OBJECTIVE To compare the time-course of breast milk leptin levels between term and preterm pregnancy. DESIGN Open longitudinal prospective randomised study. METHODS RIA of leptin levels in milk from 33 mothers (term pregnancy: n=24; preterm: n=9) at three postpartum intervals: 2-3 days, 4-5 days and 6 weeks (intervals A, B and C), combined with serum in 23 mothers (term: n=17; preterm: n=6)...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and stress among postpartum Arab mothers of preterm or low birth weight (LBW) infants and to identify maternal characteristics that can predict psychological distress among mothers of preterm infants. METHODS A hospital-based study was conducted. A representative sample of 2,...

To detect differences between late preterm and term infants in the brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER) variables that predispose to neurodevelopmental abnormalities, 36 late preterm infants and 87 term infants were recruited. Data collected with the click level at 70 dB nHL were used for analysis. The latencies of waves I (2.74±0.20 msec vs. 2.74±0.42 msec), III (5.55±0.33 msec vs. 5.53±0...

Iron deficiency anemia is a common problem in newborn infants. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends iron prophylaxis at 4 months of age for term infants. There is no specific recommendation for iron prophylaxis in late-preterm infants. We aimed to establish the optimum time for iron prophylaxis in late-preterm infants. Thirty-eight late-preterm (Group 1) and 38 term (Group 2) infants b...

BACKGROUND Preterm parturition is characterized by innate immune activation and increased proinflammatory cytokine levels. This well established association leads us to hypothesize that preterm delivery is also associated with neonatal T lymphocyte activation and maturation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Cord blood samples were obtained following term, preterm, and deliveries complicated by ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Preterm children, compared with term children, are at increased risk of emotional and behavioral problems (EB-problems). Prevalences of EB-problems seem to vary with degree of prematurity and age at assessment. We therefore assessed individual stability of EB-problems in preterm compared with term children first before school entry and again 1 year after school entry, ...

BACKGROUND Infection and inflammation are important mechanisms leading to preterm birth. Soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) belongs to a family of cell surface receptors that seems to play an important role in fine-tuning the immune response. It has been demonstrated that sTREM-1 is involved in bacterial infection as well as in non-infectious inflammatory conditi...

Preterm birth temporarily disrupts autonomic nervous system (ANS) development, and the long-term impacts of disrupted fetal development are unclear in children. Abnormal cardiac ANS function is associated with worse health outcomes, and has been identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We used heart rate variability (HRV) in the time domain (standard deviation of RR intervals, SD...

OBJECTIVE To explore birth rate, delivery mode, medical problems, requirement of respiratory support, and acute outcomes of late preterm infants in Zhejiang province in eastern China. METHODS Eleven tertiary hospitals were recruited. Clinical data of every nursery admission from January to December 2007 were collected and analyzed. RESULTS During the study period, 44,362 infants were born w...