Continuous infusion versus intermittent bolus doses of fentanyl for analgesia and sedation in neonates: an open-label randomised controlled trial.

Objective: Adequate data on fentanyl pharmacokinetics in neonates are lacking. The study was performed to compare serum concentrations and clinical outcome between continuous infusion (CI) and intermittent bolus (IB) doses of fentanyl for analgesia and sedation in neonates.

Methods: In this open-label randomised controlled trial, neonates requiring 24-48 hours of mechanical ventilation and fentanyl administration were recruited.

Comprehensive Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) Gene Screening in Pregnant Women with Diabetes in India.

Pregnant women with diabetes may have underlying beta cell dysfunction due to mutations/rare variants in genes associated with Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY). MODY gene screening would reveal those women genetically predisposed and previously unrecognized with a monogenic form of diabetes for further clinical management, family screening and genetic counselling. However, there are minimal data available on MODY gene variants in pregnant women with diabetes from India.

Neonatal hearing screening--experience from a tertiary care hospital in southern India.

Objective: To implement a neonatal hearing screening program using automated auditory brainstem response audiometry in a tertiary care set-up and assess the prevalence of neonatal hearing loss.

Design: Descriptive study.

Setting: Tertiary care hospital in Southern India.

Perinatal outcome of infants born to diabetic mothers in a developing country--comparison of insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents.

Objective: To study the perinatal outcomes of infants born to mothers with gestational diabetes treated with insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents in a developing country.

Design: Prospective observational cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary-care perinatal center in southern India.

Whole body cooling in newborn infants with perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy in a low resource setting: a feasibility trial.

Objective: To determine the feasibility and safety of whole body cooling in newborn infants with perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy in a low resource setting.

Design: Feasibility trial.

Setting: Tertiary care perinatal centre.

Comparison of viral load and duration of virus shedding in symptomatic and asymptomatic neonatal rotavirus infections.

A single rotavirus strain causing asymptomatic infections as well as severe gastrointestinal disease has been described in the neonatal nurseries of the Christian Medical College, Vellore. In this study, quantitative real-time RT-PCR was used to determine the association of viral load with the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms in neonates. Viral load was estimated in terms of the crossing point [C(t) value] at which the amplicon could be detected in the real-time PCR assay.

Genogroup IIb norovirus infections and association with enteric symptoms in a neonatal nursery in southern India.

Noroviruses (NoVs) are increasingly recognized as an important cause of acute gastroenteritis in children worldwide. However, there are limited data on the role of NoVs in neonatal infections and disease. The objectives of the present study were to determine the prevalence of NoVs in neonates with gastrointestinal disease using a case-control study design and to characterize the NoV strains infecting neonates.

Whole genome characterization of reassortant G10P[11] strain (N155) from a neonate with symptomatic rotavirus infection: identification of genes of human and animal rotavirus origin.

Background: Rotavirus G10P[11] strains have long been associated with asymptomatic neonatal infections in some parts of India. We have previously reported G10P[11] strains associated with both asymptomatic infections and severe gastrointestinal disease in neonates from Vellore in southern India, with >90% partial nucleotide and amino acid identity to the VP4, VP6, VP7 and NSP4 genes of the exclusively asymptomatic G10P[11] strain I321.

Objectives: In this study, the whole genome of a G10P[11] isolate (N155) from a neonate with severe gastrointestinal disease was characterized to determine whether there were significant differences in its genetic makeup in comparison to G10P[11] strain I321 and to establish the origin of the G10P[11] strains in Vellore.

Rotavirus infection in the neonatal nurseries of a tertiary care hospital in India.

Background: The majority of neonatal rotavirus infections are believed to be asymptomatic, and protection from subsequent infection and disease has been reported in neonatally infected children. In this study, we present the results of a 4-year prospective surveillance in the neonatal nurseries of a tertiary care hospital in south India.

Methods: Stool samples from neonates admitted for >48 hours either with gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms or with nonenteric pathology were screened for rotavirus.

Investigation of the environment and of mothers in transmission of rotavirus infections in the neonatal nursery.

A distinct feature of neonatal rotavirus infection is the association of unusual strains that appear to be prevalent only in neonatal units and persist for long periods of time. The main aims of this study were to determine if rotavirus can be detected on environmental surfaces in the neonatal nursery and whether the infection occurs in mothers of infected and uninfected neonates. Thirty rotavirus positive neonates and an equal number of negative neonates were enrolled in this study.