Objective To assess the clinical value of serum soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell-1 (sTREM-1) for diagnosis of early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS).Methods A total of 90 neonatal cases with risk factors or symptoms of bacterial infections were enrolled in the study.All infants were admitted to Huai' an Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital within 24 h after birth during January and June 2014.The enrolled neonates were divided into sepsis group (n =33),general infection group (n =23) and non-infected group (n =34);and the sepsis group was further divided into culture-confirmed group (n =6) and clinical-diagnosed group (n =27).Twenty healthy neonates were also enrolled as the healthy control group.Blood samples were obtained from neonatal patients on d1,d3 and d7 after birth,and for healthy controls,the blood samples were only obtained at the first day.Serum levels of sTREM-1 and interleukin (IL)-6 were measured by double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to evaluate the values of sTREM-1 and IL-6 in diagnosis of EONS.Results Compared with that in general infection group,non-infected group and healthy control group,the serum level of sTREM-1 was significantly higher in sepsis group (all P ＜ 0.05);serum levels of sTREM-1 in general infection group and non-infected group were also higher than that in healthy control group (all P ＜ 0.05);but no difference was observed between general infection group and non-infected group,between culture-confirmed group and clinical-diagnosed group (P ＞ 0.05).Serum level of sTREM-1 showed upward trend during d1-3 after the birth,and downward trend during d3-7.The areas under the ROC curve (AUC) were 0.810 and 0.811 (all P ＜ 0.05) for sTREM-1 levels on d1 and d3 in diagnosis of EONS,and the optimal cut-off values were 234.44 ng/L and 269.79 ng/L,respectively.If sTREM-1 and IL-6 on d1 were combined for diagnosis of EONS,the AUC,sensitivity and specificity were 0.858,92.00％ and 93.10％,respectively.Conclusion Serum level of sTREM-1 in early stage is valuable for diagnosis of EONS,and the combined use of serum sTREM-1 and IL-6 may improve the diagnostic value.

Objective To observe changes of the nitrogen balance in premature infants with extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR) during hospitalization.Methods We selected a total of 64 very preterm (VP) infants admitted to Neonatal Medical Center of Huai'an Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital affiliated to School of Medicine, Yangzhou University within 24 hours after birth and with gestational age ＜ 32 weeks from May to October 2014, and divided them into EUGR group (n =18) and non-EUGR group (n =46) according to the diagnostic criteria of EUGR.All of the infants' urea nitrogen levels were detected by Kjeldahl method on the 1st, 7th, 14th, and 28th days after birth, and nitrogen balance scores were calculated and compared between the EUGR and non-EUGR groups.Results Nitrogen balance scores of the two groups were all negative on the 1 st, 7th, 14th, and 28th days after birth, with a tendency rising with days.A significant difference was showed in the intra-group comparison in EUGR group on the 1st, 7th, 14th, and 28th days after birth (-492.66 ±204.39,-290.79 ± 173.78,-205.96 ± 180.59, and-145.14 ± 140.15, respectively, F =53.086, P =0.000), so was in the non-EUGR group (-383.41 ± 130.57,-278.91 ±225.80,-182.00 ± 144.70, and-61.08 ±49.71, respectively, F =41.745, P =0.000).At each observation time point after death, the nitrogen balance score in the EUGR group was lower than in the non-EUGR group, and the differences on the 1st and 28th days were statistically significant (both P ＜ 0.05);while those on the other time points were not statistically significant (both P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The VP infants are at a negative nitrogen balance during hospitalization, among whom the EUGR premature infants may be more serious.