ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

To read the full abstract: Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115(52): E12265–E12274.The adrenal cortex plays a central role in regulating body homeostasis through the production of glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids that control many important physiologic functions, such as metabolism, inflammation and arterial blood pressure. The production of these hormones, known as steroid...

To read the full abstract: Cell. 2018 Dec 13;175(7):1756–1768.e17.Irisin, a cytokine secreted by muscle during exercise, effects bone resorption and the differentiation of preadipocytes into thermogenic brown fat cells by displacing tethers between the cell and extracellular matrix molecules. Physical activity can reverse age-dependent decline in skeletal muscle, preventing osteopor...

To read the full abstract: Nat Genet. 2018; 50(3): 349-354See comment on 8.2...

Brief summary: This study investigates the role of SUMOylation in adrenal development and functionThe murine adrenal cortex is a constantly self-renewed endocrine organ composed of concentric zones, including the outermost zona glomerulosa (zG) producing mineralocorticoids and the innermost zona fasciculata (zF) producing glucocorticoids. According to the centripetal migration model occurring during postnatal development, progenitor cell populations loca...

Brief summary: MiTy Kids is a prospective cohort study of children who were exposed to metformin during pregnancy. At 24 months, no difference was observed between those exposed to metformin and a placebo group, in BMI trajectories, mean BMI Z-score, or mean sum of skinfolds. Among those exposed to metformin, the BMI was higher among males than females.Comment: Metformin is increasingly used during pregnancy in women with T2D, but data on its lo...

Brief summary: In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, bempedoic acid (Nexletol) reduced the incidence of a composite cardiovascular.Comment: Bempedoic acid is an ATP citrate lyase inhibitor. ATP citrate lyase catalyses the conversion of citrate to acetyl-CoA, the fundamental substrate required for the synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids. By inhibiting the cholesterol synthesis pathway, bempedoic acid reduces intra-hepatic LDL-C....

Brief summary: This survey study addressed the question whether rare disease experts (n=238) would advise genetic neonatal screening for treatable genetic disorders. Most experts (87.9%) agreed that genetic analysis for a limited number of monogenic treatable conditions should be available to all newborns.Newborn screening has been introduced for diagnosing a few treatable congenital disorders at birth in apparently healthy newborns, in order to...

To read the full abstract: Nat Genet 2017;49:1231-1238This large international initiative is a major collaboration across 25 research institutes that was set up as part of the scientific community’s response to concerns regarding the notoriously poor reproducibility of scientific research. Up to now, many mouse gene knock-outs have been made and reported, but inconsistency between finding...

Eur J Endocrinol, 2021. 185(5): p. 691-705. PMID: 34516402Brief Summary: This study evaluated the prevalence of genetic variants in children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) using next-generation sequencing (NGS). Heterozygous variants in known genes involved in skeletal physiology were identified in almost 20% of children. The use of advanced genetic analysis techniques will lead to an increased identification of new genetic variants, expand...

To read the full abstract: Nat Med 2020;26(4):485–497.More than 100 medical and scientific organizations supported this international consensus statement, which describes impressively how unscientific public narratives of obesity cause weight stigma and stimulates discrimination of obese people. Consequently, the statement calls for strong policies and legislation to prevent weight-bas...