Evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of reduced lead paediatric electrocardiograms.

Introduction: Alternate electrocardiogram acquisition with fewer leads lacks systematic evaluation in children. This study aims to determine if electrocardiograms with fewer leads maintain diagnostic accuracy in paediatrics.

Methods: This is a single-centre review of 200 randomly selected standard 12-lead electrocardiograms from our hospital database (2017-2020) for patients aged 2 weeks to 21 years.

Variations in Alarm Burden, Source, and Cause Across Inpatient Units at a Children's Hospital.

Background And Objectives: Alarms at hospitals are frequent and can lead to alarm fatigue posing patient safety risks. We aimed to describe alarm burden over a 1-year period and explored variations in alarm rates stratified by unit type, alarm source, and cause.

Methods: A retrospective study of inpatient alarm and patient census data at 1 children's hospital from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019, including 8 inpatient units: 6 medical/surgical unit (MSU), 1 PICU, and 1 NICU.

Blunted cardiac output response to exercise in adolescents born preterm.

Purpose: Premature birth is associated with lasting effects, including lower exercise capacity and pulmonary function, and is acknowledged as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim was to evaluate factors affecting exercise capacity in adolescents born preterm, including the cardiovascular and pulmonary responses to exercise, activity level and strength.

Methods: 21 preterm-born and 20 term-born adolescents (age 12-14 years) underwent strength and maximal exercise testing with thoracic bioimpedance monitoring.

Heart rate recovery after maximal exercise is impaired in healthy young adults born preterm.

Purpose: The long-term implications of premature birth on autonomic nervous system (ANS) function are unclear. Heart rate recovery (HRR) following maximal exercise is a simple tool to evaluate ANS function and is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease. Our objective was to determine whether HRR is impaired in young adults born preterm (PYA).

Intraperitoneal injection of MSC-derived exosomes prevent experimental bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) derived exosomes mediate tissue protection and regeneration in many injuries and diseases by modulating cell protein production, protecting from apoptosis, inhibiting inflammation, and increasing angiogenesis. In the present study, daily intraperitoneal injection of MSC-derived exosomes protected alveolarization and angiogenesis in a newborn rat model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) induced by 14 days of neonatal hyperoxia exposure (85% O). Exosome treatment during hyperoxia prevented disruption of alveolar growth, increased small blood vessel number, and inhibited right heart hypertrophy at P14, P21, and P56.

Impaired autonomic function in adolescents born preterm.

Preterm birth temporarily disrupts autonomic nervous system (ANS) development, and the long-term impacts of disrupted fetal development are unclear in children. Abnormal cardiac ANS function is associated with worse health outcomes, and has been identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We used heart rate variability (HRV) in the time domain (standard deviation of RR intervals, SDRR; and root means squared of successive differences, RMSSD) and frequency domain (high frequency, HF; and low frequency, LF) at rest, as well as heart rate recovery (HRR) following maximal exercise, to assess autonomic function in adolescent children born preterm.