Vitamin K insufficiency and the prophylaxis strategy in term healthy infants: A multicentre study.

Background/aim: Late vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) during early infancy is a serious problem worldwide. Vitamin K (VK) deficiency commonly occurs in newborns who are exclusively breastfed. Protein Induced by VK Absence (PIVKA-II) has been identified as an early indicator of subclinical VK deficiency in neonates, surpassing prothrombin time.

Cardiovascular Implications of microRNAs in Coronavirus Disease 2019.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic continues to be a global challenge due to resulting morbidity and mortality. Cardiovascular (CV) involvement is a crucial complication in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and no strategies are available to prevent or specifically address CV events in COVID-19 patients. The identification of molecular partners contributing to CV manifestations in COVID-19 patients is crucial for providing early biomarkers, prognostic predictors, and new therapeutic targets.

Untargeted lipidomics reveals specific lipid profiles in COVID-19 patients with different severity from Campania region (Italy).

COVID-19 infection evokes various systemic alterations that push patients not only towards severe acute respiratory syndrome but causes an important metabolic dysregulation with following multi-organ alteration and potentially poor outcome. To discover novel potential biomarkers able to predict disease's severity and patient's outcome, in this study we applied untargeted lipidomics, by a reversed phase ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-trapped ion mobility mass spectrometry platform (RP-UHPLC-TIMS-MS), on blood samples collected at hospital admission in an Italian cohort of COVID-19 patients (45 mild, 54 severe, 21 controls). In a subset of patients, we also collected a second blood sample in correspondence of clinical phenotype modification (longitudinal population).

Antioxidant Effect of Melatonin in Preterm Newborns.

Introduction: Preterm infants are at risk of free radical-mediated diseases from oxidative stress (OS) injury. Increased free radical generation has been demonstrated in preterm infants during the first seven days of life. Melatonin (MEL) is a powerful antioxidant and scavenger of free radicals.

Prolonged refrigeration does not alter isoprostanes concentration in human milk.

Background: The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine published a clinical protocol for Human Milk storage, recommending refrigeration at a temperature of 4 °C up to 4 d as the optimal conditions for the safety and bactericidal capacity of Human Milk. However, few studies were conducted to evaluate the change in milk composition during this type of refrigeration storage.

Aim: To elucidate some uncertainties regarding the Human Milk composition and prolonged cold storage, we have investigated the effects of storage at 4 °C up to 96 h on an important category of oxidative stress markers: the Isoprostanes (F2-isoprostanes, F4-neuroprostanes and F3-isoprostanes).

Metabolomic Profile of Young Adults Born Preterm.

Prematurity is a risk factor for the development of chronic adult diseases. Metabolomics can correlate the biochemical changes to a determined phenotype, obtaining real information about the state of health of a subject at that precise moment. Significative differences in the metabolomic profile of preterm newborns compared to those born at term have been already identified at birth.

Newborn metabolomic profile mirrors that of mother in pregnancy.

Background: Pregnancy is characterized by multiple metabolic processes to allow proper foetal development and ensure adequate stores. Little is known about the interactions between maternal and foetal metabolism during the last phase of pregnancy. Metabolomic offers potential to discover changes in maternal metabolism in pregnancy and their relation to the newborn metabolic status.