Other content tagged: news research
Pasteurisation of human milk can deactivate the coronavirus and ensures safety for milk donation
If a newborn infant cannot be breastfed, the best alternative nutrition for babies born with a very low birth weight is donated human milk. During the present pandemic caused by the coronavirus, using donor milk could, however, raise safety concerns. The study “holder pasteurisation of donated human milk is effective in inactivating SARS-CoV-2” conducted at the University of Toronto, now showed that donor human milk is safe to use after pasteurisation, as the heating process eliminates potential contamination by the…
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Reasons for ROP occurrence and a new option of treatment: an interview with Professor Ann Hellström
Dear Professor Hellström, Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is an eye disease that only occurs in very preterm babies (usually preterm babies born before the 31st week or born with a birth weight below 1250 g). What exactly happens in the back of the eye, when a child develops an ROP and why does this occur? When a child develops ROP the development of the neurons and the vessels (neuro-vascular) in the retina (the part at the back of the eye…
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RECAP Winter School: Early bird fee until 30th of June!
Are you a researcher in the fields of neonatology or epidemiology who wishes to learn how to use data from cohorts and registers? Then join the RECAP Winter School from 29 November- 3 December 2020 in Munich, Germany. Register until 30th of June to get an early bird fee! Through a mixture of lectures and workshops, you will learn about existing very preterm cohorts in Europe, new research on children and adults born very preterm based on pooled data, and…
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Family-centred care in times of the pandemic
An interview with Atle Moen Dear Dr Moen, In your paper „If parents were a drug“ [accessible via Wiley Online Library], you describe how involving parents in care procedures and giving them an opportunity to provide skin-to-skin care, has proven to be beneficial for hospitalised newborns in short and long-term outcomes. You also claim that if these evidence-based benefits could be administered in form of a drug, the common practice would most likely be to give this drug to the…
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If parents were a drug
Parents have a huge impact on stress and pain and thus the wellbeing of their infants during neonatal intensive care. If this effect could be achieved with a drug that has no side-effects, this drug would undoubtedly be standard of care. This drug is not available, while parents usually are. Although neonatal care has made tremendous improvements during the last years, impaired long-term neurodevelopmental outcome is still a major issue in infants that need intensive care treatment. Doctor Atle Moen…
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Low Birth Weight may be Linked to Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a degenerative disease of the eyes and is one of the most common causes for visual impairment in industrialised countries. In the past multiple studies have linked visual degeneration to low birth weight. Fetal development is suspected to play a role in the development of age-related macular degeneration, but the link between low birth weight and AMD has not been well studied yet. To further investigate this link,…
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Extreme heat may increase the risk of premature birth
Exposure to extreme heat waves during the last week of gestation might cause premature birth defined as birth before 37 weeks of gestation. A cohort study in California with 1,967,300 mothers showed consistent results with higher numbers of preterm birth in women who experienced an extreme heat episode in the week prior to labor. The publication „Extreme heat episodes and risk of preterm birth in California, 2005-2013“ describes a large population-based cohort study, in…
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Professor Dieter Wolke wins award for Distinguished Contributions to British Developmental Psychology
Professor Dieter Wolke from the University of Warwick receives the award for Distinguished Contributions to British Developmental Psychology. With his work Professor Wolke is doing invaluable research on how preterm birth affects brain and psychological long-term development and consequently, the quality of life of preterms. After the announcement Professor Wolke commented: “I am very delighted that I am the 2020 Distinguished Contribution to British Developmental Psychology Award winner. I have to thank my…
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RECAP preterm: the ACTION cohort
The main idea behind the Italian ACTION (ACcess To Intensive Obstetrical and Neonatal care) follow-up project was to assess the outcomes of every very preterm birth occurring in a given geographical area, as opposed to those cared for in maternities and NICUs of tertiary hospitals only, and to identify factors that could explain such outcomes and suggest possible strategies for improvement. Thus, the initial cohort recruitment in 2003-05 and collection of perinatal data up…
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New study HAPP-e is looking for participants from all over the world
Studying the health of adults born preterm is the aim of the EU-funded study HAPP-e, which has been recently launched. Focus point of HAPP-e is an electronic cohort. Researchers will follow a group of adults born preterm over a longer period of time and study the participant’s health and life conditions. Both recruitment and follow-up of will entirely be performed using digital tools, such as a web-platform. This makes the study…
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