Neonatal Intensive Care News and Research

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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.

29 Aug 2019

Cannabis use may alter gene linked to autism in male sperm

Researchers from Duke University Medical centre, Durham, USA have come up with an important study that shows that use of cannabis among men could alter a specific gene in their sperm that is linked to autism. The study titled, “Cannabis use is associated with potentially heritable widespread changes in autism candidate gene DLGAP2 DNA methylation in sperm,” and is published in the latest issue of the journal Epigenetics.

28 Aug 2019

Multiple-birth infants have higher risk of wrong-patient order errors in NICU

Multiple-birth infants had a significantly higher risk of wrong-patient order errors compared with singletons in neonatal intensive care units, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

27 Aug 2019

Simulated training for timely NICU evacuations

In late August 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake - the strongest east of the Mississippi since 1944 - shook Washington, D.C., with such force that it cracked the Washington Monument and damaged the National Cathedral.

25 Aug 2019

Home births and hospital births equally safe, says large international study

A large study has confirmed what many midwives and mothers instinctively knew – it’s really not safer giving birth in a hospital than at home if you had a low-risk pregnancy so far. This is bound to reassure the growing number of low-risk pregnant women living in countries with reasonably good access to healthcare who want to deliver their babies at home.

8 Aug 2019

New therapy improves survival rate to 99% in preemies with chronic lung condition

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is the most common illness that develops in babies born premature with underdeveloped lungs.

6 Aug 2019

Autonomic nervous system of babies functions well regardless of mode of delivery, study finds

Late in pregnancy, the human body carefully prepares fetuses for the rigors of life outside the protection of the womb. Levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, ramp up and spike during labor.

31 Jul 2019

Danbury Hospital launches 'Healing Hugs' for its most vulnerable patients

Hugs matter. And for babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, hugs can change their lives. With the goal of delivering the highest quality care to every NICU baby, Danbury Hospital launched Healing Hugs, a new service where trained volunteer cuddlers provide comfort to babies in the Spratt Family Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

18 Jul 2019

Cannabis use during pregnancy may cause premature birth

Pregnant women should refrain from smoking cannabis to prevent their infants from being born early, a new study warns.

8 Jul 2019

Study: Stress experienced by premature infants can carry on throughout their adult life

The stress premature infants experience can carry on throughout their adult life, causing cognitive limitations, social struggles at work or in school, and a greater risk of health ailments, including cardiac conditions, one of the longest-running U.S. studies of premature infants has shown.

26 Jun 2019

High prevalence of multiresistant intestinal bacteria in Vietnamese hospitals

Around half of patients admitted to hospital in Vietnam are carriers of multiresistant intestinal bacteria, which are resistant to carbapenems, a group of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

26 Jun 2019

New initiative to increase mothers' ability to provide milk for very low birth weight infants

Researchers at Boston Medical Center initiated a statewide quality improvement imitative to increase mothers' ability to produce and provide milk for very low birth weight infants at their discharge, as well reduce the racial/ethnic disparities in milk production and provision to these infants.

20 Jun 2019

Music helps to develop the neural networks of premature infants

In Switzerland, as in most industrialized countries, nearly 1% of children are born "very prematurely", i.e. before the 32nd week of pregnancy, which represents about 800 children yearly.

27 May 2019

Quiet times in NICUs may improve infant health, study finds

Excessive noise is widely known to have negative effects on health, and children in neonatal intensive care units are among the most vulnerable.

13 May 2019