No abstract

SUMMARY Thirty nine very low birthweight neonates (with a birth weight of 820 to 1500 g and gestation of 27 to 34 weeks) who required total parenteral nutrition were randomly assigned to one of three regimens of administration of fat emulsion for a period of eight days. Groups 1 and 2 received the emulsion at a constant rate over 24 and 16 hours, respectively, beginning with a daily dosage of 1 g/kg and increasing daily by 1 g/kg to a maximum of 4 g/kg. Group 3 received the emulsion at a constant rate of 4 g/kg a day over 24 hours. Plasma concentrations of free fatty acids and serum concentrations of total bilirubin, apparent unbound bilirubin, and albumin were measured at regular intervals. Effects of the three regimens on serum bilirubin measurements were determined. The regimen of fat infusion and rate of infusion seemed to have no effect on serum concentrations of total and apparent unbound bilirubin, although there was a trend towards greater variability in apparent unbound concentrations with the intermittent regimen.

The primary objective of this study was the establishment of a postnatal growth curve for the very low-birth-weight infant. Only infants whose size was appropriate for gestational age and whose predominant form of nourishment was enteral were included in the study. Two growth curves were constructed: one for infants weighing less than 900 g (group A, birth weight 799 ± 79 [SD] g, mean gestational age 26.5 weeks), and one for infants weighing 901 to 1,100 g (group B, birth weight 1,023 ± 53 [SD] g, mean gestational age 28.5 weeks). Growth was followed over the first 50 postnatal days. Group A infants gained an average of 10.2 g/d overall during the first 50 postnatal days and group B infants gained an average of 17.1 g/d over the same period. Because the major objective of this study was construction of a growth curve for infants weighing less than 900 g, direct comparison is made with the Dancis grid (1948) as this is the only standard for this group. The growth rates of our infants were found to be more than twice that of the original prediction of Dancis.

SUMMARY The effect of postnatal age on serum bilirubin binding measurements was studied prospectively in extremely premature infants of 25-28 weeks' gestation. Serum was obtained from 10 infants at birth, 2-4 days of age, 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 10-13 weeks.

The GenBank accession number for the sequence reported in this article (GrmM4 cDNA E39) is L08199. LITERATURE ClTED Bednarek SY, Wilkins TA, Dombrowski JE, Raikhel NV (1990) A carboxy-terminal propeptide is necessary for proper sorting of barley lectin to vacuoles of tobacco. Plant Cell 2: 1145-1155 Chrispeels MJ (1991) Sorting of proteins in the secretory system. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mo1 Biol42: 21-53 Hughes DW, Galau GA (1989) Temporally modular gene expression during cotyledon development. Genes Dev 3 358-369 Hughes DW, Galau GA (1991) Developmental and environmental induction of Leu and LeaA mRNAs and the postabscission program during embryo culture. Plant C e l l 3 605-618 Morgens PH, Callahan AM, Dunn LJ, Abels FB (1990) Isolation and sequencing of cDNA clones encoding ethylene-induced putative peroxidases from cucumber cotyledons. Plant Mo1 Biol 1 4 715-725 Abbreviation: GrmM, gene expressed during both the maturation stage of embryogenesis and germination.