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In order to assess the immunity indicators of early premature children born in the period from 22 to 27 weeks the researchers conducted a dynamic examination of 24 newborns: 11 children with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (Group 1) and 13 children without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (Group 2). They used flow cytometry to determine monocyte counts (CD14+CD64+, CD14+HLA-DR+, CD11b+CD14+). The authors determined the peculiarities of the immune status of children with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia. They found that the spectrum of monocyte-macrophage protection factors of the children with extremely low body weight was significantly reduced due to a decrease in cell adhesion and migration of the (CD14+CD64+) cells to the inflammation site, as well as the presentation of infectious pathogens – viruses or bacteria (CD14+HLA-DR+), which may be the reason for the development of bacterial complications and prolonged course of the inflammatory process, one of the main factors in the development of severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia. The revealed features of the immune status in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the therapy, which dictates the need for further studies.

The problem of premature infants is well recognized in Russia and all over the world. The article discusses the mortality level and structure of extremely premature infant during 2015–2019. The aim of the study was to identify significant cause-effect relations for high mortality of premature infants and infants with extremely low body weight (ELBW) according to reports from obstetric departments, pediatric outpatient clinics, children's hospitals, statistical agencies, queries results from Territorial Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (TCMIF) in Saint Petersburg and Russian Association of Human Reproduction (RAHR). The main demographic indices are presented by the Petrostat association. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) forms provided by the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Maternal and Child Health of the Saint Petersburg Health care Committee (No. 32 “Information on medical care for pregnant women, women in labour and new mothers” (approved by order of Rosstat No. 591 of 27.11.2015); No. 19 “Information on children with disabilities” registered in children's clinics (approved by order of Rosstat No. 866 of 27.12.2016); No. 14 “Information on the activities of medical facilities units providing inpatient medical care” (approved by order of Rosstat No. 723 of 05.12.2014); No. 30 “Information on the medical facility” (approved by order of Rosstat No. 483 of 03.08.2018 “On the approval of statistical tools for the organization of federal statistical observation in the field of healthcare by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation”) presented by Saint Petersburg Medical Informational and Analytical Center (MIAC)), and answers from TCMIF in Saint Petersburg and RARCH have been investigated. The authors have analyzed the fertility and mortality rates of premature infants, the group of children with ELBW has been established. High mortality levels have been revealed in the first weeks of life (22–23), they were mainly associated with infectious processes. The authors associate the premature delivery increase with the widespread implementation of assisted reproductive technology (ART). ART can be performed either via compulsory medical insurance funds, or other non-government sources. The assumption was proposed that there are possible violations of ART indications, contraindications, and the number of procedures. The ART efficacy is difficult to estimate as well due to insufficient information provided by Rosstat report form No. 32. The need of implementation of the new statistical form that will cover the data on the of ART administration, the possibility of efficacy estimation of modern invasive methods for infertility treatment and mandatory submission of reports about the use of these methods by medical facilities is discussed.

Objective: to study long-term neuropsychiatric outcomes in deeply premature infants with neonatal complications Material and methods . The authors analyzed long-term neuropsychiatric outcomes during a three-year follow-up of 97 children born with a weight less than a 1000g in the department of catamnesis of premature children. Results. The authors found the following predictors of the development of chronic pathology in a premature children: extremely low body weight at birth, long-term (more than 30 days after birth) use of additional oxygen, intraventricular hemorrhages of 3—4 degree and periventricular leukomalacia, the formation of broncho-pulmonary dysplasia in combination with low rates of physical (less than 10 centiles) and psychomotor development by 12 months of corrected age. The most significant factors that have a protective effect on the brain include: breastfeeding, protective regimen, developmental techniques, minimization of post-neonatal infection, prevention of broncho-pulmonary dysplasia. Conclusion. The study of the health of deeply premature children during their first three and even more years of life is necessary to develop measures to improve antenatal, obstetric and neonatal care in order to increase survival and reduce disability among premature babies.

Introduction . The respiratory syncytial virus is one of the leading causes of lower respiratory tract infections in premature children. An effective way to prevent respiratory syncytial viral infection is passive immunization with palivizumab. However, its capabilities and results in children born with very low and extremely low body weight have not been sufficiently studied. Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of passive immunization in the prevention of respiratory syncytial viral infection in children born with very low and extremely low body weight. Children characteristics and research methods . The authors studied the frequency and severity of respiratory diseases in 450 patients born with very low and extremely low body weight. 385 children (Group 1) received palivizumab, 65 children (Group 2) did not receive palivizumab. In both groups there was the same frequency of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (68,8 and 69,0%, respectively) Results. There were no complications after palivizumab administration; 32 (8,3%) children had mild catarrhal phenomena without hyperthermia, 3 (0,8%) children had local skin reactions. During observation period up to 9±1 months the authors noted a lower incidence of respiratory diseases (p=0,0002) in Group 1 as compared with Group 2, including moderate forms of ARVI (p=0,0078); none of the children got sick due to the respiratory syncytial virus. In Group 2 the virus was detected in 3 out of 7 children with a severe respiratory infection. The immunized children were less likely to be hospitalized (p=0,0175), including in the intensive care unit and intensive care unit (p=0,0034) and to be prescribed antibiotic therapy (p=0,0045). There was the higher risk of recurrent diseases in both groups. The patients with bronchopulmonary dysplasia with comorbid conditions were at higher risk of recurrent diseases in both groups. Conclusion. Children born with very low and extremely low body weight shall be given passive immunoprophylaxis against RSV infection.

BackgroundKidney transplantation from donors who weigh ≤5 kg is performed at only a few transplant centers owing to the high complication and low graft survival rates associated with this approach.MethodsWe retrospectively compared the results of kidney transplantation at our center between January 2015 and December 2019 based on the following pediatric donor criteria: donor body weight ≤5 kg (n=32), 5 kg< donor weight ≤20 kg (n=143), and donor weight >20 kg (n=110). We also perform subgroup analysis of kidney transplantation outcomes from ≤5 kg donors, using conventional (dual separate and classic en-bloc KTx)/novel (en-bloc KTx with outflow tract) surgical methods and allocating to adult/pediatric recipients.ResultsThe death-censored graft survival rates from extremely low body weight ≤5kg at 1 month, and 1, 3, and 5 years were 90.6%, 80.9%, 77.5%, and 73.9%, respectively, which were significantly lower than that from larger body weight pediatric donors. However, the 3-, and 5-year post-transplantation eGFRs were not significantly different between the pediatric and adult recipient group. The thrombosis (18.8%) and urinary leakage (18.8%) rates were significantly higher in the donor weight ≤5 kg group. Compared with 5 kg< donor weight ≤20 kg group, donor weight ≤5kg group was at elevated risk of graft loss due to thrombosis (OR: 13.4) and acute rejection (OR: 6.7). No significant difference on the outcomes of extremely low body weight donor kidney transplantation was observed between adults and pediatric recipients. Urinary leakage rate is significantly lower in the novel operation (8.7%) than in the conventional operation group (44.4%).ConclusionsAlthough the outcomes of donor body weight ≤5kg kidney transplantation is inferior to that from donors with large body weight, it can be improved through technical improvement. Donors with body weight ≤5 kg can be considered as an useful source to expand the donor pool.

Respiratory therapy is the main component of intensive care for premature newborns, it has a great influence on nursing outcomes.Characteristics of children and research methods. The authors carried put a retrospective analysis of the intensive care effectiveness in 44 infants with extremely low body mass at birth.Results. They found the cases of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and evaluated the treatment effectiveness depending on the weight and gestational age. The children with birth weight of 500–699 grams demonstrated low efficiency of intensive care and adverse course of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. This group of premature infants was characterized by a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation, low body mass dynamics, and, as a result, had a high mortality rate in the late neonatal period compared to the group of children born with a birth weight of more than 700 g (p Conclusion. Effective nursing of preterm infants with a birth weight less than 700g requires a combination of an individual approach to the auxiliary ventilation methods and a non-invasive ventilation regimen along with pharmacotherapy that stimulates the respiratory center of the newborn and promotes the maturation of surfactant to prevent complications of respiratory therapy.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the history and structure of the pathology of premature infants with extremely low body weight and very low body weight under dynamic follow up in the monitoring department for children of the perinatal risk group. Using the method of continuous sampling we analyzed observation maps of 95 premature infants with extremely low body weight and very low body weight of gestation age from 24 to 36 weeks.All newborns have a low Apgar score at birth and at the 5th minute, and Apgar score was lower in children with extremely low body weight as compared with children with very low body weight. All children had congenital anomalies of the organs and systems, marked signs of immaturity, with prevailing changes in the cardiovascular system, passability of the renal pelvis, and congenital deformity of thigh.Among the conditions that occurred in the perinatal period, the authors diagnosed intraventricular hemorrhage in 50.5% of patients, 89.6% of them had hemorrhage of grade II – III, all children had respiratory distress syndrome. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia was diagnosed in 60% of premature infants, its moderate and severe forms in 1/3 of the patients. All children had anemia, and 13.7% of children had a neonatal syndrome from mothers with diabetes mellitus. 1/3 of premature infants had retinopathy; its frequency did not depend on the body weight at birth. All children had a combination of pathologies. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia was combined with respiratory distress syndrome and anemia in 100% of children. The combination of bronchopulmonary dysplasia with intraventricular hemorrhage was more often recorded in patients with extremely low body weight than in patients with very low body weight.

To evaluate the immunity indexes in the children who were born with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) of varying severity at very early delivery terms (22-27 weeks), dynamic examinations were performed in 35 infants: 17 children were with severe BPD; 18, with mild-severity and moderately severe BPD. The comparison group consisted of seven children born at 22-27 weeks of gestational age without signs of BPD. Relative numbers of lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, CD16+CD56+, CD4+CD25+), and monocytes (CD14+CD64+, CD14+HLA-DR+) were determined by flow cytometry. The level of cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-4) was measured by enzyme immunoassay technique. The features of immune status in children with BPD of severe, mild and moderate severity were discerned. It was found that the predictors of severe BPD development in the children born at very early terms, are: increased content of IL-8 at birth and at the age of 1 month, reduced level of expression on monocytes (CD64, HLA-DR) on the 1 month of life, and CD14+CD64+cells at 38-40 weeks post conception. The revealed features of immune status in newborns with BPD can be used to assess the effectiveness of the therapy, which requires further research in this direction.

Aim. To establish the clinical and genetic determinants of the formation of delayed speech development in infants with very low and extremely low birth weight and to develop a prediction algorithm for this condition. Materials and methods. A cohort prospective study was conducted, which included 155 infant with very low and extremely low birth weight. Their speech development in 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months of life was studied and determinants determined. Results. It was found that 30.9% of children at the adjusted age of 24 months and almost 25% of children born with low and extremely low body weight at the age of 36 months have delayed speech. Important factors that promote delayed speech turned out to be severe intraventricular hemorrhages, postponed anemia in the first year of life, physical development and socio-economic status of the family. Forcasting model for delayed speech in early age for children born with low and extremely low body weight is devised. Conclusion: proposed model has high specificity (84.88%) and restrained sensitivity (55.88%) that testifies about ability to use it in practical medicine.

Background. The development of premature infants is slower than that of term ones, often due to nutritional status disorders in preterm infants. Objective. Our aim was to study the nutritional status, physical, and psychomotor development of infants. Methods. Nutritional status — the composition (the ratio of fat and fat-free tissues) and the value of lean body mass (LBM) — was assessed by plethysmography and densitometry; physical development — by measuring the mass and length of the body, the circumference of the head and chest, calculating the body mass index (BMI); psychomotor development — assessing compliance with the schedule of neuropsychological development of infants (GNOM). The examination was carried out at 12–14 and 16–18 weeks of the corrected age for preterm and actual age for full-term infants. Initially, the diet of infants was assessed by determining the amount, content of macronutrients and energy in the breast milk and/or milk formula and complementary food consumed. The diet was considered to be balanced if the diet parameters diverged not more than 10% of the norm. Results. The study included 23 preterm infants with extremely low (ELBW), 20 — with very low (VLBW), 34 — with low body weight (LBW), and 33 full-term infants. At 12–14 weeks of the corrected age, the magnitude of LBM in infants with ELBW — 3,397 (3,096; 3,608) and with VLBW — 3,824 (3,797; 3,899) was lower than in infants with LBW — 4,497 (4,034; 4,651) and full-term infants — 4,511 (3,887; 4,647) (Kruskal–Wallis test, p = 0.048). Protein balanced diet was in 2 (9%) infants with ELBW, energy balanced diet — in 1 (4%) infant. Among infants with ELBW, 17/23 (74%) referred to the risk group, 6/23 (26%) — to the developmental disorder group. Compared with infants with ELBW and VLBW, infants with LBW and full-term infants had a higher LBM and, correspondingly, higher body weight and BMI. Improvement of the nutritional status after 4–6 weeks due to correction of protein and energy consumption in infants with ELBW was accompanied by some increase in lean body mass, while its proportion was much higher and the proportion of fat mass was lower, which was accompanied by an improvement in the psychomotor development in individual infants: 5/23 (22%) became age-appropriate, and in the risk group of developmental disorders, the proportion of infants decreased from 17 (74%) to 13/23 (57%). The obtained results testify to the influence of nutritional status on the physical and psychomotor development of infants. Conclusion . The importance of dynamic assessment of the nutritional status of premature infants with individualized correction of their diet for improving the physical and psychomotor development of the child during the first year of life is shown.

Background: Premature infants with extremely low and very low birth weight with a severe overlapping perinatal pathology often feature slower growth rate within the first year of life and require special nutritional support. Objective: Our aim was to study physical development of infants with protein-calorie deficiency in the setting of using a specialized protein- and calorie-rich pediatric milk product for enteral feeding. Methods: We analyzed tolerability and efficacy of clinical nutrition within the framework of a prospective two-month-long case series. We assessed actual children’s diets and the chemical composition thereof. We determined body weight and length, body mass index (BMI), adipodermal flap thickness over the triceps. Anabolic effect of clinical nutrition was assessed on the basis of transthyretin concentration dynamics. Results: The study involved 30 infants with protein-calorie deficiency (7 term infants and 23 premature infants) with a severe perinatal pathology. High tolerability of the formula under analysis was registered in most patients. Termination of functional gastrointestinal tract disorders (posseting, colics, flatulence, constipations) was observed in 23 (87%) patients. In most cases, the use of a protein- and calorie-rich formula as a part of a therapeutic diet helped to satisfy children’s protein demand and improve their weight/length parameters: BMI increased in 19 (72%) children, body weight — in 16 (63%), body length — in 24 (92%), adipodermal flap thickness over the triceps — in all the children (100%). We observed transthyretin concentration increase from 162 (157; 171) in the beginning of the study to 187 (170; 208) mg/l in the end thereof (p = 0.028). Conclusion: A specialized protein- and calorie-rich product for enteral feeding may be used for feeding infants with protein-calorie deficiency born with a severe a perinatal pathology, including premature infants.

Objective: Effect of nutritional support for preterm infants with very low (VLBW) and extremely low body (ELBW) weight with hypoxic damage of the central nervous system (CNS) of varying severity is not well elucidated. The aim of this investigation is to study clinical, laboratory, neurosonography and electroencephalography characteristics of preterm infants with VLBW and ELBW with hypoxic of CNS on complex comprehensive nutritional support, diagnostic criteria of which were infants body weight gain, increase in growth and head circumference Methods: Criteria of including into the study were VLBW and ELBW of an infant at birth and hypoxic damage to the CNS. Overall, 254 preterm infants born at the term of 23-24 weeks of gestation with body weight at birth less than 1500 grams were included into the prospective study. All patients underwent anthropometric and clinical observation of height, weight, head circumference and body mass index till 50 weeks of postconceptual age with following evaluation by central curves; standard laboratory and biochemical blood analyses, neurosonography and electroencephalography. Data analysis of further growth of observed infants after discharge from hospital was made in 2017-2019 years on the basis of studying of stationary cards. Results: In the ELBW group with severe level of hypoxic damage to the CNS, optimum gain was 20-22 g/kg/daily, which allowed to avoid complications on the alimentary tract; in the VLBW group with severe degree it was 16-18g/kg/daily during the first three months of life. In the ELBW and VLBW groups of children with moderate degree of hypoxic damage the desired gain did not differ and was at the level of 20-25 g/kg/daily. Physiological body weight gain in infants with VLBW and ELBW according to gestational time is connected with favorable somatic and neurological prognosis in these infants. Calculation of calorie intake, selection of the type of feeding for infants with ELBW and with VLBW according to recommendations made by ESPGHAN (2010) ensures positive anthropometric data dynamics without metabolic disruptions. Conclusion: Physiological body weight gain according to gestation period is connected with favorable somatic and neurological prognosis in these infants.

Background Functional neuroimaging techniques are widely used to elucidate changes in brain activity, and various questionnaires are used to investigate psychopathological features in patients with eating disorders (ED). It is well known that social skills and interpersonal difficulties are strongly associated with the psychopathology of patients with ED. However, few studies have examined the association between brain activity and social relationships in patients with ED, particularly in patients with extremely low body weight. Methods In this study, 22-channel near-infrared spectroscopy was used to quantify regional hemodynamic changes during a letter fluency task (LFT) in 20 female patients with ED with a mean body mass index of 14.0 kg/m2and 31 female controls (CTLs). Symptoms were assessed using the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 and Beck Depression Inventory. We hypothesized that frontal activity in patients with ED would be lower than in CTLs and would show different correlations with psychopathological features compared with CTLs. Results The LFT performance and score on the social insecurity subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 were significantly higher in the ED group than in the CTL group. The mean change in oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) in bilateral frontal regions during the LFT was significantly smaller in the ED group than in the CTL group. Social insecurity score was positively correlated with the concentration of oxy-Hb in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex in the ED group but not in the CTL group. Conclusions These results suggest that activity of the orbitofrontal cortex is associated with social insecurity and disturbed in patients with ED. Therefore, disturbed orbitofrontal cortex activity may underlie the lack of insight and social isolation that is characteristic of patients with ED.