Bushfires and Mothers' Mental Health in Pregnancy and Recent Post-Partum.

Background: The compounding effects of climate change catastrophes such as bushfires and pandemics impose significant burden on individuals, societies, and their economies. The enduring effects of such syndemics on mental health remain poorly understood, particularly for at-risk populations (e.g.

Heatwaves and wildfires suffocate our healthy start to life: time to assess impact and take action.

Adverse environmental exposures in utero and early childhood are known to programme long-term health. Climate change, by contributing to severe heatwaves, wildfires, and other natural disasters, is plausibly associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and an increase in the future burden of chronic diseases in both mothers and their babies. In this Personal View, we highlight the limitations of existing evidence, specifically on the effects of severe heatwave and wildfire events, and compounding syndemic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on the short-term and long-term physical and mental health of pregnant women and their babies, taking into account the interactions with individual and community vulnerabilities.

Parental perceptions on the impact of visiting restrictions during COVID-19 in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.

Aim: During the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), visiting guidelines in neonatal units changed to maintain the health and safety of staff, neonates, and families. In the neonatal intensive care unit/special care nursery (NICU/SCN), restrictions were placed on parental contact and extended family excluded. Our team was interested in evaluating the effect of these restrictions on parental stress and discharge confidence.

Extubation generates lung volume inhomogeneity in preterm infants.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to describe the regional tidal ventilation (V) and change in end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) patterns in preterm infants during the process of extubation from invasive to non-invasive respiratory support.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Single-centre tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.

Impact of inhaled nitric oxide stewardship programme in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Aim: Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) is the most common, although expensive, therapy for persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn and hypoxaemic respiratory failure. With significant variation in iNO delivery practices amongst clinicians, this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a stewardship programme in increasing clinician compliance with revised, standardised protocols and to measure the impact of compliance on iNO therapy use.

Methods: Initiation and weaning protocols for iNO were introduced to the neonatal intensive care unit at The Centenary Hospital on 01 March 2016.

Correction: A pilot randomised blinded placebo-controlled trial of paracetamol for later treatment of a patent ductus arteriosus.

In the published version of this paper the author Yan Chen was missed out of the author list. This has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the paper.

A pilot randomised blinded placebo-controlled trial of paracetamol for later treatment of a patent ductus arteriosus.

Objective: To explore the efficacy and risks of oral paracetamol in later (>2 weeks old) treatment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).

Study Design: A multicentre double-blind placebo-controlled randomised pilot trial in three neonatal intensive care units in Australia. Infants born <33 weeks with haemodynamically significant PDA were treated with a 5-day course of oral paracetamol or placebo.

Exploring Parental and Staff Perceptions of the Family-Integrated Care Model: A Qualitative Focus Group Study.

Background: Family-integrated care (FICare) is an innovative model of care developed at Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada, to better integrate parents into the team caring for their infant in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The effects of FICare on neonatal outcomes and parental anxiety were assessed in an international multicenter randomized trial. As an Australian regional level 3 NICU that was randomized to the intervention group, we aimed to explore parent and staff perceptions of the FICare program in our dual occupancy NICU.

Breech preterm infants are at risk of developmental dysplasia of the hip.

Aim: There is uncertainty about the risk of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) in breech preterm infants and therefore uncertainty about the benefits of using ultrasound screening in this population. The aim of this study was to determine if preterm infants born in the breech position are at risk of DDH.

Methods: A retrospective audit of preterm and term infants born in the breech position was performed to determine the incidence of DDH.

Distribution of tidal ventilation during volume-targeted ventilation is variable and influenced by age in the preterm lung.

Purpose: Synchronised volume-targeted ventilation (SIPPV + VTV) attempts to reduce lung injury by standardising volume delivery to the preterm lung. The aim of this study is to describe the regional distribution and variability of ventilation within the preterm lung during SIPPV + VTV.

Methods: Twenty-seven stable, supine, preterm infants with <32 weeks gestation receiving SIPPV + VTV were studied.

Regional distribution of blood volume within the preterm infant thorax during synchronised mechanical ventilation.

Purpose: Perfusion in healthy adults is gravity-dependent. Little is known about lung perfusion in the preterm infant. The aim of this study was to describe the regional distribution of blood volume within the thorax in preterm infants receiving synchronised volume-targeted mechanical ventilation (SIPPV + TTV) and to compare this to regional distribution of tidal ventilation using electrical impedance tomography (EIT).