Active clinical trials for "Premature Birth"

Background: A preterm birth remain a worldwide important socioeconomic burden since prematurity has been consistently implicated in a wide range of health medical problems affecting newborn child and contributed in up to more than a half of overall perinatal mortality. Several studies have shown a significant therapeutic benefit as a result of an antenatal cervical pessary use in a high-risk preterm birth group of pregnant women. However the underlying mechanism by which pessary can reduce a risk of a preterm birth remain elusive. The study aims to quantitatively assess an ectocervical stiffness in a normal and in a treated with a pessary high-risk preterm birth pregnancy. Methods: A prospective, non-interventional, post-market, monocentric, longitudinal, cohort study in a obstetric-led tertiary maternity teaching hospital to determine ectocervical stiffness and its changes measured prior and after the placement of a pessary, and the correlation of measured cervical stiffness or its changes with birth outcome in a high-risk preterm birth pregnant women indicated for cervical pessary. A cervical stiffness measured with Pregnolia system as the Cervical Stiffness Index (CSI, in mbar) will be a primary, whilst patient delivery data (gestational age, mode of delivery and complications) will be a secondary endpoint. In this pilot study, up to 142 subjects will be enrolled to have a total of 120 subjects (estimated dropout rate of 15%) completed the study; Pessary cohort: 60 (up to 71 recruited), normal cohort: 60 (up to 71 recruited). Discussion: We hypothesize than the study will substantially improve our knowledge about cervical incontinency and preterm labour pathophysiology. We hope that our investigation will be able to elucidate ectocervical stiffness phenomenon both in high-risk preterm birth and in normal pregnant control, as well as the impact of cervical pessary use on a the CSI values.

Preterm birth (babies being born before 34 weeks pregnancy) occurs in approximately 11% of pregnancies; preterm birth can lead to complications for the baby. When mothers are identified as being at risk of going into preterm birth (giving birth within the next 14 days) there are several treatments available that may help reduce the likelihood of complications for the baby. These treatments usually need to be started within 24 hours so it is very important that diagnosing preterm labour in not only fast but accurate. There are several methods commonly used within hospitals for diagnosing mothers who may be at risk of going into preterm labour. The two most common ones are foetal fibronectin (fFN) and phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 (phIGFBP-1). The purpose of this study is to compare the two tests to see which is more accurate at predicting preterm birth.

The objective of the project is to identify clinical factors (nutritional and non-nutritional) which are associated with ultrasound measurements of muscle and adipose tissue and to determine whether these ultrasound measurements are predictive of later metabolic and neurodevelopmental outcomes in premature infants, a population at risk for developmental delay, obesity, and metabolic disease. The investigators expect that a better understanding of these relationships will lead to the incorporation of ultrasound into routine nutritional management of preterm infants and allow for future optimization of their overall health and development.

Study Aim and Goals Evaluate the correlation between genetic polymorphism and ROP development To study the possibility if there are any specific genetic polymorphisms that lead to poor outcome or recurrence of ROP after treatment.

Improved survival of very preterm newborn population during the last decades has challenged us neonatologists to study and improve nutritional practices including vitamin D (VitD) supplementation. However, long term outcome in this aspect has not been researched in well documented preterm populations. As VitD has receptors in almost all human cells it modulates growth of many organs. Therefore I start to assess VitD supplementation practices and later health outcome (bones, teeth, muscles, heart, lungs) in two preterm population cohorts cared in Oulu University Hospital at the age of 5 years and 24 years (born 2014-2017 and 1994-1997).

This is a prospective observational pilot study investigating if peripheral fractional tissue oxygen extraction (pFTOE) measured by five short near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) (re-)applications within the first 6 hours after birth in neonates with respiratory distress differs in neonates with early onset infection and neonate without infection

The aims of this project are: To explore, using the ECAB, if and in which measure the attentional abilities of young preterm children are different from term peers, whom reference data are already published27. To correlate the ECAB results with the "Conner's Teacher, Rating Scale- Revised e Conner's Parent Rating Scale", one of the available diagnostic interview that helps to identify signs of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in young children, at the age of 6 years and over. To study individual trajectories of attention pattern and development during age.

Premature atrial contractions (PACs) and premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are observed in the majority of individuals monitored for more than a few hours. Although the clinical course of PACs and PVCs is usually benign, it has been described that high PAC or PVC frequency causes various comorbidities and worsens outcomes in different patient groups. For example, PACs can initiate episodes of atrial fibrillation, and PAC count is highly specific in predicting diagnosis of incident atrial fibrillation. Increasing PVC frequencies are an important predictor of incident heart failure. While conventional wisdom dictates that common environmental exposures determine PAC and PVC frequencies, this has not born out in rigorous studies. Whether PAC and PVC frequencies may have genetic underpinnings remains unknown. Comparisons between identical twins and fraternal twins can provide estimates of heritability. Fraternal twins are an ideal control because, like identical twins, they share a womb, have the same birthday, and their environment while growing up are as similar as between identical twins. However, while identical twins share approximately 100% of the same inherited DNA, fraternal twins share, on average, about 50%. By monitoring identical and fraternal twins with portable electrocardiograms (ECGs), we will be able to count the PACs and PVCs over a consecutive timespan to describe the familial aggregation of these complexes. This, to our knowledge, would be the first study to compare PAC and PVC frequencies in identical and same-sex fraternal twins, providing the first assessment of how genetical inheritance may influence cardiac ectopy burdens.

In recent years, the number of homeless patients who are accommodated by the SAMU social has increased. These patients are in a situation of financial, but also often social and psychological precariousness. The literature already shows us that precariousness and homelessness are a risk factor for prematurity, but also for the patients themselves, a risk of more frequent recourse to emergency services and of late consultation for advanced pathologies. The objective of this study is to evaluate the fate and quality of medical follow-up of children born very premature (≤33SA) to homeless mothers.

Different screening modalities evaluation to develop algorithms to predict pregnancy complications in twin pregnancies, and evaluation of serologic response to BNT162b2 Pfeizer/BioNTech vaccination.