Longer skin-to-skin contact after birth enhances breastfeeding quality and duration: A cohort study.

Aim: Skin-to-skin contact (SSC) immediately after birth may improve breastfeeding outcomes. This study explored the effect of the duration of SSC in the delivery room on breastfeeding quality and duration.

Methods: In this prospective observational cohort study, mother-infant pairs practising SSC were categorised into two groups based on SSC duration (≤45 or >45 min).

Two-Year Outcomes After Minimally Invasive Surfactant Therapy in Preterm Infants: Follow-Up of the OPTIMIST-A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The long-term effects of surfactant administration via a thin catheter (minimally invasive surfactant therapy [MIST]) in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome remain to be definitively clarified.

Objective: To examine the effect of MIST on death or neurodevelopmental disability (NDD) at 2 years' corrected age.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Follow-up study of a randomized clinical trial with blinding of clinicians and outcome assessors conducted in 33 tertiary-level neonatal intensive care units in 11 countries.

Exome sequencing links the SUMO protease SENP7 with fatal arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, early respiratory failure and neutropenia.

Background: SUMOylation involves the attachment of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteins to specific lysine residues on thousands of substrates with target-specific effects on protein function. Sentrin-specific proteases (SENPs) are proteins involved in the maturation and deconjugation of SUMO. Specifically, SENP7 is responsible for processing polySUMO chains on targeted substrates including the heterochromatin protein 1α (HP1α).

Effect of Minimally Invasive Surfactant Therapy vs Sham Treatment on Death or Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Preterm Infants With Respiratory Distress Syndrome: The OPTIMIST-A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The benefits of surfactant administration via a thin catheter (minimally invasive surfactant therapy [MIST]) in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome are uncertain.

Objective: To examine the effect of selective application of MIST at a low fraction of inspired oxygen threshold on survival without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Design, Setting, And Participants: Randomized clinical trial including 485 preterm infants with a gestational age of 25 to 28 weeks who were supported with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and required a fraction of inspired oxygen of 0.

Minimally invasive surfactant therapy intubation for surfactant delivery in preterm infant with RDS: evaluation of safety and efficacy.

Background: Minimally invasive surfactant therapy (MIST) is a promising mode of administration that offers the potential to limit barotrauma and prevent lung injury in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).

Objective: This study assessed the effects of the implementation of MIST on safety and efficacy in infants who met criteria for surfactant administration and were treated by MIST as compared with a historical control group treated with surfactant an endotracheal tube during mechanical ventilation.

Methods: This retrospective study included infants born between 2012 and 2017 who met the following inclusion criteria: gestational age 23-36 + 6 weeks, a diagnosis of RDS requiring at least 30% oxygen with or without nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP).

The Yield of Targeted Examination for the Detection of Symptomatic Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection.

Background: The incidence of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in Israel is 0.7%. Only 10-15% are symptomatic.

Current evidence for prenatal and postnatal corticosteroids in preterm infants.

Antenatal corticosteroids undoubtedly save many lives and improve the quality of many others. However, the currently accepted dosage schedule has been in place since 1972, and recent studies have suggested that beneficial effects may be seen with less. Most but not all studies of long-term outcome show no adverse effects.

Reassessing vitamin D supplementation in preterm infants: a prospective study and review of the literature.

Objectives Recommendations for vitamin D (VitD) intake and target serum levels of 25(OH)D in preterm infants are diverse. We hypothesized that preterm infants with low birth weight (BW) have low dietary intake of VitD and therefore should be supplemented with higher amounts of VitD. Methods Infants with BW < 2 kg were supplemented with 600 units of VitD a day during the first 2-6 weeks of life, whereas infants with BW>2 kg continued with the routine supplementation of 400 units of VitD daily.

Newborn screening for cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis is the solution for early identification and treatment.

Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) is a progressive metabolic leukodystrophy. Early identification and treatment from birth onward effectively provides a functional cure, but diagnosis is often delayed. We conducted a pilot study using a two-tier test for CTX to screen archived newborn dried bloodspots (DBSs) or samples collected prospectively from a high-risk Israeli newborn population.

Long-Term Effects of Inhaled Budesonide for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

Background: The long-term effects on neurodevelopment of the use of inhaled glucocorticoids in extremely preterm infants for the prevention or treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia are uncertain.

Methods: We randomly assigned 863 infants (gestational age, 23 weeks 0 days to 27 weeks 6 days) to receive early (within 24 hours after birth) inhaled budesonide or placebo. The prespecified secondary long-term outcome was neurodevelopmental disability among survivors, defined as a composite of cerebral palsy, cognitive delay (a Mental Development Index score of <85 [1 SD below the mean of 100] on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition, with higher scores on the scale indicating better performance), deafness, or blindness at a corrected age of 18 to 22 months.

Correlation between transcutaneous and serum bilirubin in preterm infants before, during, and after phototherapy.

Background: Transcutaneous bilirubinometry (TcB) is routinely used to monitor jaundice in term and near-term infants. However, before 35 weeks gestation, the technique has not been widely adopted.

Aim: The aim of this study is to study the correlation between TcB and total serum bilirubin (TsB) before, during, and after phototherapy in preterm infants born before 35 weeks' gestation.

Inhaled Corticosteroids for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: A Meta-analysis.

Context: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm infants remains a major health burden despite many therapeutic interventions. Inhaled corticosteroids (IC) may be a safe and effective therapy.

Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of IC for prevention or treatment of BPD or death in preterm infants.

Early, rapidly progressive enteral nutrition promotes growth of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Aim: This study describes the effects of a quality improvement program to promote improved postnatal nutrition on the growth of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Methods: Daily data regarding nutrition and growth were collected from the medical record of VLBW infants born during 1995-2010. The infants were grouped by year of birth in order to compare infants from before, during and after the policy change.

Early Inhaled Budesonide for the Prevention of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

Background: Systemic glucocorticoids reduce the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia among extremely preterm infants, but they may compromise brain development. The effects of inhaled glucocorticoids on outcomes in these infants are unclear.

Methods: We randomly assigned 863 infants (gestational age, 23 weeks 0 days to 27 weeks 6 days) to early (within 24 hours after birth) inhaled budesonide or placebo until they no longer required oxygen and positive-pressure support or until they reached a postmenstrual age of 32 weeks 0 days.

Use of inhaled corticosteroids for the prevention and/or treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants: a systematic review protocol.

Background: Inhaled steroids have been studied for both prevention and treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Results have been inconsistent. Recently, a large randomized controlled trial (RCT) has been reported.

Ethics of birth at the limits of viability: the risky business of prediction.

Infants born at the limits of viability present neonatologists in particular and society in general with difficult challenges. Ethical and legal considerations establish a framework for action, although this varies between countries, departments and individuals and shows dynamic changes over time. This brief review includes a vignette telling a familiar story.

Correlation of transcutaneous bilirubinometry (TcB) and total serum bilirubin (TsB) levels after phototherapy.

Aim: To investigate the correlation between transcutaneous bilirubinometry (TcB) and total serum bilirubin (TsB) in jaundiced infants before and after, but not during phototherapy.

Methods: This study prospectively investigated the correlation between TcB and TsB in term and near term infants before and after phototherapy.

Results: Overall 673 pairs of measurements (TcB and TsB) were performed on 371 infants of ≥35 weeks gestation and with birth weight above 2000 g.

The ethics and practice of neonatal resuscitation at the limits of viability: an international perspective.

Unlabelled: Premature infants at the limits of viability raise difficult ethical, legal, social and economic questions. Neonatologists attending an international Collegium were surveyed about delivery room behaviour, and the approach taken by selected countries practicing 'modern' medicine was explored.

Conclusion: There were strong preferences for comfort care at 22 weeks and full resuscitation at 24 weeks.