Mineral status of premature infants in early life and linear growth at age 3.

Background: Preterm infants are at significant risk of reduced bone mineral content and subsequent bone disease (metabolic bone disease of prematurity, MBDP). MBDP is frequently found in very low-birthweight (VLBW) infants, but long-term height prognosis is not well known.

Methods: VLBW infants from two major neonatal intensive care units were studied.

Effect of l-thyroxine supplementation on infants with transient hypothyroxinemia of prematurity at 18 months of corrected age: randomized clinical trial.

Objective: Our objective was to evaluate effects of levothyroxine (l-T4) supplementation against neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 months of corrected age in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants with hypothyroxinemia but without elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration.

Methods: VLBW infants who had plasma TSH concentrations <10 μU/mL and free thyroxine (FT4) concentrations <0.8 ng/dL between 2 and 4 weeks of age were enrolled.

[Optimum timing of initial examination for retinopathy of prematurity].

Objective: To determine when to begin examination for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 663 infants with birth weights of less than 1,500 g in Tokyo Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital between June 1999 and March 2009, and investigated the timing of onset and initial treatment. In addition, we investigated visibility of fundus for infants of less than 27 weeks gestational age (GA).

Developmental characteristics of very low-birthweight infants at 18 months' corrected age according to birthweight.

Background: The objective of the present study was to describe developmental profiles of very low-birthweight (VLBW) infants compared by birthweight, because those of infants with birthweight <750 g might be different from other VLBW infants.

Methods: VLBW infants from four medical centers were followed at each site with the same protocol at 18 months' corrected age. The protocol by the Society for the Study of Follow up for High-Risk Infants, which includes a standardized developmental test, the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development (KSPD), was used.

[Retinopathy of prematurity in extremely low birth weight infants: a Tokyo multicenter study].

Objective: To investigate how the increase in survival rate in extremely low birth weight (a birth weight of 1,000 g or less) infants had affected the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and the frequency of laser treatment.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 122 surviving premature infants with birthweights less than 1,000 g to determine the severity of ROP observed at 16 neonatal intensive care units in Tokyo between April and October 2002.

Results: The survival rate was 85.

Congenital prepubic sinus: is it a residual cloacal membrane and umbilicophallic groove?

We report two cases of congenital prepubic sinus (CPS) and discuss theories about its embryology and the etiology of its variants to improve the global understanding of this uncommon anomaly. Based on a review of the scant number of reported cases and our own experience, we postulate that CPS may be caused by a residual cloacal membrane and umbilicophallic groove and that its depth may determine the position of its ending.

Ilio-psoas abscess caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): a rare but potentially dangerous condition in neonates.

We report a case of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ilio-psoas abscess (IPA) in a neonate. This case has clinical importance because this neonate had toxic shock syndrome-like exanthematous disease, known as NTED, before developing IPA. A high index of suspicion is required for IPA if a neonate presents with limb disuse and fever of unknown origin.