Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition articles from November 2002

Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition archives from November 2002

Hypernatraemia in the first few days: is the incidence rising? Hypernatraemic dehydration in breast fed infants needs to be resolved so that mothers are not discouraged from breast feeding. (Hypernatraemia).
November 1, 2002... Hypernatraemic dehydration is a potentially lethal condition and is associated with cerebral oedema, intracranial haemorrhage, hydrocephalus, and gangrene. (1) The infant's plasma sodium concentration is raised predominantly because of loss...

Bench marking and performance management in neonatal care: easier said than done! Methods of monitoring perinatal services are reviewed. (Controversy: Bench Marking).
November 1, 2002... It seems now to be a "given" that all medical practitioners should be able to demonstrate the quality of what they do (performance management). Similarly there is an expectation among the public that the medical services available to them...

Neonatal thyroid disorders: hypothyroxinaemia, which is common in the preterm infant, and thyrotoxicosis, which is rare, are important neonatal thyroid disorders. Their causes and treatment are discussed. (Review).
November 1, 2002... Thyroid hormones are important for energy metabolism, the metabolism of nutrients and inorganic ions, thermogenesis, and for stimulation of growth and development of various tissues at critical periods including the central nervous system and...

Extreme prematurity in the UK and Denmark: population differences in viability. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Background: Previous studies comparing different models of neonatal intensive care have generally not been population based. The objective of this study was to compare the perinatal services of two total populations. Methods:...

A confidential enquiry into cases of neonatal encephalopathy. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Objectives: To assess the quality of care and timing of possible asphyxial events for infants with neonatal encephalopathy; to compare the quality of care findings with those relating to the deaths from the Confidential Enquiry into...

Which to measure, systemic or organ blood flow? Middle cerebral artery and superior vena cava flow in very preterm infants. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aim: To describe, in very preterm babies, postnatal changes in measures of middle cerebral artery (MCA) Doppler variables. To relate these peripheral measures to echocardiographic measures of systemic blood flow and ductal shunting, and to...

Intracranial pressure and cerebral blood flow velocity in preterm infants with posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aim: To determine the volume of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that should be tapped in preterm infants with posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation as guided by intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV). Methods:...

Cerebral tissue oxygenation index in very premature infants. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aim: To describe normal values of the cerebral tissue oxygenation index (TOI) in premature infants. Methods: TOI was measured by spatially resolved spectroscopy in preterm infants on the first 3 days of life. Infants with an abnormal...

Association between breast feeding and growth: the Boyd-Orr cohort study. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Objective: To investigate the association of breast feeding with height and body mass index in childhood and adulthood. Design: Historical cohort study, based on long term follow up of the Carnegie (Boyd-Orr) survey of diet and health in...

Treatment requirements of infants with rhesus isoimmunisation within a geographically defined area. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Objective: To provide population based data on the treatment requirements of infants with rhesus isoimmunisation. Setting: Twenty nine hospitals in South Thames in which 81 119 deliveries occurred between February 1999 and January 2000....

Impact of community neonatal services: a multicentre survey. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Objectives: To explore the impact of a community neonatal service on high risk infant survivors in the first year of life. Design: Retrospective multicentre survey. Postal questionnaires were sent to selected parents. Setting: Thirty...

Ultrasound of the thyroid gland in the newborn: normative data. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Objective: To establish reference ranges for thyroid length, breadth, depth, and volume in healthy term Scottish infants. Design: Prospective observational study of 100 (49 male) neonates. Length, breadth, and depth were measured, and the...

Endothelin 1 concentrations in infants with meconium stained amniotic fluid. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... Plasma endothelin 1 concentrations were determined in infants with meconium stained amniotic fluid. Plasma endothelin 1 concentration in the study group (5.23 pg/ml) was statistically higher than that in the control group (1.12 pg/ml). Cord...

Dose regimen for vancomycin not needing serum peak levels? (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aim: To determine the safety, efficacy, and need to measure peak serum vancomycin concentrations in a neonatal population using a standard vancomycin dosage regimen. Method: A total of 101 infants who were admitted to a regional neonatal...

Detection of hyperoxaemia in neonates: data from three new pulse oximeters. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aim: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of three newly developed pulse oximeters in the detection of hyperoxaemia, defined as an arterial partial pressure of oxygen (Pa[O.sub.2] of > 80 mm Hg. Methods: Sp[O.sub.2] readings from...

Diagnosis of Down's syndrome in neonates. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... The results of karyotyping for Down's syndrome in neonates were surveyed. From local data 36%, and from a national questionnaire, 32% of such samples were negative for Down's syndrome. To examine this, a subset of notes was reviewed for...

Repeated antenatal intracranial haemorrhage: magnetic resonance imaging in a fetus with alloimmune thrombocytopenia. (Case Report).
November 1, 2002... Magnetic resonance imaging was used to show repeated antenatal intracranial haemorrhage in a fetus with alloimmune thrombocytopenia. CASE REPORT A healthy 23 year old primigravida was referred by her midwife at 34 weeks gestational...

A case of neonatal stridor. (Case Report).
November 1, 2002... A case is reported of a retropharyngeal abscess in a neonate who presented with increasing stridor since birth. Group B streptococcus was cultured from the abscess contents and the maternal birth tract. ********** A 13 day old baby...

Neonatal pulmonary arteriovenous malformation in hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia. (Case Report).
November 1, 2002... A 3 week old infant presented with persistent hypoxaemia and was diagnosed with pulmonary arteriovenous malformations. Her family history was positive for hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia. She was treated successfully with coil...

Natal and neonatal teeth. (Images in Neonatal Medicine).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The incidence of natal and neonatal teeth varies from 1:1000 to 1:30 000. (1) There are no reports in extreme preterm babies. A baby born at 24 weeks gestation in our neonatal unit had one natal tooth at the region of the lower central...

George Armstrong MD (1719-1789) and his dispensary for the infant poor. (Perinatal Lessons from the Past).
November 1, 2002... George Armstrong published one of the first textbooks on children's diseases in 1767 and two years later opened in London the first dispensary/hospital in the world for sick children. He introduced clinical teaching and may be regarded as the...

Letters. (PostScript).(Aspiration pneumonia in association with oral vitamin K)(Hypothesis waiting for proof: unwrapping neonates for transfer)(Diuretics in CLD, chronic lung disease of prematurity )(Neonatal sepsis in Peshawar)(Effect of head up tilting on oxygenation)(Effect of salt supplementation of newborn premature infants on neurodevelopmental outcome at 10-13 years of age )
November 1, 2002... If you have a burning desire to respond to a paper published in ADC or F&N, why not make use of our "rapid response" option? Log on to our website (www.archdischild.com), find the paper that interests you, click on "full text" and send...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
November 1, 2002... We would like to apologise for an error that occured in the paper Oxygen therapy for infants with chronic lung disease by S Kotecha and J Allen (Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2002;87:F11-F14). The following sentence, under the heading...