Associations Between Postoperative Management in the Critical Care Unit and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes Following Cardiac Surgery in Infancy: An Exploratory Study.

Objectives: Children with congenital heart disease are at high risk for developmental sequelae. Most studies focus on preoperative and intraoperative predictors of developmental impairment, with less attention to the postoperative period. The relationship between patient-related factors specific to the postoperative course in the PICU following cardiac surgery with long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in adolescence was examined.

Participation in leisure activities in adolescents with congenital heart defects.

Aim: To describe leisure participation in adolescents with congenital heart defects (CHD) and identify factors associated with intensity of participation.

Method: Eighty adolescents with CHD were recruited (39 males, 41 females; mean age [SD] 15y 8mo [1y 8mo] range 11y 5mo-19y 11mo) of whom 78 completed the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) outcome measure of leisure participation. The measure has five subscales: recreational, active-physical, social, skill-based, and self-improvement.

A Comparison of Developmental Outcomes of Adolescent Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Survivors Born with a Congenital Heart Defect or Born Preterm.

Objective: To compare cognitive, motor, behavioral, and functional outcomes of adolescents born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) and adolescents born preterm.

Study Design: Adolescents (11-19 years old) born with a CHD requiring open-heart surgery during infancy (n = 80) or born preterm ≤29 weeks of gestational age (n = 128) between 1991 and 1999 underwent a cross-sectional evaluation of cognitive (Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised), motor (Movement Assessment Battery for Children-II), behavioral (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), and functional (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-II) outcomes. Independent samples t tests and Pearson χ or Fisher exact tests were used to compare mean scores and proportions of impairment, respectively, between groups.

Pretransplant Recipient Circulating CD4+CD127lo/- Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 2+ Regulatory T Cells: A Surrogate of Regulatory T Cell-Suppressive Function and Predictor of Delayed and Slow Graft Function After Kidney Transplantation.

Background: Delayed graft function (DGF) and slow graft function (SGF) are ischemia-reperfusion-associated acute kidney injuries (AKI) that decrease long-term graft survival after kidney transplantation. Regulatory T (Treg) cells are protective in murine AKI, and their suppressive function predictive of AKI in kidney transplantation. The conventional Treg cell function coculture assay is however time-consuming and labor intensive.

Pretransplantation recipient regulatory T cell suppressive function predicts delayed and slow graft function after kidney transplantation.

Background: Delayed graft function (DGF) and slow graft function (SGF) are a continuous spectrum of ischemia-reperfusion-related acute kidney injury (AKI) that increases the risk for acute rejection and graft loss after kidney transplantation. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical in transplant tolerance and attenuate murine AKI. In this prospective observational cohort study, we evaluated whether pretransplantation peripheral blood recipient Treg frequency and suppressive function are predictors of DGF and SGF after kidney transplantation.

The use of angiogenic-antimicrobial agents in experimental wounds in animals: problems and solutions.

A topical combination (silvathymosin) of natural proangiogeneic protein thymosin β4 (Tβ4) and antimicrobial silver sulfadiazine was hypothesized to promote the healing of large, full-thickness, clean or infected wounds in rats. Silvathymosin showed the fastest wound healing (85%) followed by silver sulfadiazine (84%) and Tβ4 (72%). In the infected groups, the healing pattern was different, as Tβ4 and silvathymosin groups did not show similar wound healing.