Macronutrients and Micronutrients in Parenteral Nutrition.

Appropriate nutrition is of paramount importance during infancy and childhood, and Parenteral Nutrition (PN), which is the intravenous infusion of nutrients in the elementary form, may be necessary as a supplement or a full replacement for enteral nutrition [...

Noninvasive Tools to Predict Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Infants with Congenital Heart Diseases: A Narrative Review.

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most frightening gastrointestinal emergency in newborns. Despite being primarily a disease of premature infants, neonates with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk of development. Acute and chronic hemodynamic changes in this population may lead to mesenteric circulatory insufficiency.

Metabolomic analysis to predict the onset and severity of necrotizing enterocolitis.

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most devastating gastrointestinal (GI) emergency in preterm neonates. Untargeted metabolomics may allow the identification of biomarkers involved in NEC pathophysiology.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study including preterm infants born at < 34 gestational weeks (GWs) whose urine was longitudinally collected at birth (< 48 h, T0) and at 14 (T1) and 28 days (T2).

Complementary feeding in infants born preterm: Aspects needing improvement.

Objective: The aim of our study was to collect data on complementary feeding (CF) in preterm infants (PIs).

Methods: We enrolled PI ≤ 34 weeks of gestational age discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the University Hospital of Padova. At 12 months of corrected age (CA), CF was investigated with questionnaires to the parents and a 24-h dietary recall.

Bone Status and Early Nutrition in Preterm Newborns with and without Intrauterine Growth Restriction.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) together with preterm birth could be harmful to bone health. The aim of the study was to examine bone status in IUGR versus non-IUGR preterms and to analyze the nutritional management best correlated with its improvement. Newborns < 34 weeks of gestational age (wGA), 75 IUGR and 75 non-IUGR, admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital of Padova were enrolled and monitored from birth until 36 wGA through anthropometry (weight, length, head circumference, lower limb length (LLL)), biochemistry, bone quantitative ultrasound assessment of bone status (metacarpus bone transmission time, mc-BTT, us) and nutritional intakes monitoring during parenteral nutrition.

The Metabolome and the Gut Microbiota for the Prediction of Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Spontaneous Intestinal Perforation: A Systematic Review.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most devastating gastrointestinal emergency in preterm neonates. Research on early predictive biomarkers is fundamental. This is a systematic review of studies applying untargeted metabolomics and gut microbiota analysis to evaluate the differences between neonates affected by NEC (Bell’s stage II or III), and/or by spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) versus healthy controls.

Metabolomic profiling of intrauterine growth-restricted preterm infants: a matched case-control study.

Background: The biochemical variations occurring in intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), when a fetus is unable to achieve its genetically determined potential, are not fully understood. The aim of this study is to compare the urinary metabolomic profile between IUGR and non-IUGR very preterm infants to investigate the biochemical adaptations of neonates affected by early-onset-restricted intrauterine growth.

Methods: Neonates born <32 weeks of gestation admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were enrolled in this prospective matched case-control study.

Neither Incretin or Amino Acid Responses, nor Casein Content, Account for the Equal Insulin Response Following Iso-Lactose Loads of Natural Human and Cow Milk in Healthy Young Adults.

Human milk contains <50% less protein (casein) than cow milk, but is equally effective in insulin secretion despite lower postingestion hyperaminoacidemia. Such potency of human milk might be modulated either by incretins (glucagon-like polypeptide-1,GLP-1); glucose-inhibitory-polypeptide, GIP), and/or by milk casein content. Healthy volunteers of both sexes were fed iso-lactose loads of two low-protein milks, i.

DHA turnover in pregnant women using the natural abundance variation of C: a pilot study.

The importance of DHA intake to support fetal development and maternal health is well established. In this pilot study we applied the natural abundance approach to determine the contribution of 200 mg/day of DHA supplement to the plasma DHA pool in 19 healthy pregnant women on a free diet.Women received DHA, from pregnancy week 20 until delivery, from an algal source (N=13, Algae group) or from fish oil (N=6, Fish group) with slightly different content of 13C.

Providing the Best Parenteral Nutrition before and after Surgery for NEC: Macro and Micronutrients Intakes.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the main gastrointestinal emergency of preterm infants for whom bowel rest and parenteral nutrition (PN) is essential. Despite the improvements in neonatal care, the incidence of NEC remains high (11% in preterm newborns with a birth weight <1500 g) and up to 20−50% of cases still require surgery. In this narrative review, we report how to optimize PN in severe NEC requiring surgery.

A survival analysis of cuffed tunneled silicon central venous catheters in children affected by short bowel syndrome: A lesson from the past.

Background: Tunneled central venous catheters (CVC) are crucial in the management of children affected by short bowel syndrome (SBS). This work aims to investigate the outcomes of tunneled CVC and to identify factors influencing their survival.

Methods: All the children diagnosed with SBS and undergone a procedure of insertion of a tunneled CVC from 2010 to 2019 were included.

Children's Nutritional Rehabilitation Program in Beira, Mozambique: A Retrospective Study.

Malnutrition is still a major public health issue in sub-Saharan Africa and Mozambique. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the adherence to the nutritional rehabilitation program (NRP) and its impact on the growth of malnourished children in Beira, Mozambique. The secondary aim was to verify the prevalence of HIV infection in malnourished children at the time of admission to the NRP.

Results of an International Survey on Feeding Management in Infants With Short Bowel Syndrome-Associated Intestinal Failure.

Objectives: Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a complex and rare condition (incidence 1200/100,000 live births) that requires a multidisciplinary team approach to management. In January 2019, the first European Reference Network on Rare and Inherited Congenital Anomalies (ERNICA) Intestinal Failure (IF) workshop was held. Several questions about the strategies used in managing IF associated with SBS were devised.

Chorioamnionitis alters lung surfactant lipidome in newborns with respiratory distress syndrome.

Background: Chorioamnionitis is associated with preterm delivery and morbidities; its role in lung disease is controversial. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of chorioamnionitis on metabolite and lipid profiles of epithelial lining fluid in preterm newborns with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).

Methods: The study involved 30 newborns with RDS, born from mothers with or without histological chorioamnionitis (HCA): HCA+, N = 10; HCA-, N = 20.

Optimizing Nutritional Strategies to Prevent Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Growth Failure after Bowel Resection.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), the first cause of short bowel syndrome (SBS) in the neonate, is a serious neonatal gastrointestinal disease with an incidence of up to 11% in preterm newborns less than 1500 g of birth weight. The rate of severe NEC requiring surgery remains high, and it is estimated between 20-50%. Newborns who develop SBS need prolonged parenteral nutrition (PN), experience nutrient deficiency, failure to thrive and are at risk of neurodevelopmental impairment.

Diet in pregnant women that delivered prematurely and preterm newborn's bone status.

Objectives: Inadequate maternal dietary pattern has been associated to negative pregnancy and fetal outcomes. With this study, we aimed to evaluate the adequacy of diet in pregnant women that delivered prematurely and its possible correlations with bone status of preterm newborns.

Study Design: We prospectively enrolled women who delivered prematurely (≤than 34 gestational weeks) and their newborns (Neonatal Intensive Care, University Hospital of Padova) from January 2017 to May 2018.

Intrauterine Growth Restriction: New Insight from the Metabolomic Approach.

Recognizing intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a matter of great concern because this condition can significantly affect the newborn's short- and long-term health. Ever since the first suggestion of the "thrifty phenotype hypothesis" in the last decade of the 20th century, a number of studies have confirmed the association between low birth weight and cardiometabolic syndrome later in life. During intrauterine life, the growth-restricted fetus makes a number of hemodynamic, metabolic, and hormonal adjustments to cope with the adverse uterine environment, and these changes may become permanent and irreversible.

Maternal and placental risk factors associated with the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and its severity.

Background/purpose: Antenatal factors play an important role in NEC. This study aimed to identify antenatal risk factors associated with the development of NEC, the role of the placental alterations, and the presence of prenatal signs predisposing to a severe NEC.

Materials/methods: Data of NEC patients including antenatal findings [preeclampsia, diabetes, cholestasis, abnormal antenatal umbilical artery flow (AAUF), clinical chorioamnionitis (CC), and histology of placentas] were compared to unaffected cases between 2002 and 2016 in a single center.

Surfactant Components and Tracheal Aspirate Inflammatory Markers in Preterm Infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

In 93 preterm infants ≤32 weeks of gestational age and 12 control infants, epithelial lining fluid disaturated-phosphatidylcholine, surfactant protein A and B, albumin, and myeloperoxidase activity were assessed after intubation and before exogenous surfactant administration. We found that disaturated-phosphatidylcholine, surfactant protein B, and myeloperoxidase were significantly higher in preterms with chorioamnionitis.

Plasma Phytosterol Half-Life and Levels Are Increased in Very Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants with Parenteral Nutrition-Associated Cholestasis.

Parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis (PNAC) has been linked to plasma accumulation of phytosterols in infants receiving vegetable-oil-based lipid emulsions (LE). To date, information on the ability of infants with PNAC to metabolize intravenous (IV) phytosterols has been very limited. We characterized plasma phytosterol half-life in very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants with PNAC.

Neonatal independent predictors of severe NEC.

Purpose: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe neonatal disease. The present study aimed to identify factors predisposing the development of severe forms of NEC.

Methods: This retrospective study examined NEC patients in a single centre between 2002 and 2015.