The Alberta Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Mother-Baby Care ImprovEmeNT (NASCENT) program: protocol for a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial of a hospital-level Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome rooming-in intervention.

Background: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a problem common in newborns exposed to substances in-utero, is an emerging health concern. In traditional models of care, infants with NAS are routinely separated from their mothers and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with long, expensive length of stay (LOS). Research shows a rooming-in approach (keeping mothers and infants together in hospital) with referral support is a safe and effective model of care in managing NAS.

Fostering Hope: Comprehensive Accessible Mother-Infant Dyad Care for Neonatal Abstinence (CAIN).

Hospital and community healthcare providers have expressed concerns around the continuity and quality of care for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) during hospitalization and transition home. This qualitative study explored the experiences of hospital and community-based healthcare providers and identified themes related to the management of NAS for mothers and infants. Healthcare providers that cared for women with substance use disorders and/or cared for newborns with NAS in a large urban setting in Canada met inclusion criteria for this study and were interviewed in groups or as individuals.

Implementation of the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Role in a Community Hospital's Labor, Delivery, and Level 1 Postpartum Unit.

Background: A level 1 community hospital with a labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum (LDRP) unit delivering over 2800 babies per year was operating without dedicated neonatal resuscitation and stabilization support.

Purpose: With lack of funding and space to provide an onsite level 2 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), a position was created to provide neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) coverage to support the LDRP unit.

Method: The article describes the innovative solution of having an NNP team rotate from a regional neonatal intensive care program to a busy community LDRP unit.

Impact of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on weight in obstructive sleep apnea.

Study Objective: To determine the impact of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on weight change in persons with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Design Setting And Participants: The Apnea Positive Pressure Long-term Efficacy Study (APPLES) was a 6-month, randomized, double-blinded sham-controlled multicenter clinical trial conducted at 5 sites in the United States. Of 1,105 participants with an apnea hypopnea index ≥ 10 events/ hour initially randomized, 812 had body weight measured at baseline and after 6 months of study.

Resurgence of congenital syphilis: diagnosis and treatment.

Despite comprehensive antenatal screening recommendations and inexpensive treatment, congenital syphilis has long been and continues to be a public health concern, causing substantial morbidity and adverse outcomes. The following article reviews syphilis etiology and presentation, clinical disease, laboratory diagnosis, and treatment of congenital syphilis. A case will be presented describing a 31-week male infant exposed to infectious syphilis in utero.

Management and outcome of positive urine cultures in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the management and outcome of positive urine cultures in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Study Design: A chart review was completed of infants born October 1, 2004 to December 31, 2006 and admitted to the NICU at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta with any growth of bacteria or fungi in urine.

Results: Positive urine cultures were obtained in 64 of 2936 admissions (2%) and were classified as contaminated urines (n=34), possible urinary tract infection (UTI) (n=14), definite UTI (n=10), and candidal UTI (n=6).

Evaluation of methods for rapid detection of resistance to isoniazid and rifampin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates collected in the Caribbean.

The rapid identification of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is crucial for the timely initiation of appropriate antituberculosis therapy. The performance of the Genotype MTBDRplus assay was compared with that of the Bactec 460 TB system, a "gold standard" culture-based method. The Genotype MTBDRplus assay was quicker and more cost-effective for the detection of rifampin resistance, but it was not as good for the detection of isoniazid-resistant strains in our setting.

Sleep quality deteriorates over a binge--abstinence cycle in chronic smoked cocaine users.

Rationale: In cocaine dependent individuals, changes in subjective and objective sleep quality accompany their characteristic binge-abstinence cycle. Preliminary studies suggest that sleep quality may decline with prolonged abstinence. Reported here are results of the most extensive study to date on sleep abnormalities during cocaine binge and confirmed abstinence under controlled conditions.