Neuroimaging in infants with congenital cytomegalovirus infection and its correlation with outcome: emphasis on white matter abnormalities.

Objective: To evaluate the association between neuroimaging and outcome in infants with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV), focusing on qualitative MRI and quantitative diffusion-weighted imaging of white matter abnormalities (WMAs).

Methods: Multicentre retrospective cohort study of 160 infants with cCMV (103 symptomatic). A four-grade neuroimaging scoring system was applied to cranial ultrasonography and MRI acquired at ≤3 months.

Randomized Trial on Echocardiography-Guided Ductus Arteriosus Treatment to Reduce Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

Objective: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) approach remains controversial. We aim to evaluate whether echocardiography-guided (EchoG) PDA closure (to reduce drug exposure) and 24-h continuous ibuprofen infusion (24 h-IB) (to reduce peak concentration), compared with EchoG PDA closure plus conventional bolus (bolus-IB), reduces severe bowel adverse event rate in preterm infants with hemodynamically significant (hs) PDA.

Study Design: The study design is a multicenter, blinded, randomized controlled trial.

The impact of intrauterine and extrauterine weight gain in premature infants on later body composition.

BackgroundThe impact of intrauterine and extrauterine growth on later insulin resistance and fat mass (FM) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants is not well established. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of intrauterine and early/late extrauterine growth on later insulin resistance and body composition in VLBW infants from 6 months' corrected age (CA) to 36 months.MethodsProspective measurements of body composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and insulin resistance by homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) along with other fasting plasma biochemistries were made in 95 VLBW infants at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months' CA and 36 months' postnatal age.

Vertically transmitted cytomegalovirus infection in newborn preterm infants.

Objective: To determine the epidemiology of congenital and acquired cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections in preterm infants and to analyze the efficacy of breast milk freezing in decreasing the vertical transmission rate of CMV.

Study Design: During 2013 and 2014, preterm newborns who weighed ≤1500 g and were admitted to 22 Spanish neonatal units were included and screened for CMV infection according to the Spanish Neonatology Society recommendations. Each hospital treated the breast milk according to its own protocols.

Fetal limb soft tissue assessment for prediction of birth weight and umbilical cord blood analytes in gestational diabetes.

Objective: To evaluate the value of third trimester ultrasound (estimated fetal weight, cheek-to-cheek diameter, sectional Wharton's jelly area, sectional areas and fractional volumes in extremities) to predict birth weight and cord biochemical markers at birth (leptin, insulin, c-peptide, IGF1, erythropoietin and ferritin) in diabetic pregnancies.

Method: Prospective study in 49 patients with gestational diabetes. An ultrasound was performed between 32 and 34 weeks.

Growth in preterm infants until 36 weeks' postmenstrual age is close to target recommendations.

Objective: To establish the determinants of weight, length and head circumference changes during their initial hospitalization in very-low-birth-weight preterm infants.

Subjects/methods: A prospective cohort study was performed. Weight z-score and percentage of target dietary intakes (TDIs) were prospectively determined daily during the first 5 weeks of life in a group of preterm infants (n = 111, birth weight <1,500 g, gestational age <34 weeks).

Influence of prematurity and growth restriction on the adipokine profile, IGF1, and ghrelin levels in cord blood: relationship with glucose metabolism.

Objective: To determine the influence of gestational age and fetal growth restriction on the cord blood adipokine profile, IGF1, and ghrelin levels, and their relationship with glucose metabolism.

Study Design: One hundred and ninety newborns (99 preterm and 91 full term) were studied and, according to their anthropometry at birth, classified as small (SGA) or adequate for gestational age (AGA).

Methods: Venous cord blood serum levels of IGF1, IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), adiponectin, resistin, leptin, soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R), tumoral necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin 6 (IL-6), total ghrelin, and acylated ghrelin were determined and compared between preterm and full-term, as well as between SGA and AGA, newborns.