Cytokine production by cord blood mononuclear cells stimulated with cows milk proteins in vitro: interleukin-4 and transforming growth factor beta-secreting cells detected in the CD45RO T cell population in children of atopic mothers.

Background: Food antigens from the maternal circulation may sensitize fetal T cells in utero and be an important determinant in the development of food allergy.

Methods: Here we have examined the spontaneous and recall response to cow's milk proteins of cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) of newborn children, using single cell ELISPOT assays.

Results: In term newborns, confirming previous studies, the spontaneous cytokine response of CBMC is dominated by IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, and as shown here for the first time, TGF-beta.

Infrared thermography in newborns: the first hour after birth.

Objective: It was the aim of this study to investigate the surface temperature in newborns within the first hour after delivery. Furthermore, the influence of different environmental conditions with regard to surface temperature was documented.

Methods: Body surface temperature was recorded under several environmental conditions by use of infrared thermography.

Human cytomegalovirus load in various body fluids of congenitally infected newborns.

Background: Congenital human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) infection is the most common intrauterine viral disease in western countries. Little is known about hCMV virus load in various body fluids of congenitally infected children.

Objectives: To determine virus load in various body fluids.

[Virus infections in pregnancy--neonatal management].

We report on the most important viral infections in pregnancy. The importance of these infections is based on severe consequences for foetus, neonate and mother herself. New tests, e.

[Routine examination of the term newborn infant].

The routine examination of healthy term newborn infants on the postnatal ward has at least three goals: diagnosis of a primarily inapparent, yet severe disorder (e.g. acyanotic malformation of the heart), detection of minor, benign abnormalities (e.

[Changes in breast feeding behavior in Styria 1994 and 2000].

Aim of this study was to examine breast feeding behaviour in Styria, Austria in the years 1994 and 2000. Differences were documented and possibilities for better support were outlined. 1994 106 and 2000 60 mothers were questioned about breast feeding behaviour of the last child after delivery of a newborn in our hospital.

Risk factors and determinants of neurodevelopmental outcome in cystic periventricular leucomalacia.

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to determine risk factors for the development of cystic periventricular leucomalacia (PVL) and to correlate ultrasound findings with neurodevelopmental outcome. By means of a retrospective case-control study (matched for gestational age, birth weight, sex, and year of birth) and a cohort analysis of all preterm infants with cystic PVL documented by ultrasound scans hospitalised at a local tertiary care centre between 1988 and 1998, 98 preterm infants with a gestational age ranging from 26 to 35 weeks were diagnosed as having cystic PVL. The mean day of diagnosis of periventricular echodensities was 3 +/- 2 days (range 1-11 days), and of cystic PVL 21 +/- 8 days (range 2-47 days).

Screening and diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus infection: a 5-y study.

Although cytomegalovirus infection is the most common infection transmitted via the placenta, there are no guidelines for routine screening to detect children congenitally infected with cytomegalovirus. From 1993 to 1997, maternal serum and cord vein blood of newborns was screened for HCMV-IgM (n = 21,183). Urine was examined for HCMV-excretion during the first postnatal week to prove HCMV infection in children who expressed HCMV-IgM in cord vein blood (n = 13) or who were born to mothers positive for HCMV-IgM in the serum (n = 234), or when both cord vein blood and maternal serum were positive for HCMV-IgM (n = 6).

[Prolongation of a bi-amniotic twin pregnancy after premature rupture of fetal membranes and umbilical cord prolapse of the first twin during the 23rd week of pregnancy].

A 41-year old woman had a premature rupture of the membranes of the first twin with prolapse of the umbilical cord and the left foot in the 24th gestational week (23 + 4). The treatment consisted of bed rest in the Trendelenburg position, antibiotic prophylaxis and glucocorticoids for lung maturation. After 7 days the first twin was delivered vaginally from breech position.

Reaction of term newborns with prolonged postnatal dyspnoea to early oxygen, mask continuous positive airway pressure, and volume expansion: a prospective, randomised, clinical trial.

Unlabelled: In a prospective, randomised, open trial 103 term newborns with persisting dyspnoea, tachypnoea and/or cyanosis were treated with oxygen for 5-10 min and then with oxygen plus mask continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for another 5-15 min. Cases with overt prenatal or intrapartum obstetric pathology had been excluded from the study. Forty-one infants (40%) responded to this procedure within 10-25 min.

[Neonatal hyperthyroidism caused by TSH receptor antibodies in maternal autoimmune hyperthyroidism].

Between July 1993 and December 1994 five term infants of mothers with Graves' disease were hospitalised at the Frühgeburtenstation of the Univ.-Frauenklinik Graz. Four Mothers had elevated TSH-receptor-antibody (TRAb)--levels during pregnancy, one had normalised TRAb-titers.

Vagal response to feeding tube insertion in preterm infants: has the key been found?

We prospectively studied the vagal response to feeding tube insertion in eight healthy preterm infants, on three occasions in each infant during the first three weeks of life. Heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiration and cerebral blood flow velocities were assessed before, during and immediately after insertion of an orogastric feeding tube. The whole procedure was recorded on video.

Necrotizing enterocolitis prophylaxis: oral antibiotics and lyophilized enterobacteria vs oral immunoglobulins.

We conducted a prospective randomized trial to compare the efficacy of oral gentamicin versus oral IgA-IgG for the prophylaxis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC); 200 newborns considered at high risk for NEC were assigned to group A (oral IgA-IgG, n = 100) or group B (oral Gentamicin, n = 100). NEC was diagnosed in 13 cases in group A and in 1 case in group B between the 3rd and 16th days of life. Surgical treatment was necessary in 3 cases (2 in group A).

[The Graz SIDS Risk Questionnaire: prospective study of 6,000 infants].

In a prospective study (1988-1990) the SIDS risk questionnaire SRFB was applied to 6000 infants born in the Department of Obstetrics, University Hospital Graz. In all infants at an increased statistical risk for SIDS a standardized intervention including pediatric and polysomnographic investigations was performed. As a result the SIDS incidence decreased from an average of 1.

[Transverse fetal position syndrome--a combination of congenital skeletal deformities in the newborn infant].

We describe a pattern of connatal postural deformities observed in approximately 0.6% of otherwise healthy, mature newborn infants. It comprises unilateral flattening of the skull (dolichocephalus), ipsalateral mandibular hypoplasia and torticollis, deviation of the septum nasi, pes calcaneovalgus on one and pes adductus supinatus on the other side.

[Normal values for free thyroxine, free triiodothyronine, reverse triiodothyronine, thyrotropin, thyroglobulin and thyroxine-binding globulin in umbilical cord blood of healthy mature newborn infants].

The venous cord blood levels of free thyroxine (fT4), free triiodothyronine (fT3), reverse triiodothyronine (rT3), thyrotropin (TSH), thyroglobulin (TG) and thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) were studied in 56 mature and healthy newborns. Newborns with a gestational age less than 37 or more than 42 weeks, a delivery by forceps or cesarian section, a birth-weight less than 2500 g, a pH-value of the cord-artery blood less than 7.15, an Apgar-value after 1 minute less than 7 were excluded from the study.

[Routine examination of the mature newborn infant. Incidence of frequent "minor findings"].

From 1st January to 31st August 1989 2,248 healthy, mature infants were delivered at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Graz, Austria. They were routinely examined on day 1 and before discharge from hospital on day 4. Attention was paid to the presence or absence of minor abnormalities such as skin lesions, eruptions or rashes, cephalhaematoma, tongue tie, undescended testis, increased physiological jaundice, heart murmurs, talipes calcaneo-valgus, hip click, fracture of the clavicle and other common abnormalities and limb deformities.