Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Childhood growth monitoring aims to identify growth failure and detect underlying pathology. According to UK guidance, height <-2.7 standard deviation score (SDS) (<0.4th percentile) is used as the referral threshold. Additional referral criteria include height deficit (HSDS-target height SDS) <-2.0 and height velocity (HV) SDS <-1.3. Lack of routine HV and mid-parental height calculation, combined with stricter cut-offs compared to other European c...

Introduction: Free thyroxine (FT4) assays are available on different commercial platforms where manufacturers provide different reference ranges. The lower limit of normal varies considerably between 8 and 13.9 pmol/l depending on the FT4 assay being used. There is concern about the validity of these reference ranges in paediatric populations, especially for the Roche FT4 assay; here there is a tendency for FT4 results to be below age-related lower limits of 13.9 or 13.6 pmol/...

Introduction: Transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) RNA has identified a set of androgen-responsive non-coding RNAs.Aim: To quantify the androgen-responsive gene expression and investigate its relationship to the testosterone (T) rise following hCG stimulation in boys with no genetic evidence of androgen insensitivity. Methods: Boys with suspected DSD who were evaluated at the Royal Hospital for Childr...

The rising prevalence of childhood obesity is a major public health concern. Approximately 21% of children by the age of eleven are clinically obese, with a further 14% classed as overweight. The causes of obesity of childhood obesity are multifaceted, leading to a complex multi-disciplinary management approach. A high proportion of children and young people do not meet the recommended guidelines of a minimum of 60 minutes physical activity per day. In addition to the barrier&...

Cis-gender females are known to mount stronger humoral immune responses than cis-gender males. Little is known about the immunophenotypes of transgender individuals on gender-affirming hormonal treatment, despite growing evidence that hormones influence the immune system.Via the process of class-switch recombination (CSR), B-cell immunoglobulin isotype ‘switches’ from early IgM/IgD classes to IgG/IgA/IgE. Whilst important in infection/vaccine responses; switched isot...