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Background Exposure to hypothermia is somehow unavoidable when a baby comes to life. This is the reason why any possible effort should be made by every caregiver involved during birth, from labour to transfer into the maternity ward, to reduce it. Hypothermia has widely shown to be related to several neonatal problems, and the risks are more relevant when the babies are born prematurely. Method An observational study was conducted in April 2016 to assess the current practises to avoid hypothermia at birth in 20 Italian neonatal units. Each unit introduced local improvements in clinical practice and the same observational study was repeated 1 year later. Results A total of 4722 babies were analysed. An overall increase in adherence to local and international recommendations emerged from our study. Significant differences between 2016 and 2017 were found in regard to neonatal temperature at nursery entry (36.3 °C vs 36.5 °C, respectively, p 60″ (48.1% vs 68.1%, respectively, p 60′ (56.3% vs 60.9, respectively, p = 0.03). Statistical correlations with the risk of hypothermia were found for delivery room (OR 0.88 (CI 95%0.83–0.94), p p Conclusion Periodical assessment of the delivery room practice has shown to be effective in improving adherence to the international recommendations. Relationship between neonatal hypothermia and several other variables including the delivery room and mother temperature underlines how neonatal thermoregulation starts immediately after birth. Hence, a multi-disciplinary approach is needed to provide the optimal environment for a safe birth.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a multifactorial disease, but little is known about its relationships with neonatal nutritional policies. Human, maternal milk is the best possible nutritional option for all premature infants, including those at high risk for severe complications of prematurity, such as ROP.This is a secondary analysis of data collected during two multicenter RCTs performed consecutively (years 2004 through 2008) by a network of eleven tertiary NICUs in Italy. The two trials aimed at assessing effectiveness of fluconazole prophylaxis (Manzoni et al., N Engl J Med 2007 Jun 14;356(24):2483-95), and of bovine lactoferrin supplementation (Manzoni et al., JAMA 2009 Oct 7;302(13):1421-8), in prevention of invasive fungal infection, and of late-onset sepsis in VLBW infants, respectively. We tested the hypothesis that exclusive feeding with fresh maternal milk may prevent ROP of any stage - as defined by the ETROP study - in VLBW neonates, compared to formula feeding.We analyzed the database from both trials. Systematic screening for detection of ROP was part of the protocol of both studies. The definition of threshold ROP was as defined by the ETROP study. Univariate analysis was performed to look for significant associations between ROP and several possible associated factors, and among them, the type of milk feeding (maternal milk or formula for preterms). When an association was indicated by p0.05, multiple logistic regression was used to determine the factors significantly associated with ROP.In both trials combined, 314 infants received exclusively human maternal milk (group A), and 184 a preterm formula because their mothers were not expected to breastfeed. The clinical, demographical and management characteristics of the neonates did not differ between the two groups, particularly related to the presence of the known risk factors for ROP. Overall, ROP incidence (any stage) was significantly lower in infants fed maternal milk (11 of 314; 3.5%) as compared to formula-fed neonates (29 of 184; 15.8%) (RR 0.14; 95% CI 0.12-0.62; p = 0.004). The same occurred for threshold ROP (1.3% vs. 12.3%, respectively; RR 0.19; 95% CI 0.05-0.69; p = 0.009). At multivariate logistic regression controlling for potentially confounding factors that were significantly associated to ROP (any stage) at univariate analysis (birth weight, gestational age, days on supplemental oxygen, systemic fungal infection, outborn, hyperglycaemia), type of milk feeding retained significance, human maternal milk being protective with p = 0.01.Exclusive human, maternal milk feeding since birth may prevent ROP of any stage in VLBW infants in the NICU.

Background This study aims to investigate the incidence and the relative risk factors of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and posterior-ROP (P-ROP): ROP in Zone I and posterior Zone II, as well as to analyze the occurrence of surgical treatment of ROP and to evaluate the short term outcome of the disease in Italy. Methods It is a prospective multicenter observational study; all infants with a birth weight (BW) ≤ 750 g and/or a gestational age (GA) ≤27 weeks born between January 1st 2008 and December 31st 2009 in 25 III level Italian neonatal intensive care units were eligible for the study. Results 421 infants were examined: 265 (62.9%) developed ROP and 102 (24.2%) P-ROP. Following the multivariate analysis erythropoietin-therapy (p

During the last decade, multiple techniques have been developed to isolate and quantify human endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). In parallel, a number of studies have applied these methodologies to investigate the number and function of circulating EPCs in adult diseases characterized by vascular dysfunction. However, very little is known about different subtypes of EPCs during gestation, during the neonatal age or in neonatal diseases. Initial evidence supports the hypothesis that circulating angiogenic cells may play an important role during development, and attention has particularly focused in clarifying the function of EPCs in lung vascular development, and the role of the impairment of EPC mobilization and homing in hyperoxia-induced lung injury characteristic of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Among different subtypes of EPCs, both the role of angiogenic mononuclear cells (triple-positive CD34+CD133+VEGFR-2+ cells and colony forming unit-Hill cells) and endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) in physiological vascular development and during neonatal diseases need to be elucidated. A better understanding of EPC biology during gestation, during the neonatal age and in preterm infants will unravel the pathologic basis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other preterm and term neonatal diseases characterized by a prominent defect in vascular growth, including retinopathy of prematurity and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn.

Italy provides a free voluntary serological screening for toxoplasmosis in pregnancy supported by public health system, as there is an estimated congenital toxoplasmosis rate of 1-2/10,000. The aim of this study was to make an inventory of diagnostic and therapeutic protocols in use in Italy in the absence of a national guideline. A semistructured questionnaire was distributed to AMCLI (Italian Association of Clinical Microbiologists) members who were asked to involve other specialists to fill in the form. Data from 26 centers show: a) a general use of the IgG avidity test to solve diagnosis in IgG/IgM positive, pregnant women; b) a widespread attitude to spyramicin antenatal treatment in suspected, unconfirmed maternal infection; c) avoidance of invasive antenatal diagnosis only in suspected early or late (24 weeks), even confirmed, maternal infection d) fetal diagnosis performed by PCR assays on amniotic fluid; e) variability of both indications and dosage of pyrimethamine-sulfadiazine (P-S) as fetal treatment; f) use of comparative mother and newborn IgG/IgM Immuneblot in most centers; g) no diagnostic tests performed on placenta and cord blood; h) spyramicin is no longer used in congenital infections; i) no P-S-based treatment for children at high risk of congenital infection (late maternal infection) in the absence of diagnosis. As there is the opportunity to test pregnant women for Toxoplasma gondii infection in Italy free of charge, standardized diagnostic and therapeutic national guidelines would focus on a more uniform approach.

Objective: To investigate whether exposure to inhibitors of gastric acidity, such as H2 blockers or proton pump inhibitors, can independently increase the risk of infections in very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Study design: This is a secondary analysis of prospectively collected data from a multicenter, randomized controlled trial of bovine lactoferrin (BLF) supplementation (with or without the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG) vs placebo in prevention of late-onset sepsis (LOS) and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants. Inhibitors of gastric acidity were used at the recommended dosages/schedules based on the clinical judgment of attending physicians. The distribution of days of inhibitors of gastric acidity exposure between infants with and without LOS/NEC was assessed. The mutually adjusted effects of birth weight, gestational age, duration of inhibitors of gastric acidity treatment, and exposure to BLF were controlled through multivariable logistic regression. Interaction between inhibitors of gastric acidity and BLF was tested; the effects of any day of inhibitors of gastric acidity exposure were then computed for BLF-treated vs -untreated infants. Results: Two hundred thirty-five of 743 infants underwent treatment with inhibitors of gastric acidity, and 86 LOS episodes occurred. After multivariate analysis, exposure to inhibitors of gastric acidity remained significantly and independently associated with LOS (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.008-1.067; P = .01); each day of inhibitors of gastric acidity exposure conferred an additional 3.7% odds of developing LOS. Risk was significant for Gram-negative (P < .001) and fungal (P = .001) pathogens, but not for Gram-positive pathogens (P = .97). On the test for interaction, 1 additional day of exposure to inhibitors of gastric acidity conferred an additional 7.7% risk for LOS (P = .003) in BLF-untreated infants, compared with 1.2% (P = .58) in BLF-treated infants. Conclusion: Exposure to inhibitors of gastric acidity is significantly associated with the occurrence of LOS in preterm VLBW infants. Concomitant administration of BLF counteracts this selective disadvantage. Trial registration: isrctn.org: ISRCTN53107700.