Publications by authors named "Julie Bartholomew"
Article Synopsis
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an important omega-3 fatty acid for brain development, was studied to see if high-dose supplementation during the neonatal period could enhance behavioral functioning in very preterm children by age 5.
- In a multicenter randomized controlled trial, 177 children were assessed at 5 years, with 132 completing neurodevelopmental evaluations.
- Results showed no significant improvement in behavioral functioning or secondary outcomes for those who received DHA compared to a placebo, indicating that high-dose DHA did not have the expected positive effects.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to investigate if maternal high-dose DHA supplementation improved neurodevelopment in very preterm neonates at 18 to 22 months corrected age.
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted with lactating mothers of preterm neonates, comparing outcomes for children whose mothers took DHA-rich algae oil and those on a placebo.
- Results showed no overall improvement in cognitive, language, or motor scores between the two groups, but a notable benefit in language scores for neonates born before 27 weeks’ gestation who received DHA.
Effects of maternal docosahexaenoic acid supplementation on brain development and neurodevelopmental outcomes of breastfed preterm neonates: protocol for a follow-up at preschool age of a randomised clinical trial (MOBYDIckPS).
BMJ Open
May 2022
Article Synopsis
- DHA, an important omega-3 fatty acid, is investigated for its potential impact on brain development in very preterm infants through a study that supplemented high doses of DHA or placebo.
- This follow-up study aims to analyze neurodevelopmental outcomes at 5 years of age, focusing on recruitment success and various developmental assessments in preschool-aged children.
- The study has ethical approval, requires informed consent from mothers, and will take about 22 months to complete, utilizing standardized questionnaires and interviews to gather data on the children's development and maternal experiences.
Article Synopsis
- Maternal DHA supplementation might help prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infants, but the evidence is not clear-cut.
- A clinical trial was conducted with mothers of infants born before 29 weeks, providing them either DHA or placebo capsules; it was stopped early due to potential harm concerns.
- The results showed that 54.9% of infants who received DHA survived without bronchopulmonary dysplasia, compared to 61.6% in the placebo group, suggesting no significant benefit from DHA supplementation.
Antenatal and postnatal corticosteroids play an extremely important role in the management of premature infants. The antenatal administration of steroids has been universally implemented. They have not only been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), but also have an impact on the incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), and possibly retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by reducing the need for supplemental oxygen due to improved lung function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To identify maternal and infant characteristics associated with reduced growth velocity (GV) in extremely premature newborns.
Methods: We evaluated 1,187 infants born between 23 and 27 weeks' gestation at 14 institutions between 2002 and 2004 who survived until day 28 to identify the maternal and infant characteristics associated with a GV and caloric intake in the lowest quartile.
Results: Newborns in the lowest gestational age and low birth weight categories, as well as those with intrauterine growth restriction, or high SNAP-II received relatively fewer kcal/kg/day than their peers without these risk factors, but were not at increased risk of being in the lowest GV quartile.
We describe a new technique that can facilitate the first-trimester examination of the fetal palate using the Volume NT algorithm (Samsung Medison, Seoul, Korea), a program that automatically detects the exact midsagittal plane of the head and is primarily designed for semiautomatic measurement of the nuchal translucency thickness. Three-dimensional (3D) data sets from the fetal face were captured with Volume NT and subsequently reformatted with the Oblique View software to obtain orthogonal views of the primary and secondary palate in coronal and axial planes, respectively. By testing this method in selected 3D data sets obtained retrospectively (n = 12) and prospectively (n = 28), we were able to extract clinically acceptable views of the fetal palate in all cases.
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