Category Archives: Neonatal Research

Does hydrocortisone affect brain development in the preterm? Finally the answer… maybe not, or maybe

Posted on 2 June 2013 by Keith Barrington

There are some observational studies that suggest that maybe hydrocortisone in relatively short courses, and moderate doses, may not have much effect on brain development, or at least on brain structure and volumes. A new study from 2 groups in … Continue reading →

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Apneas are alarming

Posted on 1 June 2013 by Keith Barrington

Two peripherally related articles: Elder DE, Campbell AJ, Galletly D: Current definitions for neonatal apnoea: Are they evidence based? Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2013. A review of the different available definitions for apnea, and the lack of an … Continue reading →

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Unexpected Collapse shortly after Term Delivery

Posted on 31 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

Pejovic NJ, Herlenius E: Unexpected collapse of healthy newborn infants: risk factors, supervision and hypothermia treatment. Acta Paediatrica 2013, 102(7):680-688. There are now a few similar studies and some case reports of this phenomenon. Otherwise healthy normal full term babies … Continue reading →

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Etiquette-Based Neonatology

Posted on 31 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

Keir A: “Please call my baby by her name…”. Acta Paediatrica 2013. This should be self-evident, but this publication in the Acta Paediatrica ‘different view’ section notes that it is not. Knowing whether the baby is a boy or a … Continue reading →

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Public Citizen, still full of shit

Posted on 31 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

Sorry to any of my readers who are offended by the ‘olde englishe’ term for solid waste matter, I could have said s**t or crap I guess, but I am getting a bit irritated by the stream of b******s (liquid … Continue reading →

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Needless

Posted on 31 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

One of the blogs that I follow, and which does not post very frequently, is by David Colquhoun, he is (or was) a professor of pharmacology at University College London, who writes mostly about the inappropriate teaching of quackery as … Continue reading →

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Adaptation at birth and cord clamping

Posted on 28 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

The guys in Melbourne have a great set up, the 2 universities collaborate, as well as working with colleagues from Sydney also. Stuart Hopper is a very innovative thinker who has re-examined a lot of older data about what happens … Continue reading →

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Neonatal Updates #33

Posted on 28 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

McElroy SJ, Underwood MA, Sherman MP: Paneth Cells and Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Novel Hypothesis for Disease Pathogenesis. Neonatology 2013, 103(1):10-20. (free access)I think this is an interesting idea that might be fruitful for the future. If the hypothesis is correct, … Continue reading →

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Probiotics in the NICU: a ‘how-to’ guide

Posted on 22 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

I have had several communications from people interested in starting the use of probiotics in their nurseries. There are often roadblocks, and some reluctance from either infection control, or pharmacy and therapeutics committees (or both). I will recount what we … Continue reading →

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What we don’t know about neonatal endocrinology #3, the thyroid.

Posted on 20 May 2013 by Keith Barrington

To finalize this litany of the unknown… We also need to know whether low thyroxine levels are common in the preterm (they are) what the consequences are (associated with worse long term outcomes) whether they are causative (don’t know) and … Continue reading →

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