Active clinical trials for "Premature Birth"

The purpose of the present study is to determine whether treatment of hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus with a combined therapy of intravenous Ibuprofen and oral acetaminophen has higher success rate in closing the ductus arteriosus than a standard treatment strategy of using intravenous ibuprofen alone among preterm infants.

The PKUBC-T is a prospective cohort study carried out in Tongzhou district of Beijing, China. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of pre-pregnant and prenatal exposure on maternal and child health. Data are collected regarding environmental, nutritional and lifestyle exposures as well as short-term and long-term health outcomes of mothers and their children from birth to 6 years old. Biological samples including blood and tissue samples are also collected from mothers and their children.

The purpose of the study is to utilize the objective data provided by the nfant® suite of products, along with current NICU visual assessment and cue-based feeding practices, in order to determine if feeding performance outcomes and clinical decision making for individualized feeding plans for premature infants born less than 30 weeks PMA are impacted.

Induction and support of lactation in women with preterm delivery and inadequate milk production.

Neurocognitive sequelae observed in preterm represent a major health problem for which there is no preventive treatment approved to date. These effects are the result of a multifactorial brain damage occurring in developing prenatal and perinatal period. Melatonin, the principal hormone secreted by the pineal gland has neuroprotective properties in various experimental animal models of perinatal brain damage level. This hormone readily crosses the placental barrier, its antenatal administration would have a neuroprotective effect in the case of preventive preterm birth before 28 weeks of amenorrhea. The objective of this study determine the dose of melatonin administered parenterally in prenatal maternal in preterm labor to reduce brain damage in the white matter detected by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with statistical spatial analysis (TBSS) to the theoretical term of 40 weeks in children born prematurely.

Premature ventricular contractions (PVC) are a very common irregular heart beat (arrhythmias) even in patients without heart disease. Frequent PVCs are thought to occur in about 1-4% of the general population. Many patients with PVCs complain about skipping of their heart (palpitations), shortness of breath and feeling tired. In some patients PVCs may also result in weakening of the heart muscle (heart failure), which might be reversible with suppression of the PVCs.

The primary objective of this study is to determine the safety and efficacy of metformin in lowering serum DHEAS levels in girls with premature pubarche and secondary, to observe changes in hormones associated with pubertal development including gonadotropins, sex steroids, insulin, adipocytokines, and growth factors.

In premature infants, apnea of prematurity is one of their major clinical problems. Caffeine is currently a worldwide therapy to reduce the number and severity of these apneas. This practice has shown to be safe on cognitive and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 to 21 months of age. However, caffeine is not 100% effective, and may have little effect on hypoxemia and bradycardia. Infants with intractable apneas unresponsive to caffeine treatment may require endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. This procedure is invasive and has been associated with complications and increased risk for chronic lung disease and adverse neurodevelopmental outcome. Therefore, an alternative treatment modality would be preferable if it would prevent the infants from requiring endotracheal intubation. The investigators have been testing the overall hypothesis that small concentrations of inhaled CO2 (~1%) are effective in treating apnea of prematurity. The investigators have completed three studies in preterm infants showing that inhalation of low concentration of CO2, in infants not on caffeine, regularize breathing and decrease apneas significantly. The effects of inhalation of CO2 in infants already on caffeine, are unknown. The hypothesis to be tested is that inhalation of low concentration CO2 (1%) will significantly reduce apnea in infants treated with caffeine. The investigators have three specific aims in this proposal. 1) the investigators want to know if the apnea rate (number of apneas of ≥5 seconds/hour) is decreased with CO2 inhalation in preterm infants already on caffeine for the treatment of apnea of prematurity; 2) the investigators want to know whether inhalation of CO2 can make breathing more regular with less apneic time and whether it decreases prolonged apneas (>20 seconds) in infants already on caffeine for the treatment of apnea of prematurity; 3) the investigators want to assess the effect of inhalation of low concentration of CO2 on the regional oxygen saturation of the brain measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during apneas. This is to see whether CO2, by protecting cerebral blood flow, minimizes the decrease in cerebral oxygenation during apneas. This study entails a new and possibly more physiological method of treating apneas of prematurity that can be added to the present treatment of caffeine. These two treatments together, could minimize the number and severity of apneas and possibly decrease the need for mechanical ventilation in preterm infants.

The experimental focus of this project is on the interaction of DHEA treatment on pregnancy in women with open tubes, fertile male partners and evidence of premature ovarian failure.

PreTerm Labor (prior to 37 weeks gestation) is the largest single cause of infant morbidity and mortality and is frequently associated with long-term disability. Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the body during labor. GSK221149 is an experimental drug that will be used to block the effects of oxytocin, and therefore pause or prevent contractions. In this study, the pharmacokinetics of various modified release formulations of GSK221149 will be investigated in healthy non-pregnant adult subjects.