Counseling nursing mothers for proper lactation before delivery and their continued training thereafter are the main clinical pathways toward a successful and sustained breastfeeding.

VBG can be used instead of ABG in some diseases such as respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal sepsis, renal failure, pneumonia, diabetic ketoacidosis and status epilepticus, but in other diseases such as neonatal seizure, shock, congestive heart failure and congenital heart diseases, ABG is preferable and must not be replaced by VBG. These results may be used for the formulation of future guidelines for PICU.

Background: Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for end-stage renal disease that restores the patients' quality of life and reduces the morbidity and mortality rates induced by renal failure and its complications. However, after transplantation the organ and patient survival rates are important issues of interest in many centers worldwide. Subjects and methods: This is a historical cohort study planned to determine the organ survival rate after kidney transplantation from deceased donor during a period of 10 years (March 1999-March 2009 in Shiraz Transplant Center, Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran. We tried to clarify the probable contributory risk factors implicating in graft loss. Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine the survival rate. Log-rank test was used to compare survival curves, and Cox regression model to define the hazard ratio and for modeling of factors implicating in survival rate. Results: Mean follow-up period was 37.54 ± 28.6 months. Allograft survival rates at 1, 3, 5, and 9 years after kidney transplantation from deceased donor (calculated by Kaplan-Meier method) was found to be 93.7, 89.1, 82.1, and 80.1%, respectively. Duration of dialysis before operation and creatinine level at discharge were showed to be the most important factors influencing survival rate of renal allograft. Conclusion: Overall long-term graft survival in our cohort is satisfactory and comparable with reports from large centers in the world. Duration of dialysis before operation and creatinine level at discharge are the only independent factors that could correlate with long-term graft survival in our cohort.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the level of resistin in children with and without sepsis hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and compare them to levels in healthy subjects in order to determine the trend of resistin levels in children in PICUs and also to identify the cut-off values for positive sepsis. Methods: This was a case-control study conducted in 2014 at a children's hospital in Tabriz, Iran. Three groups were investigated, a case group comprised of patients with sepsis admitted to PICU and two control groups; one made up of patients admitted to PICU without sepsis and the other of healthy children. Variables included demographic, anthropometric (growth metric percentile), and clinical factors. Results: Patients were randomized into control group A ( n = 12, 48%), control group B ( n = 11, 44%), and the sepsis group ( n = 24, 47.1%). The difference in the means of resistin levels was significant on the first, fourth, and seventh days ( P < 0.0001) in the case and control group A. Means comparisons in the case and control group B revealed significant differences on the fourth and seventh day ( P = 0.005 and P < 0.0001, respectively) but not on the first day ( P = 0.246). The trend of resistin levels increased in the septic group (F Huynh-Feldt = 37.83, P < 0.0001). The diagnostic accuracy of resistin level was high for discriminating sepsis (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] 0.864 [SE = 0.41]). The sensitivity was 0.824 and specificity 0.72 with a cut-off point of 5.2 ng/ml on the first day. Conclusion: In the present study, resistin level can be used as an indicator of sepsis in children admitted to PICU. However, the cut-off point based upon when a prediction could be made is different and is dependent on a variety of factors, such as control group and number of days since the first signs of sepsis.

Incomplete resolution of abnormalities of mineral metabolism associated with CRF results in the relatively high prevalence of ROD in pediatric kidney recipients. This non-randomized, cross-sectional, and analytic-descriptive study on bone density, vitamin D, and mineral metabolism was performed in 57 children and adolescents who had received a total of 60 renal allografts in Shiraz, Iran. The height and weight of the patients were measured; their serum calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), Alk-P, PTH, 25(OH)-vitamin D(3), BUN, creatinine, and electrolyte levels were analyzed, and a complete blood count was performed. In addition, standard radiologic bone assessments, which included conventional left hand-wrist radiography and bone mineral densitometry by the DXA technique, were carried out. Special pediatric software was used for age-related interpretation of the Z-scores of BMD. SPSS(®) software (version 15) was used for statistical analyses. We studied 57 patients (27 males [47.4%]) with a mean age of 18.7 ± 4.25 (9-27) yr and a mean age at transplantation of 13.1 ± 3.46 (4.5-20) yr. They had a post-transplantation follow-up of 67.1 ± 33.8 (6-132) months, and all had well-functioning allografts at enrollment. The mean height age of the patients was 11.9 ± 1.8 (6-15.5), and the mean bone age was 15.6 ± 3.3 (7-19) yr, which corresponded to mean height-age and bone-age retardations of 5.7 ± 2.3 (0.5-10.5) and 1.22 ± 1.47 (0-7) yr, respectively. Hyperphosphatemia and hypercalcemia were each found in nine patients (15.8%), hypophosphatemia in five (8.8%), and hypocalcemia in none of the patients. Seven out of 57 patients (12.3%) had a (Ca×P) product of more than 55 mg(2)/dL(2). Hyperparathyroidism was found in 27 (47.3%) and vitamin D(3) deficiency in four (7%) of the cases. The serum level of Alk-P was higher than the age-related normal range in 20 patients (35%). Left hand-wrist radiography showed no radiologic sign of ROD in any patient. The mean BMD Z-score was -1.77 ± 1.13 (-4.2-1.1) for the lumbar spine and -1.64 ± 0.89 (-3.9 to 1.9) for the femoral neck. "Stepwise backward regression" revealed a significant inverse correlation between the serum level of PTH and the GFR of the transplanted kidney; this correlation was independent from the influence of other variables such as Ca, P, and Alk-P (p = 0.011, β = -1.556). Bone age and height age both showed significant correlations with age at transplantation and serum levels of P (p < 0.001), but only bone age had a meaningful correlation with Alk-P (p = 0.036). The BMD Z-scores showed statistically meaningful correlations with the serum level of Alk-P, which were independent from the influence of other variables such as Ca, P, and PTH (p ≤ 0.002). Our study revealed a relatively high prevalence of bone mineral disorder in pediatric kidney recipients, which suggests the need for a routine program for periodic screening of these patients to facilitate early diagnosis of either persistent or evolving manifestations of disturbed mineral metabolism, especially ROD.