Significant Reduction of Catheter-associated Blood Stream Infections in Preterm Neonates After Implementation of a Care Bundle Focusing on Simulation Training of Central Line Insertion.

Background: Central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) are common problems in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Implementation of catheter care bundles has been shown to reduce CLABSI rates. We developed a care bundle aiming at establishing a uniform central line insertion technique and improving teaching practices focusing on simulation-based techniques.

Preterm infants who later require duct ligation show different vital signs and pH in early postnatal life.

Aim: The study investigated early postnatal vital signs in very low birthweight (VLBW) infants who later developed patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). We hypothesised that the early postnatal course of vital signs and blood gas variables might differ between infants whose PDA closed spontaneously, those who responded to ibuprofen and those who later required PDA ligation.

Methods: We analysed computerised records of VLBW infants born <28 weeks of gestational age, including vital signs, arterial pH values and echocardiographic data from the first postnatal days.

Molecular detection of late-onset neonatal sepsis in premature infants using small blood volumes: proof-of-concept.

Background: Conventional blood culture is still the gold standard for sepsis diagnosis but results are not immediately available and pathogens are only detected in approximately 25% of cases. New molecular assays for the detection of blood stream pathogens are promising diagnostic tools.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to adapt and evaluate a multiplex PCR system using 100 µl blood.

Nosocomial transmission of respiratory syncytial virus in neonatal intensive care and intermediate care units: a prospective epidemiologic study.

To test the hypothesis that a considerable number of preterm infants acquire respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) within the hospital during the postnatal stay, a prospective epidemiologic survey was performed. Nasopharyngeal swabs were taken twice weekly for a period of 8 weeks from preterm infants, medical/nursing staff, and parents during the peak of RSV season 2007/2008 and tested for RSV by polymerase chain reaction. Of 1002 samples, only 4 tested positive (2 from a patient, 2 from staff).

The bacterial load of Ureaplasma parvum in amniotic fluid is correlated with an increased intrauterine inflammatory response.

Ureaplasma spp. are the most frequently isolated microorganisms inside the amniotic cavity and have been associated with spontaneous abortion, chorioamnionitis, premature rupture of the membranes (PROM), and preterm labor (PL). We analyzed 118 samples from amniotic fluid of preterm infants before 34 weeks of gestation by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

Intrauterine infection with Ureaplasma species is associated with adverse neuromotor outcome at 1 and 2 years adjusted age in preterm infants.

Aims: To evaluate the association between the presence of bacterial pathogens in the amniotic cavity at the time of preterm delivery and neuromotor outcome at two years adjusted age in preterm infants born at < or =33 weeks' gestation.

Methods: The cohort included 114 preterm infants, born at 23-33 weeks' gestation to mothers with amniotic cavity cultures taken during cesarean delivery who were subsequently evaluated at 24.0+/-1.

Immaturity of infection control in preterm and term newborns is associated with impaired toll-like receptor signaling.

The impaired infection control related to the functional immaturity of the neonatal immune system is an important cause of infection in preterm newborns. We previously reported that constitutive Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 expression and cytokine secretion on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation increases with gestational age. Here, we analyzed constitutive monocyte TLR2 expression and evaluated the expression profiles of the proximal downstream adapter molecule myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88).