Baseline characteristics found in multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression to be associated with longer recovery time in 7–120 day old infants with probable serious bacterial infection.

<p>CRP- C reactive protein</p><p>*Hazard ratio <1 indicates slower recovery.</p><p>Baseline characteristics found in multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression to be associated with longer recovery time in 7–120 day old infants with probable serious bacterial infection.</p

Baseline clinical, anthropometric and laboratory details of 7–120 day old infants with probable serious bacterial infection.

<p>Data are mean (± SD), median (IQR) and n (%).</p><p>^aAxillary temperature >37.5°C</p><p>^b ≥60 breaths per min for infants <2 months; ≥50 breaths per min for infants ≥2 months.</p><p>^c Normal values of CRP in this age group is upto 10 mg/L and for PCT is 0.6 ng/mL</p><p>TLC- Total leucocyte count, CRP- C-reactive protein, PCT-Procalcitonin, SD- Standard deviation</p><p>Baseline clinical, anthropometric and laboratory details of 7–120 day old infants with probable serious bacterial infection.</p

Correlation between baseline CRP level and time to recovery (in hours).

<p>Several studies in the past have used cutoffs in the range of CRP concentrations of 40 mg/L to differentiate between bacterial and non-bacterial or viral infections. [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0124594#pone.0124594.ref011" target="_blank">11</a>,<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0124594#pone.0124594.ref012" target="_blank">12</a>]. We therefore also performed an additional analysis where we dichotomized serum CRP concentration with a cut-off of 40 mg/L. In this analysis we found that predictors for time to recovery from PSBI remained the same and infants with CRP ≥ 40 mg/L were found to have on an average 33% longer time to recovery than those with values below that.</p

Underweight Full-Term Indian Neonates Show Differences in Umbilical Cord Blood Leukocyte Phenotype: A Cross-Sectional Study

<div><p>Background</p><p>While infections are a major cause of neonatal mortality in India even in full-term neonates, this is an especial problem in the large proportion (~20%) of neonates born underweight (or small-for-gestational-age; SGA). One potential contributory factor for this susceptibility is the possibility that immune system maturation may be affected along with intrauterine growth retardation.</p><p>Methods</p><p>In order to examine the possibility that differences in immune status may underlie the susceptibility of SGA neonates to infections, we enumerated the frequencies and concentrations of 22 leukocyte subset populations as well as IgM and IgA levels in umbilical cord blood from full-term SGA neonates and compared them with values from normal-weight (or appropriate-for-gestational-age; AGA) full-term neonates. We eliminated most SGA-associated risk factors in the exclusion criteria so as to ensure that AGA-SGA differences, if any, would be more likely to be associated with the underweight status itself.</p><p>Results</p><p>An analysis of 502 such samples, including 50 from SGA neonates, showed that SGA neonates have significantly fewer plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), a higher myeloid DC (mDC) to pDC ratio, more natural killer (NK) cells, and higher IgM levels in cord blood in comparison with AGA neonates. Other differences were also observed such as tendencies to lower CD4:CD8 ratios and greater prominence of inflammatory monocytes, mDCs and neutrophils, but while some of them had substantial differences, they did not quite reach the standard level of statistical significance.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>These differences in cellular lineages of the immune system possibly reflect stress responses in utero associated with growth restriction. Increased susceptibility to infections may thus be linked to complex immune system dysregulation rather than simply retarded immune system maturation.</p></div

Frequencies and concentrations (cells/μl of blood) of major leukocyte subsets in AB versus CB.

<p>Numbers in the plots indicate p-values.</p

Variances in AB and CB in various leukocyte lineages.

<p>Values on y-axis are median-corrected variances. Asterices mark p<0.05 (Brown-Forsythe test).</p

Characteristics of Adult volunteers.

<p>Characteristics of Adult volunteers.</p

absolute counts of cell subsets.

<p>absolute counts of cell subsets.</p

Characteristics of participant population- cord blood.

<p>Characteristics of participant population- cord blood.</p

Frequencies of AB and CB subsets.

<p>Frequencies of AB and CB subsets.</p