Insight on the Upcoming Special Topic Issues

Prof. Stefano Cianfarani
Editor in Chief gives an overview of the special topic issues and why they will benefit the research community.

What new special topic issues can be expected in the near future?

We have four hot topics which will be tackled in the special issues of the Journal: a) The Impact of Stress on Health in Childhood, b) Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome, c) Current Topics in Disorders of sex Development and D) A Critical Review of Upcoming New Therapeutic Options in Pediatric Endocrinology.

Tell us about the Guest editors, what is their background?

The Guest Editors of these special issues are outstanding pediatric endocrinologists with long-standing clinical and scientific experience in the themes of the special issues. In particular, George Chrousos and Nicolas Nicolaides (Greece) will edit the issue dedicated to stress in childhood. Shlomit Shalitin (Israel) and Martin Wabitsch (Germany) will edit the contributions for Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome issue. Tulay Guran (Turkey) and Christa Fluck (Switzerland) will deal with the issue on disorders of sex development. Myself and Tadej Battelino (Slovenia) will co-edit the issue on the new therapies in paediatric endocrinology.

Why have these topics been chosen and how are they relevant to current research?

These topics represent four major themes in modern paediatric endocrinology and have had an incredible expansion in the last decade due to the large-scale use of next generation sequencing in the genetic approach and the development of new effective treatments. Paediatric endocrinologists face every day with children and adolescents affected by obesity, stress or disorders of sex development. Therefore, a detailed update on these conditions as well as on the upcoming new therapies, some of them still in the approval process by regulatory agencies, will have an impact not only on the knowledge of the conditions but also on the evidence-based management of the patients.