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Query: UMLS:C0728731 (prematurity)
 7,134 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Agricultural activity on Prince Edward Island poses a potential hazard to groundwater, which is the sole source of drinking water on the island. This study investigates the potential impact of groundwater nitrate exposure on prematurity and intrauterine growth restriction on Prince Edward Island. A total of 210 intrauterine growth restriction cases, 336 premature births, and 4098 controls were abstracted from a database of all Island births. An ecological measure of groundwater nitrate level was used to gauge potential exposure to agriculturally contaminated drinking water. The higher nitrate exposure categories were positively associated with intrauterine growth restriction and prematurity, and significant dose-response trends were seen, even after adjustment for several important covariates. Nevertheless, these risks must be interpreted cautiously because of the ecological nature of this exposure metric. An investigation using nitrate levels for individual study subjects is needed to confirm this association.
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PMID:Agricultural contamination of groundwater as a possible risk factor for growth restriction or prematurity. 1132 99

Thirty jaundiced preterm infants, gestational age < or = 34 weeks and postnatal age < or = 7 days, receiving conventional phototherapy for hyperbilirubinemia of prematurity in incubators were included. 1.5 ml of clear topical ointment was applied on the right side of the trunk and extremities while the left side was used as control. Data collection included transepidermal water loss (TEWL), ambient temperature and ambient humidity, before and at 30 minutes, 4-6 hours after application of the ointment during phototherapy. The measurements were executed both the right and left side in 3 positions; upper arm, back, lower leg. TEWL was reduced by 29 per cent (P value < 0.002) and 26 per cent (P value < 0.011) at 30 minutes and 4-6 hours after the application of clear topical ointment, respectively. Ambient temperature and humidity were not significantly different (P value > 0.18). We concluded that application of clear topical ointment on the skin of jaundiced preterm infants receiving conventional phototherapy in incubators reduced TEWL significantly.
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PMID:Effects of clear topical ointment on transepidermal water loss in jaundiced pretermm infants receiving phototherapy. 1155 62

This article presents interim findings of a field study in Cape Town, South Africa, to identify specific environmental health (EH) problems, to describe the local decision-making process in EH, and to field test a proposed set of Environmental Health Indicators (EHIs). Research methods included a literature review, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and workshops. Findings were hampered by the lack of accurate population estimates for Cape Town and the paucity of data on morbidity. Findings indicate that the infant mortality rate was 20.76/1000 live births in 1993; 13.8/1000 for Whites and 33.9/1000 for Blacks. The main causes were prematurity, ill-defined causes, diarrhea and enteritis, congenital abnormalities, and pneumonia. Major adult causes were malignancies, ill-defined causes, heart disease, homicides, and respiratory conditions. The largest causes of death for people aged 15-44 years were homicides and motor vehicle accidents. Health services are in the process of restructuring. Data on environmental conditions is weak at the district or suburb level. Environmental data for this field study were derived from ad hoc surveys of environmental conditions in Western Cape Province, South Africa. Access to basic facilities such as water, sanitation, housing, refuse disposal, and electricity, varied by race. Existing EH data are not related to program objectives and management or planning needs, and do not include baseline data. Quality of data is not monitored. EH services should focus on the basics and poverty problems and should be reformed.
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PMID:Improving decision making for environmental health in Cape Town -- the HEADLAMP field study. Summary of interim findings and future directions. 1217 79

Public health and social policies at the population level (e.g., oral rehydration therapy and immunization) are responsible for the major reduction in infant mortality worldwide. The gap in infant mortality rates between developing and developed regions is much less than that in maternal mortality rates. This indicates that maternal and child health (MCH) programs and women's health care should be combined. Since 1950, 66% of infant deaths occur in the 1st 28 days, indicating adverse prenatal and intrapartum events (e.g., congenital malformation and birth injuries). Infection, especially pneumonia and diarrhea, and low birth weight are the major causes of infant mortality worldwide. An estimated US$25 billion are needed to secure the resources to control major childhood diseases, reduce malnutrition 50%, reduce child deaths by 4 million/year, provide potable water and sanitation to all communities, provide basic education, and make family planning available to all. This cost for saving children's lives is lower than current expenditures for cigarettes (US$50 billion in Europe/year). Vitamin A supplementation, breast feeding, and prenatal diagnosis of congenital malformations are low-cost strategies that can significantly affect infant well-being and reduce child mortality in many developing countries. The US has a higher infant mortality rate than have other developed countries. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the US National Institutes of Health are focusing on prematurity, low birth weight, multiple pregnancy, violence, alcohol abuse, and poverty to reduce infant mortality. Obstetricians should be important members of MCH teams, which also include traditional birth attendants, community health workers, nurses, midwives, and medical officers. We have the financial resources to allocate resources to improve MCH care and to reduce infant mortality.
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PMID:Reducing infant mortality. 1228 45

In order to ensure the higher effectiveness, more stability and sustainability of Protective plantations, the definition of phase-directional management (PDM) of protective plantations was brought forward on the basis of management researches and practices for protective plantations. The basics of PDM is protective maturity, which is defined as the time when the protective plantations attain to the state that the protective plantations can provide effective and complete protection to the objects needed to be protected. Protective maturity has two points, initial protective maturity age (IPMA), the age of protective maturity started, and terminal protective maturity age (TPMA), the age of protective maturity ended. Three management phases of protective plantation, i.e., prematurity phase, the period from sapling or establishment to initial protective maturity, protective maturity phase, the period of protective maturity lasting, and regeneration phase, the period during regeneration and before the establishment, are divided based on the fundamental of protective maturity. Directional management of protective plantation means that all of the management techniques in each phase are directed at the aim of protective maturity, i.e., protective maturity is the direction of management of protective forests, and protective maturity is the final objective for the management of protective forests. In order to sustain the protective maturity state, corresponding measures should be conducted in each phase, according to the classification of protective plantations. In pre-maturity phase, the purpose of managing is to accelerate the protective maturity, therefore, the measures such as weed clearing, soil cultivation, irrigation, fertilization, intercropping and branch cutting etc. should be conducted in protective plantations. In maturity phase, the aim of managing is to sustain the protective maturity, i.e., the techniques (tending and thinning) of controlling the structure of protective plantations should be paid emphases. In the period of regeneration, the objective of managing is to recover the protective maturity, accordingly, the regeneration patterns and ways should be determined reasonably. Additionally, the methods of determining protective maturity, i.e., the core of the phase-directional management, are also given corresponding to farmland shelterbelt, sand-fixation forest and water and soil conservation forest. For farmland shelterbelt, IPMA can be determined according to the growth pattern of tree height under the suitable structure (porosity). For sand-fixation forest, it can be determined by the cover degree of the forest, i.e., the age when cover degree gets to pi/4 can be considered as IPMA. In the case of water and soil conservation forest, IPMA is determined by the canopy closure at the height of 1m above forest ground, which can be obtained from the hemispherical silhouettes in vertical direction. As for the TPMA, it can be described by the natural age of trees for all of above-mentioned three kinds of protective plantations, but the concrete methods for estimating the natural age of trees in each kind of forests are different.
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PMID:[Phase-directional management of protective plantations. I. Fundamentals]. 1255 90

Current guidelines for dialysis in pregnant women have been developed in response to occasional dialysis patients who unexpectedly become pregnant. These include prolonged dialysis times, generally 20 or more hours per week. The increased dialysis time requires careful monitoring of phosphorus and potassium which may be removed in excessive amounts. Target serum bicarbonate for a pregnant woman is 18-20 mEq/L. Patients require increased supplementation of water soluble vitamins particularly folate. Increased doses of erythropoietin are needed to meet the demands for increased red cell production occasioned by pregnancy. Hypertension is the greatest danger to the mother and extreme vigilance is required up to six weeks postpartum. Volume status is difficult to predict and can only be determined by repeated clinical assessment. Only 50% of pregnancies result in a surviving infant and in the best subgroups, no more than 75% of pregnancies are successful. Over 80% of live born infants are premature, often severely premature. The key to improving the outcome of pregnancy in dialysis patients lies in decreasing premature labor and premature rupture of membranes in the late second and early third trimester. To this end, it is important for obstetricians to recognize that the risk of prematurity in pregnant dialysis patients is as higher or higher than in any other group and that any intervention, including such measures as progesterone and oxytocin antagonists, used to prevent premature labor in other groups should be considered in dialysis patients.
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PMID:Pregnancy in dialysis patients: where do we go from here? 1296 89

This review will focus on the therapeutic uses of antioxidant liposomes. Antioxidant liposomes have a unique ability to deliver both lipid- and water-soluble antioxidants to tissues. This review will detail the varieties of antioxidants which have been incorporated into liposomes, their modes of administration, and the clinical conditions in which antioxidant liposomes could play an important therapeutic role. Antioxidant liposomes should be particularly useful for treating diseases or conditions in which oxidative stress plays a significant pathophysiological role because this technology has been shown to suppress oxidative stress. These diseases and conditions include cancer, trauma, irradiation, retinotherapy or prematurity, respiratory distress syndrome, chemical weapon exposure, and pulmonary infections.
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PMID:Therapeutic uses of antioxidant liposomes. 1524 95

Lead is a metal which has been associated with human activities for the last 6000 years. In ancient civilizations, uses of lead included the manufacture of kitchen utensils, trays, and other decorative articles. However, lead is also toxic to humans, with the most deleterious effects on the hemopoietic, nervous, reproductive systems and the urinary tract. The main sources of lead exposure are paints, water, food, dust, soil, kitchen utensils, and leaded gasoline. The majority of cases of lead poisoning are due to oral ingestion and absorption through the gut. Lead poisoning in adults occurs more frequently during exposure in the workplace and primarily involves the central nervous system. Symptoms of hemopoietic system involvement include microcytic, hypochromic anemia with basophilic stippling of the erythrocytes. Hyperactivity, anorexia, decreased play activity, low intelligence quotient, and poor school performance have been observed in children with high lead levels. Lead crosses the placenta during pregnancy and has been associated with intrauterine death, prematurity, and low birth weight. In 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA redefined elevated blood lead levels as those > or = 10 microg/dl and recommended a new set of guidelines for the treatment of lead levels > or =15 microg/dl.
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PMID:Lead toxicity update. A brief review. 1619 16

A retrospective review of pediatric patients with spastic cerebral palsy was undertaken at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center covering a period from January 1, 2000, until December 31, 2003. One hundred twenty pediatric patients were identified in the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center child neurology clinic with spastic cerebral palsy. Fifty-nine patients of this group received modafinil treatment for cerebral palsy. Twenty-nine of the 59 patients were noted to have an improving gait on modafinil. Six of these modafinil-treated patients improved from no ambulation or only assisted ambulation to unassisted ambulation. This varied from taking a few steps without holding on to walking down the hall without assistance. Two patients with spastic diplegia secondary to prematurity have had a dramatic improvement in gait during the first 6 months after starting modafinil. Two other patients with spastic diplegia not included in this group of six patients taught themselves to stand up and walk while in water unassisted. During this same time period, only three non-modafinil-treated patients with mild cerebral palsy were noted with gait improvements, but not to the dramatic extent of the modafinil-treated group. A nonambulatory 5-year-old child, who presented for a requested wheelchair prescription because the mother had given up all hope of her child ever walking, is now taking independent steps unassisted after starting modafinil. Modafinil, a central nervous system stimulant, appears to improve tone and ambulation in spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.
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PMID:Walking with modafinil and its use in diplegic cerebral palsy: retrospective review. 1690 Sep 24

Caffeine is commonly used to treat respiratory instabilities related to prematurity. However, the role of adenosinergic modulation and the potential long-term effects of neonatal caffeine treatment (NCT) on respiratory control are poorly understood. To address these shortcomings, we tested the following hypotheses: 1) adenosine A(1)- and A(2A)-receptor antagonists modulate respiratory activity at rest and during hypercapnia; 2) NCT has long-term consequences on adenosinergic modulation of respiratory control. Rat pups received by gavage either caffeine (15 mg/kg) or water (control) once a day from postnatal days 3 to 12. At day 20, rats received intraperitoneal injection with vehicle, DPCPX (A(1) antagonist, 4 mg/kg), or ZM-241385 (A(2A) antagonist, 1 mg/kg) before plethysmographic measurements of resting ventilation, hypercapnic ventilatory response (5% CO(2)), and occurrence of apneas in freely behaving rats. In controls, data show that A(2A), but not A(1), antagonist decreased resting ventilation by 31% (P = 0.003). A(1) antagonist increased the hypercapnic response by 60% (P < 0.001), whereas A(2A) antagonist increased the hypercapnic response by 42% (P = 0.033). In NCT rats, A(1) antagonist increased resting ventilation by 27% (P = 0.02), but the increase of the hypercapnic response was blunted compared with controls. A(1) antagonist enhanced the occurrence of spontaneous apneas in NCT rats only (P = 0.005). Finally, A(2A) antagonist injected in NCT rats had no effect on ventilation. These data show that hypercapnia activates adenosinergic pathways, which attenuate responsiveness (and/or sensitivity) to CO(2) via A(1) receptors. NCT elicits developmental plasticity of adenosinergic modulation, since neonatal caffeine persistently decreases ventilatory sensitivity to adenosine blockers.
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PMID:Disruption of adenosinergic modulation of ventilation at rest and during hypercapnia by neonatal caffeine in young rats: role of adenosine A(1) and A(2A) receptors. 1713 26


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