The general movement optimality score: a detailed assessment of general movements during preterm and term age.

Aim: To explore the appropriateness of applying a detailed assessment of general movements and characterize the relationship between global and detailed assessment.

Method: The analysis was based on 783 video recordings of 233 infants (154 males, 79 females) who had been videoed from 27 to 45 weeks postmenstrual age. Apart from assessing the global general movement categories (normal, poor repertoire, cramped-synchronized, or chaotic general movements), we scored the amplitude, speed, spatial range, proximal and distal rotations, onset and offset, tremulous and cramped components of the upper and lower extremities.

Neonatal outcome of preterm infants born to mothers with abnormal genital tract colonisation and chorioamnionitis: a cohort study.

Purpose: We hypothesised that abnormal genital tract colonisation leading to an in utero inflammation/infection process, contributes to the risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), intra ventricular haemorrhage (IVH), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants.

Methods: 396 placentas and umbilical cords of neonates born at 22-32weeks of gestation were evaluated. Genital tract and amniotic fluid swabs were cultured for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.

The impact of intrauterine tobacco exposure on the cerebral mass of the neonate based on the measurement of head circumference.

The objective of the study was to assess cerebral mass, based on head circumference measurements in neonates exposed to tobacco smoke in utero, and to determine the relative proportions of the cerebral and body mass. The study included 147 neonates born in the period 2003-2004 at the Princess Anna Mazowiecka University Hospital and admitted to the Neonatal and Intensive Care Department of the Medical University in Warsaw. Subjects were divided into three groups on the basis of maternal status as active, passive, or nonsmokers determined by maternal urinary cotinine concentration and a questionnaire.

[Biological role of obestatin in physiology and pathophysiology].

Obestatin is a 23 amino acid peptide encoded by the same gene as ghrelin and synthetized in the gastrointestinal tract. The first results of the investigations on the physiological function of obestatin pointed to its role in the reduction of appetite, delay of stomach emptying and decrease of body weight gains which may testify the fact that this peptide is an endogenous antagonist for ghrelin. The results of the last 5 years investigations on the physiological role of obestatin presented in this paper contradict such a statement and prove that obestatin is an independent hormone, participating in many physiological processes in the organism which may include the development of the gastrointestinal tract in the early postnatal period.

The effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG supplemented enteral feeding on the microbiotic flora of preterm infants-double blinded randomized control trial.

Background And Aim: Intestinal flora of preterms, dominantly presents with decreased amounts of physiological microbiota. This double blinded randomized control trial compared the stool of bottle fed preterms, randomized to receive lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) 6x109or placebo with formula feeding.

Study Design: 46 enterally fed preterms were randomized to receive probiotics or placebo within 0-3days after birth.

[Neonatal outcome after cesarean section].

Cesarean section is the most commonly performed procedure all over the world. Both American and European data reveal constant and steady increase of pregnancies resolved by a cesarean section. The reasons include: growing number of medical indications or requests of the pregnant women.

Usefulness of the Apgar score: a national survey of Polish neonatal centers.

Introduction: The paper discusses the reliability of the Apgar score for evaluating newborns, particularly its usefulness in assessing the state of preterm or full term newborns born with hypoxia.

Aim: The paper provides a sum-up of the opinions on usefulness and reliability of the Apgar score given by doctors from 255 NICUs.

Material And Methods: Data for the analysis were gathered by means of a questionnaire opinion poll sent to 158 primary referral centers, 71 secondary referral centers and 26 tertiary referral centers.

Late preter cant neonatal problem?

Background: The survival rate and quality of life of extremely low birthweight infants remain to be one of the main challenges of modern neonatology. Therefore, pre-term children born after 32 weeks of gestation with more normal birthweight, have become a relatively minor medical problem in comparison.

Objectives: The aim of the following work was to compare the frequency of complications occurring in neonatal period in groups of late preterms and full-term neonates.

Iatrogenic skin injury in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Although neonatal care has become more and more meticulous with significant changes in technology in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the past 50 years, iatrogenic cutaneous injuries continue to occur. Although the incidence of severe injuries is decreasing because the more difficult procedures are being replaced by improved techniques, skin injuries have not yet been completely eliminated. However, the nature and causes of cutaneous injuries have changed, and the injuries are frequent but generally minor.

[Risk factors for preterm encephalopathy].

Encephalopathy in a common neonatological sense is a term referring to a complex of clinical symptoms occurring in term infants in the first days of their life as a result of hypoxic-ischemic lesions. However, if we accept the encyclopedic definition of encephalopathy as a vast or multifocal brain lesions caused by a variety of factors, we may use the term to describe all patients with traumatic, hypoxic or toxic brain lesions, and therefore also newborns at different levels of maturity. Contrary to term newborns, in which case the hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy are mostly intrauterine, for preterm infants there is a number of factors which destroy neural tissue postnatally The occurrence of those factors is often influenced by elements of essential intensive care.

[Clinical condition of the newborn versus tobacco smoke exposure during fetal life].

The aim of this work was the assessment of the clinical condition, birth weight, frequency of premature birth and incidence of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) of the newborns whose mothers were active and passive smokers. This was a prospective study conducted in a group of 147 newborns born during the years 2003-2004 in the Princess Anna Mazowiecka Hospital, Warsaw, and hospitalized in the Neonatal and Intensive Care Department of Warsaw Medical University. Based on a questionnaire identifying the exposure to tobacco smoke and cotinine concentration in the mother's urine, the newborns were assigned to three groups: the newborns whose mothers were active smokers, the newborns whose mothers were passive smokers and the newborns of non-smoking mothers.

Immunologic properties differ in preterm infants fed olive oil vs soy-based lipid emulsions during parenteral nutrition.

Background: In the first period of life, premature infants need parenteral nutrition. Lipid emulsions (LEs), which are a part of parenteral nutrition, are known as potent immunological modulators and may therefore influence the immune status of parenterally fed infants. The aim of the study was to compare tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10 production in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of premature infants parenterally fed with 2 LEs: olive oil (OO) and soybean oil (SO).

[Nicotine in the hair as a biomarker of tobacco smoke by pregnant women--preliminary study].

Determination of xenobiotics in hair has become common in evaluation of exposure to drugs. It can be used to assess the drug intake among adults and exposure to these substances in prenatal period. The aim of this study was the nicotine determination in hair of newborns' whose mothers were smoking during pregnancy.

[Guidelines for the use of special purposes central vein catheters (Broviac, Hickman and Gronshong): proposals for recommendations].

On the basis of literature search and own experiences as well as the current opinions of the Polish National Survey in Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care for indications and use of tunnelized catheters with a cuff, the authors present the guidelines for special purpose central vein catheters in the newborn and infants.

[Use of central venous catheters in newborns, with low and extremely low birth weight. Guidelines and recommendations].

As a result of a national survey we have proposed guidelines and recommendations for techniques of central veins catheterization in newborns. This procedure is widely used in every day clinical practice in neonatal intensive care units. Standards, which are being introduced, should make management of sick newborns uniform, especially in LBW and ELBW infants.

[Recommended treatment of apnea in premature infants. A review based on literature and own experience].

The authors reviewed the literature concerning different methods of treatment of apnea in premature infants. The authors consider that, apart from pharmacological treatment, noninvasive respiratory support methods play an important role in the prevention and treatment of newborns with apnea. The aim of the study is to present current recommendations concerning the principles of prevention and treatment of apnea in premature infants.

[Tolerance of two lipid emulsions used in parenterally-fed premature infants - a comparative study].

Introduction: Parenteral nutrition is essential for premature infants during their first days of extrauterine life, when enteral feeding is not tolerated. Lipid emulsions are an integral part of parenteral nutrition. The aim of the study was to compare the effects of two lipid emulsions, based on olive-oil and soybean oil, used in parenteral nutrition of premature infants on: plasma lipid concentrations and hyperbilirubinemia based on plasma bilirubin levels and phototherapy times.

[Determination of 4-(methylnirosamino) -4-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNA) in urine of pregnant women by means of LC/MS/MS].

An important problem, particularly from the point of view of the medicine, is active tobacco smoking and passive exposure to tobacco smoke of pregnant women and unfavourable health aftermath for the foetus and a newborns resulting from this. The aim of this study was to evaluate the exposure of smoking mothers to tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines, through the measurement of 4-(metylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) in urine. The evaluation of tobacco smoking was performed on the basis of questionnaire studies and determination of cotinine in urine.

[Effects of glutamine supplemented parenteral nutrition on the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis, nosocomial sepsis and length of hospital stay in very low birth weight infants].

Introduction: Parenteral feeding is the basic way of nutrition in the first day of life in infants with very low birth weight. Due to its instability glutamine is not included in aminoacid solutions used for parenteral nutrition. Meanwhile glutamine is an important aminoacid, which plays a major role in the maturation of the gastrointestinal tract as well as the immunological system.

[Pulsed Doppler measurements of flow velocities in the intracranial and abdominal arteries of newborns of diabetic mothers].

Objective: To define the character of haemodynamic changes and brain-sparing phenomena in newborns of diabetic mothers.

Methods: On the basis of blood indices flow in the middle cerebral artery (MCA), anterior cerebral artery (ACA), right renal artery (RRA) and the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) the character of haemodynamic change and the brain-sparing phenomena in 53 newborns of diabetic mothers was analyzed. As a control group we chose 29 healthy newborns delivered at term.

Latrogenic complications due to the nasogastric and rectal cannula in neonates.

Background: An abnormal position of nasogastric and rectal tubes can be the cause of iatrogenic injuries Most often it can happen in neonates and premature infants.

Material/methods: From 1982 through 2003, we observed 9 neonates (8 premature infants) with perforation of the alimentary tract.

Results: In most of these patients the only radiological sign was displacement of the nasogastric tube.

[Level of cadmium and zinc in placenta of smoking women].

One possible mechanism of lowering of the birth weight by tobacco smoke is disturbance in zinc transfer trough placenta caused by accumulation of cadmium in placenta. The aim of the study was determination of cadmium and zinc in placenta of smoking women and correlation its with cotinine concentration and birth weight The study shown that concentration of cotinine in urine of smoking woman was 859+/-1234 ng/mg creatinine. Cadmium and zinc concentrations in smokers were higher (Cd 0.

A multicenter, randomized, masked, comparison trial of lucinactant, colfosceril palmitate, and beractant for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome among very preterm infants.

Background And Objective: Evidence suggests that synthetic surfactants consisting solely of phospholipids can be improved through the addition of peptides, such as sinapultide, that mimic the action of human surfactant protein-B (SP-B). A synthetic surfactant containing a mimic of SP-B may also reduce the potential risks associated with the use of animal-derived products. Our objective was to compare the efficacy and safety of a novel synthetic surfactant containing a functional SP-B mimic (lucinactant; Discovery Laboratories, Doylestown, PA) with those of a non-protein-containing synthetic surfactant (colfosceril palmitate; GlaxoSmithKline, Brentford, United Kingdom) and a bovine-derived surfactant (beractant; Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL) in the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and RDS-related death.

[Determination of cadmium in urine of tobacco smoking pregnant women].

Tobacco smoke contain few thousands of chemical compounds, among them heavy metals. From toxicological point of view most important are lead, cadmium and radioactive polonium 210. The aim of the study was determination of cadmium in urine of tobacco smoking pregnant woman and checking if there is a correlation between the concentration of cadmium and cotinine, the most frequently used tobacco smoke biomarker.