No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Concentrations of immunoglobulins and antiEscherichia coli antibody were studied longitudinally in tracheobronchial aspirates from 33 premature intubated neonates, median gestational age 27 weeks. Aspirates collected at birth contained IgG, IgA, and IgM in 100%, 93%, and 79% of samples, respectively. The median IgA concentration at birth was 0-7 ig/ mg total protein and increased to 5-8 rig/mg protein by the sixth week. IgG and IgM antibodies to E coli were present in 90% and 30%, respectively, of tracheobronchial aspirates collected at birth. Samples from three of 28 neonates (11%) contained IgA anti-E coli antibody at birth, and the proportion with IgA antibody rose to 50% during the sixth week. Secretory component associated IgA and IgM were detectable in samples tested at birth and at 4 weeks of age, and secretory component associated anti-E coli antibody was present in aspirates from three of nine neonates studied at 4 weeks of age, but had not been detectable at birth.

We report the application of computerised data recording, reporting, and analysis to a study of growth and nutrition in a group of preterm and low birthweight infants requiring complex parenteral and enteral nutritional treatment. Materials and methodsThe hardware of the minicomputer based data management system comprises a Digital Electronics DE-FD II computer system consisting of a LSI 11/23 microprocessor with 64 K bytes of random access memory and 2.04 M bytes of floppy disk storage. Input/output (I/O) is performed by an LA 34 Decwriter IV printer/terminal and an ID-100 8 colour graphics terminal which occupy 2 of the 4 serial I/O ports in the FD1 1. Software support in the form of the DEC RT-11 V04 operating system provides the underlying structure and system capabilities in conjunction with DEC extended BASIC for high level programming and file handling. The hardware is portable, independent of a central computer mainframe, and requires only a desk top area and standard power supply.Both neonatologists and computer specialists took part in the planning and development of the system -codenamed NICUDAMAS 1 (Neonatal Intensive