Active clinical trials for "Premature Birth"

It is apparent that the head of a preterm infant should not be left uncovered, however it remains unclear whether covering the head of a preterm baby with plastic wrapping is effective in preventing heat loss. We conducted a prospective, randomised, controlled trial in very preterm infants to evaluate if a polyethylene cap prevents heat loss after delivery better than polyethylene occlusive wrapping and conventional drying. Furthermore, we assessed body temperature 1 hour after admission to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to evaluate whether the polyethylene cap prevents postnatal heat loss.

Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) screening is one of many potentially painful diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed routinely on preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Therefore strategies for stress reduction and pain management are essential to promote growth and development and minimize long-term sequelae. Procedural analgesia should include concepts of developmental care, non nutritive suck (NNS), pharmacological and non-pharmacological agents. Sucrose is thought to stimulate the body's activation of lingual sweet taste receptors and release of endogenous opioids, when combined with NNS, non-opioid mechanisms are also activated. The administration of sucrose or the combination of sucrose and non-nutritive sucking is one of the most frequently studied non-pharmacological interventions for relief of pain in neonates and oral sucrose has been shown to be an effective and safe therapy for common neonatal procedures such as heal lance, blood-letting and venepuncture. There is conflicting evidence on the benefit of sucrose in ROP screening. Therefore the purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of sucrose combined with NNS as a potential regime for reduction of pain associated with retinopathy of prematurity screening.

To assess the effectiveness of natural progesterone supplementation in preventing preterm births in twins.

Doxapram is used to stimulate respiration. For a given dose, the fluctuations in concentrations observed in infants' blood may be wide, leading to a risk of lack of efficacy or of toxic effects. Two factors are linked to these fluctuations: age and gender. The aim of this study is to compare a dosage regimen based only on patient's weight, to another one using a dosing chart taking into account weight, age and gender.

16448 is being investigated for the treatment of primary premature ejaculation (PE) using a novel mode of action. There are no approved therapies for premature ejaculation, and novel therapies are needed for this syndrome. 16448 has been shown to increase ejaculatory latency in the PCA rat model of premature ejaculation. A novel instrument, the Sexual Assessment Monitor (SAM), will be used to measure ejaculatory latency time in this study. This device, which measures ELT under standard conditions, has been shown to provide a more reliable measure of ejaculatory latency compared to the use of a stopwatch during sexual intercourse

This is a randomized controlled trial comparing weekly intramuscular injection of 17 alpha hydroxylprogesterone caproate with daily vaginal progesterone in women with singleton pregnancies and history of prior spontaneous preterm birth in terms of maternal, fetal and neonatal outcomes. Our aim is to assess the effects on maternal, fetal and neonatal outcomes of antenatal progesterone administered intramuscularly versus vaginally in women with singleton pregnancy and a history of prior preterm birth.

The purpose of this study is to test whether ACULAR, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory eye drop medication, can prevent the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and/ or decrease its severity.In this study ACULAR will be compared to a placebo (artificial tear). The hypothesis would be that ACULAR treatment will decrease the incidence of moderate to severe ROP (grade II and above)by 50%.

Preterm birth is the most common and costly complication in obstetrics. It complicates up to 11% of all pregnancies and it is responsible for 70% of sick babies. The ideal way to stop preterm labor when it occurs (which drug to use) is not known. Currently magnesium sulfate is used by about 95% of all practitioners, but recent data suggest magnesium given this way may be harmful for the baby's future development. Other drugs such as antiprostaglandin agents are very effective in stopping uterine activity, but particularly when used for >48 hours have been associated with both maternal and fetal sides effects. Lastly, calcium channel antagonists are effective in stopping contractions and have very little in the way of maternal and fetal side effects, but less data is available in the United States on their use. Because there is no FDA approved drug to stop preterm labor, we purpose to randomize all women with preterm labor (20-34 weeks) to receive one of the above three methods of stopping preterm labor. The primary outcomes will be to see which agent stops the uterine contractions most effectively, for the longest period of time with fewest relapses and results in significant prolongation of pregnancy. If one of these agents is clearly superior to the other two it would help women avoid early delivery or have significant extension of their pregnancy to avoid some of the complications of preterm birth in the baby.

This is a phase I open label multi-dose study to investigative the pharmacokinetics and safety of cefazolin in infants <121 days of age and < 28 weeks gestation with suspected sepsis. There will be two cohorts of 6 infants each: 1) >48 hours of age and ≤28 days and 2) >28 days of age and <121 days of age. The study requires administration of the study drug over 2 days followed by 1 week of safety monitoring. Six 200 µL pK samples will be obtained over the 2 days of drug administration. The risks are reasonable vs. the benefits and have been minimized appropriately. There may be benefit to the subjects (administration of empirical antimicrobial therapy), and information from the study may benefit a large number of other infants in whom the drug is currently being administered despite the lack of PK data in this population.

The purpose of this study is to compare the time to delivery of two different cervical ripening methods on the preterm gestation.