Myth: all surfactants are alike.

There are several surfactant preparations available to the clinician, none of which are alike. They differ in their phospholipid and surfactant protein (SP) composition as well as dosing, yet they all have been shown to be clinically effective as surfactants. Head-to-head randomized clinical trials comparing surfactants have shown some advantages of preparations that contain SP-B and SP-C, primarily in short-term clinical outcomes.

Administration of the first dose of palivizumab immunoprophylaxis against respiratory syncytial virus in infants before hospital discharge: what is the evidence for its benefit?

Background: Palivizumab is 1 of 2 agents used to prevent severe lower respiratory tract disease due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend administering the first dose of RSV immunoprophylaxis to eligible infants before hospital discharge. Unfortunately, third-party payers frequently do not separately reimburse administration of this therapy to hospitalized infants.

Corrected end-tidal carbon monoxide closely correlates with the corrected reticulocyte count in coombs' test-positive term neonates.

Objective: To evaluate clinical usefulness of corrected end-tidal carbon monoxide (ETCOc) measurements in healthy, term, Coombs' test-positive neonates and correlate it to the corrected reticulocyte count (RC).

Methods: ETCOc and RC were determined (at 36 +/- 12 hours of age) in 50 Coombs' test-positive neonates and compared with the ETCOc values of 50 Coombs' test-negative neonates.

Results: Fifty percent of Coombs' test-positive infants had RCs <5% (within a normal range for a healthy newborn) and ETCOc = 1.