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Biomedical subjects

C L Berseth

Publications and source records attributed to C L Berseth.

43 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Newborn ethical dilemmas: intensive care and intermediate care nursing attitudes.

A self-administered questionnaire concerning various neonatal ethical issues was completed by 39 ICU and 36 intermediate care unit (INT) nurses. Guttman scale analysis indicated that ICU nurses were more reluctant than INT nurses to resuscitate certain high-risk newborn infants. Work experience and a stated religious preference accentuated an INT nurse's disinclination to resuscitate high-risk babies. ICU nurses were more likely than INT nurses to favor passive and active euthanasia. Further, ICU nurses were more likely than INT nurses to view termination of life support for a sick infant as a necessity. ICU nurses were less likely than INT nurses to favor physician intervention in the care of all acutely sick neonates. ICU and INT nurses agreed, however, that the decision to terminate a baby's life support should be made jointly by the child's parents and physicians. Although differences in ICU and INT nursing attitudes may reflect quantitative and qualitative differences in work experience, these findings suggest a common need for emotional support and continuing education programs for nurses who care for high-risk newborns.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Comparison of the gastrointestinal growth- promoting effects of rat colostrum and mature milk in newborn rats in vivo.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of rat colostrum and mature milk on newborn rat gastrointestinal growth under conditions that controlled the possible confounding effects of energy intake and mode of feeding. Newborn Sprague-Dawley rat pups were tubefed equicaloric amounts of rat colostrum or mature rat milk for 40 h before they were killed. Compared to littermates that were killed immediately after birth, both groups of fed rats demonstrated increases in the weights of stomach and intestine, but there was no organ weight difference detected between colostrum-fed and mature milk-fed rat pups. However, both the concentration of DNA and the rate of synthesis of DNA in the intestines were greater in rats fed colostrum than in those at birth or those mature milk. Although the pancreas exhibited no detectable increase in weight by 41 h, the DNA concentration and total DNA content increased and RNA/DNA ratio decreased in both fed groups, also without apparent difference between rats fed colostrum and those fed mature milk. The rate of 3H-thymidine incorporation into DNA in pancreas, however, was greater in colostrum-fed pups than in mature milk-fed pups. These differences at 40 h age in intestinal and pancreatic cell replication activity, but not organ weights, can be ascribed to feeding colostrum.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Longitudinal growth and late morbidity of survivors of gastroschisis and omphalocele.

Of 22 survivors of gastroschisis and omphalocele, most had poor weight gain. Although one-third of gastroschisis babies were small-for-gestational age at birth, no other predisposing factors for poor growth could be demonstrated. No child had intrinsic gastrointestinal or metabolic sequelae at 3 years of age, as demonstrated by radiographic studies, fecal fat excretion, or serum chemistry screen. One-third of those tested had IQs less than 90; five had abnormal electroencephalograms; one had impaired hearing. Intellectual impairment was related to length of hospitalization due to a variety of nongastrointestinal factors. Neither growth nor intellectual development was related to the type of lesion present, even when IQ is corrected for prematurity. Impairment of growth and intellectual outcome may be related to prematurity, small-for-gestation birth weight, and nongastrointestinal neonatal complications.

Abdominal Muscles↗
PubMed1980

Component concentrations and activation of the complement system in neonatal illness: a preliminary study of necrotizing enterocolitis.

Determinations of C3, C4, and C5 concentrations by radial immunodiffusion, and assays for the activation products of C3, C3c and C3d by counterimmunoelectrophoresis, were performed on 80 infants. Seven nonbacteremic preterm infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) or probable NEC (PNEC) were found at the time of diagnosis to have a significantly lower mean concentration of C3 (P less than 0.05, 1-tailed) without C3 activation when compared to other noninfected preterm infants. Ten full-term and 63 preterm infants were studied prospectively during the first days of life, and were then followed for the postnatal development of localized or systemic infection. Assays for the detection of C3 activation products were negative in all these infants. Four preterm infants who developed PNEC after 5 or more days without clinical illness had low original concentrations of complement components. The pathogenesis of NEC may not involve primarily complement activation, and susceptibility to this condition may be related to pre-existing deficiencies in complement component concentrations relative to gestational age, or to defective activation of C3 in the presence of certain bacterial species and strains.

Complement Activation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Enhancement of neonatal somatic and hepatic growth by orally administered epidermal growth factor in rats.

Previous studies have shown that orally administered epidermal growth factor (EGF) enhances neonatal intestinal growth and that it may be absorbed in the intestine and bound by other organs. This study investigated whether the ingestion of EGF would be associated with growth of nonintestinal organs. In short-term studies, 87 newborn rat pups were fed artificial formula containing various concentrations of EGF for 39 h. In long-term studies, suckling newborn pups were fed EGF or an equal volume of distilled water for 5 days. The pups fed formula containing EGF for 39 h had a significant increase in hepatic incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA compared with pups not fed EGF. By 5 days of age, 13 pups fed EGF had heavier livers that contained more DNA and RNA compared with 14 control pups. Moreover, EGF-fed pups had heavier hearts and kidneys than pups fed no EGF. These data suggested that ingestion of EGF is associated with the growth of nonintestinal organs.

Administration, Oral↗