Reference Values for Plasma B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in the First Days of Life

Abstract

commercial device. This disadvantage is partially offset by the fact that our gels can accommodate 80 samples per run (compared with 34 for the FlashGel device). Furthermore, our method is markedly less expensive than the FlashGel device with respect to both the apparatus (613 vs 991 euros) and the agarose gels (0.08 vs 0.37 euros; cost per sample for electrophoresis on a 22-g/L NuSieve® agarose gel from Lonza Rockland).Our apparatus is currently being used for various applications, including checking the size and quality of DNAs extracted from biological materials (e.g., blood and saliva), PCR products of mitochondrial DNA before sequencing, and RFLP typing of polymorphisms within the IRS1 1 (insulin receptor substrate 1) and MCM6 (minichromosome maintenance complex component 6) genes (4, 5 ).This newly designed apparatus can be easily reproduced and used in laboratories where analytical and preparative agarose slab gel electrophoresis of nucleic acids is carried out. It has substantial advantages in terms of saving time, optimizing separations, and reducing chemical risks to the operators.

Thyroid and Brain Natriuretic Peptide Response in Children Undergoing Cardiac Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease

“…A possible contributor of post-surgical BNP drop in the neonatal age group may be represented by physiological changes of BNP that are much more pronounced in the first days of life but tend to progressively decrease during the first month of life. 26, 27 Maturational decrease of BNP, however, is linear while post-surgical neonatal BNP quickly drops. Furthermore, major postnatal variations in BNP generally occur within the first 4 days of life; 27 but in the present study surgical treatment was done only in a negligible number of babies (n=5), in that time period.…”

Response of Cardiac Endocrine Function to Surgery Stress is Age Dependent in Neonates and Children With Congenital Heart Defects

“…high in the first few days of life, then hormone circulating levels fall rapidly and progressively over the next 2 weeks, and finally reach a plateau with stable levels up to the onset of puberty (2). On the other hand, some studies from our laboratory demonstrated that time courses of BNP levels can also affect diagnostic accuracy of BNP assay in the first weeks of life (4).…”

“…A total of 436 healthy control subjects, including 234 neonates (median age, 3 d [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]) and 202 older children (median age, 24 mo ), were also enrolled as a control group and to determine normal reference values. A total of 436 healthy control subjects, including 234 neonates (median age, 3 d [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]) and 202 older children (median age, 24 mo ), were also enrolled as a control group and to determine normal reference values.…”

“…Blood samples were (< 1 mL) taken from healthy newborns, infants, and children who had routine screening for genetic disorders (for newborns) or during the endocrinological workup (for infants) or sport workup (children) (2,4). All newborns were delivered at term (between 35 and 42 wk of gestation) and presented at birth a body weight ranging from 2.5 to 4.1 kg with an Apgar score greater than or equal to 8.…”

“…Among the 436 healthy control subjects, 234 were neonates (median age, 3 d [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]), and 202 were older children (median age, 24 mo [10-60]). Eighty-seven neonates were included in group 1 and 249 older children in group 2.…”