Intervention at an early threshold for post-hemorrhagic ventricular dilatation in preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Very few adequately powered studies exploring early thresholds for intervention in the management of post-hemorrhagic ventricular dilatation (PHVD) in preterm infants have identified consistent neurodevelopmental advantages at 12-30 months. We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis on the efficacy and safety of early versus conservative thresholds for intervention, primarily aimed at normalizing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure, in the management of PHVD in preterm infants.

Methods: Multiple databases were searched for eligible papers, and prospective randomized trials involving preterm infants were selected.

Immune and metabolic markers for identifying and investigating severe Coronavirus disease and Sepsis in children and young people (pSeP/COVID ChYP study): protocol for a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Early recognition and appropriate management of paediatric sepsis are known to improve outcomes. A previous system's biology investigation of the systemic immune response in neonates to sepsis identified immune and metabolic markers that showed high accuracy for detecting bacterial infection. Further gene expression markers have also been reported previously in the paediatric age group for discriminating sepsis from control cases.

[3H]benzylpempidine, a new radioligand for probing a putative channel site on nicotinic cholinergic receptors.

A study was undertaken to assess the receptor binding characteristics of [3H]4-benzylpempidine to an allosteric site on calf brain membranes associated with nicotinic cholinergic receptors and to compare the binding affinity of novel arylpempidine analogs with their ability to antagonize the behavioral effects of nicotine in mice. Scatchard analysis of the binding yielded a K(d) of 20 nM and a B(max) of 330 fmols/mg membrane protein. [3H]4-benzylpempidine appears to be a more satisfactory ligand than [3H]mecamylamine, since it possessed a 50-fold greater affinity and its binding was far less sensitive to inorganic ions and Tris.

Expression and characterization of the rat alpha 4 beta 2 neuronal nicotinic cholinergic receptor in baculovirus-infected insect cells.

Baculovirus expression systems have been developed to generate 1) a neuronal nicotinic cholinergic receptor comprising both the alpha 4 and beta 2 subunits and 2) the alpha 4 and beta 2 subunits individually. The presence of the alpha 4 and beta 2 genes in the various baculovirus-infected Sf9 cells was confirmed following polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the extracted viral DNAs, gel electrophoresis, and double strand sequencing. Autofluorography, following sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of infected cell lysates radiolabeled with 35S-methionine and immunoprecipated with mAb 270 (specific for the beta 2 subunit), revealed the presence of characteristic 52-kD bands in beta 2- and alpha 4 beta 2 recombinant viral-infected cells, but not in control cells or cells infected with wild-type virus or recombinant virus containing alpha 4 alone.