ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

Brief summary: A four centre prospective longitudinal study of 315 transgender and non-binary adolescents in the USA showed improvement in gender congruence and appearance and some reduction of depression and anxiety (but not in birth-registered males) after 2 years of gender affirming hormone (GAH) treatment.The race is on to provide clear evidence to support hormonal intervention for transgender adolescents. This longitudinal study employed a number of...

Brief summary: The authors used data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 to examine the incidence, disability adjusted life years and mortality of early onset type 2 diabetes T2D) in those 15–39 years of age. This showed that early onset T2D is a growing global health problem in adolescents and young adults, particularly in low-middle- and middle-income countries.Early onset of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with longer lifetime exposure hyp...

N Engl J Med. 2022 Jan 20;386(3):209-219. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35045227/Brief Summary: This multicenter, randomized, crossover trial in 74 very young children (age: 1-7 years) with type 1 diabetes (T1D) tested the safety and efficacy of a hybrid closed-loop system for insulin delivery (CamAPS FX) compared with sensor-augmented pump therapy over 16 weeks. The hybrid closed-loop sy...

To read the full abstract: Nature Medicine. 2019;25(11):1733–8. PMID 31700171.These authors sequenced the gene for melanocortin-2 receptor accessory protein (MRAP2 ) in 9418 blood DNA samples from several population studies. They detected 23 rare heterozygous variants, which were significantly associated with an increased risk of obesity (OR 3.8 in children and 2.9 in adults)....

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Dec 1;105(12):dgaa633. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa633. PMID: 32898218.In this study, low risk pregnant women had an ‘early’ OGTT at 18-20 weeks of gestation and these results were correlated with the standard OGTT at 24-28 weeks. Pregnant women with Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) who had early OGTT still had a higher risk of delivering macrosomic in...

Cell Metabolism 2022;34(5):667-80.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2022.03.006Brief Summary: In preclinical models and a phase 1 trial, a powerful new lipid small molecule was shown to act through a mechanism distinct from those of known hypolipidemic agents. Targeting HNF-1α may be a new therapeutic strategy.Comment: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is the most common...

To read the full abstract: Science 2018;361:76–81.The tuberal nucleus (TN) is a hypothalamic region which is well described in humans but remains poorly defined in rodents. In this paper, the authors demonstrated by specific and sophisticated techniques the role of somatostatin expressing TN (TNSST) neurons in the control of food intake in mice. Interestingly, their resul...

To read the full abstract: Sci Rep. 2017; 7(1): 7427Prenatal dexamethasone treatment has been suggested over three decades ago to prevent virilization of a female fetus affected with 21-hydroxylase deficiency due to genetic mutations in the CYP21A2 gene. However, current treatment guidelines for CAH regard this treatment still as experimental, mainly because follow-up studies of treated fetu...

Brief summary: Growth Hormone (GH)-Insulin-Growth-Factor-1 (IGF-1) axis plays the major role in promoting growth, but novel factors seem to modulate GH-IGF1 axis functioning. The majority of circulating IGF-1 and IGF-2 are bound to IGF-binding proteins (IGF-BPs) which prolong their half-life and regulate their tissue distribution (1,2). Pappalysins (PAPP-A, PAPP-A2) increase IGF-1 bioavailability through cleavage of IGFBPs and are inhibited by stanniocalcins (STC1, STC2) (3,4)...

In Brief: The authors conducted genome sequencing on 151 mother–father–offspring trios from 68 vertebrate animal species in order to estimate and compare germline mutation rates (GMRs). They found a 40-fold variation in GMR per generation between the species. Higher GMRs were observed in species that have a longer generation time, older age at puberty and fewer offspring per generation.Comment: Mutations in germline DNA during gametogenesis are...