Clinical care of neonates undergoing opioid withdrawal in the immediate postpartum period.

As the opioid epidemic escalates in westernized countries around the world, chronic opioid use during pregnancy has become a growing public health issue. There are increasing concerns that chronic maternal opioid use might adversely affect the developing fetal brain. Furthermore, the sudden discontinuation of the trans-placental opioid supply at birth puts newborns at acute risk for neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS).

Trends in Costs of Birth Hospitalization and Readmissions for Late Preterm Infants.

The objective is to study previously unexplored trends of birth hospitalization and readmission costs for late preterm infants (LPIs) in the United States between 2005 and 2016. We conducted a retrospective analysis of claims data to study healthcare costs of birth hospitalization and readmissions for LPIs compared to term infants (TIs) using a large private insurance database. We used a generalized linear regression model to study birth hospitalization and readmission costs.

Term Neonate Presenting with the Combined Occurrence of Mucolipidosis Type II and Leigh Syndrome.

Mucolipidosis II α/beta (MLII) is an autosomal recessive disease in which a gene mutation leads to improper targeting of lysosomal enzymes with an end result of accumulation of lysosomes in the mitochondria resulting in a dysfunctional mitochondria. 1 Leigh syndrome (LS) is a rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with dysfunctional mitochondria and oxidative phosphorylation. 4 Both disease processes typically present in infancy.

Prenatal opioid exposure heightens sympathetic arousal and facial expressions of pain/distress in term neonates at 24-48 hours post birth.

The rising issue of opioid use during pregnancy poses an increased risk of fetal exposure to opioids and the development of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The cessation of exposure to opioids upon birth causes elevated levels of norepinephrine in the circulation enhancing sympathetic arousal. Skin conductance (SC) detects sympathetic-mediated sweating while the Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) depicts facial expressions of stress and pain.

Riluzole rescues glutamate alterations, cognitive deficits, and tau pathology associated with P301L tau expression.

Hyperexcitability of the hippocampus is a commonly observed phenomenon in the years preceding a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our previous work suggests a dysregulation in glutamate neurotransmission may mediate this hyperexcitability, and glutamate dysregulation correlates with cognitive deficits in the rTg(TauP301L)4510 mouse model of AD. To determine whether improving glutamate regulation would attenuate cognitive deficits and AD-related pathology, TauP301L mice were treated with riluzole (~ 12.