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Biomedical subjects

F Cockburn

Publications and source records attributed to F Cockburn.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Maternal vitamin D intake and mineral metabolism in mothers and their newborn infants.

Pregnant women receiving daily supplements of 400 IU (10 microgram) of vitamin D2 from the 12th week of pregnancy had plasma calcium concentrations higher at 24 weeks but similar at delivery to those in control pregnant women who did not receive the supplements. Infants of the women receiving the supplements had higher calcium, lower phosphorus, and similar magnesium concentrations on the sixth day of life and a lower incidence of hypocalcaemia than infants of the control women. Plasma concentrations of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, which showed a seasonal variation, were higher in mothers and infants in the treated group. Cord-blood calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and 25-hydroxycholecalciferol concentrations correlated with maternal values at delivery. Breast-fed infants had higher calcium and magnesium and lower phosphorus and 25-hydroxycholecalciferol concentrations than artificially fed infants. A defect of dental enamel was found in a high proportion of infants (many of whom had suffered from hypocalcaemia) born to the control women. These results suggest that vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy would be beneficial for mothers, whose intake from diet and skin synthesis is appreciably less than 500 IU of vitamin D daily.

Blood Proteins↗

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↗

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↗

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↗

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↗