[Research progresses on interventions of obesity in children and adolescents].

Childhood and adolescent obesity has become a global epidemic. The interventions mainly include lifestyle intervention, medication treatment and bariatric surgery. Among them, lifestyle intervention, especially intensive lifestyle intervention with participation of family members, is the first-line treatment for obesity in children and adolescents. Both medication and bariatric surgery are adjuvant treatments for severely obese children and adolescents. Currently, metformin is the most widely used drug for the treatment of obesity in children and adolescents in both China and other countries; orlistat and liraglutide are also the drugs that are safe and often used in other countries; other drugs are not recommended. As a tertiary prevention and treatment strategy for obesity, bariatric surgery should be carried out on the basis of good compliance from both the children and their family members, with the cooperation of multiple disciplines. Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) are the most common types of procedure performed. Meanwhile, as a new treatment method, intra-gastric balloon procedure needs to be paid more attention to its efficacy and safety.

[Further progress of the etiology,diagnosis and treatment of peripheral precocious puberty].

Peripheral precocious puberty(PPP),also known as puberty independent from hypothalamic-pituitary axis activation,is stimulated by hormones from other sources, with only partial sexual characteristics development but without mature sexual function. The secondary sexual characteristics development occurs before 7.5 years of age in girls and before 9 years of age in boys. Clinical manifestations are diverse, and PPP has varied etiology including congenital adrenal hyperplasia, McCune-Albright syndrome, ovarian cyst, adrenal tumor, ovarian tumor, testicular tumor, human chorionic gonadotropin producing tumor, familial male precocious puberty, aromatase excess syndrome, and environmental estrogen. Early identification of etiology, accurate differential diagnosis and prenatal gene screening play a significant role in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Chemerin affects the metabolic and proliferative capabilities of chondrocytes by increasing the phosphorylation of AKT/ERK.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to explore the mechanism of action of the adipokine chemerin in osteoarthritis (OA) by means of an in vitro OA model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Primary chondrocytes were isolated from normal rats. The chondrocytes were stimulated with interleukin 1 beta (IL-1ß, 10 µg/L) to establish a model of induced OA. Chemerin was administered to cells of this model. After culture of the chondrocytes in the presence of chemerin for 48 h, the expression of the genes related to OA occurrence and protection, matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), and matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) was examined. Western blot was then performed to analyze the phosphorylation of the AKT and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) proteins in chondrocytes. RESULTS: Stimulation of chondrocytes with IL-1ß markedly reduced the proliferative capability of chondrocytes. Chemerin (5 µM) also significantly decreased the proliferative capability of chondrocytes. The combined administration of IL-1ß and chemerin induced an even greater reduction in the proliferative capability of chondrocytes. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results showed that both IL-1ß and chemerin reduced the expression of the protective genes in OA (MMP-1, MMP-3, and MMP-13). Also, the stimulation with IL-1ß and chemerin significantly enhanced the phosphorylation of AKT/ERK in chondrocytes. CONCLUSIONS: This adipokine induces changes in the metabolic and proliferative capabilities of chondrocytes by increasing the phosphorylation of AKT/ERK, thereby inducing OA or aggravating the symptoms of OA.