Metabolic Bone Disease of Prematurity (MBDP) is common in extremely preterm infants (≤28 weeks gestation). Parenteral nutrition (PN) with higher calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) concentration started soon after birth may improve bone health in preterm infants. We compared the effect of two standard PN formulations on the incidence of MBDP and explored the predictive ability of biochemical markers for diagnosing MBDP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study aims to determine the effect of infant-mother separation following a short-stay (≤72 hours) admission to a Level 5 neonatal unit versus no admission on infant-feeding outcomes at hospital discharge.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: An Australian Level 5 neonatal unit within a tertiary referral hospital.
Background: Controversy exists regarding the use of a radiopaque agent to identify peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) tip positions in newborn infants and of serial radiography to monitor PICC tip migration.
Objective: To investigate the roles of (1) the injection of a radiopaque agent to identify PICC tip position and (2) the performance of weekly radiography to monitor PICC migration.
Materials And Methods: This retrospective single-centre cohort study included newborn infants who received a PICC between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020.
Background: Systemic postnatal corticosteroid use in extremely preterm infants poses a risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. This study explores their use beyond seven days of age with early neurodevelopmental assessments during the fidgety period (9-20 weeks postterm age).
Methods: This retrospective single-center cohort study included inborn extremely preterm infants from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018.
The administration of live microbiota (probiotic) via enteral route to preterm infants facilitates intestinal colonization with beneficial bacteria, resulting in competitive inhibition of the growth of pathogenic bacteria preventing gut microbiome dysbiosis. This dysbiosis is linked to the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), an acquired multi-factorial intestinal disease characterized by microbial invasion of the gut mucosa, particularly affecting preterm infants. Probiotic prophylaxis reduces NEC; however, variations in strain-specific probiotic effects, differences in administration protocols, and synergistic interactions with the use of combination strains have all led to challenges in selecting the optimal probiotic for clinical use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEye temperature measured using infrared thermography (IRT) can be used as a non-invasive measure of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in cattle. The objective of this study was to evaluate if changes in eye temperature (measured using IRT) can be used to non-invasively measure ANS activity in sheep. Twenty, 2 to 4-year-old, Romney ewes were randomly assigned to receive either epinephrine (EPI) or physiological saline (SAL) for 5 min administered via jugular catheter (n = 10 ewes/treatment).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs the reliance upon automated systems in the livestock industry increases, technologies need to be developed which can be incorporated into these systems to monitor animal health and welfare. Infrared thermography (IRT) is one such technology that has been used for monitoring animal health and welfare and, through automation, has the potential to be integrated into automated systems on-farm. This study reports on an automated system for collecting thermal infrared images of calves and on the development and validation of an algorithm capable of automatically detecting and analysing the eye and cheek regions from those images.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRespiration rate (RR) is a common measure of cattle health and welfare. Traditionally, measuring RR involves counting flank movements as the animal inhales and exhales with each breath. This method is often considered difficult, labour-intensive and impractical.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCautery disbudding of goat kids is painful, but may be alleviated with pain mitigation. We therefore evaluated the effect of administering general anesthesia (isoflurane) or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (meloxicam) on goat kid behavior and physiology following cautery disbudding. Trial 1 (n = 12/treatment) evaluated behavioral responses in 72 female Saanen dairy goat kids (mean ± standard error of the mean; 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHelokinestatins 1-6 constitute a family of bradykinin antagonist peptides originally isolated from the venoms of the Gila Monster, Heloderma suspectum and the Mexican beaded lizard, Heloderma horridum. Here we report the identification, isolation and preliminary pharmacological characterization of two novel tridecapeptides, named helokinestatin-7S (FDDDSTELILEPR - 1550 Da) and helokinestatin-7H (FDDDSRKLILEPR - 1604 Da), whose primary structures were predicted from cDNAs cloned from venom libraries of respective Heloderma lizards. Computed molecular masses of putative helokinestatin-7 peptides were used as tools to locate these peptides in archived LC/MS fractions from respective venoms and sequences were confirmed by MS/MS fragmentation.
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