BACKGROUND: Subglottic haemangioma causes progressive and life-threatening stridor, typically manifesting at age 2-3 months. Standard diagnosis is by laryngoscopy. Larynx sonography is rarely used but allows assessment of the presence and extension of a mass that impinges on the subglottic airway. The additional use of colour Doppler enables demonstration of the ...

One of the central questions that has occupied those disciplines concerned with human development is the nature of continuities and discontinuities from birth to maturity. The amygdala has a central role in the processing of novelty and emotion in the brain. Although there is considerable variability among individuals in the ...

A top priority in the field of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is the development of precise early diagnostic tools that can be completed with minimal time and training. We report on the convergent and divergent validity of the Baby and Infant Screen for Children with aUtIsm Traits (BISCUIT), specifically the ...

Arousal-based physiological changes influence acoustic features of vocalizations in mammals. In particular, nonlinear phenomena are thought to convey information about the caller's arousal state. This hypothesis was tested in the infant African elephant (Loxodonta africana) roar, a call type produced in situations of arousal and distress. Ninety-two percent of roars ...

Introduction: Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) is a pro-thrombotic and anti-angiogenic glycoprotein expressed in the placenta. A functional single nucleotide polymorphism in the TSP-1 gene (TSP-1 A2210G) is a risk factor for familial premature myocardial infarction. Small for gestational age (SGA) infants are at increased risk of coronary artery disease in adult life ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether ibuprofen displaces bilirubin from albumin in preterm infants. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 34 preterm neonates (<32 weeks gestation) treated by ibuprofen (10-5-5 mg/kg) were included in this prospective open-label study. Total bilirubin (TB), unbound bilirubin (UB), and ibuprofen concentrations were measured before, 1 hour, and ...

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the contributions of maternal bids for joint attention, relationship quality, and infant characteristics, to individual differences in infants' parallel and joint attention. METHOD: Fifty-two 10-month-olds and their mothers were assessed in order to investigate concurrent predictors of infant parallel attention, responding to joint attention, and initiating ...

Objectives: To (1) investigate the current distribution of PTB phenotypes; (2) identify factors associated with spontaneous preterm labour (SPTL), PPROM, and indicated PTB; (3) investigate the relationship of gestational age (ga) with each PTB phenotype. Methods: Retrospective review of all live, singleton births 23(+0) to 36(+6) weeks ga at an ...

OBJECTIVE: Recently our group has found that the correlation between birth weight and placental weight - an index of a balanced feto-placental unit development - is influenced by genetic factors. Since adenylate kinase locus 1 (AK(1)) is a polymorphic enzyme that plays an important role in the synthesis of nucleotides ...

OBJECTIVE: Currently, there are no published data on retinal microvasculature size in human infants born at term. The purpose of this study was to determine the normal retinal microvasculature measurements in human infants born at term with normal birth weight and to compare these results with measurements in children and ...

After reviewing the state of knowledge about the scope and causes of stillbirth (SB) in a special workshop sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the participants determined that there is little guidance regarding the best use of postmortem examination (PM) to ...

The first common genetic factor identified for pediatric asthma by genome-wide association is the chromosome 17q21 locus, harbouring the ORMDL3 gene. ORMDL3 is involved in facilitation of endoplasmic reticulum-mediated inflammatory responses, believed to underlie its asthma association. We investigated associations between the rs7216389 polymorphism in the 17q21 locus affecting ORMDL3 ...

BACKGROUND: Premature neonates often receive red blood cell (RBC) transfusions to improve tissue perfusion and oxygen delivery. Clinical and laboratory indicators used to guide transfusion therapy are inadequate to determine physiologic need with high predictability and transfusions frequently do not result in clinical improvement. The splanchnic-cerebral oxygenation ratio (SCOR) provides ...

In two birth cohort studies with genetic, sensitive parenting, and attachment data of more than 1,000 infants in total, we tested main and interaction effects of candidate genes involved in the dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin systems (DRD4, DRD2, COMT, 5-HTT, OXTR) on attachment security and disorganization. Parenting was assessed using ...

OBJECTIVE:: A voriconazole trough concentration (Ctrough) <1 mg/L is associated with a higher risk of treatment failure. The aim of this work was to describe the probability of not achieving this target concentration in infants and children receiving intravenous voriconazole. METHODS:: Voriconazole trough concentrations obtained during routine therapeutic drug monitoring ...

The authors explored the relationship of cord-maternal antidepressant concentration ratios and maternal depression with perinatal events and preterm birth. The investigators examined 21 mother-infant pairs that had antidepressant exposure during pregnancy. The antidepressants included serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) and nortriptyline (a norepinephrine inhibitor and mild SRI). The mothers were evaluated ...

From birth, infants are exposed to a wealth of emotional information in their interactions. Much research has been done to investigate the development of emotion perception, and factors influencing that development. The current study investigates the role of familiarity on 3.5-month-old infants' generalization of emotional expressions. Infants were assigned to ...

Bifidobacterial population dynamics were investigated by the longitudinal analysis of the dominant population isolated from the feces of young infants. After molecular identification and fingerprinting comparison, clone identity of the consecutive strains belonging to the same species for one individual was performed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The results, obtained from ...

The objective of this study was to establish standard penile size in healthy full-term Turkish newborns and to evaluate the relation between penile and other anthropometric measures. For this prospective study, stretched penile length (SPL) and penile diameter (PD) of live-borns delivered in our hospital between September 2007-December 2008 were ...

Effects of culture-specific experience on musical rhythm perception are evident by 12 months of age, but the role of culture-general rhythm processing constraints during early infancy has not been explored. Using a habituation procedure with 5- and 7-month-old infants, we investigated effects of temporal interval ratio complexity on discrimination of standard ...

Considerable debate exists regarding whether religiousness promotes or impedes greater father involvement in parenting. Our study addresses this issue using a Midwestern longitudinal dataset that tracks the transition to first parenthood for 169 married couples. We focus on performance of the "messier" tasks of infant care. We find little evidence ...

Persistent wheezing, poorly responsive to bronchodilator therapy, raises concerns about the progression of cystic fibrosis-related lung disease. We describe 3 infants with such symptoms who were observed to have primary tracheomalacia. The diagnoses were made using flexible bronchoscopy during spontaneous respiration. Early recognition of this etiology can limit unnecessary investigation ...

Although end-stage renal disease is rare in infants and young children, its development can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality and only through the provision of experienced, multidisciplinary care can a favorable outcome be anticipated. Peritoneal dialysis is the renal replacement modality of choice for this age group and ...

Contrasting results have been reported regarding the phonetic acquisition of bilinguals. A lack of discrimination has been observed for certain native contrasts in 8-month-old Catalan-Spanish bilingual infants (Bosch & Sebastián-Gallés, 2003a), though not in French-English bilingual infants (Burns, Yoshida, Hill & Werker, 2007; Sundara, Polka & Molnar, 2008). At present, ...

Background: Caspofungin is an echinocandin agent with fungicidal activity against Candida species. Objective: To assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of caspofungin relative to amphotericin B in neonates with invasive candidiasis. Patients and Methods: Thirty-two neonates with invasive candidiasis were randomly assigned to receive either caspofungin (n = 15) or amphotericin B ...

Human infants face the formidable challenge of learning the structure of their social environment. Previous research indicates that infants have early-developing representations of intentional agents, and of cooperative social interactions, that help meet that challenge. Here we report five studies with 144 infant participants showing that 10- to 13-month-old, but ...

Despite a prevailing assumption in the developmental literature that changes in continuous quantities (i.e., surface area, duration) are easier to detect than changes in number, very little research has focused on the verity of this assumption. The few studies that have directly examined infants' discriminations of continuous extent have revealed ...

Human infants may be exposed to opiates through placental transfer from an opiate-using mother or through the direct administration of such drugs to relieve pain (e.g., due to illness or neonatal surgery). Infants of many species show physical dependence and tolerance to opiates. The magnitude of tolerance and the nature ...

We report a case of a very fast and intriguing decrease in IgE concentrations after exclusion from the diet of any CM lysate in an unusual clinical presentation of cow's milk allergy in an infant. Analysis of IgE kinetics after allergen elimination suggests rapid cessation of IgE biosynthesis and a ...

To investigate the effect of supplementation with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) in early neonatal life on cognitive functions among human milk fed very low birth weight infants (<1500 g) at 20 months chronological age. Randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled intervention supplementing human milk with 0.5 mL oil (containing 32 ...

Human nasopharynx is often colonized by potentially pathogenic bacteria. Gene polymorphisms in mannose-binding lectin (MBL), toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 have been reported. The present study aimed to investigate possible association between nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization and gene polymorphisms of MBL, TLR2 and TLR4 in healthy infants. From August 2008 ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Functional gastrointestinal dysmotility is a common condition that affects premature infants. Delay in achievement of full enteral nutrition results in dependence on prolonged parenteral nutrition, predisposing to adverse outcomes. Studies in recent years show apparently conflicting results regarding the use of prokinetic agents in preterm infants. This ...

To investigate the relationship between low Apgar score and neonatal mortality in preterm neonates. Infant birth and death certificate data from the US National Center for Health Statistics for 2001-2002 were analysed. Primary outcome was 28-day mortality for 690, 933 neonates at gestational ages 24-36 weeks. Mortality rates were calculated ...

 To study early developmental course in preschool-aged very preterm infants and its association with perinatal risk factors and test-taking behaviour. Methods:  Children born <30 weeks gestation and/or <1000g in the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam were assessed at 24 and 36 months corrected age with the Dutch Bayley Scales of ...

  Is a 1-min Apgar score ≤1 predictive of mortality in resuscitated extremely premature infants?  A retrospective case-control review of all infants with gestational ages < 27 weeks over a 5-year period. All values as median [75% CI].  Of 237 infants, 29 had 1-min Apgar scores ≤1 (Group 1) and ...

Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a common cause of brain damage in the neonatal period. Approximately 10% of births involve some degree of asphyxia, and 1% of these are severe. Current treatment has been limited to supportive measures and the recent use of hypothermia. Beneficial effects of hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) ...

Optimal use of phenobarbital in the neonatal population requires information regarding the drug's pharmacokinetics and the influence of various factors, such as different routes of administration, on the drug's disposition. However, because of sampling restrictions, it is often difficult to perform traditional pharmacokinetic studies in neonates and infants. This study ...

We examined (1) how sitting postural control in infants develops in the anterior-posterior (A/P) and medial-lateral (M/L) directions of sway, and (2) whether this control is already adult-like during the late phase of infant's sitting acquisition. COP data were acquired from 14 healthy infants (from the onset of sitting until ...

Our aim was to develop an age-appropriate measure of early manifestations of aggression. We constructed a questionnaire about normative developmental milestones into which a set of items measuring infants' use of physical force against people and expressed anger were included. These items comprise the Cardiff Infant Contentiousness Scale (CICS). Evidence ...

To assess the effect of an oral (O+O), a tactile/kinesthetic (T/K+T/K), and a combined (O+T/K) intervention on preterm infants' weight gain and motor function and to determine whether the combined O+T/K intervention has an additive/synergistic effect on outcomes. Seventy-five preterm infants were randomized into an O+O intervention consisting of oral ...

Aim:  To explore whether maternal psychosocial factors around delivery are related to development of 2-year-old children. Methods:  Pregnant women going to the hospital for delivery were recruited, and their children were observed at 24 months. A total of 186 mother-child dyads completed the measurement. Self-report data of maternal psychosocial factors around ...

The ability to sit independently is fundamental for function but delayed in infants with cerebral palsy (CP). Studies of interventions directed specifically toward sitting in infants with CP have not been reported. The purpose of this study was to compare 2 interventions for improving sitting postural control in infants with ...

The aim of this study was to analyse the relation between ventricular dilatation at term and neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years corrected age in infants of very low birthweight (VLBW) or very low gestational age (VLGA). A total of 225 VLBW or VLGA infants (121 males, 104 female; mean birthweight ...

The goal was to examine the effectiveness of an early intervention on cognitive and motor outcomes at corrected ages of 3 and 5 years for children with birth weights (BWs) of <2000 g. A randomized controlled trial of a modified version of the Mother-Infant Transaction Program was performed. Outcomes were ...

Relative to the wealth of information in the medical literature regarding developmental outcome for infants who have had cardiac surgery available, few studies specifically detail how those who have undergone major surgery grow and develop. The few published studies tend to be disease specific, making their results difficult to translate ...

To determine the stability of the scores obtained on tests of motor development from birth until school age in healthy, term singletons and to determine if early motor scores are associated with more complex cognitive functions at school age, such as attention and memory. This longitudinal, prospective cohort study included ...

Intrauterine conditions may interfere with foetal brain development. We compared the neurodevelopmental outcome between infants <32 weeks gestational age after maternal preeclampsia or chorioamnionitis and controls. Case-control study on infants with maternal preeclampsia, chorioamnionitis and controls (each n = 33) matched for gestational age. Neurodevelopment at 2 years was assessed ...

Aim:  To trace a reference curve for motor development from birth up to 12 months of corrected chronological age in infants born preterm and low birth weight. Methods:  This is a cross-sectional study with a sample of 308 preterm infants (53% boys) weighing <2500 g at birth. The Alberta Infant Motor Scale ...

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the neurodevelopmental outcome in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). Between June 2004 and September 2007, 41 CDH survivors were prospectively enrolled in an interdisciplinary follow-up program. Neurodevelopmental status was evaluated using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (prior 2006, n ...

The incidences of asthma and obesity have been steadily increasing over the past two decades, with several studies showing a relationship between these conditions. We investigated the influence of higher weight for height (WFH) Z-score on wheezing in infants with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). We reviewed the medical charts ...