ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

Brief summary: This paper describes 18 patients with bi-allelic leptin deficiency (LEP, n=11) or leptin receptor deficiency (LEPR, n=7), including 10 new cases and two novel variants. In addition, in a review of the literature (until July 2022), the authors identified n=75 patients living with LEP deficiency and n=90 with LEPR deficiency (n=152 included for comparison between groups).<p class=...

Brief summary: An analysis of contraception data in 204 countries and territories between 1970 and 2019 shows that 162.9 million women had unmet needs for contraception (65.5% in sub-Saharan Africa and in south Asia). Demand was not satisfied for 64.8% of women aged 15–19 years, the highest proportion of any age group.This study included women aged 15–49 years and analysed contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and ‘demand satisfied’. We...

Eur J Endocrinol. 2021 Apr;184(4):575–585. doi: 10.1530/EJE-20-1030. PMID: 33606663.These authors examined the likelihood of remission of diabetes without pharmacological therapy in a retrospective analysis of 34 Italian patients with Transient neonatal diabetes (TNDM).TNDM is a type of neonatal diabetes that remits within the first a few months of life. It is most ...

To read the full abstract: N Engl J Med. 2019;380:1316–1325.This large multicenter randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, in euthyroid women with thyroid peroxidase antibodies and a history of miscarriage or infertility, found no effect of levothyroxine substitution from before conception to the end of pregnancy on likelihood of live birth.In 2011, ...

Brief summary: This study validates dexamethasone-suppressed [11C]metomidate positron emission tomography computed tomography (MTO) scanning as a CYP11B2-selective investigation for lateralizing PA.Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common single cause of hypertension, accounting for 5–14% of all cases and 20–25% of treatment-resistant hypertension (1, 2). Traditionally, patients with PA are divided equally into ...

In Brief: To document variations in rates of somatic mutations, the authors performed whole-genome sequencing of DNA from cells of intestinal crypts across 16 diverse mammalian species, spanning huge 40 000-fold variations in body mass and 30-fold variations in lifespan. The somatic mutation rates per year varied greatly across species and showed a much stronger inverse relationship with species lifespan than with species body mass.Comment: Peto’s p...

Brief summary: Over the recent years several publications reported on next generation sequencing (NGS) in cohorts of patients with congenital hypothyroidism (1). Based on these data, diagnostic yield was higher in patients with gland-in-situ, than with thyroid dysgenesis. Further studies performed NGS only in cohorts of patients with gland-in-situ, excluding thyroid dysgenesis forms such as athyreosis, ectopy, or hypoplasia (2). The publication of Levaillant ...

n.karavitaki@bham.ac.uk Eur J Endocrinol. 2022; 186: P35-P52. PMID: 35319491.Brief Summary: An international panel of experts produced this consensus statement after critical review of the existing evidence on the safety of GH replacement in cancer and intracranial tumour survivors and in patients with increased cancer risk. Current evidence does not support an association betwe...

In Brief: The authors describe a wide range of studies. Firstly, observational studies showed that circulating taurine concentrations decline with age in mice, monkeys, and humans – and in the latter, low taurine was associated with metabolic disease (abdominal fat, blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes). They then gave oral taurine to mice throughout their lives and showed that this increased lifespan by 10–12% and improved functional outcomes of almost all tissues studie...

Nat Commun. 2021 Apr 1;12(1):2028. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21712-4. PMID: 33795686.The authors describe 5 patients with Cardio-Facio-Cutaneous (CFC) syndrome with features of septo−optic dysplasia (SOD), and GH/IGF−1 deficiency of variable degree. All were identified to carry a gain−of−function mutation in BRAF.RASopathies encompass Noonan ...