Association of transient tachypnea of the newborn and childhood asthma.

Objective: To determine if transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) is independently associated with childhood asthma.

Methods: The sampling frame was a computerized database on 18,379 term infants born between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2000 in an urban tertiary care hospital. This was a case-control study nested in a cohort of all term newborns who were subsequently diagnosed with asthma (n = 2137) and a similar number of birthday-matched controls.

Early and late postnatal identification of isolated lenticulostriate vasculopathy in preterm infants: associated findings.

Objectives: To determine the incidence, possible etiologies, and neurodevelopmental outcome of premature infants (<35 weeks) with isolated lenticulostriate vasculopathy (LSV).

Study Design: In a retrospective case-control design, we reviewed the medical records of all premature infants who were admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit between 1996 and 2000.

Results: The prevalence of LSV was 4.

A national survey on the pediatric cardiologist's clinical approach for patients with Kawasaki disease.

In 1994, the American Heart Association (AHA) published the most recent guidelines for long-term cardiovascular management of Kawasaki disease. Since then, recent publications have shed new light on different diagnostic, prognostic, and management issues. We sought the opinion of pediatric cardiologists practicing in U.

Evaluating new vaccines for developing countries. Efficacy or effectiveness?

Despite the profusion of promising new vaccines against illnesses prevalent in developing countries, uncertainties about the balance between costs and benefits of new vaccines have retarded their use in public health practice. Conventional prelicensure trials of vaccine protection exacerbate these uncertainties by focusing on measurement of vaccine efficacy--the performance of a vaccine under idealized conditions. Vaccine effectiveness trials provide a more pragmatic perspective by addressing the performance of a vaccine under the ordinary conditions of a public health program, by capturing direct as well as indirect effects of vaccination, and by comprehensively addressing outcomes of public health concern.

Comparison of heated water-filled mattress and space-heated room with infant incubator in providing warmth to low birthweight newborns.

Background: Prevention of excessive heat loss is fundamental to survival of low birthweight (LBW) newborns. The use of infant incubators (INC) is beyond the resources of developing countries, and the space-heated room (SHR) has been the only feasible means of providing thermal protection to LBW newborns. Recently a thermostatically controlled, heated, water-filled mattress (HWM) has been developed as a potentially simpler and affordable alternative.