Objective. Evaluating the efficacy and safety of arginine and glutamine supplementation in decreasing the incidence of NEC among preterm neonates. Methods. Prospective case-control study done on 75 preterm neonates ≤34 weeks, divided equally into L-arginine group receiving enteral L-arginine, glutamine group receiving enteral glutamine, and control group. Serum L-arginine and glutamine levels w...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether longitudinal measurements of fecal S100A12, a fecal marker of intestinal inflammation, can identify very low birth weight infants at risk for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). STUDY DESIGN This prospective study included 145 preterm infants with birth weight <1500 g. Meconium and stool samples (n = 843) were collected prospectively on alternate days for 4 weeks, ...

INTRODUCTION The incidence of gastrointestinal food allergy (FA) in neonates is increasing. Despite this, cases of patients with gastrointestinal FA who develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) requiring laparotomy are extremely rare. PRESENTATION OF CASE We describe two cases that presented with bloody stool with a probable diagnosis of FA as eosinophils were positive in the stool at onset. B...

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most devastating gastrointestinal disease of prematurity. Although the precise cause is not well understood, the main risk factors thought to contribute to NEC include prematurity, formula feeding, and bacterial colonization. Recent evidence suggests that NEC develops as a consequence of intestinal hyper-responsiveness to microbial ligands upon bacterial c...

INTRODUCTION Infrared thermal imaging (thermography) is a non-invasive method to measure skin temperature. The primary aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of thermography for the assessment of abdominal skin temperature in extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infants, with secondary aims to compare abdominal and thoracic skin temperature, and to explore potential relationships between ...

The p.Thr1406Asn (rs1047891) polymorphism of the carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) gene has been linked to functional consequences affecting the downstream availability of the nitric oxide precursor L-arginine. L-arginine concentrations are decreased in preterm infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). In this multicenter prospective study, we investigated the association of the p.Thr...

This Master thesis presents the design and implementation of AskMe, a new type of service for mobile telephony, within the area of ubiquitous computing. It is a novel approach to collaborative information retrieval, based on using the context of a community to discover and enquire the most qualified experts than can answer the questions of a subscriber. The work is focused on privacy issues, di...

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in premature infants. During NEC pathogenesis, bacteria are able to penetrate innate immune defenses and invade the intestinal epithelial layer, causing subsequent inflammation and tissue necrosis. Normally, Paneth cells appear in the intestinal crypts during the first trimester of human pregnancy. Paneth cells consti...

INTRODUCTION This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) in very low birth weight (VLBW; weight < 1,501 g) infants in Malaysian neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). METHODS This was a retrospective study based on data collected in a standardised format for all VLBW infants born in 2007 (n = 3,601) and admitted to 31 NICUs in Malaysian public...

The nuclear phase of herpesvirus replication is regulated through the formation of regulatory multi-component protein complexes. Viral genomic replication is followed by nuclear capsid assembly, DNA encapsidation and nuclear egress. The latter has been studied intensely pointing to the formation of a viral core nuclear egress complex (NEC) that recruits a multimeric assembly of viral and cellul...