Prematurity and the associated maternal-infant separation after birth can affect the attachment process. The role of nurses in facilitating the process of attachment should be based on an understanding of these behaviors. This descriptive study explored the attachment behaviors demonstrated by mothers during their first visit with their premature infant in the neonatal care unit. The results re...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to examine the time trend in length of stay (LOS) and explore potential differences in neonatal LOS by insurance type for preterm infants in Arkansas between 2004 and 2010. STUDY DESIGN There were 18,712 preterm infants included in our analyses. Accelerated failure time models were used to model neonatal LOS as a function of insurance type and dischar...

Allometry has been used to demonstrate a power-law scaling relationship in the brain of premature born infants. Forty-nine preterm infants underwent neonatal MRI scans and neurodevelopmental testing at age 2. Measures of cortical surface area and total cerebral volume demonstrated a power-law scaling relationship (α = 1.27). No associations were identified between these measures and investigate...

............................................................................................................... I Table of

Amino acids and proteins play a pivotal role during growth and development. Besides acting as building blocks during tissue synthesis, amino acids or proteins act specifically by upregulating defense systems or by stimulating key sites in metabolic pathways. Following premature birth, the neonatologist is responsible for delivering the right amount and quality of nutrients to the neonate, while...

The authors evaluated the efficacy of 10 gross motor milestones to screen for cerebral palsy in 173 high-risk, very preterm infants (less than or equal to 32 weeks gestation) followed for 18 to 24 months. Correcting for preterm birth and using population norms led to a better improvement in specificity and positive predictive values; race-specific norms did not contribute significantly. Incorpo...

2nd Biennial Conference of International Association for the Study of Attachment (IASA) (St. John’s College, Cambridge, UK, August 29-31 2010), pp. 9-10.

Examined the human infant literature on supplemental stimulation to delineate a course of intervention based on the ontogeny of the nervous system and the impact that systematic stimulation may have on behavioral organization in the premature infant. Effects of vestibular, tactile/kinesthetic, auditory, and oral stimulation are discussed with respect to their similarity to the intra- or extra-u...