Active clinical trials for "Infant, Newborn, Diseases"

Alterations in the intrauterine environment can have profound effects on fetal development. Diabetes during gestation results in multiple deleterious short-term outcome differences, and is correlated with long-term developmental deficits. Multiple studies, in neonates through school-aged children, have demonstrated differences in language, attention and psychomotor development in offspring of diabetic pregnancies. Neonatal EEG is a promising and non-invasive tool for assessment of abnormal brain development or "dysmaturity" in this population. Multiple conventional EEG (cEEG) and amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) parameters change predictably with advancing gestational development and have been used to differentiate between at risk groups in neonatal studies. The investigators hypothesize that neonatal EEG can identify brain dysmaturity in infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs) compared to gestational-age matched controls. The primary aim is documentation of brain dysmaturity in IDMs using cEEG. The secondary aim is establishment of aEEG as a more accessible tool to quantify the effects of maternal diabetes on neonatal brain development. The investigators will conduct a pilot study comparing cEEG and aEEG parameters of cases to gestational-age matched controls. Cases will be IDM neonates of at least 35 weeks' gestation whose mothers were recommended treatment with either insulin or an oral glycemic agent. Video EEG recording will be planned for approximately 60 minutes and obtained between 24 hours and 5 days of life during birth hospitalization. Additional data will be extracted from maternal and neonatal medical records and a maternal questionnaire. In addition to evaluating the measures of cEEG and aEEG, this project will establish a research cohort. A subsequent study involving developmental evaluations will allow for correlation of EEG results with long-term outcomes. The ability to identify those at risk at birth would provide the opportunity to intervene in order to mitigate outcome differences, particularly in language development. More significantly, we hope to establish neonatal CNS outcome measures for future diabetic pregnancy intervention studies. .

This prospective surveillance study will be conducted over a 2 year period to determine current rates of Early-Onset Sepsis (EOS)/ Early-Onset Meningitis (EOM), associated pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, signs and symptoms and infant outcomes.

This study seeks to identify and test host RNA expression profiles as markers for infections in young infants. Preliminary studies have shown high sensitivity and specificity for the discrimination of bacterial from non-bacterial infections in children, but the method has only been investigated in a limited number of young infants. The study aims to include 65 young infants with serious bacterial infections. The samples will be analysed by RNA sequencing. New diagnostic tools may help reduce unnecessary antibiotic treatment, antibiotic resistance, side-effects, hospitalisation and invasive procedures.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a retinal disorder of preterm neonates and a potential cause of blindness. As early diagnosis and treatment preserve vision, very low birth weight infants must be screened for ROP. Mydriatic eye drop administration is essential to perform funduscopic evaluations. The most commonly used mydriatic drops for pupil dilatation are 0.5-1.0% tropicamide and/or 0.5-1.0% phenylephrine or 0.2-1.0% cyclopentolate. Phenylephrine, an alpha-1 sympathomimetic agonist, is readily absorbed from conjunctival mucosa and has a potent systemic vasopressor effect. Tropicamide causes cycloplegia by inhibition of ciliary muscle contraction and has a short acting para-sympatholytic effect. Systemic absorption of mydriatic eye drops has been associated with cardiovascular, respiratory and gastrointestinal adverse effects. Systemic side effects include apnea, desaturation, increased heart rate and blood pressure, delayed gastric emptying, and feeding intolerance. The data about the effects of mydriatics on cerebral blood flow and tissue oxygenation are sparse. Cerebral blood flow autoregulation depends in part on the adrenergic and cholinergic control of cerebral vasculature, but whether mydriatics have an effect on cerebral haemodynamics is unknown. Near-infrared spectroscopy and Doppler ultrasonography (US) are non-invasive methods commonly used for neuromonitorization in NICUs. The regional blood flow changes measured using Doppler US have been reported to be associated with cerebral oxygenation and indicate a high correlation with NIRS in newborns. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of mydriatic eye drops on cerebral oxygenation and blood flow in preterm infants by NIRS and Doppler US.

This study will compare a newborn heart rate sensor (HeartLight) that is integrated into a hat with other common forms of heart rate monitoring such as electrocardiography (ECG), stethoscope and pulse oximetry (PO) in newborn babies. This will help to evaluate the new heart rate sensor's reliability and accuracy.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether use of the disinfectant chlorhexidine administered to the birth canal during labour and newborn at delivery can protect a woman and her baby from bacterial infections after birth. If effective, this could be used as an inexpensive alternative to antibiotics to prevent newborn infections in resource-poor countries.

Glucose has analgesic and calming effects in newborns. To date, it is not known whether the beneficial effects extend to care giving procedures that are performed after painful procedures. The investigators objective is to determine the effect of glucose 25% analgesia in comparison to Materna RTF Stage 1 for procedural pain on infant pain responses during a subsequent care giving procedure.

Three methods are actually used in newborn screening for sickle cell disease (SCD) in France: isoelectric focusing, high performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis. New technologies are currently under development such as Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation - Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) using the SpOtOn Diagnostics Reagent Kit available in United Kingdom only. Zentech company (Liège, Belgium) is developing a package for SCD newborn screening using MS/MS technology. The main objective of the present study will be to compare this new technique with the technique actually used in the hospital center of Lille (sub-contractor for SCD newborn screening of Lyon) and the haemoglobin analysis to test its accuracy (sensitivity and specificity).

The aim of this study is the implementation of Forced Oscillations Technique (FOT) in newborns and small infants using a novel commercially available device. The objective is to assess the feasibility of the method, provide normative data for the first months of life and describe short- and long-term changes in neonatal respiratory disorders. The study population will consist of term and preterm newborns admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or the Well-Baby Nursery of the University Hospital of Patras, Greece. It is estimated that 200 full-term and 150 preterm newborns will be enrolled during a period of 36 months (March 2021 - September 2022). Measurements will be performed using the TremoFlo N-100 via a face mask, with the infant in the supine position during natural sleep. At least 3 technically acceptable measurements (duration 10s each) will be obtained, as follows: Healthy full-term neonates: postnatal days 1, 2, 3 and at discharge Preterm neonates: NICU admission, postnatal days 1, 2 and 3, and on the first day of each additional gestational week until discharge All participants will be also measured at the age of 3, 6 and 12 months.

The newborn infants who are sick and those who are born prior to due date (preterm) are admitted to the neonatal unit. These babies are unable to feed through their mouth, so a special tube is passed through their nose to the stomach, nasogastric (NG) tube) to provide milk feeds. The bedside nurse inserts the tube and then aspirate some of the fluid from the stomach. As the stomach normally produce acid, these aspirate is then tested on a colour coded paper strip to check if the fluid is acidic. However, on many occasions this test is not very clear. This could be due to misplacement of the tube or the stomach in a newborn not being able to produce enough acid. This then leads to re-siting of another tube and following the same procedure. Sometimes the clinical team may like to do an X Ray to check the position of the tube resulting in unnecessary exposure to radiation. The study will use a special chemical added to the currently existing paper test strip which the investigators believe will enhance the capability of detecting the correct position of the NG tube. This idea has been tested in adults and found to have increased the sensitivity of the test strip significantly. Based on the adult study the study will require to test 233 babies to see if this increases the sensitivity of correct NG tube placement. Parents of all babies who requires an NG tube for milk feeds will be approached and after appropriate consent could be recruited to the study. Babies who are clinically very unstable, moribund and those with diagnosis of bowel obstruction will be excluded from the study.