Admission to hospital for bronchiolitis in England: trends over five decades, geographical variation and association with perinatal characteristics and subsequent asthma.

Background: Admission of infants to hospital with bronchiolitis consumes considerable healthcare resources each winter. We report an analysis of hospital admissions in England over five decades.

Methods: Data were analysed from the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE, 1968-1985), Hospital Episode Statistics (HES, 1989-2011), Oxford Record Linkage Study (ORLS, 1963-2011) and Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet, 2003-2012).

Tracheostomy in children admitted to paediatric intensive care.

Purpose: Tracheostomy is a common intervention for adults admitted to intensive care; many are performed early and most are percutaneous. Our study aimed to elucidate current practice and indications for children in the UK admitted to paediatric intensive care and undergoing tracheostomy.

Design: A questionnaire covering unit guidelines, practice, and the advantages and disadvantages of tracheostomy was sent to all UK paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) participating in the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet).

Calcium adjustment equations in neonates and children.

Background: Calcium exists in human blood in a free form and in a form bound to plasma proteins, principally albumin. Since it is the ionized form that is biologically active, it has long been common practice to present calcium adjusted on the basis of serum albumin concentration. The concept of adjusted calcium has only been evaluated in adults.

Gestational effects on host inflammatory response in normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies.

Objective: Pre-eclampsia (PET) remains a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Although its pathophysiology involves an underlying inflammatory dysfunction, it is unclear how this may be affected by increasing gestational age, particularly in relation to the time of onset of disease. Murine studies have indicated that a progressive increase in serum inflammatory profile is a physiological feature of normal gestation.

Major effects of delayed graft function and cold ischaemia time on renal allograft survival.

Background: There is mounting evidence from experimental and clinical studies that the quality of organs from cadaver donors may be influenced by events occurring around the time of brain death, and that these may affect transplant outcome. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of donor factors on renal allograft outcome in a homogeneous cohort of 518 patients transplanted in a single centre over a 9 year period.

Methods: Endpoints of the study were delayed graft function (DGF), acute rejection (AR), 1 year graft survival and long-term survival of those grafts that reached 1 year.

Characterisation of collagen VI within the islet-exocrine interface of the human pancreas: implications for clinical islet isolation?

Background: To optimize the methods used for human islet isolation for transplantation, it is important to improve our understanding of the structure of the islet-exocrine interface. In this study, the composition of collagen subtypes in the interface have been characterized and quantified in human pancreas.

Methods: Human adult pancreases were retrieved from older (mean age 55.

Adverse outcome of human islet-allogeneic blood interaction.

Background: A report of inflammatory damage when islets come into contact with allogeneic blood prompted us to confirm the finding.

Methods: Fresh handpicked human islets were incubated in blood group matched, nonsensitized allogeneic blood. Destruction was quantified by assaying the supernatants for proinsulin release and by blood clot histology.

The interaction between primate blood and mouse islets induces accelerated clotting with islet destruction.

Background: Mouse islets transplanted under the renal subcapsular space of cynomolgus monkeys are subject to a form of hyperacute rejection, the mechanism of which is unclear. As islets are in contact with whole blood at the time of transplantation, the effect of platelets and the coagulation cascade on islet destruction was assessed.

Methods: Coagulation was assessed using thromboelastography on citrated/recalcified human blood samples with freshly isolated C57/Bl6 mouse islets.