Special Issue "10th Anniversary of Children: Feature Papers in Neonatology"

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Neonatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2023 | Viewed by 1088

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Children with a Special Issue in the “Pediatric Neonatology” Section in 2023.

On behalf of the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Paul R. Carney, members of the Editorial Office, and ourselves as Guest Editors, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our authors and reviewers for their valuable contributions to ensuring that Children is a successful and respected journal in its field. To celebrate the journal’s 10th anniversary, we will be serving as Guest Editors of a Special Issue focused on the clinical care, service delivery, and research related to the care of children, specifically within the context of neonatology.

Related to prevention, screening as well as treatment have evolved significantly over the last decade, improving outcomes. Prevention and screening strategies were developed and implemented (prenatal screening, dry blood spots, cardiac screening, and hearing screening). Treatment modalities changed, from delivery room management to care bundle concepts (respiratory, neurological, nutritional, pharmacological, and family-centered care), as have the outcomes of preterm neonates or neonates with specific conditions. We warmly invite original research as well as state-of-the-art reviews on/perspective contributions to pediatric global health. The papers should be long research papers (or review papers) with a full and detailed summary of the author's own work completed so far. We would like to report the latest achievements from all of the branches within the scope of "Pediatric Neonatology". We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Prof. Dr. Karel Allegaert
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • neonatal pharmacology
  • neonatal outcome
  • neonatal neurology
  • neonatal–perinatal medicine
  • non-invasive ventilation
  • preterm infants
  • NICU
  • breastfeeding in the preterm population
  • clinical trials in neonatology
  • neonatology
  • neonatal sepsis
  • fetal and infant growth
  • maternal and infant health
  • neonatal brain injury
  • care bundles
  • family centered care

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Prenatal Predictors of Neurobehavioral Outcome in Children with Fetal Growth Restriction at 6 Years of Age: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Children 2023, 10(6), 997; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10060997 (registering DOI) - 01 Jun 2023
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Abstract
(1) Background: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) increases the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, especially in preterm newborns. This study aims to describe the behavioral results of FGR at 6 years of age and to demonstrate the relationship of certain predictive factors with this [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) increases the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, especially in preterm newborns. This study aims to describe the behavioral results of FGR at 6 years of age and to demonstrate the relationship of certain predictive factors with this development. (2) Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 70 children born in 2015 at the University Hospital Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain who had been exposed to FGR during pregnancy; neonatal and infant data were recorded retrospectively. Children were assessed prospectively at 6 years of age by means of a strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) to study behavioral outcomes. (3) Results: We demonstrated that there are higher behavioral disability rates in children exposed to FGR during pregnancy and, in particular, high rates of hyperactivity or conduct problems. We also proved a negative relationship between the birth weight percentile and the total behavioral scale score, along with a positive correlation between hyperactivity and the emotional and behavioral scales. Learning difficulties were more frequent in early-onset FGR than in late-onset FGR. (4) Conclusions: Our study of behavioral development has demonstrated higher behavioral disability rates in children with FGR at 6 years of age; specifically, high rates of hyperactivity or conduct problems. At the same time, we have proved a negative relationship between the birth weight percentile and the total behavioral scale score. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Children: Feature Papers in Neonatology)
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Article
Human Milk Fatty Acid Composition and Its Effect on Preterm Infants’ Growth Velocity
Children 2023, 10(6), 939; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10060939 - 26 May 2023
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Abstract
This study aimed to analyze the fatty acid content in human milk and to find its relationship with the growth velocity of preterm infants. Mature milk samples from 15 mothers of preterm infants were collected from three different hospitals, followed by lipid extraction, [...] Read more.
This study aimed to analyze the fatty acid content in human milk and to find its relationship with the growth velocity of preterm infants. Mature milk samples from 15 mothers of preterm infants were collected from three different hospitals, followed by lipid extraction, fatty acid methylation, and finally gas chromatography analysis to determine the fatty acids composition. The average total lipid content was 3.61 ± 1.57 g/100 mL with the following classes of fatty acids: saturated fatty acids 43.54 ± 11.16%, unsaturated fatty acids 52.22 ± 10.89%, in which monounsaturated fatty acids were 36.52 ± 13.90%, and polyunsaturated fatty acids were 15.70 ± 7.10%. Polyunsaturated fatty acid sub-class n-6 was 15.23 ± 8.23% and n-3 was 0.46 ± 0.18%. Oleic acid, palmitic acid, and linoleic acid were the most abundant fatty acids. The n-6/n-3 ratio was 32.83:1. EPA and DHA fatty acids were not detected. As gestational age and birth weight increase, C20:2n6 content increases. The growth velocity increases with the decrement in C16 and increment in C20:2n6. The lipid profile of preterm human milk was found to be low in some essential fatty acids, which may affect the quality of preterm infants’ nutrition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Children: Feature Papers in Neonatology)
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Article
Understanding the Family Context: A Qualitative Descriptive Study of Parent and NICU Clinician Experiences and Perspectives
Children 2023, 10(5), 896; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10050896 - 17 May 2023
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Abstract
Enabling individualized decision-making for patients requires an understanding of the family context (FC) by healthcare providers. The FC is everything that makes the family unique, from their names, preferred pronouns, family structure, cultural or religious beliefs, and family values. While there is an [...] Read more.
Enabling individualized decision-making for patients requires an understanding of the family context (FC) by healthcare providers. The FC is everything that makes the family unique, from their names, preferred pronouns, family structure, cultural or religious beliefs, and family values. While there is an array of approaches for individual clinicians to incorporate the FC into practice, there is a paucity of literature guiding the process of collecting and integrating the FC into clinical care by multidisciplinary interprofessional teams. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the experience of families and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) clinicians with information sharing around the FC. Our findings illustrate that there are parallel and overlapping experiences of sharing the FC for families and clinicians. Both groups describe the positive impact of sharing the FC on building and sustaining relationships and on personalization of care and personhood. The experience by families of revolving clinicians and the risks of miscommunication about the FC were noted as challenges to sharing the FC. Parents described the desire to control the narrative about their FC, while clinicians described seeking equal access to the FC to support the family in the best way possible related to their clinical role. Our study highlights how the quality of care is positively impacted by clinicians’ appreciation of the FC and the complex relationship between a large multidisciplinary interprofessional team and the family in an intensive care unit, while also highlighting the difficulties in its practical application. Knowledge learned can be utilized to inform the development of processes to improve communication between families and clinicians. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Children: Feature Papers in Neonatology)
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