Use of Intraosseous Access in Neonatal and Pediatric Retrieval-Neonatal and Pediatric Emergency Transfer Service, New South Wales.

Objectives: Pediatric patients who are critically unwell require rapid access to central vasculature for administration of life-saving medications and fluids. The intraosseous (IO) route is a well-described method of accessing the central circulation. There is a paucity of data surrounding the use of IO in neonatal and pediatric retrieval.

Continuous local anaesthetic wound infusion of bupivacaine for postoperative analgesia in neonates: a randomised control trial (CANWIN Study).

Objective: To determine the effect of continuous wound infusion of local anaesthetic drug (bupivacaine) on total amount of systemic opioid use in the first 72 hours in newborn infants undergoing laparotomy.

Design: A two-arm parallel, open-label randomised controlled trial.

Setting: A quaternary newborn intensive care unit.

Magnetic resonance imaging pattern recognition in childhood bilateral basal ganglia disorders.

Bilateral basal ganglia abnormalities on MRI are observed in a wide variety of childhood disorders. MRI pattern recognition can enable rationalization of investigations and also complement clinical and molecular findings, particularly confirming genomic findings and also enabling new gene discovery. A pattern recognition approach in children with bilateral basal ganglia abnormalities on brain MRI was undertaken in this international multicentre cohort study.

The practice of blood volume submitted for culture in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Background: Neonatal sepsis is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in neonatal intensive care units. The volume of blood taken for culture remains one of the most important factors in isolating microorganisms.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of the intervention on the blood volume submitted for culture and to identify factors influencing the volume as determined by the phlebotomist.

Utility of CSF Cytokine/Chemokines as Markers of Active Intrathecal Inflammation: Comparison of Demyelinating, Anti-NMDAR and Enteroviral Encephalitis.

Background: Despite the discovery of CSF and serum diagnostic autoantibodies in autoimmune encephalitis, there are still very limited CSF biomarkers for diagnostic and monitoring purposes in children with inflammatory or autoimmune brain disease. The cause of encephalitis is unknown in up to a third of encephalitis cohorts, and it is important to differentiate infective from autoimmune encephalitis given the therapeutic implications.

Aim: To study CSF cytokines and chemokines as diagnostic biomarkers of active neuroinflammation, and assess their role in differentiating demyelinating, autoimmune, and viral encephalitis.