Active clinical trials for "Birth Weight"

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of a probiotic foodstuff and its influence on emergence and development of natural intestinal flora and the clinical status of premature very low birth weight neonates. The study was also intended to investigate reduction of colonisation by pathogenic bacteria and to estimate the incidence of gastrointestinal disorders. Probotic bacteria contained in the investigational product administered directly after birth are beneficial for the development of normal gut microflora and can prevent or significantly limit gastrointestinal colonisation by pathogenic bacteria and the development of pathogenic flora in a hospital setting. Permanent colonisation with commensal flora in very early life improves gastrointestinal function in premature neonates by reducing the onset of or by decreasing the severity of the signs and symptoms of feeding intolerance and generalised bacterial infections, including sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis.

The purpose of the study is to understand how cooking might affect the health of pregnant women and their babies. The goal of the research is to determine whether, interventions in decreasing exposure to smoke from cook stoves can bring about a significant change in the indoor air pollution levels and health of communities in Ghana. Hypothesis 1. Use of improved cook stoves starting by the third trimester pregnancy will lead to a significant increase in average birth weight in newborns. Hypothesis 2. Use of improved cook stoves will lead to a significant reduction in the rate of severe acute lower respiratory disease during the first 12 months of life.

Prolacta Bioscience has developed the first purely human fortifier, Prolact-Plus, that can provide a source of many of the required nutrients for premature, newborn infants, particularly protein and calories. This product is made from donor human milk from which the skim (non-lipid portion) has been separated and then concentrated. A certain amount of the lipid content has been added back to achieve higher caloric content within a small delivery volume. The product is then pasteurized and filled in small quantities in order to allow for the addition of mother's own milk (or, possibly, milk from another donor). The goal of the preparation is to achieve an increase of approximately 4 cal/oz of mother's milk and to provide a protein level (when mixed with average pre-term milk) of about 3.5-3.8 g/100 Kcal of feed. The data on Prolact-Plus will be obtained prospectively from infants who will receive human milk fortified in this fashion. The data on standard,bovine (cow)-fortified milk will be obtained retrospectively from medical records at the participating institutions. While this design is not necessarily optimal in this setting, it is an efficient and quick approach to evaluating the acute clinical effect of Prolact-Plus. It is anticipated that further studies will be conducted that will examine longer-term accounts and possibly do this in a controlled, randomized environment. The goal of this study is to evaluate the short-term effect of Prolact-Plus fortified human milk when compared with bovine-based fortification of human milk on parameters such as growth and short-term development, infectious complications and incidence of feeding intolerance in a cohort design. Statistically, the study will attempt to evaluate a null hypothesis of equivalent results with respect to these parameters between the two types of fortifiers as compared with a two-sided alternative (difference between the groups). In addition, data will be collected on overall survival and length of stay in the NICU. These data will be collected for descriptive purposes, although an attempt will be made to compare the findings with those obtained from the bovine-based fortifier.

In order to create a better environment for growth and development for very low birth weight infants(VLBWIs), investigators introduce quiet time, which is an intervention method that reduces environmental noise in the ward and centralizes medical and nursing operations. By analyzing the weight gain of VLBWIs in the intervention group and the control group during hospitalization, the effect of setting a quiet time in the NICU on improving the growth and development of VLBWIs is evaluated.

The product innovation is a wearable device that (combined with a smartphone and back-end analytics system) acts as a sensor, processor and actuator, and is therefore designed to identify critical parameters (Kangaroo Mother Care adherence and temperature of neonate on a 24/7 basis and temperature of mother during these episodes), make intelligent and early diagnosis of (persistent or impending) neonatal hypothermia, maternal/neonatal fever and non-adherence to Kangaroo Mother Care and then trigger audio or visual alerts (via the wearable or smart-mobile phone) for action by the care-giver or front-line healthcare worker to enhance Kangaroo Mother Care duration or referral to a health facility as needed.

Premature very low birth weight (VLBW) infants were placed in two groups matched for birth age. The control group received traditional joint compression exercises designed to decrease bone density loss. Exercises lasted approximately 10 minutes each day 5 days a week. The experimental group were placed in a "prepod", an elastic fabric pod shaped garment or sack on entry into the study and remained in the pod essentially 24 hours a day, with brief breaks for bathing, parental skin to skin experiences,etc. An ultrasound of the left tibia was done on entrance into the study at 31 to 32 weeks gestation and again at completion of the study 4 weeks later. Results showed that experimental infants in pods had slightly less bone density loss than their peers receiving traditional therapy. An incidental finding was that the experimental infants in pods had a significantly shorter length of stay.

To evaluate the effects of early administration of probiotics on acceleration of enteral feeding, and on growth of very low birth weight infants, newborn infants with birth weight less than 1500g are administered Bifidobacterium bifidum twice a day.

Delayed cord clamping (DCC, clamping after cessation of pulsations in the cord around 2-3 min after delivery) is effective in increasing (low birth weight) infant haemoglobin and iron status until six months after birth, without increasing the risk of polycythaemia or other adverse events. We hypothesize that this intervention will also benefit low birth weight infants in South Africa.

Neonatal hypoglycemia is associated with brain injury and impaired neurodevelopment outcomes in very low birth weight infants (VLBWI). Glycemic monitoring is usually performed by capillary or central line sampling but does not identify up to 81% of hypoglycemic episodes in preterm newborns. The investigators aim to assess if a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) can be used to maintain euglycemia (defined as a target value 72-144mg/dl) in VLBWI. It will be enrolled newborns ≤32 weeks gestational age and/or of birthweight ≤1500 g, within 48 hours of life, they will be randomized in two study arms, both them will wear Dexcom G4 Platinum CGM: 1) Unblinded group (UB): glucose daily intake will be modulated according to CGM (Dexcom G4 Platinum) during the first 7 days of life, alarms for hypos/hyper will be active; 2) Blinded group (B), glucose infusion rate will be modified according to 2-3 daily capillary glucose tests, alarms for hypos will be switched off. Pain at insertion will be evaluated with the validated Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) scale. The estimated numerosity is 50 patients (25 for each arm).

This clinical trial will evaluate the effects of giving supplements of PUFA to premature infants.