Adult height comparison between boys and girls with precocious puberty after long-term gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue therapy.

We examined 22 girls and 11 boys with idiopathic precocious puberty (IPP) treated with a GnRH analogue for a period of about 4 y. The purpose of our study was to evaluate possible differences between the two sexes in bone growth and skeletal maturation during treatment and in the achievement of final height, and also to study the relative contribution of particular hormones--sex steroids, DHEAS, GH and IGF-I--during the pubertal growth spurt. At the beginning of therapy mean chronological age (CA) was 7.

Neutrophyl function in children with chondrodystrophia calcificans congenita: evidence for defective chemotaxis.

Some neutrophil functions (superoxide anion production, bactericidal activity and chemotaxis) have been examined in four children with Chondrodystrophia Calcificans Congenita. Superoxide anion production and bactericidal activity were in the normal range, but a defect in cellular chemotaxis has been proved. This finding account for predisposition to infection which is frequently present in these patients, and may include this disease among those syndromes in which a deficiency of the immune system is associated with growth failure.

Intrauterine growth retardation. A report of two cases with bird-headed appearance, skeletal changes and peripheral GH resistance.

Two cases of severe intrauterine growth retardation, a boy and a girl studied for 7 and 10 years respectively, are reported. Both patients showed peculiar cranio-facial abnormalities as observed in the so-called Seckel's syndrome, an appearance of premature aging, peripheral GH resistance which was probably due to deficiency in Somatomedin A production, sella areas and volumes consistently at the upper limits of normal when related to the patients' height, and dysharmonic skeletal maturation ivory cone-shaped epiphyses of the tubular bones of the hands.