Multi-level hypothalamic neuromodulation of self-regulation and cognition in preterm infants: Towards a control systems model.

Preterm infants, age-corrected for prematurity, score on average, 10 points lower on IQ tests than full-term infants tested at comparable ages. This review focuses on the potential contribution of the hypothalamus to cognitive neuro-regulatory development in preterm infants through its bidirectional neural connections with the prefrontal cortex and its neuroendocrine activity. It aims to clarify the central role of the hypothalamus in preterm high stress situations and in influencing cognitive development via its connectivity to the cerebral cortex.

Critical care resource use associated with tourism in Central Australia.

Objective: Tourism to regional and remote Australia is increasing. Its impact on regional critical care services is incompletely understood. We describe tourist admissions and their impact on critical care resources relative to the local population.

The effect of alcohol policy on intensive care unit admission patterns in Central Australia: A before-after cross-sectional study.

Alcohol misuse is a disproportionately large contributor to morbidity and mortality in the Northern Territory. A number of alcohol harm minimisation policies have been implemented in recent years. The effect of these on intensive care unit (ICU) admissions has not been fully explored.

Long-term outcomes of dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease patients requiring critical care: an observational matched cohort study.

Background: The prevalence of dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD5D) patients in Australia is increasing.

Aims: To describe the long-term outcome and resource utilisation of CKD5D patients requiring critical care admission.

Methods: Retrospective matched cohort study conducted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Alice Springs Hospital.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients requiring critical care: characteristics, resource use, and outcomes.

Objective: To provide a contemporary description of the demographics, characteristics and outcomes of critically ill Indigenous patients in Australia.

Design, Setting And Participants: Retrospective database review using the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database for intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in 2017-18. Characteristics of critically ill Indigenous patients were compared with non-Indigenous patients.

Detecting microstructural white matter abnormalities of frontal pathways in children with ADHD using advanced diffusion models.

Studies using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have documented alterations in the attention and executive system in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While abnormalities in the frontal lobe have also been reported, the associated white matter fiber bundles have not been investigated comprehensively due to the complexity in tracing them through fiber crossings. Furthermore, most studies have used a non-specific DTI model to understand white matter abnormalities.

Suprathreshold fiber cluster statistics: Leveraging white matter geometry to enhance tractography statistical analysis.

This work presents a suprathreshold fiber cluster (STFC) method that leverages the whole brain fiber geometry to enhance statistical group difference analyses. The proposed method consists of 1) a well-established study-specific data-driven tractography parcellation to obtain white matter tract parcels and 2) a newly proposed nonparametric, permutation-test-based STFC method to identify significant differences between study populations. The basic idea of our method is that a white matter parcel's neighborhood (nearby parcels with similar white matter anatomy) can support the parcel's statistical significance when correcting for multiple comparisons.

A unique pattern of cortical connectivity characterizes patients with attention deficit disorders: a large electroencephalographic coherence study.

Background: Attentional disorders (ADD) feature decreased attention span, impulsivity, and over-activity interfering with successful lives. Childhood onset ADD frequently persists to adulthood. Etiology may be hereditary or disease associated.

"That's your patient. There's your ventilator": exploring induction to work experiences in a group of non-UK EEA trained anaesthetists in a London hospital: a qualitative study.

Background: European health systems depend increasingly on the services of health professionals who obtained their primary medical qualification from other countries. There has been a significant increase recently in fully qualified specialist doctors arriving from the European Union to provide short term or longer-term solutions to health human resources needs in the UK National Health System. These doctors often take up senior consultant positions.

Corticosteroid therapy in regressive autism: a retrospective study of effects on the Frequency Modulated Auditory Evoked Response (FMAER), language, and behavior.

Background: Up to a third of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) manifest regressive autism (R-ASD).They show normal early development followed by loss of language and social skills. Absent evidence-based therapies, anecdotal evidence suggests improvement following use of corticosteroids.

The relationship of Asperger's syndrome to autism: a preliminary EEG coherence study.

Background: It has long been debated whether Asperger's Syndrome (ASP) should be considered part of the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) or whether it constitutes a unique entity. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition (DSM-IV) differentiated ASP from high functioning autism. However, the new DSM-5 umbrellas ASP within ASD, thus eliminating the ASP diagnosis.

School-age effects of the newborn individualized developmental care and assessment program for preterm infants with intrauterine growth restriction: preliminary findings.

Background: The experience in the newborn intensive care nursery results in premature infants' neurobehavioral and neurophysiological dysfunction and poorer brain structure. Preterms with severe intrauterine growth restriction are doubly jeopardized given their compromised brains. The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program improved outcome at early school-age for preterms with appropriate intrauterine growth.

NIDCAP improves brain function and structure in preterm infants with severe intrauterine growth restriction.

Objective: The effect of NIDCAP (Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program) was examined on the neurobehavioral, electrophysiological and neurostructural development of preterm infants with severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

Study Design: A total of 30 infants, 27-33 weeks gestation, were randomized to control (C; N=17) or NIDCAP/experimental (E; N=13) care. Baseline health and demographics were assessed at intake; electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 35 and 42 weeks postmenstrual age; and health, growth and neurobehavior at 42 weeks and 9 months corrected age (9 months).

School Age Effects of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program for Medically Low-Risk Preterm Infants: Preliminary Findings.

Background: By school age, even low risk moderately preterm-born children show more neuro-cognitive deficits, underachievement, behavioral problems, and poor social adaptation than full-term peers.

Aim: To evaluate the outcomes at school-age for moderately preterm-born children (29-33 weeks gestational age), appropriate in growth for gestational age (AGA) and medically at low-risk, randomized to Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) or standard care in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. At school-age, the experimental (E) group will show better neuropsychological and neuro-electrophysiological function, as well as improved brain structure than the control (C) group.

The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) with Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC): Comprehensive Care for Preterm Infants.

State-of-the-art Newborn Intensive Care Units (NICUs), instrumental in the survival of high-risk and ever-earlier-born preterm infants, often have costly human repercussions. The developmental sequelae of newborn intensive care are largely misunderstood. Developed countries eager to export their technologies must also transfer the knowledge-base that encompasses all high-risk and preterm infants' personhood as well as the neuro-essential importance of their parents.

EEG spectral coherence data distinguish chronic fatigue syndrome patients from healthy controls and depressed patients--a case control study.

Background: Previous studies suggest central nervous system involvement in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), yet there are no established diagnostic criteria. CFS may be difficult to differentiate from clinical depression. The study's objective was to determine if spectral coherence, a computational derivative of spectral analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG), could distinguish patients with CFS from healthy control subjects and not erroneously classify depressed patients as having CFS.

Melatonin and mental capacities in newborn infants.

Objectives: To investigate the role of melatonin in the emergence of mental capacities in the newborn infant.

Study Design: Assessment of Preterm Infant Behavior examination was performed at 2 weeks post-term age for 39 (21 preterm and 18 term) infants. 6-Suphatoxymelatonin from nocturnal urine samples was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and the Mental Developmental Index, assessed by Bayley scales, was correlated at 4, 6, and 9 months' corrected age.

Is the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) effective for preterm infants with intrauterine growth restriction?

Objective: This study investigates the effectiveness of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) on neurobehavioral and electrophysiological functioning of preterm infants with severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

Study Design: Thirty IUGR infants, 28 to 33 weeks gestational age, randomized to standard care (control/C=18), or NIDCAP (experimental/E=12), were assessed at 2 weeks corrected age (2wCA) and 9 months corrected age (9mCA) in regard to health, anthropometrics, and neurobehavior, and additionally at 2wCA in regard to electrophysiology (EEG).

Result: The two groups were comparable in health and anthropometrics at 2wCA and 9mCA.

Clostridium difficile-associated disease acquired in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence, severity, and outcome associated with Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD) acquired while in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CTICU).

Design: A 5-year retrospective study.

Setting: The CTICU.

Individualized developmental care for a large sample of very preterm infants: health, neurobehaviour and neurophysiology.

Aim: To assess medical and neurodevelopmental effects of Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) for a large sample of very early-born infants.

Methods: One hundred and seven singleton inborn preterm infants, <29 weeks gestational age (GA), <1250 g birth weight, enrolled in three consecutive phases, were randomized within phase to NIDCAP (treatment, E) or standard care (C). Treatment extended from admission to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit to 2 weeks corrected age (wCA).