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Biomedical subjects

F Cockburn

Publications and source records attributed to F Cockburn.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Dietary copper intake in artificially fed infants.

Plasma concentrations of copper and zinc and leucocyte concentrations of zinc were measured in mothers during later pregnancy, at delivery, and 8-10 weeks after birth, and plasma concentrations of copper and zinc were measured in their infants at delivery and 8-10 weeks after birth. The 145 infants were either breast fed or fed one of two milk formulas supplying copper at different concentrations. None of the infants achieved the minimum copper intakes recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). At 2 months of age there were no major differences in growth or health detected in infants fed the different copper intakes. Infant birth weight correlated well with the ratio of maternal venous plasma zinc:maternal leucocyte zinc at delivery. Maternal venous plasma copper and zinc concentrations at birth correlated with umbilical venous plasma copper and zinc concentrations. Infants fed the higher copper content formulas had a low mean plasma zinc concentration without a significant increase in the mean plasma copper concentration. The present WHO recommendations regarding minimum copper intakes for infants fed formulas cannot be achieved with currently available formulas and are probably wrong.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1986

Ribavirin aerosol for acute bronchiolitis.

A randomised double blind placebo controlled trial of treatment with an aerosolised antiviral agent, ribavirin, was conducted in 26 infants with clinically diagnosed bronchiolitis. Nebulised ribavirin (14 infants) or normal saline aerosol (12 infants) was given for 18 hours a day for at least three days. Respiratory syncytial virus was identified in nasal secretions from 20 cases (10 from both groups). Trends in seven out of eight clinical variables favoured active treatment. Ribavirin aerosol was associated with significantly faster improvement in cough and crepitations and more rapid rate of fall in respiratory and heart rates. In the 20 infants from whose nasal secretions respiratory syncytial virus was identified most variables favoured treatment with ribavirin, with significant reduction in chest recession. No difference was found in the rate of clearance of respiratory syncytial virus. The treatment was well tolerated as judged clinically and from the results of haematological and biochemical studies. The study suggests nebulised ribavirin may have a place in the treatment of some cases of bronchiolitis.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1986

Perinatally related wastage--a proposed classification of primary obstetric factors.

Adapting Sir Dugald Baird's concept of primary obstetric causes of perinatal mortality, a revised clinico-pathological classification has been evolved to take account of new knowledge and developments, and to direct attention to potentially avoidable deaths and to where intensified efforts and investigation are needed. Categories highlighting the importance of intrauterine growth retardation, unexplained intrauterine death and spontaneous premature labour have been introduced, intrapartum hypoxia is separated from birth trauma, and infection again has its own category. Regular perinatal audit at one obstetric hospital, since 1979, has shown that the new system provides a workable and useful means for classifying not only perinatal deaths, but also late abortions, late neonatal deaths and perinatally related infant deaths. The rate of total perinatally related wastage, defined in this way, was almost twice that for perinatal mortality (22.8 compared with 11.9 per 1000 births). The former is advocated as a more realistic index for the audit of perinatal care. The revised and extended system is put forward as a contribution to the current debate on classifying and reporting such wastage, in the hope that it may be tested as a model for regional as well as hospital surveys.

Birth Injuries↗
PubMed1985

Copper deficiency in the preterm infant of very low birthweight. Four cases and a reference range for plasma copper.

Four preterm infants of very low birthweight (less than 1500 g) developed signs of copper deficiency between age 8 and 10 weeks. All had required prolonged ventilatory support, parenteral nutrition, and nasojejunal feeding. The clinical features, which included osteoporosis, oedema, anaemia, neutropenia, and late apnoea improved when the oral copper intake was increased. Diagnosis was made more difficult because a suitable reference range for plasma copper was not available. Serial measurements of plasma copper in 39 preterm infants who had no important medical problems were used to produce a reference range for plasma copper from 30 weeks' gestation to term plus seven weeks. This information will aid recognition of hypocupraemia in the very low birthweight infant who is particularly at risk of copper deficiency.

Copper↗
PubMed1985

Effect of human colostrum and infant formula on the phagocytic activity of macrophages. I. Resident and stimulated mouse peritoneal macrophages.

Phagocytosis and degradation of radiolabelled human transferrin-anti-transferrin immune complexes by resident and stimulated mouse peritoneal macrophages was inhibited by liquid infant formula, particularly in the case of resident cells. Mouse peritoneal macrophages exposed to infant formula were shown by immunofluorescence to bind casein and beta-lactoglobulin, but there was little binding of alpha-lactalbumin. Comparison of various artificial milks, cow's milk and purified casein indicated that both the concentration and the degree of denaturation of casein may be important in the impairment of macrophage function by milk. It is suggested that bottle feeding of infants might result in impairment of macrophage function in the small intestine.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Magnesium therapy in neonatal tetany.

104 infants with symptomatic hypocalcaemia were randomly allocated to treatment with calcium gluconate, phenobarbitone, or magnesium sulphate. Infants treated with magnesium sulphate had higher plasma-calcium concentrations after 48 hours' treatment and fewer convulsions during and after the treatment period. Magnesium sulphate is recommended as the treatment of choice in symptomatic neonatal tetany whether or not there is hypomagnesaemia.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1977

Clinical and biochemical assessment of a modified evaporated milk for infant feeding.

A clinical and biochemical evaluation has been made of a new milk formula, Modified Carnation milk (MCM), based on cows' milk but with the mineral content and concentration of caloric nutrients altered to make it correspond more closely to human milk. MCM produced higher plasma calcium and magnesium concentrations in 6-day-old infants than those produced by unmodified evaporated and dried milks, achieving concentrations closer to those of breast milk. Plasma free amino acid concentrations in MCM-fed infants are nearer breast-fed values than those in unmodified milk-fed infants where higher individual plasma amino acid concentrations persist during the first 3 months. MCM-fed infants had low plasma urea concentrations and lower urine osmolalities at 6 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months than infants fed on the evaporated and dried milks, and similar plasma urea and urine osmolalities to those of breast-fed infants. MCM is likely to be superior to unmodified evaporated and dried milks in preventing convulsions of the hypocalcaemic/hypomagnesaemic/hyperphosphataemic type, and seems less likely to cause hypertonic dehydration. MCM is easily prepared, readily accepted by babies, and appears to be nutritionally adequate for the feeding of term infants.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1976

Hyaline-membrane disease, alkaline buffer treatment, and cerebral intraventricular halphaemorrhage.

In 55 preterm infants dying from hyaline-membrane disease (H.M.D.) in 1971-74, infants with associated cerebral intraventricular haemorrhage (H.M.D./I.V.H.) had been given more intravascular sodium-bicarbonate solution, but the same proportions of cases with H.M.D. and H.M.D./I.V.H. received bicarbonate at the time of birth. Much of the sodium-bicarbonate solution given to H.M.D./I.V.H. infants was injected in response to the clinical effects of I.V.H. Maximum serum-sodium concentrations correlated with sodium-bicarbonate dosage but not I.V.H. The incidence of I.V.H. in preterm infants in 1971-74 was unchanged from 1956-59 when alkaline buffer treatment was not used. These findings do not suggest that sodium-bicarbonate therapy plays a major part in the pathogenesis of I.V.H.

Bicarbonates↗
PubMed1975

Pharmacology of some oral penicillins in the newborn infant.

Serum and urine concentrations of ampicillin, amoxycillin, and flucloxacillin achieved after oral administration have been measured in 27 newborn infants. Compared with adults and children, newborn infants show a delay in achieving adequate blood concentrations, presumably due to delayed absorption. However most infants achieve therapeutic concentrations in the serum. Infected newborn infants should be given these antibiotics by intramuscular injection for the first dose, but thereafter oral therapy (25 mg/lg every 6 hours begun concomitantly) should be satisfactory. The better absorption of amoxycillin compared with ampicillin reported in adults has not been confirmed in the newborn infant.

Administration, Oral↗