Tag Archives: microbiome

Manipulating the Microbiome

Not with human milk based fortifier, but with probiotics. This post is a sort of intersection between some of my recent posts, human-milk based fortifier does not appear to have a positive effect on the intestinal microbiome. But exogenous probiotics … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Raining Antibiotics

Early onset sepsis is a serious condition with a substantial morbidity, and, thankfully, a relatively low mortality in recent years. Prompt recognition and early treatment are essential, but early clinical signs and risk factors tend to be non-specific. As a … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Is glucose gel safe? Is it necessary?

The Auckland group has been studying the treatment and implications of neonatal hypoglycaemia for many years now, with unique high quality studies. Two of their recent publications have addressed the safety of glucose gel for hypoglycaemia, the first (St Clair … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

World NEC awareness day.

As we approach world NEC awareness day (May 17th) I thought I’d do a quick PubMed search to see if I’ve missed anything recently, so I started typing “necrotizing” in the search bar, which immediately suggested “necrotizing enterocolitis” as one … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

More musings on the microbiome

We are fortunate in neonatology to not have to worry about C difficile, partly because the name has been changed for this germ as well (now Clostridioides, rather than Clostridium), and it is one less name change to keep up … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Probiotics in preterms; what’s new? Part 1

I haven’t, surprisingly, posted about probiotics recently, but there are some new findings in the literature that warrant discussion. Granger C, et al. Necrotising enterocolitis, late-onset sepsis and mortality after routine probiotic introduction in the UK. Arch Dis Child Fetal … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Probiotics, can’t get enough…

All probiotics are not equal. I think it is clear, for example, that the probiotic fungi (Saccharomyces) studied in 2 small trials had no impact on NEC. In addition one of the largest and best trials (PiPS) from the UK … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Where does sepsis come from?

One of the findings of the recent SIFT trial was that although the babies in the fast feeding group had shorter duration of parenteral nutrition, TPN, (and presumably of central lines), they did not have less late-onset sepsis, LOS. Why … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Quoted in “nature”

An interesting and well-written article in nature (or, at least, a supplement called “nature outlook”) by a scientific journalist Sarah DeWeerdt has appeared, discussing the acquisition of the intestinal microbiome by newborn infants. She discusses premature infants and the role … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Necrotizing Enterocolitis: manipulating the microbiome, part 3

Abdulkadir B, et al. Stool bacterial load in preterm infants with necrotising enterocolitis. Early Hum Dev. 2016;95:1-2.  More work from the Newcastle group, this time the group decided not to look at the proportion of different bugs in the stools, … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments