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Abbreviations 25(OH)D 25-hydroxyvitamin D Preterm infants risk vitamin D deficiency at birth. The correlation between 25(OH)D concentrations and birth weight, term, parathyroid hormone, urinary calcium and the urinary calcium/creatinine ratio were assessed with bivariate Spearman analyses. A third of premature neonates displayed inadequate 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels before being discharged from a French neonatal intensive care unit. [Extracted from the article]

Aim: Cerebral hypoxia has been associated with neurodevelopmental impairment. We studied whether reducing cerebral hypoxia in extremely preterm infants during the first 72 hours of life affected neurological outcomes at two years of corrected age.Methods: In 2012-2013, the phase II randomised Safeguarding the Brains of our smallest Children trial compared visible cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) monitoring in an intervention group and blinded NIRS monitoring in a control group. Cerebral hypoxia was significantly reduced in the intervention group. We followed up 115 survivors from eight European centres at two years of corrected age, by conducting a medical examination and assessing their neurodevelopment with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Second or Third Edition, and the parental Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ).Results: There were no differences between the intervention (n = 65) and control (n = 50) groups with regard to the mean mental developmental index (89.6 ± 19.5 versus 88.4 ± 14.7, p = 0.77), ASQ score (215 ± 58 versus 213 ± 58, p = 0.88) and the number of children with moderate-to-severe neurodevelopmental impairment (10 versus six, p = 0.58).Conclusion: Cerebral NIRS monitoring was not associated with long-term benefits or harm with regard to neurodevelopmental outcome at two years of corrected age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate bedside tUS, carried out by neonatologists to assess correct ETT placement, compared with XR. Secondary objectives were threefold: to determine tUS reproducibility between neonatologists, to compare time delays between tUS and XR, and to evaluate its tolerance. We analysed sensitivity of tUS to detect the same ETT position as XR and Kappa coefficient for the concordance between XR and tUS. [Extracted from the article]

Aim: Since 2005, the French Food Safety Agency has recommended that very preterm or low-birthweight babies should be fed with pasteurised, expressed breastmilk, and feeding policies on this vary widely in French neonatal units. We investigated the differences between using a mother's expressed milk, in fresh or pasteurised forms, for very preterm infants.Methods: This observational multicentre study analysed data on 926 very preterm infants: 636 from neonatal units who used the mother's own fresh milk and 290 who used the mother's milk after pasteurisation. We analysed necrotising enterocolitis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, in-hospital mortality, late-onset sepsis, weight gain, length of hospital stay, the duration of parenteral nutrition and the duration of enteral feeding with a nasogastric tube. Multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the impact of maternal milk policies.Results: After adjustment, there was a reduced risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in the fresh milk group with an odds ratio of 0.40 and 95% confidence interval of 0.27-0.67 (p < 0.001). No other statistically significant differences were observed.Conclusion: Feeding very preterm infants with their mother's expressed fresh milk was associated with a reduced risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and further investigations are needed to evaluate the clinical impact of this practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on Probiotics that can stimulate initial head growth in premature infants. The article mentions about the importance of nutrition in extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infants and key findings with which may have implications for later neurodevelopmental impairment and randomised study that focused on 134 ELBW infants who received the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri.