Neonatal Intensive Care News and Research

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Incentive-based smoking cessation interventions significantly reduce infant morbidity

Colorado is taking a critical step to protect low-income women during their pregnancy through incentive-based smoking cessation interventions. A new study from the Colorado School of Public Health at the Anschutz Medical Campus shows a significant reduction in infant morbidity due to the program.

6 Dec 2019

Lower socioeconomic status of fathers is a risk factor for early preterm birth

Lifelong lower socioeconomic status of fathers, as defined by early life and adulthood neighborhood income, is a newly identified risk factor for early preterm birth (at less than 34 weeks), according to a study published in Maternal and Child Health Journal.

6 Dec 2019

Study reveals exposure of new-born babies in NICU environment to harmful chemicals

A multidisciplinary team of scientists from Granada has warned for the first time of the presence of bisphenol A (BPA) and parabens (PBs) in a wide range of plastic medical devices, fabrics, personal care products (including topical creams), and nutritional supplements in hospital neonatal intensive care units, coming into direct contact with new-born babies.

29 Nov 2019

Coping with (power) loss: California’s hospitals, clinics, patients face new reality

We all know that when the power goes out, refrigerators, heaters and air conditioners stop running. Homes go dark, and desktop computers shut down.

27 Nov 2019

Researchers trace the origins and global spread of S. aureus lineages

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen prone to developing antibiotic resistance, causing 120,000 cases of bloodstream infections every year in the United States and over 5000 in Australia; the mortality rate is around 25 per cent from each case.

26 Nov 2019

'Fuzzy logic' alarm system may help NICU nurses predict catheter infusion failure

A "fuzzy logic" alarm system may help nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) predict impending catheter infusion failure – and prevent complications in critically ill newborns, reports a study in the October issue of Advances in Neonatal Care, official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses.

20 Nov 2019

The arts could benefit health finds landmark WHO report

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a Health Evidence Synthesis report this week that has gathered evidence from a wide range of studies showing arts being beneficial to health. The WHO report suggests that all forms of art including visual arts, performing arts, literature etc. could be helpful in providing support in treatment and prevention of non-communicable diseases, neurological conditions and mental illnesses.

13 Nov 2019

New evidence that backs women's choice on where to give birth

Healthy women have more than twice the chance of a normal labor and birth in a planned birth center birth compared to a planned hospital birth, a major Australian study has found.

30 Oct 2019

California fires illuminate trauma and resilience

Dorothy Hammack had planned to wash her thick, dark hair in the kitchen sink Friday morning. She couldn't yet shower, due to the incision on her breast from a biopsy a few days before. Her doctor had already called to let her know the results: She had breast cancer.

29 Oct 2019

Researchers discover conjugative plasmid that augments virulence in superbug

A recent research led by a scientist at City University of Hong Kong has discovered an easily transmitted DNA piece that can make a new type of hyper-resistant and deadly superbug become hyper-virulent quickly, posing an unprecedented threat to human health.

23 Oct 2019

Researchers develop new smart speaker that uses white noise to monitor infants' breathing

Gone are the days when people use smart speakers - like Amazon Echo or Google Home - only as kitchen timers or dinner party music players. These devices have started helping people track their own health, and can even monitor for cardiac arrest.

16 Oct 2019

White noise listening device for monitoring infant breathing

Researchers at the University of Washington have come up with a device which acts as a monitor for infant breathing patterns while playing white noise to soothe them to sleep. The results of their study with the new device would be presented in an article titled, “Contactless Infant Monitoring using White Noise,” at the MobiCom 2019 conference in Los Cabos, Mexico on the 22nd of this month.

15 Oct 2019

Major global health initiative could save hundreds of thousands of babies in Africa

Hundreds of thousands of babies could be saved through a major global health initiative launched here today to improve newborn hospital care throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

4 Oct 2019

Fewer than half of U.S. adults get annual flu shot, shows study

So far this calendar year, 1,243 people scattered around 31 states had confirmed measles, the highest number of measles cases reported in the U.S.

3 Oct 2019

Washing machine could be a reservoir of multidrug-resistant pathogens

For the first time ever, investigators have identified a washing machine as a reservoir of multidrug-resistant pathogens. The pathogens, a single clone of Klebsiella oxytoca, were transmitted repeatedly to newborns in a neonatal intensive care unit at a German children's hospital.

27 Sep 2019

Study into skin collection of blood chemistry from babies aims to replace invasive blood tests

Scientists at the University of Strathclyde are researching a system to measure and monitor blood chemistry levels in premature and sick babies through their skin, which if successful, could eventually replace the need for invasive blood tests.

25 Sep 2019

Calcium absorption by breastfeeding babies could be key to treating osteoporosis in the elderly

New research reveals the mechanism that allows breastfeeding babies to absorb large amounts of calcium and build healthy bones--a discovery that could lead to treatment for osteoporosis and other bone diseases later in life.

11 Sep 2019

Early antibiotic exposure causes long-lasting collateral damage in premature babies

Nearly all premature babies receive antibiotics in their first weeks of life to ward off or treat potentially deadly bacterial infections.

9 Sep 2019

Study findings raise new concerns about vulnerability of preterm brain to hypoxia

Nearly 15 million babies are born prematurely, or before 37 weeks of pregnancy, around the world each year. When born too early, a baby's immature respiratory center in the brain often fails to signal it to breathe, resulting in low oxygen levels, or hypoxia, in the brain.

29 Aug 2019

Early planned delivery reduces impact of preterm pre-eclampsia

Doctors have long debated over the optimal time to deliver mothers with pre-eclampsia in late pregnancy (after 34 but before 37 completed weeks). This is because too early delivery compromises the baby’s health, while delayed action may endanger the mother’s health.