Supplemental protein and postnatal growth of very low birth weight infants: a randomized trial.

Background: Providing adequate nutritional support to promote optimal postnatal growth for very low birth weight (VLBW) infants has been a difficult problem to surmount in the NICU. During the past 4 decades, improvements in neonatal critical care have made it possible for more VLBW infants to survive to discharge from NICUs. The NICHD Neonatal Network reported that while intrauterine growth restriction was present in 22% of VLBW infants at birth, 91% demonstrated postnatal growth restriction by 36 weeks post menstrual age.

Respiratory compliance in preterm infants after a single rescue course of antenatal steroids: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare respiratory compliance and functional residual capacity in infants randomized to a rescue course of antenatal steroids vs placebo.

Study Design: Randomized, double-blinded trial. Pregnant women > or =14 days after initial antenatal steroids were randomized to rescue antenatal steroids or placebo.

Selective vulnerability of preterm white matter to oxidative damage defined by F2-isoprostanes.

Periventricular white matter injury (PWMI) is the leading cause of cerebral palsy and chronic neurological disability in survivors of prematurity. Despite the large number of affected children, the pathogenetic mechanisms related to PWMI remain controversial. Through studies of 33 human autopsy brains, we determined that early PWMI was related to oxidative damage that particularly targeted the oligodendrocyte lineage, whereas other neuronal and glial cell types were markedly more resistant.

Antibiotic use and Escherichia coli resistance trends for quinolones and cotrimoxazole in Sweden.

Resistance rates among Escherichia coli isolates for quinolones and cotrimoxazole were analysed at 12 Swedish hospitals, and compared with antibiotic use. Resistance figures for E. coli were retrieved from the diagnostic microbiology service databases for the period 1989-99, and antibiotic sales figures were obtained from the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies.

Long-term antibiotic resistance surveillance of gram-negative pathogens suggests that temporal trends can be used as a resistance warning system.

Antibiotic resistance among Gram-negative bacteria and antibiotic consumption were investigated at the Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden over a 12-y period. The investigation showed an increase in ciprofloxacin resistance of Escherichia coli from 0% in 1991 to 7% in 1997 and to 11% in 1999. Resistance among Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to ciprofloxacin increased from 2.