Uncoordinated sucking patterns in preterm infants are associated with abnormal general movements.

Objective: To examine the association between sucking patterns and the quality of fidgety movements in preterm infants.

Study Design: We studied the sucking patterns and fidgety movements of 44 preterm infants (gestational age <35 weeks) longitudinally from 34 weeks' postmenstrual age up to 14 weeks postterm. We used the Neonatal Oral-Motor Assessment Scale during feeding and scored the sucking patterns as normal or abnormal.

Functional outcomes and participation in young adulthood for very preterm and very low birth weight infants: the Dutch Project on Preterm and Small for Gestational Age Infants at 19 years of age.

Objective: Young adults who were born very preterm or with a very low birth weight remain at risk for physical and neurodevelopmental problems and lower academic achievement scores. Data, however, are scarce, hospital based, mostly done in small populations, and need additional confirmation.

Methods: Infants who were born at < 32 weeks of gestation and/or with a birth weight of < 1500 g in The Netherlands in 1983 (Project on Preterm and Small for Gestational Age Infants) were reexamined at age 19.

Fetal thrombotic vasculopathy in the placenta: a thrombophilic connection between pregnancy complications and neonatal thrombosis?

Objective: Fetal thrombotic vasculopathy (FTV) has been related to pregnancy complications and neonatal thrombosis separately. We assessed whether a relationship existed in our population of women with neonates who were admitted to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). In addition, the presence of thrombophilic factors in children and parents was investigated.

Activation of the inflammatory reaction within minutes after birth in ventilated preterm lambs with neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.

To study the activation of the inflammatory reaction within minutes after birth, we measured parameters of inflammation before and immediately after birth. To assess whether respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) or birth itself initiates activation, we compared preterm ventilated lambs with term nonventilated lambs. Preterm lambs were delivered by cesarean section at 132 days gestational age (term 145 days) and were ventilated by conventional ventilation (n = 9).