9. Chronic knee pain.

Introduction: Chronic knee pain is defined as pain that persists or recurs over 3 months. The most common is degenerative osteoarthritis (OA). This review represents a comprehensive description of the pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of OA of the knee.

Fetal Strain and Strain Rate Measured with Speckle Tracking Echocardiography in Maternal Diabetes: Systematic Review.

Introduction: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate fetal cardiac function in fetuses of mothers with diabetes compared to those of mothers without diabetes using 2D-STE.

Methods: Embase, MEDLINE, and CENTRAL were searched for observational studies on 2D-STE fetal left and right ventricular global longitudinal strain and strain rate that included singleton, non-anomalous pregnancies complicated by pregestational or gestational diabetes mellitus compared to uncomplicated pregnancies. The strain values were pooled per 4 weeks of gestation for meta-analysis using random-effects models.

Safety of contrast-enhanced ultrasound using microbubbles in human pregnancy: A scoping review.

Introduction: Successful placentation is crucial for fetal development and maintaining a healthy pregnancy. Placental insufficiency can cause a variety of obstetric complications. Despite the many efforts to enhance diagnosing placental insufficiency, no imaging technique has proven satisfactory.

Changes in Maternal Heart Rate Variability and Photoplethysmography Morphology after Corticosteroid Administration: A Prospective, Observational Study.

: Owing to the association between dysfunctional maternal autonomic regulation and pregnancy complications, assessing non-invasive features reflecting autonomic activity-e.g., heart rate variability (HRV) and the morphology of the photoplethysmography (PPG) pulse wave-may aid in tracking maternal health.

Neurodevelopmental outcome at 5.5 years in Dutch preterm infants born at 24-26 weeks' gestational age: the EPI-DAF study.

Objective: After lowering the Dutch threshold for active treatment from 25 to 24 completed weeks' gestation, survival to discharge increased by 10% in extremely preterm live born infants. Now that this guideline has been implemented, an accurate description of neurodevelopmental outcome at school age is needed.

Design: Population-based cohort study.

Psychological Distress During Pregnancy and the Development of Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension: A Prospective Study.

Objective: Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) is associated with serious complications in both the mother and the unborn child. We examined the possible association between trajectories of maternal psychological distress symptoms and PIH separately in primiparous and multiparous women.

Methods: Pregnancy-specific negative affect (P-NA) and depressive symptoms were assessed prospectively at each trimester using the Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale pregnancy negative affect subscale (P-NA) and the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS).

The Brabant study: design of a large prospective perinatal cohort study among pregnant women investigating obstetric outcome from a biopsychosocial perspective.

Background: Pregnancy is characterised by many biological and psychosocial changes. Adequate maternal thyroid function is important for the developing fetus throughout gestation. Latent class analyses recently showed three different patterns of change in thyroid function throughout pregnancy with different associations with obstetric outcome.

Intrapartum non-invasive electrophysiological monitoring: A prospective observational study.

Introduction: Doppler ultrasound cardiotocography is a non-invasive alternative that, despite its poor specificity, is often first choice for intrapartum monitoring. Doppler ultrasound suffers from signal loss due to fetal movements and is negatively correlated with maternal body mass index (BMI). Reported accuracy of fetal heart rate monitoring by Doppler ultrasound varies between 10.

Impacting Satisfaction, Learning, and Efficiency Through Structured Interdisciplinary Rounding in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Quality Improvement Project.

Background: Daily rounds in many pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) vary in quality, duration, and participation. We hypothesized that implementing structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds (SIBR) would improve our rounding process.

Methods: This was a quality improvement initiative in a 25-bed multidisciplinary PICU in a tertiary children's hospital.

Plasma from Volunteers Breathing Helium Reduces Hypoxia-Induced Cell Damage in Human Endothelial Cells-Mechanisms of Remote Protection Against Hypoxia by Helium.

Purpose: Remote ischemic preconditioning protects peripheral organs against prolonged ischemia/reperfusion injury via circulating protective factors. Preconditioning with helium protected healthy volunteers against postischemic endothelial dysfunction. We investigated whether plasma from helium-treated volunteers can protect human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) against hypoxia in vitro through release of circulating of factors.

Oxytocin levels in the saliva of preterm infant twins during Kangaroo care.

Background And Purpose: To investigate whether Kangaroo care (KC) influences the salivary oxytocin (OT) concentration in preterm infants, and which correlates affect the OT response.

Methods: Eleven twin pairs participated in a study in which we collected saliva using cotton swabs twice a day, once during KC and once during baseline conditions (lying in bed or incubator). The total study duration was five days.

Unlike Kangaroo care, mechanically simulated Kangaroo care does not change heart rate variability in preterm neonates.

Background: While numerous positive effects of Kangaroo care (KC) have been reported, the duration that parents can spend kangarooing is often limited.

Aim: To investigate whether a mattress that aims to mimic breathing motion and the sounds of heartbeats (BabyBe GMBH, Stuttgart, Germany) can simulate aspects of KC in preterm infants as measured by features of heart rate variability (HRV).

Methods: A within-subject study design was employed in which every routine KC session was followed by a BabyBe (BB) session, with a washout period of at least 2 h in between.

Survey on Neonatal End-of-Life Comfort Care Guidelines Across America.

Context: Infants of age less than one year have the highest mortality rate in pediatrics. The American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines for palliative care in 2013; however, significant variation persists among local protocols addressing neonatal comfort care at the end-of-life (EOL).

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate current neonatal EOL comfort care practices and clinician satisfaction across America.

Features of Heart Rate Variability Capture Regulatory Changes During Kangaroo Care in Preterm Infants.

Objective: To determine whether heart rate variability (HRV) can serve as a surrogate measure to track regulatory changes during kangaroo care, a period of parental coregulation distinct from regulation within the incubator.

Study Design: Nurses annotated the starting and ending times of kangaroo care for 3 months. The pre-kangaroo care, during-kangaroo care, and post-kangaroo care data were retrieved in infants with at least 10 accurately annotated kangaroo care sessions.

Outcomes in pediatric patients with abdominal compartment syndrome following urgent exploratory laparotomy.

Background/purpose: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) is a serious condition with high mortality in critically ill children. Our objectives were to characterize the incidence of ACS in pediatric patients who underwent urgent exploratory laparotomy and to compare outcomes of patients with and without ACS.

Methods: This retrospective review examined pediatric patients (0-18years) who underwent urgent exploratory laparotomy over a 2-year period.

Helium postconditioning regulates expression of caveolin-1 and -3 and induces RISK pathway activation after ischaemia/reperfusion in cardiac tissue of rats.

Caveolae, lipid enriched invaginations of the plasma membrane, are epicentres of cellular signal transduction. The structural proteins of caveolae, caveolins, regulate effector pathways in anaesthetic-induced cardioprotection, including the RISK pathway. Helium (He) postconditioning (HePoc) is known to mimic anaesthetic conditioning and to prevent damage from myocardial infarction.

Quantitative fetal fibronectin testing in combination with cervical length measurement in the prediction of spontaneous preterm delivery in symptomatic women.

Objective: To evaluate whether in symptomatic women, the combination of quantitative fetal fibronectin (fFN) testing and cervical length (CL) improves the prediction of preterm delivery (PTD) within 7 days compared with qualitative fFN and CL.

Design: Post hoc analysis of frozen fFN samples of a nationwide cohort study.

Setting: Ten perinatal centres in the Netherlands.

Comparison of the Actim Partus test and the fetal fibronectin test in the prediction of spontaneous preterm birth in symptomatic women undergoing cervical length measurement.

Objective: To compare the accuracy of the Actim Partus test and fetal fibronectin (fFN) test in the prediction of spontaneous preterm delivery within seven days in symptomatic women undergoing cervical length measurement.

Study Design: We performed a post-hoc analysis on frozen samples of a nationwide cohort study in all 10 perinatal centres in the Netherlands. We selected samples from women with signs of preterm labour between 24 and 34 weeks of gestational age and a cervical length below 30mm.

Which Factors Contribute to False-Positive, False-Negative, and Invalid Results in Fetal Fibronectin Testing in Women with Symptoms of Preterm Labor?

 We assessed the influence of external factors on false-positive, false-negative, and invalid fibronectin results in the prediction of spontaneous delivery within 7 days.  We studied symptomatic women between 24 and 34 weeks' gestational age. We performed uni- and multivariable logistic regression to estimate the effect of external factors (vaginal soap, digital examination, transvaginal sonography, sexual intercourse, vaginal bleeding) on the risk of false-positive, false-negative, and invalid results, using spontaneous delivery within 7 days as the outcome.

Imbalanced presence of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. multilocus sequence types in clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis.

In this study we used typing based on the eight multilocus sequence typing scheme housekeeping genes (MLST) and 5S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer (IGS) to explore the population structure of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato isolates from patients with Lyme borreliosis (LB) and to test the association between the B. burgdorferi s.l.

Suboptimal bonding impairs hormonal, epigenetic and neuronal development in preterm infants, but these impairments can be reversed.

Unlabelled: This review aimed to raise awareness of the consequences of suboptimal bonding caused by prematurity. In addition to hypoxia-ischaemia, infection and malnutrition, suboptimal bonding is one of the many unnatural stimuli that preterm infants are exposed to, compromising their physiological development. However, the physiological consequences of suboptimal bonding are less frequently addressed in the literature than those of other threatening unnatural stimuli.

Risk factors for preterm delivery: do they add to fetal fibronectin testing and cervical length measurement in the prediction of preterm delivery in symptomatic women?

Objective: To assess whether patient characteristics add to the fetal fibronectin test and cervical length measurement in the prediction of preterm delivery in symptomatic women.

Study Design: A nationwide prospective cohort study was conducted in all ten perinatal centres in the Netherlands. Women with symptoms of preterm labour between 24 and 34 weeks gestation with intact membranes were invited.

Prolonged helium postconditioning protocols during early reperfusion do not induce cardioprotection in the rat heart in vivo: role of inflammatory cytokines.

Postconditioning of myocardial tissue employs short cycles of ischemia or pharmacologic agents during early reperfusion. Effects of helium postconditioning protocols on infarct size and the ischemia/reperfusion-induced immune response were investigated by measurement of protein and mRNA levels of proinflammatory cytokines. Rats were anesthetized with S-ketamine (150 mg/kg) and diazepam (1.