Tag Archives: Randomized Controlled Trials

Making Clinical Research Oversight Fit-for-Purpose

Posted on 6 November 2024 by Keith Barrington

The title is a slightly edited copy of the title a discussion article in JAMA, that discusses some important issues in IRB oversight of clinical research. (Kass NE, et al. Making the Ethical Oversight of All Clinical Trials Fit for … Continue reading →

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Badly performed, badly presented, unethical published research; what to do?

Posted on 29 October 2024 by Keith Barrington

Since at least 2013 the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki has mandated registration of clinical trials prior to enrolment of the first subject. Since 2005 the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has required trial registration as a condition … Continue reading →

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Sending home preterm babies with Inguinal Hernias

Posted on 22 August 2024 by Keith Barrington

It has been dogma for quite some time that newborn preterm infants with Inguinal Hernias (I will resist the temptation to latinise the plural, although I was brought up hearing about ‘herniae’) should have them surgically fixed prior to discharge … Continue reading →

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Colostrum and feeding preterm babies

Posted on 14 August 2024 by Keith Barrington

Forgive me if you are already convinced, but I remain somewhat sceptical of the benefits of routinely painting the inside of the preterm infant’s mouth with colostrum. Even though I have supported the introduction of the practice on our NICU, … Continue reading →

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Mind your ABC’s : Artificial respiration Before Cord clamping?

Posted on 23 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

Delayed cord clamping has, rightly, become the default whenever a newborn infant is born, benefits in term, late preterm, and very preterm infants have been shown. Current guidelines suggest that if the infant “needs resuscitation” then immediate clamping and assisted … Continue reading →

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The role of Ureaplasma in Chronic Lung Disease of Prematurity

Posted on 20 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

There have long been questions about the possible role of ureaplasma in the pathogenesis of BPD. Studies have shown a statistical association between maternal colonization and BPD, between placentas showing evidence of the germ, and between neonatal endotracheal colonization and … Continue reading →

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Intravenous Nutrition of the sick term and late preterm infants : part 2.

Posted on 17 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

The other trial is a much larger multicentre trial with clinical outcomes. (Alexander T, et al. Nutritional Support for Moderate-to-Late-Preterm Infants – A Randomized Trial. N Engl J Med. 2024;390(16):1493-504), the gestational ages only overlapped by 1 week with the … Continue reading →

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Intravenous Nutrition of sick term and late preterm infants : part 1.

Posted on 16 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

There are 2 new trials addressing different aspects of the questions surrounding what to do about TPN for this group of babies. My readers may remember my post about the PEPaNIC trial, which showed that there were disadvantages of early … Continue reading →

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Nasal intubation improves feeding outcomes

Posted on 15 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

The title of the post sneakily did not mention that I am referring to a study in a specific subgroup of babies, the paper is a report of an RCT in newborn infants who had heart surgery. Yildirim MI, et … Continue reading →

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Vitamin A for prevention of lung disease in the preterm

Posted on 13 May 2024 by Keith Barrington

Previous studies have shown that vitamin A supplementation can reduce the frequency of BPD, but the practice has not become widespread. In part, I think, it is because repeated intramuscular injections of vitamin A are the route that has been … Continue reading →

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