Neonatal facial coding system scores and spectral characteristics of infant crying during newborn circumcision.

Objective: To determine the relations between Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) scores and measures of infant crying during newborn circumcision.

Methods: Video and audio recordings were made of infant facial activity and cry sounds, respectively, during the lysis phase of circumcisions of 44 healthy term males (<3 d of age). All infants received topical analgesia before circumcision.

Hospitalized patients with asthma who leave against medical advice: characteristics, reasons, and outcomes.

Background: A discharge against medical advice (AMA) after an asthma hospitalization is a frustrating problem for health care providers, yet little is known about this occurrence.

Objective: To determine the baseline characteristics, reasons for leaving, and clinical outcomes of patients with asthma who leave AMA.

Methods: A retrospective study from 1999 to 2004 of all asthma discharges from 3 large hospitals in Detroit compared those who left AMA with those who left with medical approval.

Changing patterns of drug utilization in a neonatal intensive care population.

Newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) typically are exposed to a large number of drugs and are especially vulnerable to adverse drug reactions. It is important to review changes in drug use patterns periodically in the NICU to identify newly introduced drugs as well as drugs with increasing use. The objective of this study was to determine the changes in drug utilization patterns over a 7-year period in an NICU population.

Effect of dialysis on all trans retinoic acid levels in a child with acute promyelocytic leukemia and renal failure.

All trans retinoic acid (ATRA) combined with chemotherapy has become the mainstay of treatment for patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Renal dysfunction (RD) is commonly seen in patients with APL. We describe a patient with APL and multi-organ failure, who was on chronic veno-venous hemofiltration followed by hemodialysis (HD) and later peritoneal dialysis (PD), who received ATRA.

Patterns of drug utilization in a neonatal intensive care unit.

The objective of this study was to determine drug use in newborns at an inborn tertiary care neonatal intensive care unit, serving a predominantly African American population, to identify educational/research priorities in neonatal drug therapy. Data on demographics and exposure rates to all drugs from 6839 neonates born between January 1997 and June 2004 were analyzed. Number of drugs used was correlated with race, gender, gestational age, birthweight, and survival status.