Insulin-like growth factor axis parameters in sick hospitalized neonates.

The circulating insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis consists of the IGF peptides, the IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs), and the IGFBP proteases. Little is known about the IGF axis in newborns, its possible perturbations in sick neonates, and the effect of nutrition on the IGF axis of such patients. The aims of this study were to define IGF axis parameters in the sera of hospitalized newborns and to correlate these parameters with the nutritional status of the infants.

Purine metabolism and inhibition of xanthine oxidase in severely hypoxic neonates going onto extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

The effect of allopurinol to inhibit purine metabolism via the xanthine oxidase pathway in neonates with severe, progressive hypoxemia during rescue and reperfusion with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was examined. Twenty-five term infants meeting ECMO criteria were randomized in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Fourteen did not receive allopurinol, whereas 11 were treated with 10 mg/kg after meeting criteria and before cannulation, in addition to a 20-mg/kg priming dose to the ECMO circuit.

Cytokine elevations in infants with bacterial and aseptic meningitis.

We sought to determine whether the detection of cytokines, produced during the inflammatory response, would aid in the diagnosis of meningitis in young infants. We measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in 62 infants less than 6 months of age whose condition was evaluated for meningitis. Twenty infants had culture-proved meningitis, 22 had aseptic meningitis, and 20 control infants had no evidence of meningitis.

Prospective analysis of coagulase-negative staphylococcal infection in hospitalized infants.

Coagulase-negative staphylococci are the major cause of late-onset nosocomial neonatal sepsis. We prospectively examined all infants less than 6 months of age hospitalized at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from whom at least one of two or more blood cultures grew coagulase-negative staphylococci. We considered as infections only those episodes in which multiple blood cultures grew identical isolates.