A nationwide survey on the epidemiology of chronic lung disease (CLD) of the newborn was conducted. Questionnaires were sent to 391 level II and III neonatal centers in Japan and the registration of infants born in 1990 with chronic lung disease was requested. CLD was defined as an oxygen requirement greater than that obtainable in room air at 28 days after birth, with symptoms of persistent respiratory distress and a hazy or emphysematous and fibrous appearance on chest X‐ray. A total of 301 neonatal centers (77.0%) responded and 50,290 infants at these centers were registered. Of these, 97% survived the first month and 1,135 of 48,762 neonatal survivors developed CLD. The mortality of infants with CLD was 6.2%. Survival rates at 28 days of age increased consistently with birthweight. Survival at 28 days of age in infants below 1,000 g at birth was 73.7%, but the rate was 93.9% in infants weighing 1,000–1,499 g. The incidence of CLD was inversely proportional to birthweight. Approximately one quarter of neonatal survivors with a birthweight below 1,500 g and approximately half of extremely small infants (<1,000 g) developed CLD. The analysis of CLD infants showed that 28.2% of them had a history of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and a typical fibrous appearance on chest X‐ray (Type I), while 29.3% also had a history of RDS but had an atypical X‐ray appearance (Type II). Approximately 13% of CLD infants showed evidence of intra‐uterine infection and typical X‐ray findings (Type III), 11.8% showed a typical X‐ray appearance but no preceding diseases (Type IV), and another 11.5% showed atypical chest X‐ray appearance and no preceding diseases (Type V). Only 5.8% of CLD infants could not be classified into any of these five types, and were grouped as Type VI. Ninety‐two per cent of CLD infants were discharged, 6.2% died in hospital and 1.8% were still in hospital at the time of the survey.

The thermospheric zonal wind forms a fast wind jet at the Earth's dip equator instead of the geographic equator. This remarkable feature is revealed in two sets of independent observations made two decades apart. One is from the CHAMP satellite during the year of 2002 and the other is from the DE‐2 satellite during Aug. 1981–Feb. 1983. Both observations show that this wind jet is eastward at night with speed reaching 150 ms−1, and westward around noon with speed over 75 ms−1. These fast wind jets are observed during local times of fully developed equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). On the other hand, a channel of slow wind is found on the dip equator during the period of 05–08 MLT, which corresponds to local times before the EIA develops. These features strongly suggest the ion drag being the principle cause for shifting the wind jet from the geographic equator to the dip equator.

Summary The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the level of inhaled oxygen during resuscitation on the levels of free radicals and anti-oxidative capacity in the heparinized venous blood of preterm infants. Forty four preterm infants <35 weeks of gestation with mild to moderate neonatal asphyxia were randomized into two groups. The first group of infants were resuscitated with 100% oxygen (100% O2 group), while in the other group (reduced O2 group), the oxygen concentration was titrated according to pulse oximeter readings. We measured total hydroperoxide (TH) and redox potential (RP) in the plasma within 60 min of birth. The integrated excessive oxygen (∑(FiO2-0.21) × Time(min)) was higher in the 100% O2 group than in the reduced O2 group (p<0.0001). TH was higher in the 100% O2 group than in the reduced O2 group (p<0.0001). RP was not different between the 100% O2 and reduced O2 groups (p = 0.399). RP/TH ratio was lower in the 100% O2 group than in the reduced O2 group (p<0.01). We conclude that in the resuscitation of preterm infants with mild to moderate asphyxia, oxidative stress can be reduced by lowering the inspired oxygen concentration using a pulse oximeter.

We developed a prototype laser monitor, consisting of a single laser sensor, to observe chest wall displacement during respiration. With this monitor, respiratory waveforms are expressed as an anterioposterior motion of the chest wall. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics and performance of this prototype. Performance was assessed: 1) under static conditions; 2) using a lung model ventilated in both conventional and high frequency oscillation (HFOV) modes; and 3) during spontaneous breathing in normal adults.In vitro, the monitor performed well both under static conditions and during mechanical ventilation. Reliable "respiratory" wave forms, with no frequency-dependent change in the relationship between displacement and volume, were produced during both conventional ventilation and HFOV at 15 Hz. In vivo, abdominal displacement, measured in the midline, was linearly correlated with the tidal volume signal integrated from flow. The waveforms produced by the monitor were adequate for monitoring respiration and for calculating respiratory timing variables.While a single laser sensor is unlikely to be sufficient for monitoring respiration in spontaneously breathing subjects, the performance of the prototype monitor was sufficiently impressive to encourage further development and further study of this type of truly noninvasive respiratory monitor.

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