Dyslipidemia and reference values for fasting plasma lipid concentrations in Danish/North-European White children and adolescents

Abstract Background Dyslipidemia is reported in 27 − 43% of children and adolescents with overweight/obesity and tracks into adulthood, increasing the risk of cardiovascular morbidity. Cut-off values for fasting plasma lipid concentrations are typically set at fixed levels throughout childhood. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to generate fasting plasma lipid references for a Danish/North-European White population-based cohort of children and adolescents, and investigate the prevalence of dyslipidemia in this cohort as well as in a cohort with overweight/obesity. Methods A population-based cohort of 2141 (1275 girls) children and adolescents aged 6 − 19 (median 11.5) years was recruited from 11 municipalities in Denmark. Additionally, a cohort of children and adolescents of 1421 (774 girls) with overweight/obesity aged 6 − 19 years (median 11.8) was recruited for the study. Height, weight, and fasting plasma lipid concentrations were measured on all participants. Smoothed reference curves and percentiles were generated using the Generalized Additive Models for Location Scale and Shape package in the statistical software R. Results In the population-based cohort, plasma concentrations of total cholesterol (TC) (P < 0.05), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) (P < 0.005), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) (P < 0.005) were higher in the youngest compared to the oldest tertile. Fasting plasma levels of triglycerides (TG) (P < 0.005) increased with age in both sexes. In boys, non-HDL was lower in the oldest compared to the youngest tertile (P < 0.0005). Concentrations of TC, LDL, non-HDL, and TG were higher (P < 0.05), and HDL lower (P < 0.05) in the cohort with overweight/obesity in both sexes and for all ages except for TC in the youngest girls. The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia was 6.4% in the population-based cohort and 28.0% in the cohort with overweight/obesity. The odds ratio for exhibiting dyslipidemia in the cohort with overweight/obesity compared with the population-based cohort was 6.2 (95% CI: 4.9 − 8.1, P < 2*10−16). Conclusion Fasting plasma lipid concentrations change during childhood and adolescence and differ with sex and age. Children and adolescents with obesity have increased concentrations of circulating lipids and exhibit an increased prevalence of dyslipidemia. Trial registration The study is part of The Danish Childhood Obesity Biobank; ClinicalTrials.gov ID-no.: NCT00928473 retrospectively registered on June 25th 2009

The perinatal health challenges of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases: A narrative review

The world has seen numerous infectious disease outbreaks in the past decade. In many cases these outbreaks have had considerable perinatal health consequences including increased risk of preterm delivery (e.g., influenza, measles, and COVID-19), and the delivery of low birth weight or small for gestational age babies (e.g., influenza, COVID-19). Furthermore, severe perinatal outcomes including perinatal and infant death are a known consequence of multiple infectious diseases (e.g., Ebola virus disease, Zika virus disease, pertussis, and measles). In addition to vaccination during pregnancy (where possible), pregnant women, are provided some level of protection from the adverse effects of infection through community-level application of evidence-based transmission-control methods. This review demonstrates that it takes almost 2 years for the perinatal impacts of an infectious disease outbreak to be reported. However, many infectious disease outbreaks between 2010 and 2020 have no associated pregnancy data reported in the scientific literature, or pregnancy data is reported in the form of case-studies only. This lack of systematic data collection and reporting has a negative impact on our understanding of these diseases and the implications they may have for pregnant women and their unborn infants. Monitoring perinatal health is an essential aspect of national and global healthcare strategies as perinatal life has a critical impact on early life mortality as well as possible effects on later life health. The unpredictable nature of emerging infections and the potential for adverse perinatal outcomes necessitate that we thoroughly assess pregnancy and perinatal health implications of disease outbreaks and their public health interventions in tandem with outbreak response efforts. Disease surveillance programs should incorporate perinatal health monitoring and health systems around the world should endeavor to continuously collect perinatal health data in order to quickly update pregnancy care protocols as needed

BMJ Open

Introduction Neonatal sepsis outreaches all causes of neonatal mortality worldwide and remains a major societal burden in low and middle income countries. In addition to limited resources, endemic morbidities, such as malaria and prematurity, predispose neonates and infants to invasive infection by altering neonatal immune response to pathogens. Nevertheless, thoughtful epidemiological, diagnostic and immunological evaluation of neonatal sepsis and the impact of gestational malaria have never been performed. Methods and analysis A prospective longitudinal multicentre follow-up of 580 infants from birth to 3 months of age in urban and suburban Benin will be performed. At delivery, and every other week, all children will be examined and clinically evaluated for occurrence of sepsis. At delivery, cord blood systematic analysis of selected plasma and transcriptomic biomarkers (procalcitonin, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IP10, CD74 and CX3CR1) associated with sepsis pathophysiology will be evaluated in all live births as well as during the follow-up, and when sepsis will be suspected. In addition, whole blood response to selected innate stimuli and extensive peripheral blood mononuclear cells phenotypic characterisation will be performed. Reference intervals specific to sub-Saharan neonates will be determined from this cohort and biomarkers performances for neonatal sepsis diagnosis and prognosis tested. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from the Comité d’Ethique de la Recherche – Institut des Sciences Biomédicales Appliquées (CER-ISBA 85 - 5 April 2016, extended on 3 February 2017). Results will be disseminated through international presentations at scientific meetings and publications in peer-reviewed journals

Ovarian torsion—A course for severe abdominal pain in children

"Dentro de los trabajos realizados en la ingeniería civil, en particular en el área de vías terrestres y en la ingeniería geotécnica, la compactación ha sido un método ampliamente usado para mejorar las características físicas y mecánicas de los suelos debido a que resulta relativamente simple y económico, esto justifica ampliamente el estudio de los factores y variables que condicionan los resultados obtenidos en este proceso mecánico de estabilización del suelo. En la actualidad es una práctica común relacionar y limitar el control de calidad de los trabajos de compactación a la obtención de altos valores en la densidad de los materiales, sin tomar en cuenta la respuesta mecánica que se obtiene con ellos ni la relación entre las variables que gobiernan su comportamiento.

Supraclavicular Approach to Ultrasound-Guided Brachiocephalic Vein Cannulation in Children and Neonates

The correct choice of intra vascular access in critically ill neonates should be individualized depending on the type and duration of therapy, gestational and chronological age, weight and/or size, diagnosis, clinical status, and venous system patency. Accordingly, there is an ongoing demand for optimization of catheterization. Recently, the use of ultrasound (US)-guided cannulation of the subclavian vein (SCV) has been described in children and neonates. This article gives an overview of the current use of US for achieving central venous catheter placement in the SCV or the brachiocephalic vein (BCV) in neonates. More than 1,250 catheters have been reported inserted in children and neonates for a cumulated success rate of 98.4% and the complication rate is reported to be low. The technical aspects of various approaches are discussed, and we offer our recommendation of an US-guided technique for SCV and BCV cannulation based on our experience in a large NICU setting. Although the cannulation the SCV or BCV does not substitute the use of peripherally inserted central catheters or umbilical venous central catheters in neonates, it is a feasible route in very small children who are in need of a large caliber central venous access