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The baby hatch is a prefabricated structure, easily reachable, formed by two small rooms; it offers total anonymity to the women who leave their baby, and maximum security to the small child. The mother who decides to leave a child enters a room without passing through control, must open a tilting window and lay him in a cradle located in an adjoining room, which is maintained at a constant temperature in all four seasons. An alarm, activated by a volumetric and contact sensor, immediately draws the attention of the first aid triage operators. A camera frames only the bed where the child lies and does not take a picture of the face of the person who puts the child in it.

Multiple organ failure (MOF), or multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) as more recently known, is a clinical syndrome characterized by the failure of two, or more, organs which are unable to maintain homeostasis without intervention. Described causative factors for MODS in the neonatal period are sepsis, shock due to any cause, tissue hypoperfusion, prematurity, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), surgery, congenital heart disease and others. MOF can be considered as the final common pathway of immunological, cytokine and hormonal changes, occurred as physiologic re- sponse to different infectious or non-infectious inflammatory insults, who lead to systemic inflammation, a procoagulant state and progressive organ dysfunction. The clinical presentation of MODS can widely vary, depending on the primary causes, nature, number and severity of the organ systems involved. Pre-MODS conditions should be promptly identified and treated. In case of severe sepsis and septic shock, the available guidelines should be followed. When MODS already occurred, supportive care for single organ dysfunction should be provided and adequate oxygenation and organ perfusion maintained. More studies in term and preterm infants (with the development of specific neonatal scoring systems) are needed, to further understand neonatal MODS and assess strategies for early prevention and treatment. Proceedings of the International Course on Perinatal Pathology (part of the 10th International Workshop on Neonatology · October 22nd-25th, 2014) · Cagliari (Italy) · October 25th, 2014 · The role of the clinical pathological dialogue in problem solving Guest Editors: Gavino Faa, Vassilios Fanos, Peter Van Eyken

Apnea of prematurity (AOP) is one of the most frequent pathologies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, with an incidence inversely related to gestational age. Its etiology is often multi factorial and diagnosis of idiopathic forms requires exclusion of other underlying diseases. Despite being a self-limiting condition which regresses with the maturation of the newborn, possible long-term effects of recurring apneas and the degree of desaturation and bradycardia who may lead to abnormal neurological outcome are not yet clarified. Therefore AOP needs careful evaluation of its etiology and adequate therapy that can be both pharmacological and non-pharmacological. Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Neonatology · Cagliari (Italy) · October 23rd-26th, 2013 · Learned lessons, changing practice and cutting-edge research