Distal skin vasodilation in sleep preparedness, and its impact on thermal status in preterm neonates.

Objective: Prior to sleep onset in human adults, distal body temperatures change progressively from wakefulness levels (low skin temperatures and a high core temperature) to sleep levels (high skin temperatures and a low core temperature) due to distal skin vasodilation and greater body cooling. It is not known whether this sleep preparedness exists in preterm neonates, even though sleep has a key role in neonatal health and neurodevelopment. The present study's objectives were to determine whether sleep preparedness (as observed in adults) can be evidenced in preterm neonates, and to assess repercussions on thermal stress.

[Maternal anxiety related to how the pediatrician provided prenatal information about preterm birth].

Introduction: Women hospitalized for preterm labor require clear information about prematurity. This study assessed whether or not specific written information about prematurity delivered at admission to the unit combined with an oral explanation from a pediatrician would decrease women's anxiety compared to an oral explanation alone.

Material And Methods: This was a prospective, single-center observational study.

[Clinical criteria for pathogen bacteria in term newborn suspected of neonatal sepsis].

Background: Neonatal early onset sepsis (EOS) remains an important etiology of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis is difficult due to a lack of sensitivity and specificity markers. In France, the management of newborn infants suspected of infection includes the analysis of gastric suction.

Distal skin vasodilation promotes rapid sleep onset in preterm neonates.

Although sleep is of paramount importance for preterm neonates, care of the latter in a neonatal intensive care unit does not favour sleep. Given that several studies in adults have described a 'vegetative preparedness to sleep' (in which distal skin vasodilation before lights-out promotes rapid sleep onset), we looked at whether or not this process operates in preterm neonates. Sleep propensity was assessed in terms of the duration of a spontaneous episode of wakefulness (W).