Clinical implications of MR imaging findings in the white matter in very preterm infants: a 2-year follow-up study.

Purpose: To explore the association between diffuse excessive high signal intensity (DEHSI), punctate white matter (WM) lesions, and ventricular dilatation around term-equivalent age (TEA) and at clinical follow-up at 2 years in very preterm infants and the effect on neurodevelopment.

Materials And Methods: Ethical approval for this prospective study was given by the institutional review board, and informed parental consent was obtained. An unselected cohort of 110 preterm infants (gestational age, < 32 weeks) was imaged around or after TEA.

People with mild to moderate intellectual disability talking about their diabetes and how they manage.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes is relatively high in people with intellectual disability (ID). However, little is known about how people with ID experience having diabetes and how they manage the condition.

Method: Seventeen people with mild to moderate ID who have diabetes were interviewed.

Artesunate/dihydroartemisinin pharmacokinetics in acute falciparum malaria in pregnancy: absorption, bioavailability, disposition and disease effects.

Aim: To determine if reported lower plasma concentrations of artemisinin derivatives for malaria in pregnancy result from reduced oral bioavailability, expanded volume of distribution or increased clearance.

Methods: In a sequentially assigned crossover treatment study, pregnant women with uncomplicated falciparum malaria received i.v.

Pharmacokinetics of dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine in pregnant and nonpregnant women with uncomplicated falciparum malaria.

Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine is a fixed-dose artemisinin-based combination treatment. Some antimalarials have altered pharmacokinetics in pregnancy. Pregnant women in the 2nd or 3rd trimester and matched nonpregnant women with uncomplicated falciparum malaria were treated with a total of 6.

A reliable ex vivo invasion assay of human reticulocytes by Plasmodium vivax.

Currently, there are no reliable RBC invasion assays to guide the discovery of vaccines against Plasmodium vivax, the most prevalent malaria parasite in Asia and South America. Here we describe a protocol for an ex vivo P vivax invasion assay that can be easily deployed in laboratories located in endemic countries. The assay is based on mixing enriched cord blood reticulocytes with matured, trypsin-treated P vivax schizonts concentrated from clinical isolates.

Pharmacokinetics of amodiaquine and desethylamodiaquine in pregnant and postpartum women with Plasmodium vivax malaria.

In order to study the pharmacokinetic properties of amodiaquine and desethylamodiaquine during pregnancy, 24 pregnant women in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and with Plasmodium vivax malaria were treated with amodiaquine (10 mg/kg of body weight/day) for 3 days. The same women were studied again at 3 months postpartum. Plasma was analyzed for amodiaquine and desethylamodiaquine by use of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method.

Regulated competition in health care: switching and barriers to switching in the Dutch health insurance system.

Background: In 2006, a number of changes in the Dutch health insurance system came into effect. In this new system mobility of insured is important. The idea is that insured switch insurers because they are not satisfied with quality of care and the premium of their insurance.

Chloroquine resistant vivax malaria in a pregnant woman on the western border of Thailand.

Chloroquine (CQ) resistant vivax malaria is spreading. In this case, Plasmodium vivax infections during pregnancy and in the postpartum period were not satisfactorily cleared by CQ, despite adequate drug concentrations. A growth restricted infant was delivered.

Malaria in pregnancy: the difficulties in measuring birthweight.

Recommendations for interventions to control malaria in pregnancy are often based on studies using birthweight as the primary endpoint. Differences in birthweight may be attributable partly to methodological difficulties. We performed a structured search of the literature using 'malaria', 'pregnancy' and 'birth weight' as search terms.

Induction versus expectant monitoring for intrauterine growth restriction at term: randomised equivalence trial (DIGITAT).

Objective: To compare the effect of induction of labour with a policy of expectant monitoring for intrauterine growth restriction near term.

Design: Multicentre randomised equivalence trial (the Disproportionate Intrauterine Growth Intervention Trial At Term (DIGITAT)).

Setting: Eight academic and 44 non-academic hospitals in the Netherlands between November 2004 and November 2008.

Is routine TORCH screening and urine CMV culture warranted in small for gestational age neonates?

Background: congenital infections are associated with a wide variety of clinical symptoms, including small for gestational age (SGA).

Aims: to determine the co-occurrence of SGA and congenital TORCH infections, as diagnosed by TORCH serologic tests and/or cytomegalovirus (CMV) urine culture.

Study Design: we performed a retrospective study of all neonates admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit from January 2004 to February 2010 in whom SGA was diagnosed and TORCH serologic tests and/or CMV urine cultures were performed.

Pre-dialysis patients' perceived autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation: associations with illness perceptions and treatment perceptions. A cross-sectional study.

Background: Compared to healthy people, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) participate less in paid jobs and social activities. The aim of the study was to examine a) the perceived autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation of patients in the pre-dialysis phase, b) pre-dialysis patients' illness perceptions and treatment perceptions, and c) the association of these perceptions with autonomy, self-esteem and labor participation.

Methods: Patients (N = 109) completed questionnaires at home.

Complex Interactions between soil-transmitted helminths and malaria in pregnant women on the Thai-Burmese border.

Background: Deworming is recommended by the WHO in girls and pregnant and lactating women to reduce anaemia in areas where hookworm and anaemia are common. There is conflicting evidence on the harm and the benefits of intestinal geohelminth infections on the incidence and severity of malaria, and consequently on the risks and benefits of deworming in malaria affected populations. We examined the association between geohelminths and malaria in pregnancy on the Thai-Burmese border.

Preferences and experiences of chronically ill and disabled patients regarding shared decision-making: does the type of care to be decided upon matter?

Objective: (1) To describe the importance chronically ill and disabled patients attach to involvement in decision-making when various care types are considered, and (2) to analyse the degree to which these patients are involved in shared decision-making (SDM) regarding these care types, and whether their involvement reflects the importance they attach to SDM.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 812 chronically ill and disabled patients who experienced a situation of decision-making during the last year. Data were collected by a self-report survey in 2006 and were analysed by multilevel linear regression analyses.

The development of and first experiences with a behavioural self-regulation intervention for end-stage renal disease patients and their partners.

This article describes the development of an intervention programme for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and their partners. The programme is based on theories of self-regulation, social learning, and self-determination aimed at maintaining and increasing patients' activities, including paid work, and sense of autonomy. The intervention was evaluated on its feasibility and first experiences among a group of 12 patients and partners.

Perceived autonomy and self-esteem in Dutch dialysis patients: the importance of illness and treatment perceptions.

Compared to healthy people, end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients participate less in paid jobs and social activities. This study explored the perceived autonomy, state self-esteem and labour participation in ESRD patients on dialysis, and the role illness and treatment perceptions play in these concepts. Patients completed questionnaires at home or in the dialysis centre (N = 166).

Antenatal allopurinol for reduction of birth asphyxia induced brain damage (ALLO-Trial); a randomized double blind placebo controlled multicenter study.

Background: Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy is associated with development of cerebral palsy and cognitive disability later in life and is therefore one of the fundamental problems in perinatal medicine. The xanthine-oxidase inhibitor allopurinol reduces the formation of free radicals, thereby limiting the amount of hypoxia-reperfusion damage. In case of suspected intra-uterine hypoxia, both animal and human studies suggest that maternal administration of allopurinol immediately prior to delivery reduces hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.

Obstetric ultrasound scanning by local health workers in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border.

Objectives: Ultrasound examination of the fetus is a powerful tool for assessing gestational age and detecting obstetric problems but is rarely available in developing countries. The aim of this study was to assess the intraobserver and interobserver agreement of fetal biometry by locally trained health workers in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border.

Methods: One expatriate doctor and four local health workers participated in the study, which included examinations performed on every fifth pregnant woman with a singleton pregnancy between 16 and 40 weeks' gestation, and who had undergone an early dating ultrasound scan, attending the antenatal clinic in Maela refugee camp.

Castor oil for induction of labour: not harmful, not helpful.

Background: Castor oil is one of the most popular drugs for induction of labour in a non-medical setting; however, published data on safety and effectiveness of this compound to induce labour remain sparse.

Aim: To assess the safety and effectiveness of castor oil for induction of labour in pregnancies with an ultrasound estimated gestational at birth of more than 40 weeks.

Methods: Data were extracted from hospital-based records of all pregnant women who attended antenatal clinics on the Thai-Burmese border and who were more than 40 weeks pregnant.

Growth of preterm born children.

Background: In this review, we describe the growth of (very) preterm infants or (very) low-birth-weight infants from birth until adulthood.

Methods: A systematic analysis of growth of these infants is thwarted by different definitions (classification by gestational age or birth weight) used in the literature.

Results: The early postnatal period of these individuals is almost invariably characterized by substantial growth failure.

Illness perceptions in dialysis patients and their association with quality of life.

The present study explored illness perceptions of end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on both haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) treatment, and their associations with quality of life. Leventhal's self-regulation model (SRM) was used as a theoretical framework. Illness perceptions and quality of life were assessed with the IPQ-R and the SF-36 in 91 HD and 42 PD patients participating in the NECOSAD-study.

Early nasal continuous positive airway pressure and low threshold for intubation in very preterm infants.

Aim: To determine if selective intubation, use of early nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) at birth with a low threshold for early surfactant treatment, reduces the need for intubation in very preterm infants in the first days after birth.

Methods: Two cohorts of very preterm infants < or = 32 weeks, born at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, were compared retrospectively before (1996-1997) and after (2003-2004) introducing selective intubation and use of early NCPAP. A FiO(2)> or = 0.

Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine rescue treatment of multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria in pregnancy: a preliminary report.

Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) is a promising new artemisinin combination treatment. There are no published data on the intentional use of the drug in pregnancy. Between June 2006 and January 2007, 50 Karen pregnant women with recurrent P.

The role of illness perceptions in labor participation of the chronically ill.

Objective: We aimed to investigate associations between work disability and illness perceptions, over and above medical assessment and self-reported health.

Methods: A representative sample of people aged 15-64 years with various chronic physical diseases was derived from the Panel of Patients with Chronic Diseases in the Netherlands. In this group, 189 patients were fully work-disabled and 363 were employed.

Knowledge and attitudes towards genetic testing: a two year follow-up study in patients with asthma, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease.

Adequate knowledge and personal attitudes towards DNA-testing are major determinants of optimal utilization of genetic testing. This study aims to (1) assess the genetic knowledge and attitude towards genetic testing of patients with asthma, diabetes mellitus type II and cardiovascular diseases, (2) determine whether their knowledge or attitude changed since 2002, and (3) investigate the predictive role of knowledge on attitude. Data were collected within the Panel of Patients with Chronic Diseases in 2002 and 2004, resulting in 398 data-pairs.