Trends in neonatal emergency transport in the last two decades.

Although maternal antenatal transfer is the preferred option, some infants inevitably need urgent transport to a tertiary neonatal care facility after birth. This study aimed to investigate trends over time in patient characteristics and respiratory management in a large series of neonatal emergency transfers, in order to provide health caregivers an up-to-date profile of such patients and their therapeutic needs. Trends in patient characteristics and respiratory management were evaluated in 3337 transfers by the Eastern Veneto Neonatal Emergency Transport Service in 2000-2019. Joinpoint regression analysis was performed to evaluate trends and to estimate annual percentage changes (APCs). Proportions of preterm neonates increased (APC2000-2012 2.25%), then decreased (APC2012-2019 - 6.04%). Transfers at birth increased (APC2000-2013 2.69%), then decreased (APC2013-2019 - 5.76%). Proportion of neonates with cardiac and surgical diseases declined (APCs2000-2019 - 6.82% and - 3.32%), while proportion of neonates with neurologic diseases increased (APC2000-2019 8.62%). Use of nasal-continuous-positive-airway-pressure (APC2000-2019 9.72%) and high-flow-nasal-cannula (APC2007-2019 58.51%) at call, and nasal-continuous-positive-airway-pressure (APC2000-2019 13.87%) and nasal-intermittent-mandatory-ventilation (APC2000-2019 32.46%) during transfer increased. Mechanical ventilation during transfer decreased (APC2014-2019 - 10.77%). Use of oxygen concentrations at 21% increased at call and during transfer (APCs 2000-2019 2.24% and 2.44%), while oxygen concentrations above 40% decreased at call and during transfer (APCs 2000-2019 - 3.93% and - 5.12%).Conclusion: Our findings revealed a shift toward a more "gentle" approach and the reduced use of oxygen in respiratory management. Equipment and team expertise should meet the requirements of such changing patients and their therapeutic needs. What is Known: • Although antenatal transfer is the preferred option, some infants inevitably need urgent transport to a tertiary neonatal care facility after birth. • Trend studies investigating cohort information with appropriate statistical methods represent useful instruments to detect changes over time. What is New: • Our findings revealed marked changes in patient characteristics and respiratory management in a large series of neonatal emergency transfers during the last two decades. • Equipment and team expertise should meet the requirements of such changing patients and their therapeutic needs.

State of the Art on Kidney Development: How Nephron Endowment at Birth Can Shape Our Susceptibility to Renal Dysfunction Later in Life.

In the present article, we discuss the following topics: (1) the fetal programming of adult kidney diseases and (2) the role of neonatologists in the regenerative renal medicine, based on the activation of resident renal SC. Here, we report the most important steps of our collaboration between neonatologists, nephrologists, and pathologists. Nephrologists should be more interested in clinical data regarding the first month of life in the womb of their adult patients, being particularly focused on birth weight and on the weeks of gestation at birth, without forgetting data regarding maternal status during gestation and neonatal asphyxia. Neonatologists should be aware that any preterm or low birthweight infant should be considered as a subject with fewer glomeruli, probably predicted to develop renal disease later in life.

Trends in respiratory management of transferred very preterm infants in the last two decades.

BACKGROUND: Among infants needing urgent transfer after birth, very preterm infants are a high-risk sub-group requiring special attention. This study aimed to assess trends in early respiratory management in a large series of very preterm infants undergoing postnatal transfer. METHODS: Trends in patient characteristics and early respiratory management were assessed in 798 very preterm infants who were transferred by the Eastern Veneto Neonatal Emergency Transport Service in 2000-2019. Trends were analyzed using joinpoint regression analysis and summarized as annual percentage changes (APCs). RESULTS: Proportion of neonates with birth weight less than 1 kg decreased from 33% to 16% (APC -3.82%). Use of nasal-continuous-positive-airway pressure increased (at call: APC 15.39%; during transfer: APC 15.60%), while use of self-inflating bag (at call: APC -12.09%), oxygen therapy (at call: APC -13.00%; during transfer: APC -23.77%) and mechanical ventilation (at call: APC -2.71%; during transfer: APC -2.99%) decreased. Use of oxygen concentrations at 21% increased (at call: APC 6.26%; during transfer: APC 7.14%), while oxygen concentrations above 40% decreased (at call: APC -5.73%; at transfer APC -8.89%). Surfactant administration at call increased (APC 3%-10%), while surfactant administration when arriving at referring hospital remained around 7-11% (APC 2.55%). CONCLUSION: Relevant trends toward "gentle" approaches in early respiratory management of very preterm infants undergoing postnatal transfer occurred during the last twenty years. In addition, the proportion of transferred extremely low birth weight infants halved. Clinicians and stakeholders should consider such information when allocating assets to both hospitals and transfer services and planning regional perinatal programs.

Metabolomics in pharmacology - a delve into the novel field of pharmacometabolomics.

Introduction: Pharmacometabolomics is an emerging science pursuing the application of precision medicine. Combining both genetic and environmental factors, the so-called pharmacometabolomic approach guides patient selection and stratification in clinical trials and optimizes personalized drug dosage, improving efficacy and safety.Areas covered: This review illustrates the progressive introduction of pharmacometabolomics as an innovative solution for enhancing the discovery of novel drugs and improving research and development (R&D) productivity of the pharmaceutical industry. An extended analysis on published pharmacometabolomics studies both in animal models and humans includes results obtained in several areas such as hepatology, gastroenterology, nephrology, neuropsychiatry, oncology, drug addiction, embryonic cells, neonatology, and microbiomics.Expert opinion: a tailored, individualized therapy based on the optimization of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, the improvement of drug efficacy, and the abolition of drug toxicity and adverse drug reactions is a key issue in precision medicine. Genetics alone has become insufficient for deciphring intra- and inter-individual variations in drug-response, since they originate both from genetic and environmental factors, including human microbiota composition. The association between pharmacogenomics and pharmacometabolomics may be considered the new strategy for an in-deep knowledge on changes and alterations in human and microbial metabolic pathways due to the action of a drug.

Oxidative Stress and Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: Evidences From Microbiomics, Metabolomics, and Proteomics.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a major issue affecting morbidity and mortality of surviving premature babies. Preterm newborns are particularly susceptible to oxidative stress and infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia have a typical oxidation pattern in the early stages of this disease, suggesting the important role of oxidative stress in its pathogenesis. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a complex disease where knowledge advances as new investigative tools become available. The explosion of the "omics" disciplines has recently affected BPD research. This review focuses on the new evidence coming from microbiomics, metabolomics and proteomics in relation to oxidative stress and pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Since the pathogenesis is not yet completely understood, information gained in this regard would be important for planning an efficacious prevention and treatment strategy for the future.

The first case of neonatal priapism during hypothermia for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and a literature review.

Neonatal priapism is a rare condition with only 26 described cases in literature since 1879. It is defined as a persistent penile erection occurring in the first 28 days of life, lasting at least 4 h that usually happens in the first days (from 2 to 12 days). It is a very different condition compared to the adult one because in newborns it is a relatively benign phenomenon. As a result of this paucity of described cases, classification and management are not well known by most of neonatologists and currently there are no established guidelines for its management. Most cases are idiopathic but other aetiologies are possible (polycythemia, blood transfusion and drugs). We describe our only case, which occurred during hypothermia therapy and review the literature to clarify the best choice in management of this rare entity.

From ureteric bud to the first glomeruli: genes, mediators, kidney alterations.

The development of the mammalian kidney is a complex and in part unknown process which requires interactions between pluripotential/stem cells, undifferentiated mesenchymal cells, epithelial and mesenchymal components, eventually leading to the coordinate development of multiple different specialized epithelial, endothelial and stromal cell types within the kidney architectural complexity. We will describe the embryology and molecular nephrogenetic mechanisms, a fascinating traffic of cells and tissues which takes place in five stages: (1) ureteric bud (UB) development; (2) cap mesenchyme formation; (3) mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET); (4) glomerulogenesis and tubulogenesis; (5) interstitial cell development. In particular, we will analyze the multiple cell types involved in these dramatic events as characters moving between different worlds, from the mesenchymal to the epithelial world and back, and will start to define the multiple factors that propel these cells during their travels throughout the developing kidney. Moreover, according with the hypothesis of renal perinatal programing, we will present the results reached in the fields of immunohistochemistry and molecular biology, by means of which we can explain how a loss or excess of molecular factors governing nephrogenesis may cause the onset of pathologies of different gravity, in some cases leading to a chronic kidney disease at different times from birth.

Immunohistochemical markers of stem/progenitor cells in the developing human kidney.

The aim of this study was to better define, by immunohistochemistry, the molecular markers of renal stem/progenitor cells localized in the different niches of ten human preterm kidneys with gestational age ranging from 11 up to 25 weeks. Our data evidence the existence of multiple stem/progenitor pools in different zones of the human developing kidney that are characterized by different phenotypes: capsular stem cells were EMA (MUC1)+, MDM2+, Vimentin+ and Wnt1+; progenitors of the sub-capsular nephrogenic zone were MDM2+ and Wnt1+; cap mesenchymal cells were EMA (MUC1)+, CD15+, vimentin+, Wt1+, CD10+, Bcl2+, Wnt1+ and PAX2+; interstitial progenitor cells were Vimentin+, Wt1+ and α1Anti-tripsin+. Our data evidence the existence of multiple stem/progenitor cell pools in the fetal and neonatal human kidney. Progenitors of these different pools are characterized by a peculiar phenotype, indicating a different differentiation stage of these renal progenitors. A better knowledge of the molecular markers expressed by renal stem/progenitors might represent a relevant datum for researchers involved in renal regenerative medicine.