ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

Brief summary: Giannini et al. report a timely study on the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on glucose metabolism in children and adolescents with obesity and overweight. They compared data from 741 children over a 13-year period, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that children in the COVID-19 restriction group did not have significantly increased values of Body Mass Index (BMI), but they did exhibit higher values of Waist Circumference (WC), Waist/H...

Brief Summary: This single-patient intervention study showed the efficacy of high-dose rhGH treatment in overcoming GH resistance in a child harboring a dominant-negative GH receptor (GHR) mutation.GH insensitivity includes a broad spectrum of defects (1). Laron syndrome is the best-known GH insensitivity syndrome, characterized by recessive mutations in GHR and good response to IGF-I treatment (2). Dominant-negative variants of GHR are extremely rare an...

Brief Summary: This prospective study of 62 children with Central Precocious Puberty (CPP) concluded that measuring unstimulated luteinizing hormone (LH) may be adequate to assess effective pubertal suppression.Pubertal stages, growth velocity and bone age maturation are considered as key clinical markers to evaluate adequate pubertal suppression in patients treated for CPP. Basal LH concentrations levels also seem to be effective1. This study...

To read the full abstract: J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2017;102:1797-1806We know that conventional glucocorticoid therapies fail to mimic the normal diurnal profile of cortisol secretion, which should show an early morning surge in circulating levels, followed by a gradual daytime reduction, and night-time suppression. The early morning surge in ACTH also drives adrenal androgen production, which is e...

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Dec 1;105(12):dgaa635. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa635. PMID: 32901267.The authors performed a retrospective analysis of low dose synacthen tests performed in 49 neonates from January 1, 2009 to September 30, 2017 in a tertiary-care pediatric center. Of samples measured at 15, 30, and 60 minutes, the majority of neonates showed a peak cortisol level at 60 minutes.<...

Bone. 2021 Jan;142:115709 Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33148508/In brief: In the developing bone, PTHrP signaling inhibits hypertrophic differentiation, the key step in the coupling of chondrogenesis and osteogenesis during endochondral bone formation. The current paper reviews findings of previous knockout-studies on PTHrP-induced signaling including HDAC4/5, salt-ind...

J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2021 Apr;34(2):176–189.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jpag.2020.11.001 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33181339This study explores the well-being and sexual health needs of contemporary youth with a DSD. It is a small scale, mixed methods study by specialized DSD psychologists-sexologists in a sample of w...

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020; 105(8):dgaa340.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32497228/Here, the authors investigated whether prenatal treatment with dexamethasone (DEX) in the first trimester is associated with alterations of brain morphology on MRI scans. Observed MRI alterations were not linked to any alterations in cognitive function or mood, but were associated with DNA methylation in ...

Nat Hum Behav. 2022;6(1):97-110. doi: 10.1038/s41562-021-01169-7. PubMed ID: 34413509Brief summary: This cross-sectional study of adults (N=702) aged 58–98 measured cognitive abilities across a range of domains (alerting, orienting and executive inhibitory networks) by use of a computer-based Attention Network Test. In non-linear regression models, while efficiency of the ale...

To read the full abstract: J Bone Miner Res 2019;34(8):1387–1392.In brief: Cell tracing of the growth plate chondrocytes most adjacent to the perichondrium demonstrate that they transit into the metaphysis and contribute to the pool osteoblasts and reticular stromal cells of the bone marrow during growth in young mice.Commentary: Borderline chondrocytes are the growth plate chondrocytes located as a ...