Procalcitonin as a marker of nosocomial infections in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Objective: To determine accuracy of procalcitonin concentrations for diagnosing nosocomial infections in critically ill neonates.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Neonatal intensive care unit of a teaching hospital.

Ureaplasma urealyticum as a cause of pneumonia in preterm infants: analysis of the white cell response.

The tracheal isolation of Ureaplasma urealyticum from critically ill infants was investigated to determine if the organism was associated with an inflammatory response. Twenty nine neonates consecutively admitted for acute respiratory disease, with birthweights of < 1301 g and no evidence of viral, chlamydial, or bacterial infections, were identified. Culture results for ureaplasmas were correlated with white cell counts and clinical and radiographic features.

Yersinia enterocolitica infection in pregnant mice and their offspring.

In order to investigate the susceptibility to Yersinia enterocolitica infection before and during pregnancy, and the potential vertical transmission to the offspring, female adult mice were intravenously inoculated with 3 x 10(4) CFU of Y enterocolitica either 7 days before conception or on day 8 of pregnancy. Infection was assessed by determining the number of bacterial counts in spleen of mothers, entire body of fetuses, placentas, and spleen of newborns. Mice challenged 7 days before pregnancy had cured at the time of mating.