Supportive palliative care should be integrated into routine care for paediatric patients with life-limiting kidney disease.

Unlabelled: Paediatric palliative care is no longer restricted to patients with cancer and has been extended to patients with other chronic conditions, such as cystic fibrosis or neuromuscular disorders. This review focused on the current state of palliative care for children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We assessed the literature on CKD published up to August 2017.

Isolation and culture of fibroblasts, vascular smooth muscle, and endothelial cells from the fetal rat ductus arteriosus.

The ductus arteriosus (DA), a fetal arterial shunt vessel between the proximal descending aorta and the pulmonary artery, closes shortly after birth. Initial functional closure as a result of the DA's smooth muscle contraction is followed by definite anatomical closure. The latter involves several complex mechanisms like endothelial cushion formation and smooth muscle cell migration resulting in fibrosis and sealing of the vessel.

Neurodevelopmental outcome after COX inhibitor treatment for patent ductus arteriosus.

Aim: To compare neurodevelopmental results in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants two years after successful or failed cyclooxygenase inhibitor treatment with either indomethacin or ibuprofen for a haemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (hsPDA).

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated closure rates and outcome parameters of VLBW infants with hsPDA 89 of whom were treated with indomethacin and 93 with ibuprofen.

Results: Indomethacin and ibuprofen therapy groups did not differ in their baseline clinical profile (median gestational age 26.

Total serum bilirubin levels during cyclooxygenase inhibitor treatment for patent ductus arteriosus in preterm infants.

Aim: To determine whether ibuprofen use in VLBW infants is associated with increased serum bilirubin levels and impaired neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years of age compared to indomethacin.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated bilirubin data and outcome parameters of 178 VLBW infants treated with COX inhibitors for a haemodynamically relevant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) between 1998 and 2003 in a single institution. In our department ibuprofen replaced indomethacin for PDA treatment in 2001, while clinical and echocardiographic criteria for the indication of PDA invention have remained unchanged.

The expression of VEGF and its receptors in the human ductus arteriosus.

Programmed proliferative degeneration of the human fetal ductus arteriosus (DA) preceding definite postnatal closure has a large developmental variability and is controlled by several signaling pathways. Among these vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors (VEGF-Rs) play an important role. Until now, gestational age dependent expression of VEGF and its receptors has not been investigated in a large number of human DA tissue specimens.

Changing expression of cyclooxygenases and prostaglandin receptor EP4 during development of the human ductus arteriosus.

Programmed proliferative degeneration of the human fetal ductus arteriosus (DA) in preparation for its definite postnatal closure has a large developmental variability and is controlled by several signaling pathways, most prominently by prostaglandin (PG) metabolism. Numerous studies in various mammalian species have shown interspecies and developmental differences in ductal protein expression of cyclooxygenase (COX) isoforms and PG E receptor subtypes (EP1-4). We examined COX1, COX2, and EP4 receptor protein expression immunohistochemically in 57 human fetal autopsy DA specimens of 11-38 wk of gestation.