COVID-19 pandemic effects on neonatal inpatient admissions and mortality: interrupted time series analysis of facilities implementing NEST360 in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

Background: The emergence of COVID-19 precipitated containment policies (e.g., lockdowns, school closures, etc.

Solubilization and Photostabilization in a Sodium Deoxycholate Hydrogel of a Neutral Conjugated Thiophene Oligomer and Polymer.

Oligo(3-hexylthiophene--1,4-phenylene) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) were solubilized in sodium deoxycholate self-assemblies in water solutions and hydrogels, with the goal of solubilizing sufficient material in a hydrogel for fluorescence applications. The neutral conjugated oligomer and polymer were incorporated as monomers into the self-assemblies with sodium deoxycholate aggregates, leading to the photoprotection of these neutral conjugated and water-insoluble molecules. Dynamic light scattering, rheology, and fluorescence experiments established that the deoxycholate aggregation and gel formation properties were not altered with the incorporation of the oligomer or polymer into the deoxycholate self-assemblies, showing that this adaptable host system with some molecular recognition elements is a viable strategy to incorporate into hydrogels neutral conjugated molecules as isolated monomers.

Quantifying health facility service readiness for small and sick newborn care: comparing standards-based and WHO level-2 + scoring for 64 hospitals implementing with NEST360 in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

Background: Service readiness tools are important for assessing hospital capacity to provide quality small and sick newborn care (SSNC). Lack of summary scoring approaches for SSNC service readiness means we are unable to track national targets such as the Every Newborn Action Plan targets.

Methods: A health facility assessment (HFA) tool was co-designed by Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (NEST360) and UNICEF with four African governments.

Health facility assessment of small and sick newborn care in low- and middle-income countries: systematic tool development and operationalisation with NEST360 and UNICEF.

Background: Each year an estimated 2.3 million newborns die in the first 28 days of life. Most of these deaths are preventable, and high-quality neonatal care is fundamental for surviving and thriving.

Protecting small and sick newborn care in the COVID-19 pandemic: multi-stakeholder qualitative data from four African countries with NEST360.

Background: Health system shocks are increasing. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in global disruptions to health systems, including maternal and newborn healthcare seeking and provision. Yet evidence on mitigation strategies to protect newborn service delivery is limited.

Devices and furniture for small and sick newborn care: systematic development of a planning and costing tool.

Background: High-quality neonatal care requires sufficient functional medical devices, furniture, fixtures, and use by trained healthcare workers, however there is lack of publicly available tools for quantification and costing. This paper describes development and use of a planning and costing tool regarding furniture, fixtures and devices to support scale-up of WHO level-2 neonatal care, for national and global newborn survival targets.

Methods: We followed a systematic process.

Neonatal inpatient dataset for small and sick newborn care in low- and middle-income countries: systematic development and multi-country operationalisation with NEST360.

Background: Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) coverage target 4 necessitates national scale-up of Level-2 Small and Sick Newborn Care (SSNC) (with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)) in 80% of districts by 2025. Routine neonatal inpatient data is important for improving quality of care, targeting equity gaps, and enabling data-driven decision-making at individual, district, and national-levels. Existing neonatal inpatient datasets vary in purpose, size, definitions, and collection processes.

Growth and Duration of Inflammation Determine Short- and Long-Term Outcome in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants Requiring Abdominal Surgery.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) and meconium-related ileus (MI) requiring surgical intervention are associated with a high risk of severe short- and long-term complications in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants including poor growth, cholestasis and neurodevelopmental impairment. This retrospective study aimed to identify risk factors for such complications in a cohort of 55 VLBW preterm infants requiring surgery with enterostomy creation due to NEC, SIP or MI. Long-term follow-up was available for 43 (78%) infants.

Management of Enteral Feeding and Application of Probiotics in Very Low Birth Weight Infants - A National Survey in German NICUs.

Background: The advantage of breast milk feeding, and supplementation of probiotics is well known and proven. However, the lack of reliable amounts of colostrum and/or transient breast milk during the first few postnatal days might inhibit timely enteral nutrition.

Methods: The aim of this nationwide survey in German Level-1 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) was to collect data regarding the management of feeding in the first days of life in very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs, birth weight<1500 g).

Epidemiology and infection control of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a German tertiary neonatal intensive and intermediate care unit: A retrospective study (2013-2020).

In preterm and term infants who require intermediate or intensive care Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection can lead to significant morbidity. In this study MRSA colonization and infection were assessed in a mixed tertiary neonatal intensive and intermediate care unit in Germany over an 8-year period (2013-2020). We investigated patient-related factors, associated with nosocomial MRSA acquisition, and we discuss our infection control concept for MRSA.

Management of prolonged meconium evacuation in preterm infants: A survey-based analysis in German Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

Aim: Due to the functional immaturity of bowel motility, a delayed passage frequently requires evacuation of meconium in preterm infants. Often rectal enemas and oral laxatives are used to manage these bowel evacuation disorders.

Methods: An online survey was sent to all 163 high-level Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) in Germany.

Dynamics of small molecules within the F127 PEO-PPO-PEO triblock copolymer gel and sol phases studied at the molecular scale.

Triplet excited states of guest molecules with different hydrophobicities were used to probe the association and dissociation dynamics of these guests with F127 micelles in the gel and sol phases. The dynamics probed was on a longer length scale than amenable with fluorescence techniques, but at a shorter length scale than probed in translational diffusion studies. The mobility of the guests at the molecular scale showed that subtle changes in the guest's structure affect the guest's release time from the micelles, where the structural features of the guest are more important than the phase, gel sol, of the system.

[Epidemiology and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity. The Hannover data in the Retina.net ROP registry from 2001-2017].

Background: The Retina.net ROP registry documents data of preterm infants developing stages of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) that need ROP treatment. The aim of this analysis was to investigate data regarding epidemiology, therapy and changes over time (15 years) in a single participating center (Hannover Medical School, MHH).

Cardiorespiratory Events Following the Second Routine Immunization in Preterm Infants: Risk Assessment and Monitoring Recommendations.

Due to frequent cardiorespiratory events (CREs) in response to the first routine immunization (rIM), current guidelines recommend readmitting and monitoring extremely preterm infants after the second rIM, though evidence on CREs in response to the second rIM is weak. In a prospective observational study, preterm infants with an increase in CREs after the first rIM were monitored for CREs before and after the second rIM. Seventy-one infants with a median gestational age of 26.

Mechanism of a Disassembly-Driven Sensing System Studied by Stopped-Flow Kinetics.

We carried out steady-state and stopped-flow photophysical measurements to determine the kinetics of a discrete disassembly driven turn-on fluorescent system. On and off rates for both DimerDye1 assembly and nicotine binding were determined. Relative rates for these competing processes provide insight on how this system can be optimized for sensing applications.

Detection of Serratia marcescens in neonatal intensive care units requires a rapid and comprehensive infection control response starting with the very first case.

is a well-known and challenging pathogen in neonatal intensive care units. It is responsible for severe infections and can cause nosocomial outbreaks. We present the infection control response to a cluster which occurred in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.

Nonlinear Dependence on Na Ions for the Binding Dynamics of Cucurbit[6]uril with the -1-Methyl-4-(4-hydroxystyryl)pyridinium Cation.

The binding dynamics of the -1-methyl-4-(4-hydroxystyryl)pyridinium cation (HSP) to cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) in the presence of Na cations were studied to establish the effect of the relative concentrations of the system's components (HSP, CB[6], and Na) on these dynamics. The formation of the HSP@CB[6] complex was temporally uncoupled from the photoisomerization of -HSP, while a nonlinear effect of the Na cation concentration on the HSP@CB[6] dynamics was observed. This nonlinearity is a consequence of Na having the opposite effect on the association and dissociation rate constants for the HSP@CB[6] complex, creating a conceptual framework for using such nonlinearities to control multistep reactions in cucurbit[]uril chemistry.

The online inverted classroom model (oICM). A blueprint to adapt the inverted classroom to an online learning setting in medical and health education.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The idea of this paper is to offer a blueprint, with that facilitators have a guide to set up a complete digital teaching scenario according to the latest insights of didactical research.

Barriers and enablers of implementing bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP): Perspectives of health professionals in Malawi.

Background: Preterm birth complications are the leading cause of neonatal deaths. Malawi has high rates of preterm birth, with 18.1 preterm births per 100 live births.

Labeling of Proteins by BODIPY-Quinone Methides Utilizing Anti-Kasha Photochemistry.

A novel approach for the photolabeling of proteins by a BODIPY fluorophore is reported that is based on an anti-Kasha photochemical reaction from an upper singlet excited state () leading to the deamination of the BODIPY quinone methide precursor. On the other hand, the high photochemical stability of the dye upon excitation by visible light to allows for the selective fluorescence detection from the dye or dye-protein adduct, without concomitant bleaching or hydrolysis of the protein-dye adduct. Therefore, photolabeling and fluorescence monitoring can be uncoupled by using different excitation wavelengths.

The Brandenburg reformed medical curriculum: study locally, work locally.

The Brandenburg Medical School "Theodor Fontane" (MHB) was founded in 2014 by municipal and non-profit institutions in Bernau, Brandenburg an der Havel and Neuruppin to train more physicians for the non-metropolitan region of Brandenburg. Since the 2015 summer term, 48 medical students have been enrolled each year, accepted through the university's own selection process in which the score on the German school-leaving exam and time spent on the waiting list play subordinate roles. Tuition fees can be partially financed through scholarship agreements with regional hospitals if the applicants commit themselves to medical specialist training at a particular hospital.

Probing the Microenvironments in a Polymer-Wrapped Core-Shell Nanoassembly Using Pyrene Chromophores.

The local environments within an amphiphilic polymer shell wrapped around lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles were probed using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. Emission lifetime measurements of pyrene chromophores trapped within the polymer shell reveal that there are at least two environments, where the organic pyrene molecules are encapsulated in hydrophobic environments that have lower polarity than in water. The migration of pyrene chromophores from their initial location to another location was also observed, demonstrating that the polymeric shell provides both hydrophobicity and mobility for entrapped molecules.

Constitutive TNF-α signaling in neonates is essential for the development of tissue-resident leukocyte profiles at barrier sites.

Newborn infants have a high disposition to develop systemic inflammatory response syndromes (SIRSs) upon inflammatory or infectious challenges. Moreover, there is a considerable trafficking of hematopoietic cells to tissues already under noninflammatory conditions. These age-specific characteristics suggest a hitherto unappreciated crucial role of the vascular endothelium during the neonatal period.

Photoelimination of nitrogen from adamantane and pentacycloundecane (PCU) diazirines: a spectroscopic study and supramolecular control.

Photochemical reactivity of pentacycloundecane (PCU) and adamantane diazirines was investigated by preparative irradiation in different solvents, laser flash photolysis (LFP) and quantum chemical computations. In addition, formation of inclusion complexes for diazirines with cucurbit[7]uril, β- and γ-cyclodextrin (β- and γ-CD) was investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy, isothermal microcalorimetry and circular dichroism spectroscopy, followed by the investigation of photochemical reactivity of the formed complexes. Diazirines undergo efficient photochemical elimination of nitrogen (ΦR > 0.

Noninnocent Role of Na Ions in the Binding of the N-Phenyl-2-naphthylammonium Cation as a Ditopic Guest with Cucurbit[7]uril.

Na ions influence the mechanism for the binding of the ditopic guest N-phenyl-2-naphthylammonium cation (Ph-AH-Np) to cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) by facilitating, at increased Na concentrations, the formation of a higher-order complex. Binding of the larger naphthyl moiety of Ph-AH-Np forms the Ph-AH-Np@CB[7] 1:1 complex (where "@" represents an inclusion complex) at low Na ion concentrations (≤5 mM), whereas the inclusion of the smaller phenyl moiety in CB[7] (CB[7]@Ph-AH-Np) is transient. Ph-AH-Np@CB[7] is formed by reactions with free CB[7] and CB[7]·Na (where "·" represents an exclusion complex) with displacement of the Na cation.