Clinical Research Directory

Severe Decrease of Growth Velocity in Children With Anorexia Nervosa.Therapeutic Trial of Growth Hormone

Anorexia nervosa may be responsible for a catch- down or even an interruption of growth, delayed puberty and osteopenia with failure of acquisition of bone mass. The recovery of normal nutrition usually leads to a resumption of growth and pubertal development. However, despite a therapeutic nutritional and psychotherapeutic satisfactory approach, some patients have a significant short stature with reduced adult final height and a deficit of bone mass. The main objective is to evaluate the effect of growth hormone (hGH) treatment on the growth velocity in prepubertal children or children in early puberty with anorexia nervosa and significant reduction of height velocity. This is a single-center, controlled, randomized and double-blind clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of hGH treatment for 1 year against a placebo, on the growth velocity of prepubertal or children in early puberty with Anorexia nervosa and major catch-down.This period is followed by the evaluation of the hGH treatment in children receiving placebo and continued hGH treatment in the treatment arm for 1 year, in total 2 years of study for each child. This second period corresponds to an ethical consideration giving secondarily access to treatment for patients in the placebo group.

INSL3 as a Biomarker of Pubertal Activation: Role in Evaluating Precocious and Delayed Puberty

This is an observational study in children up to 16 years old who are suspected of having central precocious puberty or delayed puberty. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Can the level of insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) predict if a child's puberty has truly started? * Can this marker help reduce the need for more complex and invasive tests? Participants will: * Give one extra blood sample just before starting the standard gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation test (during the baseline blood draw). * Have this extra sample used to measure the INSL3 hormone. * Complete the rest of the GnRH test as prescribed by their doctor. Researchers will compare the INSL3 hormone levels in children who have a positive GnRH test to those who have a negative test. This will help researchers learn if INSL3 can be used as a new, simple tool to diagnose early or delayed puberty.

The Molecular Basis of Inherited Reproductive Disorders

The goal of this study is to learn more about the genes that control puberty and reproduction in humans.