We performed electronic literature systematic review using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Sciences with the aim to provide an update on the link between the GH-IGF1 axis and the immune system in infants and children during malnutrition. We reviewed 22 studies (2007-2...

The extent and quality of parental care that children receive greatly influences their development, impacting their physical and psychological growth, their educational and social achievement, and their disease risk as both children and adults. It is thus remarkable that around 25% of children are physically abused worldwide. Parenting is a complex behavior, and we still know little about the causes and mechanisms by which people differ in their parental behaviors. To learn mo...

Background: Laron syndrome (LS), (OMIM#262500) is a rare recessively inherited disease caused by deletions or mutations of the GH receptor, and is characterized by low or undetectable serum IGF-I. This deficiency leads to a series of metabolic abnormalities including of the proteins.Subjects & Method: This study presents for the first time the amino-acid analysis of two untreated and one IGF-I treated LS patients using the LC-MS/MS method (Waters TQS...