Current provision and perceptions of paediatric intensive care unit follow-up services: A binational organisational and clinician survey.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to (i) evaluate follow-up services in Australia and New Zealand for children surviving paediatric intensive care; (ii) assess clinician and service-wide knowledge of post-intensive care syndrome-paediatrics; and (iii) identify barriers to long-term follow-up services post paediatric intensive care unit admission.

Methods: Two cross-sectional, web-based REDCap surveys were designed for organisational leadership and individual clinician respondents. All paediatric intensive care units with staffed paediatric beds in Australia and New Zealand were invited to participate.

Long-term follow-up in pediatric intensive care-a narrative review.

Pediatric intensive care is a rapidly developing medical specialty and with evolving understanding of pediatric pathophysiology and advances in technology, most children in the developed world are now surviving to intensive care and hospital discharge. As mortality rates for children with critical illness continue to improve, increasing PICU survivorship is resulting in significant long-term consequences of intensive care in these vulnerable patients. Although impairments in physical, psychosocial and cognitive function are well documented in the literature and the importance of establishing follow-up programs is acknowledged, no standardized or evidence-based approach to long-term follow-up in the PICU exists.

Neurodevelopmental outcomes in neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation survivors: An institutional perspective.

Aim: To describe the neurodevelopmental outcomes following extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in early infancy.

Methods: Thirty-seven patients who had survived following ECMO support from 2008 to 2018 had their neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed and analysed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Developmental outcome was defined as impairment in any of the developmental domains of motor function, cognition and language with mild impairment being 1-2 standard deviations below the test mean, moderate being 2-3 standard deviations below and severe being greater than 3 standard deviations below.

A familial case of Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease in dizygotic twins.

Background: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD) or necrotizing histiocytic lymphadenitis, was described separately by both Kikuchi and Fujimoto in Japan in the early 1970's. Despite its rarity in the pediatric population, it is an important differential in persistent lymphadenopathy. Familial cases of KFD in the literature are rare.

Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein as biomarkers for neonatal bacterial infection.

Aim: Neonates are predisposed to bacterial infection which are an important cause of early childhood morbidity and mortality globally. It has been proposed that procalcitonin has significant utility as a diagnostic marker for bacterial infection in febrile neonates when compared to C-reactive protein (CRP). The aim of this study is to conduct a literature search to find the best available evidence to answer the clinical question of the utility of procalcitonin when compared to CRP as a predictor of bacterial infection in febrile neonates.

The dual role of the novel Wnt receptor tyrosine kinase, ROR2, in human carcinogenesis.

The Wnt signaling pathway is involved in the development and progression of many human cancers, yet attempts to target the pathway therapeutically have been disappointing to date. The recent discovery that the ROR2 receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) is a novel Wnt receptor provides the potential to target the non-canonical Wnt pathway for cancer treatments. As a member of the RTK superfamily of surface receptors ROR2 appears to possess dual roles as a tumor suppressor or activator depending on tumor type.