SARS-CoV-2 perinatal transmission and neonatal outcomes across four different waves of COVID-19 pandemic: A nationwide prospective cohort study from the Italian Society of Neonatology.

Objectives: To describe how SARS-CoV-2 infection at the time of delivery affected maternal and neonatal outcomes across four major waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

Methods: This is a large, prospective, nationwide cohort study collecting maternal and neonatal data in case of maternal peripartum SARS-CoV-2 infection between February 2020 and March 2022. Data were stratified across the four observed pandemic waves.

Association between body composition at term equivalent age and Bayley scores at 2 years in preterm infants.

Objective: To evaluate whether in a historical cohort of preterm infants, body composition at term equivalent age (TEA) correlated with Bayley scores at 2 years of corrected age.

Study Design: Ninety-five preterm babies were admitted to our neonatal intensive unit and underwent air-displacement plethysmography assessment at TEA. Of these, 74 completed Bayley tests at 2 years.

Thermal management with and without servo-controlled system in preterm infants immediately after birth: a multicentre, randomised controlled study.

Background: The thermal servo-controlled systems are routinely used in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) to accurately manage patient temperature, but their role during the immediate postnatal phase has not been previously assessed.

Objective: To compare two modalities of thermal management (with and without the use of a servo-controlled system) immediately after birth.

Study Design And Setting: Multicentre, unblinded, randomised trial conducted 15 Italian tertiary hospitals.

Change in body composition of premature infants from parenteral nutrition discontinuation to term equivalent age.

Aim: To compare body composition (BC) of premature infants at parenteral nutrition (PN) suspension and at term equivalent age (TEA).

Methods: Body weight, fat mass (FM), fat free mass (FFM) and FM as % of body weight were measured in infants born at <32 gestational weeks by air-displacement plethysmography at PN suspension and at TEA in a tertiary level hospital. Z-scores were calculated for BC and anthropometric measurements.

TAS2R38 bitter taste genotype is associated with complementary feeding behavior in infants.

Background: Genetically mediated sensitivity to bitter taste has been associated with food preferences and eating behavior in adults and children. The aim of this study was to assess the association between TAS2R38 bitter taste genotype and the first complementary food acceptance in infants.Parents of healthy, breastfed, term-born infants were instructed, at discharge from the nursery, to feed their baby with a first complementary meal of 150 mL at 4 to 6 months of age.

Infant Analgesia With a Combination of Breast Milk, Glucose, or Maternal Holding.

Objectives: We studied neonatal cortical brain response to 4 types of nonpharmacological analgesia (oral glucose, expressed breast milk, maternal holding plus oral glucose, breastfeeding). We aimed to assess the differential effect of oral solutions (glucose, breast milk) given alone or combined with the maternal-infant relationship (holding, breastfeeding).

Methods: Eighty healthy term newborns undergoing a heel stick were randomly assigned to 4 parallel groups of 20 infants each: group 1, infants received a glucose solution on a changing table; group 2, infants received expressed breast milk on a changing table; group 3, infants received a glucose solution in their mothers' arms; and group 4, infants were breastfed by their mothers.

Higher growth, fat and fat-free masses correlate with larger cerebellar volumes in preterm infants at term.

Aim: Smaller cerebellar volumes in very low-birthweight (VLBW) infants at term have been related to adverse cognitive outcomes, and this study evaluated whether these volumes were associated with a growth in body composition during hospital stays.

Methods: We prospectively recruited 42 VLBW infants from an Italian neonatal unit between January 2013 and August 2015. Cerebellar volumes and body composition were measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and air-displacement plethysmography, respectively, at 40 weeks of gestational age and anthropometric and nutritional data were collected.

Body mass index curves for Italian preterm infants are comparable with American curves for infants born before 34 weeks of gestational age.

Aim: Body mass index (BMI)-for-age curves have been developed in the USA, but not compared with other populations. This study created gender-specific intrauterine BMI-for-age curves for Italian preterm infants and compared them with the USA version.

Methods: Data on 92 262 newborn infants, born at 26-42 weeks of gestational age in the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia between 2005 and 2013, were analysed to create gender-specific BMI-for-age curves.

Impact of Surgery for Neonatal Gastrointestinal Diseases on Weight and Fat Mass.

Objective: To compare growth, fat mass (FM), and fat-free mass in surgical infants vs matched controls at similar postconceptional age (PCA).

Study Design: Anthropometric and body composition measurements by air-displacement plethysmography (PeaPod-Infant Body Composition System; LMI, Concord, California) were performed at the same PCA in 21 infants who received gastrointestinal surgery and in 21 controls matched for gestational age, birth weight, and sex.

Results: Despite similar anthropometry at birth, postsurgical infants were shorter (50.

Making the first days of life safer: preventing sudden unexpected postnatal collapse while promoting breastfeeding.

Early and prolonged skin-to-skin contact (SSC) after birth between a mother and her newborn has been shown to generate beneficial effects on the mother-infant relationship and breastfeeding. Close mother-infant body contact immediately after birth positively enhances exclusive breastfeeding during the hospital stay, with a dose-response relationship. Skin-to-skin contact may ease the infant's transition to extra-uterine life and helps regulate the infant's body temperature and nursing behavior.

Longitudinal growth and body composition of twins versus singletons in the first month of life.

Background: Although twin gestation is well recognized to be associated with impaired fetal and postnatal growth, specific data about body composition of twins in the first month of life are scarce.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the body composition of twins, evaluated with air-displacement plethysmography, to that of singletons of similar gestational age and adequacy of growth, during the first month of life. We tested the hypothesis that the quality of growth would be similar.

Can body mass index accurately predict adiposity in newborns?

Body mass index (BMI) is correlated with body fatness and risk of related diseases in children and adults. Proportionality indexes such as BMI and ponderal index (PI) have been suggested as complementary measures in neonatal growth assessment. Yet, they are still not used in neonates and their correlation with fatness is unknown.

Endothelial progenitor cells, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other short-term outcomes of extremely preterm birth.

Aim: To evaluate the impact of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), a subset of committed circulatory stem cells, on the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and other short term outcomes in a cohort of extremely premature newborns.

Methods: Progenitor cells were quantified by flow cytometry at birth in 36 neonates born <=28 weeks of gestation and at 36 postmenstrual weeks in 18 of them. Cells expressing the stemness markers CD34, CD133, or both were defined as circulating progenitor cells (CPCs).