Association of BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 vaccination during pregnancy with postnatal outcomes in premature infants.

Aim: The effect of COVID-19 vaccine given during pregnancy on premature infants is unknown. This study aims to determine the association between maternal COVID-19 vaccine with postnatal outcome in premature infants.

Methods: This is a single-centre retrospective case-control study of infants born before 35 weeks gestation to mothers who received SARS-CoV-2 vaccine during pregnancy compared with infant born to non-vaccinated mothers.

Maturational effect of leptin on CO chemosensitivity in newborn rats.

Background: Leptin augments central CO chemosensitivity and stabilizes breathing in adults. Premature infants have unstable breathing and low leptin levels. Leptin receptors are on CO sensitive neurons in the Nucleus Tractus Solitarius (NTS) and locus coeruleus (LC).

Ultrasonographic assessment of diaphragmatic function in preterm infants on non-invasive neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NIV-NAVA) compared to nasal intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (NIPPV): a prospective observational study.

NIV-NAVA mode for respiratory support in preterm infants is not well-studied. This study aimed to describe the diaphragmatic function, diaphragmatic excursion (DE), and thickness fraction (DTF), in preterm infants < 30 weeks' gestation supported by NIV-NAVA compared to NIPPV using bedside ultrasonography. In this consecutive prospective study, DE, diaphragmatic thickness at end of expiration (DT), end of inspiration (DT), and DTF were assessed using bedside ultrasound.

Acetaminophen increases pulmonary and systemic vasomotor tone in the newborn rat.

Background: Acetaminophen is widely prescribed to both neonates and young children for a variety of reasons. In adults, therapeutic usage of acetaminophen induces systemic arterial pressure changes and exposure to high doses promotes tissue toxicity. The pulmonary vascular effects of acetaminophen at any age are unknown.

Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia in Premature Infants: The Link Between Low Fat Stores, Adiponectin Receptor Signaling and Lung Injury.

Premature infants have chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) that increases morbidity, and the youngest and the smallest premature infants are at the greatest risk. The combination of lung injury from inflammation/oxidative stress causing low functional residual capacity combined with frequent short apneas leads to CIH. Adiponectin (APN) is an adipose-derived adipokine that protects the lung from inflammation and oxidative stress.

Elevated Baseline Cortisol Levels Are Predictive of Bad Outcomes in Critically Ill Children.

Objective: The definition of an adequate adrenal response in critically ill children continues to be controversial. We aimed to evaluate the cortisol levels at baseline and after adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) stimulation and determine their association to clinical outcome of critically ill children.

Methods: All children who underwent an ACTH test in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in a tertiary medical center between 2006 and 2013 were included in the study.

Follow-up of newborns of mothers with Graves' disease.

Background: Overt neonatal Graves' disease is rare, but may be severe, even life threatening, with deleterious effects on neural development. The main objective of this study was to describe the course of thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxin (fT4) levels, as well as postnatal weight gain in relation to fT4 levels, in neonates born to women with Graves' disease without overt neonatal thyrotoxicosis. Such information is important to deduce the optimal schedule for evaluation.

A novel mutation in SCN9A in a child with congenital insensitivity to pain.

Background: [corrected] Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) is a rare condition in which patients have no pain perception and anosmia but are otherwise essentially normal (OMIM 243000). The recent discovery of the genetic defects underlying 3 monogenic pain disorders has provided additional and important insights about some components of human pain. Genetic studies in families demonstrating recessively inherited channelopathy-associated insensitivity to pain have identified nonsense mutations that result in truncation of the voltage-gated sodium channel type IX subunit (SCN9A), a 113.