ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

To read the full abstract: BMJ. 2018 Jan 10;360:j5644On the basis of scientific evidence and dietary recommendations, several diet quality scores have been developed to evaluate the healthfulness of dietary patterns. Previous studies show that improvement in adherence to healthy dietary patterns is associated with less weight gain (2, 3, 4). But, until now, no study had assessed the interaction betwe...

To read the full abstract: Cell Metabolism 2018;27:854-868. e8People gain weight due to treatment with glucocorticoid (GC) drugs, but also in chronic stress and disrupted circadian rhythms. We now learn that fat-cell maturation increases if the trough in exposure to GC lasts less than 12 hours. A long pulse of glucocorticoids lasting 48 hours led most of the cells to differentiate under the ...

Brief summary: The so far largest GWAS study on thyroid function in 72’167 individuals testing 8 million genetic variants identified 92 common genetic variants associated with variation of TSH and FT4 in the reference range. These variants explained 21% of the variance in normal thyroid function, however many identified variants were localized in genes without obvious link to thyroid function (1). This GWAS paper was commented in the 2019 Yearbook. The same research team ...

Brief summary: This translational study highlights the importance of 2 novel endocytic receptors that are involved in cellular androgen uptake and in the pathogenesis of androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) type II.Steroids circulate in complex with plasma transfer proteins, and specific endocytic receptors can mediate cellular uptake of transfer protein/ligand complexes. Reduced intracellular hormone concentrations resulting from impaired hormone uptak...

Brief summary: This single-centre retrospective study analysed gonadal function in 62 patients (41 males) with medulloblastoma, treated between 1987 and 2021. The aim of the study was to characterize gonadal function and identify risk factors for gonadal failure.Survival rates of patients with medulloblastoma have significantly improved with the combination of many therapeutic approaches, such as adjuvant chemotherapy, craniospinal irradiation (CSI), sur...

Brief summary: Grzelka et al. identified a hypothalamic circuit that regulates regain of body weight after weight loss.Body weight is one of the most regulated variables of our body, which is most likely due to the evolutionary history of times when access to food was scarce and volatile. Weight loss triggers a strong counterregulatory response. It increases the hunger drive and greatly increases the reward value of food, making it more difficul...

Brief summary: In the prospective PROCURE study cohort (n=1783), 11-oxygenated androgens were studied in all men with newly diagnosed localized prostate cancer before undergoing radical prostatectomy. Data were related to clinical outcomes (e.g. metastatic disease). Levels of the adrenal androgen precursor 11b-OH-androstenedione were associated with progressive disease, while levels of the predominant bioactive 11-ketotestosterone and its metabolite 11-ketoandrosteron...

Brief Summary: This retrospective, single-center study from Kobe Children’s Hospital, Japan, analyzed height SDS (main outcome) and risk of short stature (height <-2 SDS, secondary outcome) in 89 children with malignant diseases who underwent initial allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with different conditioning intensities. More intensive conditioning conferred a substantially higher risk of short stature at 3 years after HSCT.<p class="abst...

Brief Summary: The European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) initiated this online Delphi study. They invited an expert panel of n=194 stakeholders, including policymakers, healthcare professionals, people living with obesity, and researchers from 30 countries to evaluate proposed statements on obesity to create a standardised language. Based on the understanding of obesity as an adiposity-based chronic disease, consensus was achieved on 54 statements categorized in...

Short summary: This study describes sex differences in fetal liver-specific androgen signalling that are altered in response to maternal obesity in baboons. It reveals that livers of male fetuses favour a pro-androgenic environment in response to maternal obesity by suppressing the activity of testosterone-metabolising CYP enzymes (CYP2B6 and CYP3A) and by reducing cytoplasmic and nuclear androgen receptor (AR-45) expression. By comparison and most interestingly, there were mi...