Inclusive Path Through Pavia: A Study to Link the Langobardic Heritage.

The Italian historic centers have an architectural and archeological heritage widespread in the urban structure, which is not always easily accessible due to the orography and materials the streets and the squares are paved with. The topic of the urban accessibility is extremely complex and not easy to solve, also because the removal and overcoming of the architectural and sensorial barriers that could alter the original layout and consolidated historical memory must be avoided. The research investigates the accessibility and usability conditions of the urban environment between the Langobardic building and archeological sites in Pavia (Italy) to identify pedestrian routes that can be covered by weak persons in autonomy or with the help of a companion.

A blinded, randomized, multicenter study of an intravenous Staphylococcus aureus immune globulin.

Objectives: Very low birth weight (VLBW) infants are vulnerable to nosocomial infections and subsequent morbidity; including infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus: 85% of nosocomial S. aureus infections are caused by capsular polysaccharide (CPS) types 5 and 8. Altastaph is a polyclonal investigational human immunoglobulin G (IgG) with high levels of opsonizing S.

Multicenter study to determine antibody concentrations and assess the safety of administration of INH-A21, a donor-selected human Staphylococcal immune globulin, in low-birth-weight infants.

Nosocomial or late-onset sepsis is a common complication among premature infants, with a frequency inversely correlated with birth weight. Increased susceptibility to infection is due in part to an immature humoral (antibody-mediated) immune response. This study investigated the pharmacokinetics (PKs) and safety of a donor-selected specific intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) preparation, INH-A21 (Veronate), for prevention of sepsis in premature infants.

Minimizing donor blood exposure in the neonatal intensive care unit. Current trends and future prospects.

Limitations in the knowledge of the pathophysiology of anemia contribute to unfounded and liberal transfusion practices in the preterm infant and to uncertain risk-benefit ratios. Researchers have explored an array of strategies to minimize transfusions. Such strategies include collection and banking of autologous placental blood, administration of recombinant erythropoietin, innovations in blood banking practices, and improved definitions of the markers of anemia with more rigorous transfusion guidelines.

Recombinant human erythropoietin stimulates erythropoiesis and reduces erythrocyte transfusions in very low birth weight preterm infants.

Design And Methods: We hypothesized that treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) would stimulate erythropoiesis and would thereby reduce the need for erythrocyte transfusions in preterm infants. We treated 157 preterm infants born at 26.9 +/- 1.

Collection and 28-day storage of human placental blood.

Placental blood was harvested using a novel collection system into packs containing citrate-phosphate-dextrose-adenine and then stored for 28 d. Before and during storage, sterility, adequacy of anticoagulation, blood chemistry, and red cell viability were assessed weekly. The average volume of blood collected was 65 mL (range 30-110 mL) with a 0.

Relationship between determinants of oxygen delivery and respiratory abnormalities in preterm infants with anemia.

To study the relationship between anemia and breathing abnormalities in preterm infants, we measured oxygen supply and demand in two groups of anemic infants less than or equal to 32 weeks of gestational age. Six-second apnea density was less than 1% in one group and greater than or equal to 5% in the other. There were no differences in hemoglobin concentration, available oxygen, oxygen consumption, or Doppler-determined cardiac output between the two groups of infants.

The cardiopulmonary effects of calcium infusion in infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn.

Low blood ionized calcium levels have been reported previously in association with alkalosis in infants undergoing hyperventilation for persistent pulmonary hypertension. We investigated the effect of acute calcium infusions on the cardiopulmonary status of 10 hypocalcemic, hyperventilated infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension. Acid-base status, arterial partial pressure of oxygen, vital signs, and echocardiographically determined right and left systolic time interval ratios and left ventricular shortening fractions were obtained before and after rapid infusions of calcium gluconate or saline.

Routine endotracheal cultures for the prediction of sepsis in ventilated babies.

Serial cultures of endotracheal tube aspirates were carried out in 94 neonates who were intubated and had been ventilated for longer than one week. A similar change in bacterial colonisation with duration of ventilation was seen in infants who subsequently developed sepsis and those who did not. In both groups, 177 aspirates (more than 90%) obtained during the first week of ventilation were sterile.

Membrane lipid fluidity and filterability of red blood cells from adults and newborns.

Membrane lipid fluidity was reexamined in red blood cells and ghosts from adults and newborns. Fluorescence anisotropies of the hydrophobic probes 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) and perylene were significantly and substantially greater in fresh intact red cells from newborns than from adults; however, no significant difference was detected with the polar fluorophores, 12-(9-anthroyl) stearic acid and retinol. These results suggest that probes in the hydrophobic core of the membrane have less motional freedom in red cells from newborns than from adults, whereas probe motional freedom in the polar lipid headgroup regions of the membranes is similar for both cell types.

Duration of hyperventilation and outcome in infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension.

Twenty-one infants with the diagnosis of persistent pulmonary hypertension had serial assessments of growth and neurologic development through 12 months of corrected age. Seven infants (30%) had one or more adverse physical outcomes during the first year of life. Four infants (19%) had severe neurologic impairment; seven babies had mild to moderate delay, and 11 babies were found to have no abnormality.

Effect of hyperventilation on total calcium, ionized calcium, and serum phosphorus in neonates.

The effect of alkalosis (pH greater than 7.55) on total calcium, ionized calcium, and serum phosphorus was studied in seven infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPH) before, during, and after hyperventilation. Hyperventilation-induced alkalosis resulted in marked decreases in total calcium, phosphorus, and ionized calcium.

Relationship between the shape and the membrane potential of human red blood cells.

Microscopic observations of isotonic suspensions of human red blood cells demonstrate that cell shape is unaltered when the transmembrane electrical potential, or Em, is set in the range -85 to + 10 mV with valinomycin at varied external K+, or Ko X Em was measured with the fluorescent potentiometric indicator, diS-C3(5), as calibrated by a delta pH method. Repeating Glaser's experiments in which echinocytosis was attributed to hyperpolarization, we found that at low ionic strength the pH-dependent effects of amphotericin B appear to be unrelated to Em. The effects of increased intracellular Ca2+, or Cac, on echinocytosis and on Em are separable.