Efficacy and safety of a synbiotic infant formula for the prevention of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Early life nutrition is crucial for the development of the gut microbiota that, in turn, plays an essential role in the maturation of the immune system and the prevention of infections.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether feeding synbiotic infants and follow-on formulas during the first year of life reduces the incidence rate (IR) of infectious diarrhea compared with standard formulas. Secondary endpoints included the IR of other infectious diseases as well as fecal milieu parameters.

Food fussiness is associated with family environmental factors in 1-3-year-old children: A large-scale cross-sectional study.

The effects of environmental factors on eating behavior and food intake are not well-known during toddlerhood. This is a cross-sectional study exploring the association between family environmental factors, food fussiness and poorly diversified diet. N = 1679 healthy children aged 1-3 years were recruited by general practitioners and pediatricians.

CECT5716: Clinical Potential of a Probiotic Strain Isolated from Human Milk.

Breastfeeding provides the ideal nutrition for infants. Human milk contains a plethora of functional ingredients which foster the development of the immune system. The human milk microbiota predominantly contributes to this protective effect.

Early life gut microbiota profiles linked to synbiotic formula effects: a randomized clinical trial in European infants.

Background: Microbial colonization of the gastrointestinal tract after birth is an essential event that influences infant health with life-long consequences. Therefore, it is important to investigate strategies to positively modulate colonization in early life.

Objectives: This randomized, controlled intervention study included 540 infants to investigate the effects of a synbiotic intervention formula (IF) containing Limosilactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 and galacto-oligosaccharides on the fecal microbiome.

A new partially hydrolyzed whey-based follow-on formula with age-adapted protein content supports healthy growth during the first year of life.

Background: Standard infant formulae often have higher protein content than breastmilk in order to compensate for potentially lower digestibility; excess protein intake may promote adverse effects later in life. A new partially hydrolyzed whey-based (pHF-W) follow-on formula (FoF) with age-adapted protein content was evaluated for growth and gastrointestinal (GI) tolerance in healthy infants.

Methods: Formula-fed (FF) infants ( = 108) received standard pHF-W formula (1.

Loss of FOCAD, operating via the SKI messenger RNA surveillance pathway, causes a pediatric syndrome with liver cirrhosis.

Cirrhosis is usually a late-onset and life-threatening disease characterized by fibrotic scarring and inflammation that disrupts liver architecture and function. While it is typically the result of alcoholism or hepatitis viral infection in adults, its etiology in infants is much less understood. In this study, we report 14 children from ten unrelated families presenting with a syndromic form of pediatric liver cirrhosis.

Human Milk Oligosaccharides: Their Effects on the Host and Their Potential as Therapeutic Agents.

Breastmilk is known to be very important for infants because it provides nutrients and immunological compounds. Among these compounds, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) represent the third most important component of breastmilk after lipids and lactose. Several experiments demonstrated the beneficial effects of these components on the microbiota, the immune system and epithelial barriers, which are three major biological systems.

Frequency of Abnormal Glucose Tolerance Test Suggestive of Dumping Syndrome Following Oesophageal Atresia Repair.

Objectives: Dumping syndrome (DS) is mostly described as a complication of antireflux surgery in oesophageal atresia (OA) but we previously reported 2 cases of DS before any other surgery in infants operated at birth for OA. The objectives of the present study were to assess the prevalence of abnormal oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 3 months of age in infants operated at birth with type C OA, to describe symptoms and clinical features, and to assess risk factors in infants presenting with abnormal OGTT suggestive of DS.

Methods: A prospective case series study including infants with type C OA without fundoplication, born between 2013 and 2016 in 8 centres was conducted.

Role of Lactoferrin in Neonates and Infants: An Update.

Lactoferrin is one of the most represented and important bioactive proteins in human and mammal milk. In humans, lactoferrin is responsible for several actions targeting anti-infective, immunological, and gastrointestinal domains in neonates, infants, and young children. Evidence-based data vouch for the ability of supplemented lactoferrin to prevent sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants and to reduce the burden of morbidity related to gastrointestinal and respiratory pathogens in young children.

Priority target conditions for algorithms for monitoring children's growth: Interdisciplinary consensus.

Background: Growth monitoring of apparently healthy children aims at early detection of serious conditions through the use of both clinical expertise and algorithms that define abnormal growth. Optimization of growth monitoring requires standardization of the definition of abnormal growth, and the selection of the priority target conditions is a prerequisite of such standardization.

Objective: To obtain a consensus about the priority target conditions for algorithms monitoring children's growth.

De novo MEIS2 mutation causes syndromic developmental delay with persistent gastro-esophageal reflux.

MEIS2 aberrations are considered to be the cause of intellectual disability, cleft palate and cardiac septal defect, as MEIS2 copy number variation is often observed with these phenotypes. To our knowledge, only one nucleotide-level change-specifically, an in-frame MEIS2 deletion-has so far been reported. Here, we report a female patient with a de novo nonsense mutation (c.

Preweaning modulation of intestinal microbiota by oligosaccharides or amoxicillin can contribute to programming of adult microbiota in rats.

Objective: Increasing evidence suggests that early nutrition has programming effects on adult health. Identifying mechanisms underlying nutritional programming would aid in the design of new disease prevention strategies. The intestinal microbiota could be a key player in this programming because it affects host metabolic homeostasis, postnatal gut colonization is sensitive to early nutrition, and initial microbial set-up is thought to shape microbiota composition for life.

Immunization status in children with inflammatory bowel disease.

Inflammatory bowel diseases have an increased risk of infections due to immunosuppressive therapies. To report the immunization status according to previous recommendations and the reasons explaining a delay, a questionnaire was filled in by the pediatric gastroenterologist, concerning outpatients, in six tertiary centers and five local hospitals, in a study, from May to November 2011. One hundred and sixty-five questionnaires were collected, of which 106 Crohn's diseases, 41 ulcerative colitis, and 17 indeterminate colitis.

Can antibiotic treatment in preweaning rats alter body composition in adulthood?

Background: It is suggested that antibiotherapy in infancy might program adult body composition and thus could be a determinant of obesity risk. Although not convincingly substantiated by existing literature, this assumption is plausible since antibiotics affect intestinal microbiota, whose composition in adulthood is potentially programmable during infancy and which is able to interact with both fat development and central control of appetite.

Objectives: In order to substantiate the link between antibiotherapy and programming of adult body composition, the present study investigated the impact of a course of amoxicillin treatment in neonatal period on subsequent growth and body composition in rats.

Characterization of esophageal motility following esophageal atresia repair using high-resolution esophageal manometry.

Background: Esophageal dysmotility, a considerable issue following esophageal atresia (EA) repair, has been reported but has not been precisely described and characterized. Using high-resolution esophageal manometry (HREM), we characterized the esophageal motility patterns in children with repaired EA and compared these patterns of dysmotility with symptomatology.

Methods: HREM was performed as an outpatient procedure in patients with repaired EA.

Urinary citrulline in very low birth weight preterm infants receiving intravenous nutrition.

As gut immaturity precludes full enteral feeding, very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants receive parenteral nutrition (PN) during the first few weeks of life. Weaning VLBW infants off PN, however, is a top priority since PN is associated with a high risk of complications. The decision making is purely empirical, as there is currently no suitable index of gastrointestinal (GI) maturity.

Impact of prophylactic fundoplication on survival without growth disorder in left congenital diaphragmatic hernia requiring a patch repair.

Growth impairment is frequent in surviving newborns with congenital diaphragmatic hernia requiring a patch repair. This multicenter retrospective study included 57 newborns and showed a significant relationship between prophylactic fundoplication performed during initial diaphragmatic repair and survival without disordered growth, after adjustment for propensity score (adjusted OR 4.7 [1.

Fecal calprotectin excretion in preterm infants during the neonatal period.

Background: Fecal calprotectin has been proposed as a non-invasive marker of intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease in adults and children. Fecal calprotectin levels have been reported to be much higher in both healthy full-term and preterm infants than in children and adults.

Objective: To determine the time course of fecal calprotectin (f-calprotectin) excretion in preterm infants from birth until hospital discharge and to identify factors influencing f-calprotectin levels in the first weeks of life, including bacterial establishment in the gut.

Investigation of the intestinal microbiota in preterm infants using different methods.

Modifications in microbial colonization of the human gut are believed to affect intestinal homeostasis and increase the risk of gastrointestinal diseases. The present study examined different methods for investigating the dynamic characterization of the intestinal microbiota in preterm infants. Fecal samples were collected weekly from ten preterm infants during their stay in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Reduced expression of FOXP3 and regulatory T-cell function in severe forms of early-onset autoimmune enteropathy.

Background & Aims: Little is known about the pathophysiology of early onset forms of autoimmune enteropathy (AIE). AIE has been associated with mutations in FOXP3-a transcription factor that controls regulatory T-cell development and function. We analyzed the molecular basis of neonatal or early postnatal AIE using clinical, genetic, and functional immunological studies.

Hereditary pancreatitis in children: surgical implications with special regard to genetic background.

Purpose: Hereditary pancreatitis (HP) is the primary etiology of chronic pancreatitis during childhood, progressing through recurrent episodes of acute pancreatitis and finally leading to pancreatic insufficiencies. Hereditary pancreatitis is because of mutations of the cationic trypsinogen (PRSS1) gene. Some other genes, such as SPINK1 or CFTR, have been associated with familial idiopathic chronic pancreatitis.

Follow-up and surgical management of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome in children.

Background: Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is an autosomal dominant syndrome with an increased risk of polyposis complications and intestinal and extraintestinal tumours.

Methods: During the last 15 years, we reviewed a series of 11 children with PJS, with special attention to evolution and follow-up. Diagnosis was based on at least 1 hamartomatous polyp associated with 2 of the 3 following criteria: family record of PJS, polyposis localised on small bowel, and mucocutaneous pigmentation.

Recovery of exfoliated cells from the gastrointestinal tract of premature infants: a new tool to perform "noninvasive biopsies?".

To gain insight into specific gene expression in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of preterm infants, we adapted a method to isolate exfoliated epithelial cells. Gastric residual fluid aspirates (n = 89) or stool samples (n = 10) were collected from 96 neonates (gestational age, 24-36 wk). Cells were characterized by microscopic observation, cytokeratin-18 immunodetection, and expression of transcripts.