We conclude that maternal smoking and hypertension increase the odds for developing BPD after preterm birth, and that maternal smoking is strongly associated with increased odds for late respiratory morbidities during early childhood. These findings suggest that in addition to the BPD diagnosis at 36 weeks, other factors modulate late respiratory outcomes during childhood. We speculate that measures to reduce maternal smoking not only will lower the risk for preterm birth but also will improve late respiratory morbidities after preterm birth.

Preterm birth exposes the developing lung to an environment with direct exposure to bacteria, often facilitated by endotracheal intubation. Despite evidence linking bacterial infections to the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), systematic studies of airway microbiota are limited. The objective was to identify specific patterns of the early respiratory tract microbiome from tracheal aspirates of mechanically ventilated preterm infants that are associated with the development and severity of BPD. Infants with gestational age ≤34 weeks, and birth weight 500–1250g were prospectively enrolled. Mechanically ventilated infants had tracheal aspirate samples collected at enrollment, 7, 14, and 21 days of age. BPD was determined by modified NIH criteria with oxygen reduction tests; infants without BPD were excluded due to low numbers. Aspirates were processed for bacterial identification by 16S rRNA sequencing, and bacterial load by qPCR. Cross-sectional analysis was performed using 7 day samples and longitudinal analysis was performed from subjects with at least 2 aspirates. Microbiome analysis was performed on tracheal aspirates from 152 infants (51, 49, and 52 with mild, moderate, and severe BPD, respectively). Seventy-nine of the infants were included in the cross-sectional analysis and 94 in the longitudinal. Shannon Diversity, bacterial load, and relative abundance of individual taxa were not strongly associated with BPD status. Longitudinal analysis revealed that preterm infants who eventually developed severe BPD exhibited greater bacterial community turnover with age, acquired less Staphylococcus in the first days after birth, and had higher initial relative abundance of Ureaplasma. In conclusion, longitudinal changes in the airway microbial communities of mechanically ventilated preterm infants may be associated with BPD severity, whereas cross-sectional analysis of airway ecology at 7 days of age did not reveal an association with BPD severity. Further evaluation is necessary to determine whether the observed longitudinal changes are causal or in response to clinical management or other factors that lead to BPD.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that specific echocardiographic measurements of right ventricle (RV) mechanics at 36 weeks post-menstrual age (PMA) are associated with severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Study design: A subset of 93 preterm infants (born between 27 and 29 weeks gestation) was retrospectively selected from a prospectively enrolled cohort. BPD was defined using the National Institutes of Health workshop definition, with modifications for oxygen reduction testing and altitude. The cohort was divided into no BPD and BPD using previously published methodology for analyses. Echocardiographic measurements of RV function (tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, fractional area of change, systolic to diastolic ratio, tissue Doppler myocardial performance index, RV strain), RV remodeling/morphology (end-systolic left ventricular (LV) eccentricity index and RV afterload (pulmonary artery acceleration time measures) were evaluated at 36 weeks PMA. Multivariable logistic regression determined associations between RV measurements and BPD severity. Results: Compared with the no BPD cohort, the BPD group had lower birth weight z-scores (P = .04) and trended toward male predominance (p = 0.08). After adjusting for birth weight z-scores, gestational age and sex, there were no differences in echocardiographic measurements between groups except for the EI (scaled odds ratio (0.1-unit increase) of 1.49 (1.13 – 2.12, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Among conventional and emerging echocardiographic measurements of RV mechanics, EI was the only parameter independently associated with BPD severity in this study. The EI may be a useful echocardiographic measurement to characterize RV mechanics in patients with BPD at 36 weeks PMA.

Airway protein profiles in seven days old mechanically ventilated preterm infants are associated with important antenatal events and unique airway microbial communities. These relationships may reveal new mechanisms by which antenatal events impact the course and outcomes of preterm infants.

Acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is recognized as a global problem that can lead to a range of acute and secondary complications impacting morbidity and mortality. There is still a lack of reliable diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in patients with SCI that could help guide clinical care and identify novel therapeutic targets for future drug discovery. The aim of this prospective controlled study was to determine the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and serum profiles of 10 biomarkers as indicators of SCI diagnosis, severity, and prognosis to aid in assessing appropriate treatment modalities. CSF and serum samples of 15 SCI and ten healthy participants were included in the study. The neurological assessments were scored on admission and at discharge from the hospital using the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Score (AIS) grades. The CSF and serum concentrations of SBDP150, S100B, GFAP, NF-L, UCHL-1, Tau, and IL-6 were significantly higher in SCI patients when compared with the control group. The CSF GBDP 38/44K, UCHL-L1, S100B, GFAP, and Tau levels were significantly higher in the AIS A patients. This study demonstrated a strong correlation between biomarker levels in the diagnosis and injury severity of SCI but no association with short-term outcomes. Future prospective controlled studies need to be done to support the results of this study.

Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) results in catastrophic neurological impairment. We aimed to examine the temporal profile and severity correlation of biomarkers, and their relationship with the American Spinal Injury Association Scale (AIS) improvement in human SCI. 15 SCI and 10 non-SCI healthy subjects were classified according to the initial and discharge AIS grade. Serial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum samples were collected. Spectrin breakdown products (SBDP) 150, SBDP145, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and GFAP breakdown product (GBDP) 38/44K were found to be elevated in the acute phase CSF samples in SCI patients on immunoblotting. SBDP150, ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1), GFAP, S100B, neurofilament light chain protein (NF-L), Tau & interleukin (IL) -6 were elevated in the acute phase CSF and serum samples on ELISA. CSF SBDP150, UCH-L1, GFAP, S100B and Tau were seen to peak on day 1 after injury, while CSF IL-6 and NF-L peaked on day 5. Serum SBDP150, IL-6, S100B, GFAP, UCHL-1 and Tau peaked on day 1, while serum NF-L peaked on day 5 post-injury. CSF alpha II-spectrin, SBDP150/145, and GBDP 44-38K levels (by immunoblots), CSF SBDP150, S100B, GFAP, UCHL-1 and Tau (ELISA) and serum UCHL-1 and Tau (ELISA) at specific time points showed SCI severity-correlation. CSF SBDP150, GFAP, and Tau and serum UCHL-1 and Tau (ELISA) were seen to have the best correlation with the severity at discharge. Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve analysis showed that CSF and serum biomarkers (SBDP150, IL-6, S100B, GFAP, NF-L, UCHL-1 and Tau) were associated with the severity of SCI.