Blood Gas Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Newborn, Diseases ; therapy ; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal ; Male ; Respiration, Artificial

Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures ; standards ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Jaundice, Neonatal ; diagnosis ; Reference Standards

Objective To establish a newborn animal model of renal injury caused by intrauterine asphyxia and explore the mechanism of renal injury in neonate after asphyxia.Methods After two-horn uterus and vessels supplying uterus and ovary were exposed in 21-day-pregnant Wistar rats,arterial clamp occluded one side of vessels.The occluding time were 10 and 30 minutes.Then arterial clamp was taken off,and reperfusion for 30 minutes,2,6,12 and 24 hours respectively.Reaching prescribed time uterus horn was opened rapidly and pups were removed.The pups sacrificed by decapitation.Kidneys were taken out and studied by HE staining and electron microscope.Results Kidney of fetal rats in 21 gestational age was developmental and mature degree of tubules dropped behind that of glomerule.Changes of proximal tubules were early and serious compared with distal tubules during ischemia and reperfusion stages.Conclusion Ischemia and reperfusion to graded pregnant rat can supply an ideal model to study injury of kidney and other organs(intraute)-rously.

Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; analysis ; Female ; Ischemia ; physiopathology ; Kidney ; embryology ; metabolism ; Models, Animal ; Pregnancy ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; analysis ; Uterus ; blood supply

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical significance of umbilical activin A in preterm infants.

METHODSForty-one preterm infants (gestation 28 to 36 weeks) were enrolled. Fetal membranes, umbilical cords and blood samples from umbilical vein were obtained. Umbilical activin A level was measured using ELISA. The histological examinations of fetal membranes and umbilical cords were performed.

RESULTSThe umbilical level of activin A averaged 2069 pg/mL in the 41 preterm infants. The umbilical activin A level in the 5 infants with intrauterine infection was higher than in those without intrauterine infection (2510 pg/mL vs 1975 pg/mL; P<0.01). Umbilical activin A level at cutoff of 2490 pg/mL showed a sensitivity of 80.0% and a specificity of 90.6% as a marker of intrauterine infection. There were no significant differences in the umbilical activin A level between the infants with and without respiratory distress syndrome. Umbilical activin A level was positively correlated with the duration of postnatal oxygen therapy (r=0.326, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSUmbilical activin A may serve a marker of intrauterine infection in preterm infants. The umbilical activin A level is correlated with the duration of postnatal oxygen therapy.

Activins ; blood ; Chorioamnionitis ; blood ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Fetal Blood ; chemistry ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; blood ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious ; blood

OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to explore the effects of hyperoxia on the development of fetal lung by investigating the changes of morphological and cell proliferation induced by hyperoxia in cultured fetal lungs as well as the effects of dexamethasone on hyperoxia-exposed lungs.

METHODSHuman fetal lung explants at the pseudoglandular stage of development were cultured randomly either in normoxia (21% O2/5% CO2) or hyperoxia (95% O2/5% CO2) for 72 hrs. Dexamethasone was added into the feeding medium at the concentration of 10(-6)M. Harvested tissues were stained for pancytokeratin to identify epithelial cells, with Ki-67 as a marker of proliferation. The effects of lung morphometry were analyzed using computer assisted image analysis. The mean airway thickness, the proportion of the surface area occupied by airways, the mean airway surface area and the index of the epithelium proliferation were measured.

RESULTSThe lung architectures remained unchanged after 72 hrs normoxia culture, whereas hyperoxia culture resulted in significant dilation of airways and thinning of epithelium, with the surface area of airways of 6662 microm(2) vs 2728 microm(2) and the thickness of airways of 7.8 microm vs 8.1 microm (P < 0.05). Hyperoxia culture also resulted in an increase in the proportion of the surface area occupied by airways than normoxia culture (35.2% vs 23.4%; P < 0.05). The surface area of airways (3174 microm(2)) and the proportion of the surface area occupied by airways (23.9%) decreased significantly in hyperoxia-cultured lungs after dexamethasone administration (P < 0.05). The epithelium proliferation index in hyperoxia-cultured lungs (21.8%) was higher than that in normoxia-cultured lungs (5.1%) and dexamethasone-treated hyperoxia-cultured lungs (7.4%) (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe exposure of pseudoglandular lungs to hyperoxia modulates the lung architecture to resemble saccular lungs with higher epithelium proliferation index. Dexamethasone may inhibit the effects induced by hyperoxia.

Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Dexamethasone ; pharmacology ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperoxia ; pathology ; Lung ; drug effects ; embryology ; pathology ; Pregnancy

Objective To study the changes of substance P (SP) content in plasma of asthmatic children and in theblood, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissues of asthmatic guinea pigs and SP mRNA expression, and toinvestigate the relationship between SP and asthma of children. Methods We determined the contents of plasma SP bythe method of immunoassay at the stage of acute attack and clinical remission in 35 children with asthma. On the basis ofasthma model of guinea pigs, we examined the contents of SP in the blood, BALF and lungs. The expression of Spthat of the stage of clinical remission and normal controls ( P ＜0.01). At the stage of clinical remission, the differencethe blood, BALF and lungs were higher than those of normal ones ( P ＜0.01), and the expressions of SP mRNA inlungs were higher ( P ＜0.01). In repeatedly attack group, the SP content of guinea pigs was higher than that of asthmagroup ( P ＜ 0.05), and the expression of SP mRNA in lungs was also higher ( P ＜ 0.01 ). Conclusions SP levelsincreased in asthmatic children and asthmatic guinea pigs, and the expression of SP mRNA was up-regulated in the lungsof asthmatic guinea pigs. They were positive related to the severity of asthma. So SP has close relationship with asthmaand may play a role in the mechanism of asthma.

OBJECTIVESponsored by the Subspecialty Group of Neonatology of Pediatric Society, China Medical Association, more than 10 large-scale hospitals participated in the near two-year multicenter investigation for brain injuries in premature infants in China. This study presented the investigation result for the incidence of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) in premature infants from 10 Third Class A Level hospitals.

METHODSThe premature infants with a gestation age<37 weeks in the 10 hospitals were given routine cranial ultrasound scanning within seven days after birth, and then repeated every 3-7 days until discharge from January 2005 to August 2006. The severity of PVL was graded based on de Vries classification.

RESULTSA total of 4 933 premature infants were enrolled. The total incidence of PVL and the incidence of cystic PVL were 2.3% (112/4 933) and 0.3% (16/4 933), respectively. Of the 112 PVL cases, 96 (85.7%) were with grade I, 14 (12.5%) with grade II, and 2 (1.8%) with grade III. The incidence of PVL in 4 maternal and child health care hospitals were significantly lower than that in 6 general or children's hospitals (1.4% vs 2.8%) (X2=10.284, P<0.01). Vaginal delivery and mechanical ventilation were possible high-risk factors for the development of cystic PVL.

CONCLUSIONSThe data of the multicenter investigation can basically reflect the situation about the occurrence of PVL in premature infants in major big cities of China. It is important to improve the ability to recognize the sonogram of non-cystic periventricular white matter injury.

China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Leukomalacia, Periventricular ; epidemiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the birth information of newborn infants from obstetric departments in the Central South Region of China.

METHODSA retrospective investigation was carried out in 15582 newborns from obstetric departments of 23 hospitals in the Central South Region of China between January 1 and December 31 of 2005.

RESULTSThe sex ratio (male/female) of neonates was 1.16∶1. The proportion of preterm infants was 8.11%. The very low birth weight infants accounted for 0.73%. The neonates born by spontaneous labor accounted for 57.52%. Cesarean sections accounted for 40.82% (social factor of cesarean section: 29.91%). The incidence of neonatal asphyxia was 3.78%, in which 0.75% of the cases were severe asphyxia. The mortality of newborn infants was 0.55%, in which the mortality of preterm infants was 5.56%.

CONCLUSIONSThe proportion of preterm infants and the incidence of neonatal asphyxia is high in the Central South Region of China. The proportion of births delivered by cesarean section is high, and social factors are probably responsible for the high rate.

Asphyxia Neonatorum ; epidemiology ; Cesarean Section ; statistics & numerical data ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant Mortality ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the characteristics of gene expression of surfactant protein A in Chinese premature infants and the association between surfactant protein A and the risk of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).

METHODSVein-blood samples (2 mL) from 18 Chinese premature infants with RDS and 28 controls were assayed for SP-A genotypes 6A2, 6A3, 1A0 and 1A1 by SSCP.

RESULTSThe frequency of allele distribution of SP-A1 allele 6A2 and 6A3 was 0.50 and 0.056 respectively in the RDS group and was 0.214 and 0.107 in the control group. Compared with the controls, SP-A1 allele 6A2 was over-represented in the RDS group (P<0.05). In contrast, SP-A1 allele 6A3 tended to be under-represented in the RDS group but there was no statistical difference when compared with the controls. The frequency of allele distribution of SP-A2 allele 1A0 and 1A1 was 0.722 and 0.667 respectively in the RDS group and was 0.679 and 0.821 respectively in the control group. There were no significant differences in the distribution frequency of SP-A2 allele 1A0 and 1A1 between the two groups. In the infants born at gestation >32 weeks, SP-A1 allele 6A2 was over-represented in the RDS group compared with the control group (frequency: 0.56 vs 0.15; P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe frequency of SP-A1 allele 6A2 and 6A3 was low, in contrast, the frequency of SP-A2 allele 1A0 and 1A1 was high in normal Chinese premature infants. SP-A1 allele 6A2 may be a susceptible gene for RDS.

Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Male ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A ; genetics ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn ; etiology ; genetics