Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Very Low Birth Weight Infants Using Aminophylline for the Treatment of Apnea.

Background: Aminophylline has been widely used in the treatment of apneic episodes in premature infants. Animal models suggest caution in the use of aminophylline as it may increase the cerebral metabolic rate and decrease the rate of anoxic survival in neonates. This study aimed to evaluate the neurological outcomes in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants treated with aminophylline for apnea in our neonatal intensive care unit.

A strategy for reduction of antibiotic use in new patients admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit.

Background: In order to reduce the unnecessary use of and provide appropriate guidance for the administration of antibiotics, the neonatal bacterial infections screening score (NBISS) was developed to assess each new patient that is admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Methods: NBISS was designed based on maternal risk factors, clinical presentations, and laboratory data. The total score of each new patient is calculated at the time of admission.

Effects of antenatal corticosteroids on neonatal outcomes in very-low-birth-weight preterm newborns: a 10-year retrospective study in a medical center.

Objective: To evaluate the effects on neonatal outcomes between very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) preterm newborns with and without maternal use of antenatal corticosteroids (ACS).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of VLBW premature infants who were admitted to Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital between 1999 and 2008. A total of 256 infants were enrolled in this study.

Parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis in premature babies: risk factors and predictors.

Background: One of the most common complications in infants under parenteral nutrition treatment is parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis (PNAC). The etiology of PNAC is thought to be multifactorial. The aims of this study were to evaluate the risk factors for PNAC in our neonatal intensive care unit and determine useful predictors.

Effect of blood transfusions on the outcome of very low body weight preterm infants under two different transfusion criteria.

Background: Multiple packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusions in very low birth weight (VLBW) prematurity have been suggested to be a risk factor for the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) or for chronic lung disease (CLD). The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of PRBC transfusions on the outcome of VLBW prematurity.

Methods: In total, between July 2005 and June 2006, 36 VLBW preterm babies were admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit and were randomly allocated to the "restrictive" (n= 19) or "liberal" (n= 17) criteria for PRBC transfusion.

Neonatal readmission within 2 weeks after birth.

To examine the causes of neonatal readmission within two weeks of discharge and identify the factors associated with neonatal readmission, newborns readmitted to Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang (KMHK) Hospital within two weeks of discharge from our nursery between October 2001 and November 2003 were studied retrospectively. Of the 1099 deliveries during the study period, there were 63 newborns readmitted to KMHK Hospital within 14 days of discharge, with a rate of 5.7%.

Differential changes in endothelin-1 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene expression in rats with a chronic high pulmonary flow.

The expressions of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase were assessed in the lung of adult Wistar rats (n = 6/group) undergoing an abdominal aortocaval shunt to increase pulmonary blood flow for 4, 8 or 12 weeks. The shunt resulted in significant medial hypertrophy of the pulmonary artery without significant increases in pulmonary and systemic arterial pressure. A competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction demonstrated significant increases in pulmonary preproET-1 mRNA at 12 weeks (mean +/- standard error of the mean; shunt, 1.

Ectopic pancreatic tissue presenting as an umbilcal mass in a newborn: a case report.

The case of an ectopic pancreatic mass at the umbilicus in an 8-day-old male neonate is reported, the youngest patient with this condition ever reported in an English-language journal. The patient was healthy except for a protruding mass with intermittent mucous discharge at the base of the umbilical stump. Surgical intervention was performed under the impression of the umbilical mass.

Synergistic effect of multiple indoor allergen sources on atopic symptoms in primary school children.

Accumulating data show that the complex modern indoor environment contributes to increasing prevalence of atopic diseases. However, the dose-response relationship between allergic symptoms and complexity of indoor environmental allergen sources (IEAS) has not been clearly evaluated before. Therefore, we designed this study to investigate the overall effect of multiple IEAS on appearance of asthma (AS), allergic rhinitis (AR), and eczema (EC) symptoms in 1472 primary school children.

Nonsurgical percutaneous retrieval of dislodged Port-A catheters from pulmonary artery in children.

A total of 110 central venous access procedures using Port-A catheters were performed in our center for pediatric patients with oncologic or hematologic diseases over a period of 6 years from November 1994 to June 2000. Spontaneous dislodgement of the outlet catheters was noted in two cases. Both dislodged catheters were located in the left pulmonary artery and were successfully retrieved via the right femoral vein by nonsurgical transvenous snares.

Hypertriglyceridemia in a 5-day-old newborn--a case report.

Neonatal hypertriglyceridaemia is extremely rare in pediatrics. We narrowed down the possibilities to a case of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) deficiency through a designed process of elimination with this particular patient. The biochemical hallmark of the disease is the presence of hyperchylomicronemia in fasting plasma.