Infant nutrition (donor human milk vs. maternal milk) and long-term neurodevelopmental and growth outcomes in very low birth weight infants.

Background: Human milk, the ultimate source of nutrition for premature infants, enhances host defense mechanism, gastrointestinal maturation, lowers infection rate, improves neurodevelopmental outcomes, and reduces long-term cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Recently, there has been an increase in donor breast milk (DBM) use for premature infants; however, data are limited on the long-term effects of DBM on the infant's growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Objective: To determine if there is an association between type of infant nutrition (maternal breast milk (MBM) or DBM) and neurodevelopmental and growth outcomes in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

25-hydroxyvitamin D is a predictor of COVID-19 severity of hospitalized patients.

Objectives: Studies investigating the association between vitamin D and severity of COVID-19 have mixed results perhaps due to immunoassay assessment of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (tD) (the sum of 25-hydroxyvitamin-D2 [25-OH-D2] and 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3 [25-OH-D3]). Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has high analytical specificity and sensitivity for 25-OH-D2 and 25-OH-D3, and thus enables a more accurate assessment of impact on COVID-19 outcomes.

Methods: We established reference intervals for 25-OH-D3 and tD using LC-MS/MS.