Effect of preeclampsia on blood pressure in newborn very low birth weight infants.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that very low birth infants born to mothers with preeclampsia have higher blood pressure over the first week of life than infants whose mothers did not have preeclampsia.

Method: Infants born at<1,350 g who survived at least one week were stratified by gestational age ( or= 29 completed weeks) and grouped by the presence or absence of preeclampsia. Highest and lowest systolic and mean and diastolic blood pressures were recorded for each of the first seven days of life.

Regulation of FasL/Fas in human trophoblasts: possible implications for chorioamnionitis.

Chorioamnionitis is a common cause of premature birth and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in the mother and infant. Preterm birth shares similarities with rejection of the fetal allograft, which is characterized by increased apoptosis of placental trophoblasts. We hypothesized that there is increased trophoblast apoptosis in chorioamnionitis and that this increased apoptosis is mediated by the Fas ligand (FasL)/Fas pathway.

The use of inhaled glucocorticosteroids and recovery from adrenal suppression after systemic steroid use in a VLBW premature infant with BPD: case report and literature discussion.

Despite development of many prevention and treatment modalities for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a form of chronic respiratory insufficiency in premature infants recovering from respiratory distress syndrome, BPD remains a treatment challenge and a significant cause of long-term morbidity. A ventilator-dependent very low birth weight infant in our newborn special care unit was receiving multiple courses of systemic dexamethasone for severe respiratory failure. The infant demonstrated adrenal suppression manifested by a baseline cortisol concentration below reported levels in infants of similar birth weight and postnatal age.

Double bond in the side chain of 1alpha,25-dihydroxy-22-ene-vitamin D(3) is reduced during its metabolism: studies in chronic myeloid leukemia (RWLeu-4) cells and rat kidney.

1alpha,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D(3) [1alpha,25(OH)(2)D(3)] is mainly metabolized via the C-24 oxidation pathway and undergoes several side chain modifications which include C-24 hydroxylation, C-24 ketonization, C-23 hydroxylation and side chain cleavage between C-23 and C-24 to form the final product, calcitroic acid. In a recent study we reported that 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(2) [1alpha,25(OH)(2)D(2)] like 1alpha,25(OH)(2)D(3), is also converted into the same final product, calcitroic acid. This finding indicated that 1alpha,25(OH)(2)D(2) also undergoes side chain cleavage between C-23 and C-24.

Gestational age-dependent expression of IL-10 and its receptor in human placental tissues and isolated cytotrophoblasts.

Control of antifetal immune responses is thought to be regulated locally by the placenta. Because the physiologic programming of the placenta across gestation is likely to influence the local immunity, we hypothesize that a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine such as IL-10 may be produced in a gestational age-dependent manner. In the present study, we examined the expression of IL-10 and its receptor in placental explants or freshly isolated cytotrophoblasts from different gestational ages and compared it with the expression profiles of other cytokines.

Labor-associated changes in Fas ligand expression and function in human placenta.

Fas ligand (FasL)-dependent apoptosis has been implicated in the control of tissue-damaging inflammatory responses in several immune privileged sites. Here, we present data demonstrating that FasL is expressed on human trophoblast cells throughout pregnancy and transduces growth inhibitory/death signals in cells bearing its receptor, Fas (CD95). Immunohistochemical analysis detected FasL-positive staining in the trophoblast layer of villi of first- and second-trimester and term (no labor) placental tissues, as well as in freshly isolated cytotrophoblasts representing these gestational ages.

Penicillin-resistant Streptococcus mitis as a cause of septicemia with meningitis in febrile neutropenic children.

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to emphasize the importance of occurrence of Streptococcus mitis meningitis in febrile neutropenic children with hematopoietic malignancy.

Patients And Methods: Symptoms of meningitis and sepsis (fever, headache, changes in mental status) were seen in three patients who were severely neutropenic and undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy for CNS relapse of their underlying malignancy (acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), n = 2; Burkitt's lymphoma, n = 1). Chemotherapy had included cytosine arabinoside administered 7-14 days prior to presenting with sepsis and meningitis.