Theoretical rationality and practical rationality are, respectively, properties of an individual's belief system and decision system. While reasoning about instrumental actions complies with practical rationality, understanding communicative actions complies with the principle of relevance. Section 2 reviews the evidence showing that young infants can reason about an agent's instrumental action ...

Infant sibling studies have been at the vanguard of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) research over the past decade, providing important new knowledge about the earliest emerging signs of ASD and expanding our understanding of the developmental course of this complex disorder. Studies focused on siblings of children with ASD also ...

Vitamin D deficiency in mothers and infants is a global health disorder despite recognition that it is preventable. Recent data support the theory that vitamin D deficiency in adults and children may increase the risk of infections and auto-immune diseases. In most cases, vitamin D deficiency is caused by sunlight ...

Glutamine is a conditionally essential amino acid. Endogenous biosynthesis may be insufficient for tissue needs in states of metabolic stress. Evidence exists that glutamine supplementation improves clinical outcomes in critically ill adults. It has been suggested that glutamine supplementation may also benefit preterm infants. To determine the effects of glutamine ...

Although a healthy, varied diet should be sufficient for the majority, certain population groups are at risk of micronutrient deficiencies, particularly young women of childbearing age, whose diets are commonly micronutrient poor and whose requirements increase peri-conceptually and throughout pregnancy and lactation. Infants and young children are also vulnerable to ...

Background: Addition of probiotics to infant formula may positively affect immune function in nonexclusively breastfed infants. This study aimed to investigate the effect of infant starter formula containing the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subspecies lactis (Bb12) on intestinal immunity and inflammation. Methods: Six-week-old healthy, full-term infants (n = 172) were enrolled ...

Inter-individual variation in patterns of DNA methylation at birth can be explained by the influence of environmental, genetic and stochastic factors. This study investigates the genetic and non-genetic determinants of variation in DNA methylation in human infants. Given its central role in provision of methyl groups for DNA methylation, this ...

Assisted conception is becoming an increasingly more common treatment option for women and couples who experience fertility problems. Links have been made in the literature between assisted conception and a greater incidence of pregnancy or birth complications, low birth weight or premature babies, and babies with congenital abnormalities. In addition, ...

Objective  Intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) is a malaria control strategy currently recommended by WHO for implementation at scale in Africa, consisting of administration of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) coupled with routine immunizations offered to children under 1 year. In this study, we analysed IPTi acceptability by communities and health staff. Methods  ...

To determine the effects of acetaminophen and axillary temperature responses on infant sleep duration after immunization. We conducted a prospective, randomized controlled trial to compare the sleep of 70 infants monitored by using ankle actigraphy for 24 hours before and after their first immunization series at ∼2 months of age. ...

Abstract Objective: To prospectively investigate the potential role of the lectin pathway of complement in intrauterine-growth-restriction (IUGR, associated with impaired immunocompetence and increased risk for neonatal infections), by determining cord blood concentrations of mannose-binding lectin (MBL), H-ficolin and L-ficolin (important mediators of neonatal innate immunity) in IUGR and appropriate-for-gestational-age-(AGA) pregnancies. ...

Transmission of cytomegalovirus (CMV) via breast milk can lead to severe acute illness in very low-birth-weight (VLBW) preterm infants. Although the majority of CMV-seropositive women shed CMV in milk, symptomatic postnatal infection of VLBW infants occurs infrequently, suggesting that virologic or immunologic factors in milk may be associated with the ...

Neonatal sepsis is a major cause of death and complications despite antibiotic treatment. Effective adjunctive treatments are needed. Newborn infants are relatively deficient in endogenous immunoglobulin. Meta-analyses of trials of intravenous immune globulin for suspected or proven neonatal sepsis suggest a reduced rate of death from any cause, but the ...

Aim: Nutritional vitamin B(12) deficiency in infants may occur because the maternal diet contains inadequate animal products. Clinical presentations of the infants who had nutritional vitamin B(12) deficiency were analyzed in this study. Subjects and Methods: Patients with nutritional vitamin B(12) deficiency were enrolled in the study between 2003 and ...

Objective:The objectives of this study are to determine immunization rates at discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) among infants 2 months of age and above and to evaluate risk factors for underimmunization.Study Design:A retrospective cohort study was performed for infants in six NICUs in the Northern California Kaiser ...

Summary.  In infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers, failure after passive-active immunization still occurs. The role of maternal hepatitis B DNA level and other risk factors in this setting remains unclear. This study retrospectively evaluated virologic and other risk factors associated with immunoprophylaxis failure in infants born ...

Purpose: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of severe respiratory tract infection in infants. The aim was to identify host defence components in nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) from infants with RSV infection and to study the expression of the novel 25 kDa innate immunity protein SPLUNC1. Experimental Design: ...

BACKGROUND: Intrapartum colonization with Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) is a rare but important risk factor for severe courses of early-onset sepsis (EOS) in the newborn, as underlined in the case of a preterm infant born after 32 weeks of gestation described here. One potential explanation could be an immature immune response ...

With few exceptions, it is currently recommended that all premature infants should receive routine childhood vaccines at the same chronologic age as term infants. Thus, neonatal nurses need to stay current on the recommendations for immunizations commonly used in the NICU setting. It is important for nurses to provide information ...

Essential nutritive and immunological ingredients abundantly present in breastmilk make it the choice infant nutrition. The uniqueness of mother's milk, in contrast to most therapeutics and immunizations, lies in its potential to adapt itself to the requirements of the infant so that timely immune defenses are tapped from its constituents ...

It has been unequivocally proven that human breast milk is the ideal source of nutrition for infants. However, mothers of preterm infants face a number of barriers to providing sufficient milk volume to their babies, who are at risk for developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Donated milk, distributed through milk banks, ...

Objective: To determine whether parental characteristics affect estimates of best interests and intervention decisions for preterm infants. Design and Methods: The study consisted of an anonymous questionnaire given to nurses, physicians, and students. The study included scenarios of 3 sets of parents, including a 16-year-old teenager, a couple who were ...

Vitamin B(12) or cobalamin deficiency, a rare clinical entity in pediatric age, is found most exclusively in breastfed infants, whose mothers are strictly vegetarian non-supplemented or with pernicious anaemia. In this article, the authors describe a 10-month-old infant admitted for vomiting, refusal to eat and prostration. The infant was exclusively ...

Dorsal hood prepuce is a common congenital anomaly of the penis. Neoplasms of the prepuce are very rarely seen in children. We present an interesting case of a penile myofibroma encountered during circumcision of a dorsal hood foreskin in an 8-month-old infant.

 The aim was to evaluate growth and breastfeeding up to 18 months corrected age (CA) among preterm appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants whose mothers initiated breastfeeding during the infants' hospital stay.  One hundred and twenty-seven preterm AGA infants with a median birth weight of 2320 (769-3250) g and gestational age ...

Both bone mass by densitometry and speed of sound (SOS) from quantitative ultrasound of the bone (QUS) are directly related to bone strength. However, reports of lower bone mass but higher SOS in neonates with intrauterine growth deficit lead to apparent contradictory conclusions on bone strength. Three groups of infants ...

This is a case report of an infant with bony growths and pain. Differential diagnosis of this chief complaint and the management of the suspected condition are discussed. This case was presented at the Section of Emergency Medicine Meeting at the National Conference and Exhibition of the American Academy of ...

This cross-sectional study set out to determine the prevalence, pattern and risk factors for undernutrition during early infancy in a setting with substantial non-hospital births against the backdrop of limited evidence on nutritional status in the first three months of life based on an exclusively breast-fed reference population. Undernutrition based ...

Infants consuming maize-based foods are at a high risk of exposure to fumonisins. This study explored the association between exposure of fumonisins from maize and growth retardation among infants in Tanzania. Mothers of 215 infants consented for their children to participate in this study. We estimated maize intake for each ...

Somatic growth pattern in infants undergoing staged palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (Norwood procedure [NP], stage 2 palliation [S2P], and Fontan procedure [FP]) during transition toward a more energy efficient series circulation is not well understood. We sought to determine growth pattern in these infants and factors influencing it. ...

Little is known about whether patterns of early growth are associated with altered respiratory and immune development. This study relates prenatal and infant growth patterns to wheeze and atopy at age 3 years. Birth weight and length were measured in 1548 children born at term. Conditional fetal head and abdominal circumference ...

To find clinical factors that are associated with poor outcome (death and brain damage) in premature intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) infants. A retrospective study was performed to compare the incidence of poor outcome between 45 IUGR and 203 appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants born before 30 weeks of gestation. Foetal tests included ...

To evaluate the neurodevelopmental outcome at 12 months' corrected age in preterm infants with and without severe intrauterine growth restriction. This prospective follow-up study included 37 infants with severe intrauterine growth restriction and 36 appropriate-for-gestational-age infants born between 26 and 34 weeks. Neonatal and infant data were prospectively recorded. Infants ...

Transient activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis is observed in boys during the first months of life. Previous research suggests increased HPG axis activation in premature infants, but the physiological significance of this has not been studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the differences in reproductive hormone ...

Aim:  We aimed to study the association between day care attendance and changes in the height, weight and weight/height ratio over a 6-month period. Methods:  Data were retrieved from three maternal and child health care centres. Parents were asked to fill a short questionnaire regarding the infant/toddler life style, the ...

Background: Neonates born after intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) show higher mortality and morbidity and greater feeding problems postnatally. Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that IUGR affects the intestinal structure, function, microbiology and proinflammatory cytokine expression during the immediate neonatal period. Methods: We firstly compared organ weights and intestinal digestive enzyme ...

The purpose of this work was to assess the effects of prematurity and intrauterine growth restriction on spinal cord synapses using H-reflex. 33 babies were investigated at birth. 14 were full term appropriate for gestational age (FT AGA), 10 were full term intrauterine growth restricted (FT IUGR) and 9 were ...

The aim of this case-control study was to explore the relation between maternal and infant angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity and its genotypes in uncomplicated term pregnancies (> or =37 weeks) and pregnancies with growth-restricted infants (birthweight at or below the 5th centile). Venous cord bloods and maternal venous samples ...

A high rate of infant growth may be associated with adult cardiovascular disease. We investigated factors associated with infant weight growth in a large sample from the recently transitioned population of Hong Kong. We used a nonlinear shape invariant model with random effects among 5949 term, singletons (77% follow-up) from ...

Preterm infants require considerably more protein to achieve normal intrauterine growth rates than is commonly fed to them during their first postnatal days. Continuing protein nutrition to maintain normal growth rates often is not achieved until several weeks after birth. Most very preterm infants do not receive the protein necessary ...

To examine the relative importance of antenatal and perinatal variables on short- and long-term outcome of preterm growth restricted fetuses with umbilical artery (UA) Doppler abnormalities. This was a cohort study of 180 neonates with birth weight < 10(th) percentile, gestational age at delivery < 34 weeks and abnormal Doppler ...

Objective:This study investigates the effectiveness of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) on neurobehavioral and electrophysiological functioning of preterm infants with severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).Study Design:Thirty IUGR infants, 28 to 33 weeks gestational age, randomized to standard care (control/C=18), or NIDCAP (experimental/E=12), were assessed at 2 ...

CONTEXT: Constitutional advancement of growth (CAG), a.k.a. early growth acceleration, refers to a growth pattern that is characterized by growth acceleration soon after birth, reaching a zenith centile in the first 2 to 4 yr of life and followed by normalization of the growth rate until the onset of puberty, ...

Tetraploidy is a very rare finding in live-born infants. Nine infants with tetraploidy have been reported earlier. The phenotype is of variable severity and consists of prenatal and/or postnatal growth retardation, developmental delay, mental retardation, dysmorphic features, and skeletal and internal abnormalities. Here we present a girl aged 2 years ...

BACKGROUND: Growth velocity in the first months of postnatal life has been associated with later overweight and obesity. OBJECTIVE: We analyzed prenatal and postnatal factors in association with weight, length, and growth velocities in the first 3 mo of life. DESIGN: We estimated weight, length, and instantaneous weight- and length-growth ...

To determine risk factors and adverse perinatal outcomes including nutritional status in the first week of life for newborns with intrauterine growth restriction-low birth weight (IUGR-LBW) in settings lacking facilities for routine intrauterine growth monitoring. A cross-sectional study of all infants in an inner-city hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. IUGR-LBW was ...

We sought to identify risk factors for congenital microcephaly in extremely low gestational age newborns. Demographic, clinical, and placental characteristics of 1445 infants born before the 28th week were gathered and evaluated for their relationship with congenital microcephaly. Almost 10% of newborns (n = 138), rather than the expected 2.2%, ...

Previous studies suggest that prenatal methamphetamine exposure inhibits fetal growth. We examined neonatal growth effects of prenatal methamphetamine exposure in a prospective cohort study. After adjusting for covariates, exposed neonates had a higher incidence of being small for gestational age than unexposed neonates.

Our aim was to evaluate the growth-promoting effect of growth hormone (GH) treatment in infants with chronic renal failure (CRF) and persistent growth retardation despite adequate nutritional and metabolic management. The study design included randomized, parallel groups in an open, multicenter trial comparing GH (0.33 mg/kg per wk) with nontreatment ...

Preterm Infants' survival has greatly increased in the last few decades thanks to the improvement in obstetrical and neonatal care. These neonates constitute the large majority of the population in neonatal intensive care units. The correct evaluation of postnatal growth of these babies is nowadays of primary concern, although the ...