Early human development
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Early human development · Oct 2006
Long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of preterm children with unilateral cerebral lesions diagnosed by neonatal ultrasound.
Little information is available on long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of preterm infants with unilateral cerebral lesions detected by neonatal cranial ultrasound. This study aims to investigate the long-term outcome in a cohort of very preterm infants with unilateral cerebral lesions acquired in the perinatal period. ⋯ In this cohort of preterm infants with unilateral cerebral lesions, verbal function was preserved over non-verbal function independently of the side of lesion. Furthermore, the results suggest that the neurodevelopmental outcome of children with left-sided lesions is less favourable than that of children with right-sided lesions.
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Infants in neonatal intensive care (NICU infants) are often cared for in a stressful environment that includes potentially painful or stressful interventions. The aim was to investigate whether NICU infants have different pattern of stress and pain responses than healthy newborns when challenged by a non-painful everyday care routine. ⋯ NICU infants have higher baseline salivary cortisol than healthy full-term newborns. There is a change in baseline cortisol by age in both groups. Full-term infants as well as NICU infants show an increased pain response to a standardised nappy change.
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Early human development · Feb 2006
Data collection from very low birthweight infants in a geographical region: methods, costs, and trends in mortality, admission rates, and resource utilisation over a five-year period.
1. To determine the survival and morbidity of infants at discharge with a birthweight of less than 1500 g in the geographically defined population of East Anglia. 2. To demonstrate a cost-effective method of regional data collection. 3. To determine whether there were any changes in the demand for neonatal care. ⋯ It is possible to collect useful data from the neonatal period at a reasonable cost from a geographically defined population. This information was used for informing clinicians, counselling parents and in the era of managed clinical networks will be useful in guiding the provision of effective health care resources.
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Early human development · Dec 2005
Withholding treatment, withdrawing treatment, and palliative care in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Advances in pharmacology and technology have sharply reduced mortality of extremely preterm infants at the expense of an increasing number of survivors with handicaps and disabilities. The EURONIC study among neonatal intensive care units across Europe demonstrates that treatment of infants born at the limits of viability raises challenging ethical, moral, legal, and emotional dilemmas among neonatologists, nurses, and parents alike. ⋯ Perinatal audit and after-care of the family complete the process. The Dutch viewpoint and practice guidelines on withholding and withdrawing of neonatal intensive care are presented.
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Early human development · Oct 2005
The biologic error in gestational length related to the use of the first day of last menstrual period as a proxy for the start of pregnancy.
In a large unselected population of normal spontaneous pregnancies, to estimate the biologic variation of the interval from the first day of the last menstrual period to start of pregnancy, and the biologic variation of gestational length to delivery; and to estimate the random error of routine ultrasound assessment of gestational age in mid-second trimester. ⋯ Even when the last menstrual period is reliable, the biologic variation of the time from last menstrual period to the real start of pregnancy is substantial, and must be taken into account. Reliable information about the first day of the last menstrual period is not equivalent with reliable information about the start of pregnancy.