General movement assessment: predicting cerebral palsy in clinical practise.

Objective: The general movement assessment (GMA) method is used to predict cerebral palsy (CP) in infants with high risk of developing neurological dysfunctions. Most of the work on GMA has been performed from the same group of researchers. The aim of this study was to demonstrate to what extent GMA predicted CP in our hands.

Early death, morbidity, and need of treatment among extremely premature infants.

Objective: To determine outcomes, in terms of perinatal and early death, need for treatment, and morbidity at the time of discharge home, among extremely preterm infants.

Design: A prospective observational study of all infants with a gestational age (GA) of 22 to 27 completed weeks or a birth weight of 500 to 999 g who were born in Norway in 1999 and 2000.

Results: Of 636 births, 174 infants (27%) were stillborn or died in the delivery room, 86 (14%) died in the NICU, and 376 (59%) were discharged from the hospital.

Septicemia in the first week of life in a Norwegian national cohort of extremely premature infants.

Objectives: To investigate the incidence, causes, predictors, and outcomes of septicemia in the first week of life in a national cohort of extremely premature infants.

Methods: A prospective study of survival of all infants with gestational age of <28 weeks or birth weight of <1000 g who were born in Norway in 1999-2000 was performed. Data on the maternal prenatal history, delivery, and neonatal course, including detailed information on episodes of microbiologically verified septicemia, were collected on predefined forms.

Late-onset septicemia in a Norwegian national cohort of extremely premature infants receiving very early full human milk feeding.

Objectives: To investigate the occurrence of and risk factors for late-onset septicemia (LOS) in a national cohort of extremely premature infants who received very early full human milk feeding.

Methods: A prospective study of all infants born in Norway in 1999 and 2000 with gestational age of <28 weeks or birth weight of <1000 g was performed. Extensive clinical information, including data on feeding practices and episodes of septicemia, was collected on predefined forms.

N-acetylcysteine does not prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia in immature infants: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate whether N-acetylcysteine (NAC) infusion during the first week of life reduces the risk of death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in infants with extremely low birth weight. Study design In a Nordic multicenter, double-blind trial, infants (n=391) weighing 500 to 999 g and on ventilator or nasal continuous positive airway pressure were randomized before the age of 36 hours to receive NAC 16 to 32 mg/kg/d (n=194) or placebo (n=197) intravenously for 6 days. Primary end points were death or BPD, defined as supplementary oxygen requirement at 36 weeks' gestational age.

Development of ventilatory response to transient hypercapnia and hypercapnic hypoxia in term infants.

Whereas peripheral chemoreceptor oxygen sensitivity increases markedly after birth, previous studies of ventilatory responses to CO(2) in term infants have shown no postnatal development. However, the hypercapnic challenges applied have usually been long-term, which meant that the effect of central chemoreceptors dominated. Oscillatory breathing, apneas, and sighs cause transient Pco(2) changes, probably primarily stimulating peripheral chemoreceptors.

Acetylcholine-induced vasodilation may depend entirely upon NO in the femoral artery of young piglets.

1 To characterize agonist-induced relaxation in femoral artery rings from young piglets, we compared the effect of a NOS-inhibitor N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG), an NO-inactivator oxyhaemoglobin (HbO) and a soluble guanyl cyclase(sGC)-inhibitor 1H-[1,2,4]Oxadiazolo-[4,3,-alpha]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) on acetylcholine(ACh)-induced relaxation. The involvement of K(+) channel activation was studied on relaxations induced by ACh, the two NO donors sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and diethylamine (DEA) NONOate, and the cell membrane permeable guanosine 3'5' cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) analogue 8-Br-cGMP. 2 Full reversal of phenylephrine-mediated precontraction was induced by ACh (1 nM-1 microM) (pD(2) 8.