Publications by authors named "Junko Kitajima"
Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease mostly occurring in preterm infants. The pathogenesis of BPD involves early inflammation and remodeling of the premature lung.
Aim: To search for the novel predictive marker of BPD development, we studied serum levels of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), an innate immune mediator, in preterm infants.
We present a case of triplets with intrauterine cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, each of whom showed differential transmission, placental pathology, and postnatal outcome. The first- and second-born infants were both vigorous and asymptomatic at birth, although the first-, but not the second-born, triplet had a high copy number of CMV DNA in the peripheral blood (1.2 × 10³ copy/mL).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Premature newborns are vulnerable to iron imbalance, although the iron homeostasis during the perinatal period remains unclear. To clarify the iron metabolism of premature infants, we measured serum prohepcidin concentrations of preterm infants, and analyzed the association with iron parameters.
Methods: Seventy-one (61 preterm and 10 term) infants were enrolled for the study, that had no underlying diseases including asphyxia, bleedings, infection, and anomalies.
Objective: Selenium deficiency is a known complication in patients requiring long-term nutritional support; however, the clinical features of selenium deficiency in infants have not been completely described. We describe the clinical features of selenium deficiency in infants.
Methods: Six infants with selenium deficiency were studied retrospectively, with a focus on the period of nutritional support, the clinical symptoms, and the chronologic changes in serum selenium concentrations before and after the administration of selenite.