Active clinical trials for "Premature Birth"

The study was designed to assess whether chest shielding during phototherapy reduces the incidence of PDA, as assessed by serial echocardiographic examinations, in a population of extremely preterm infants born at lower 30 week gestation.

As part of the regular procedure for premature births, premature infants undergo several screening examinations, including an examination of the fundus. This examination seeks to establish whether the infant has retinopathy of prematurity. This disease affects the vessels of the retina of the eye, especially in prematurely born children, and can lead to serious complications such as blindness if it is not treated in time. The purpose of this study is to assess the discomfort caused by the screening in order to improve practices. To do this, the investigators would like to evaluate whether soft auditory stimulation, more precisely a person singing, would improve the children's level of comfort during the examination. To do this, the participating children will be divided into 2 groups: The "Singing" group will receive the usual comfort treatments (placed in a 'nest', pacifier and sugar water) and a trained professional will sing a lullaby or nursery rhyme at the same time control group will receive the usual comfort care (placed in a 'nest', pacifier and sugar water) The child's head and entire body will be filmed, which will allow an evaluator to assess the child's comfort.

In China, there's no effective prevention and treatment on preterm birth for pregnant women ≥35 years old, so this study is necessary.

Peripheral central catheter application, especially in extremely low birth weight premature babies, is an intensive care follow-up procedure. There are many clinical studies in areas such as catheter type, skin disinfection, catheter duration, catheter infection. In our practice, it was observed that premature baby was less uncomfortable, the number of trials decreased, and the change in body temperature was less with the application of hot skin disinfection in our practice. With a prospective randomized study, the investigators wanted to document their observational data scientifically.

There is no consensus around the world on the treatment of preterm rupture of membranes, which is one of the important causes of early neonatal sepsis and one of the common causes of prematurity. Different countries, hospitals and physicians can determine different treatment approaches. There is very little scientific data on the benefit of commonly used treatment regimens other than experience. In this study, scientific results will be obtained by comparing the efficacy of treatments (Sulbactam ampicillin or azithromycin ampicillin) in two different hospitals (Hacettepe University Perinatology Clinic and Ankara City Hospital Perinatology Clinic), and it will be shown which treatment regimen reduces early neonatal sepsis and inflammation better. Some samples (vaginal IL-6, vaginal-cervical swab samples for atypical bacteria, cervical swab samples for direct microscopy, serum IL-6) will be taken from pregnant women who develop membrane rupture and these samples will be used as initial inflammation markers. Each physician will decide on the treatment of his own patient, there will be no intervention in the treatment of the patient within the scope of the research. Patients will continue their routine follow-up after receiving their treatment. When the delivery occurs, the level of IL-6 in the cord blood will be examined with other inflammation markers (procalcitonin, crp, complete blood count), and the neonatal inflammation status of the baby will be determined. The low inflammation markers detected in the babies of pregnant women with high initial inflammation values will be compared and it will be determined which treatment is more effective. At the same time, routine neonatal intensive care follow-ups of these babies will be continued and treatment efficiency in terms of early neonatal sepsis will be determined. This study will present scientific data on which treatment is effective in the literature and will guide international treatment guidelines. At the same time, preterm rupture of membranes will show which bacterial agent plays a more role in the etiology and which of the inflammation markers have more sensitivity and specificity, as well as the success of the treatment, which is the subject of the study. The routine use of some examinations (such as cervical PCR) performed before the treatment begins, is a guide in the selection of agent-specific treatment and may shorten the unnecessary drug use and hospital stay; The management of patients may vary according to the initial inflammation parameters. Physicians evaluating the results of this study can evaluate the risk of their babies in terms of early neonatal sepsis according to the initial inflammation values of their patients, and increase and decrease the length of hospital stay.

Introduction: To evaluate the maternal blood serum melatonin, soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor, and orosomucoid 2 levels in pregnant women complicated by preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and to compare the results with healthy pregnancies. In addition, to determine whether maternal/umbilical cord blood concentrations of melatonin, soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor, and orosomucoid 2 are of value in the diagnosis of histological chorioamnionitis in patients with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). Methods: This cohort study will be included 44 pregnant women with PPROM and 44 gestational age-matched healthy subjects in 24-32 weeks of pregnancy. The blood for analysis will be firstly obtained in maternal blood on the day of diagnosis at the study group. Healthy subjects who have a normal pregnancy and outcomes without any fetal-neonatal complications will be accepted into the control group. Forty-four gestational age-matched healthy pregnant women who will be delivered at term will be included in the study as the control group. In the control group, the pregnant women will be taken the maternal blood at the admission day. The women in both groups will be observed until the delivery and perinatal data will be noted. Then, the blood for analysis will be secondly obtained in maternal blood during termination of the pregnancy (or spontaneous labor) at the study group. Lastly, the blood for analysis will be also obtained in umbilical cord blood at the study group. These three markers levels will be measured using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The placenta will be sent to histological examination in the study group. These three markers levels in women with PPROM will be compared to those of volunteer healthy pregnant women. In the study group, these three markers levels at maternal serum and cord serum will be evaluated for histological chorioamnionitis and maternal/neonatal outcomes.

Reduced Hypoxic Ventilatory Response (HVR) and systemic O2 saturation subsequently leading to blunted aerobic capacity as well as decreased overall physical and cognitive performance are the main physiological challenges faced by prematurely born individuals in hypobaric hypoxia (i.e. during high altitude sojourn). While these phenomena have been described previously, the underlying mechanisms are currently unresolved. Given that the reduction in altitude-performance and its underlying mechanisms are not well understood, it is currently impossible to give evidence-based recommendation for altitude sojourns in this cohort. It is also of note, that even hypobaric hypoxia exposure during long-haul flights might be detrimental to well-being of pre-term born individuals. The present project aims to comprehensively investigate physiological responses to altitude/hypoxia during rest and exercise in prematurely born, but otherwise healthy adults. Specifically, we aim to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the altered resting and exercise cardiovascular, respiratory, cerebral and hematological responses to hypoxia in prematurely born individuals. The obtained results from this cohort will be compared to the data from a control groups consisting of healthy, age and aerobic capacity-matched individuals born at full-term. While acute hypoxic effects will be the focus of the project's first phase, we will test the effect of prolonged terrestrial (real) or simulated (normobaric hypoxia) altitude exposures in the second part. This phase will, in addition to the insight into the prolonged altitude acclimatization modulation in prematurely born individuals, also enable us to investigate the potential differences between the effects of normobaric (simulated) and hypobaric (terrestrial) hypoxia in this cohort.

The purpose of this study is to develop biocompatible wireless electronic devices that will allow continuous, non-invasive hemodynamic and physiology measurements in the ICU.

The purpose of this study is to determine the predictive value of 7 biomarkers cervical vaginal fluid on future preterm birth in pregnant women whose gestational age are 16 to 24 weeks.

The incidence of preterm birth increases annually. Premature delivery has become the leading cause of neonatal illness and death. For the survived premature babies, the incidence of sequelae is also higher than the full-term babies, which brings a heavy burden to a family and society. Preterm birth has become the important factor affecting the quality of births. The occurrence of premature birth is the outcome of combined action of genetic and environmental factors. However, its etiology is not clear. Recent studies have shown that the risk of preterm birth is associated with dietary factors. Choline is an essential nutrient for human health and it plays an important role in the growth and development of fetuses and neonates. The investigators previously found that serum levels of free choline in preterm mothers were lower than those in normal mothers with full-term birth. Serum levels of free choline also reduced in preterms after receiving parenteral nutrition (PN). However, the relationships between choline and preterm birth is not clear. Therefore, this study is aimed to explore the effect of choline intake during pregnancy and genetic polymorphisms on the risk of preterm birth and on the clinical outcomes in preterms receiving total PN therapy. Healthy Chinese pregnant women with their healthy term infants will be recruited as the control group, while Chinese women with preterm delivery and their preterm infants will be recruited as the preterm group. Dietary choline intake during pregnancy will be evaluated by semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and 24-h dietary recall questionnaire. Gene polymorphisms in the key enzymes of choline metabolism will be identified among the participated women and neonates through Real-time polymerase chain reaction. Choline and its related metabolites will be assayed using high performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry among all mothers and preterms before and after 7-days PN treatment. The influence of genetic risk factors and metabolic changes of choline on the physical and mental development of preterms will be evaluated. The results of this study will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the role of choline and the relative gene polymorphisms on the risk of preterm birth, which will be helpful for estimating the high risk in advance. The results will also provide the scientific evidences to establish the personalized amount of choline intake among women and infants, optimize nutrition support for pregnant women and preterms, and promote better prenatal and postnatal care.