Relationships Between Adipokine Profiles, Physique Index, and Severity of Bronchiolitis in Infancy.

Introduction: Relationships between adipokines, adiposity and severity of acute viral bronchiolitis in infancy have not been elucidated.

Materials And Methods: We investigated the relationships between three serum adipokines (leptin, adiponectin and TNF-α), physique index (Kaup index) and clinical severity in 13 bronchiolitis infants. Seven healthy infants were enrolled as the control group.

Characteristics of headaches in Japanese elementary and junior high school students: A school-based questionnaire survey.

Purpose: Few studies have investigated pediatric headaches in Japan. Thus, we examined the lifetime prevalence and characteristics of headaches among elementary and junior high school students in Japan.

Methods: In this school-based study, children aged 6-15years completed a questionnaire based on the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Headache Disorders-3β to assess headache characteristics and related disability.

Human herpesvirus 6 infection mimicking measles: two pediatric cases.

Measles is a highly contagious viral infection associated with clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, conjunctivitis, coryza, eruption and increased serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies. A clinical diagnosis is easily established when the chain of infection can be followed. However, Japan is currently experiencing sporadic measles outbreaks, which complicate the establishment of diagnosis.

Utility of serum ferritin and lactate dehydrogenase as surrogate markers for steroid therapy for Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia.

Introduction: Patients with severe mycoplasma pneumonia having very high serum interleukin-18 levels may require systemic corticosteroid treatment. However, we know of no laboratory markers that have been identified to assess the precise severity of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia. Thus, we investigated the usefulness of four clinical laboratory tests as severity indicators and surrogate markers for initiation of steroid therapy in these patients.

Gut hormones of preterm infants with abdominal symptoms and hypothyroxinemia.

Background: The pathogenesis of abdominal symptoms in premature infants with hypothyroxinemia is not understood; therefore, we investigated changes in gut hormones before and after levothyroxine sodium (T4-Na) supplementation in preterm infants with abdominal symptoms and hypothyroxinemia.

Methods: In eight preterm study subjects and 14 gestational age-matched controls, fasting serum concentration of leptin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY), pancreatic polypeptide, insulin, amylin and ghrelin was measured using a bead array system.

Results: Serum GLP-1, GIP and PYY in the subjects before T4-Na supplementation were lower than in controls at age 2 weeks.

Gut hormone profiles in preterm and term infants during the first 2 months of life.

Aim: To investigate changes of gut hormones in term and preterm infants in the first 2 months after birth, as the role and relationships of gut hormones in premature infants has not been well elucidated.

Methods: In 29 preterm and five term infants, fasting serum concentrations of leptin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY), pancreatic polypeptide, insulin, amylin, and ghrelin were measured using a bead array system.

Results: Serum leptin concentration soon after birth showed a positive correlation with gestational week in all infants (r=0.

Selectively high level of serum interleukin 5 in a newborn infant with cow's milk allergy.

Cow's milk allergy (CMA) in the neonatal period is thought to include several clinical conditions, yet the pathophysiology remains unclear. We report here the case of a term newborn infant who showed hematochezia 36 hours after the first feeding with cow's milk formula. His serum immunoglobulin E levels were not elevated, although eosinophils were detected in the stool.

Selectively high levels of serum interleukin 17 in a newborn infant with progressive severe cholestasis.

We present here the unusual case of a male newborn infant who showed progressive severe cholestasis. The infant's gestational age was 37 weeks, and his birth weight was 2134 g. His serum level of direct bilirubin gradually increased from the 6th day of life and reached 257.

Prolonged maternal magnesium administration and bone metabolism in neonates.

Background: Magnesium sulfate (MgSO(4)) has been used as a tocolytic agent in cases of refractory preterm labor. Prolonged maternal administration of MgSO(4) may induce bone demineralization in the neonate. However, the effects of MgSO(4) on serum biochemistry related to bone metabolism in neonates remain unclear.

Cytokine profiles of seventeen cytokines, growth factors and chemokines in cord blood and its relation to perinatal clinical findings.

Few papers have investigated the cytokine profiles of multiple cytokines in cord blood. We obtained cord blood samples from 224 infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit. Cytokine profiles of 17 cytokines were investigated using cytometric bead array technology.

Selective excretion of anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 in a superantigen-inducing neonatal infectious disease.

Neonatal toxic shock syndrome (TSS)-like exanthematous disease (NTED) is an emerging neonatal infectious disease caused by TSS toxin-1 (TSST-1). Although NTED and TSS are caused by the same superantigenic exotoxin, NTED is less severe than TSS. The mechanism of this reduced severity in NTED has not been elucidated.