World Neonatology and Child Care Meeting October 25-26, 2018 Prague, Czech Republic

Dabas S is currently pursuing her MSc Nursing and earlier she was a Registered Nurse in Neonatal Intensive Care. She has completed her Post-graduation thesis: in “reduce maternal stress with the help of relaxation technique”.

Statement of the Problem: Hospitalization of preterm neonate in NICU can lead to increased stress and anxiety in postpartum mothers and eventually this can lead to decreased milk output. Maternal stress in NICU is a neglected area and it need to be addressed and demand some intervention in form of relaxation therapy. Materials & Methods: Out of 160 postpartum mothers of hospitalized neonates born in 26-33 weeks gestation, 50 mothers were enrolled and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Baseline data including socio-demographic profile, maternal stress and anxiety were collected using subject data sheet, standardized parental stress scale (PSS): NICU and perinatal anxiety screening scale (PASS) on 4±2 postpartum day. The experimental group was administered audio assisted relaxation technique followed by every day practice for 10 days, while the control group continued to receive the routine care. The impact of the relaxation technique on stress and anxiety along with milk output was assessed after 10 day of enrolment. Result: Baseline characteristics and pre-intervention mean maternal stress (3.9±0.5 vs. 3.8±0.5, p=0.34) and anxiety scores 31.12±11.4 vs. 31.08±12.0, p=0.99) were comparable in both the groups. The intervention resulted in significant reduction in maternal stress (2.9±0.5 vs. 3.6±0.6) and anxiety scores (19.8±6.7 vs. 28.18±11.7) (p≤0.05) and improvement in milk output (69.2±19.3 vs. 54.1±22.5, p≤0.05) in experimental group as compared to control group. Conclusion: Relaxation technique has significant role in reducing maternal anxiety, stress and in improving milk output.

Hailemariam Mekonnen Workie has completed his BSc in Nursing from Haramaya University and MSc in Pediatrics Health Nursing from Addis Ababa University School of Allied Health. He is the Coordinator, Lecturer and Researcher of Neonatal and Pediatrics Health Nursing Department at Haramaya University, a premier academic organization. He has won more than 6 big projects and published more than 2 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as Reviewer of PLOS-One.

Background & Objective: The adverse neonatal outcomes are the major public health concerns and causes of high neonatal mortality in developing countries with 1.76 million deaths in 2013. Adverse neonatal outcomes have a significant effect on perinatal survival, infant morbidity, and mortality as well as the risk of developmental disabilities and illnesses throughout future lives. Hence, the objective of this study was to identify adverse birth outcomes and associated risk factors in public and private hospitals of Mekelle city, Tigray, Ethiopia. Method: Institutional based unmatched case-control study was conducted from December 3rd to June 28th, 2015. Neonates who had adverse outcome were cases with their index mothers and those neonates who hadn’t had adverse outcome were controls with their index mothers. Case-control incidence density and systematic random sampling techniques were used to select cases and controls respectively. Socio-demographic information on potential neonatal risk factors and clinical data were taken from the mothers and medical records. Data were checked for completeness, consistency and entered into Epi Info v7 and then analyzed using SPSS v23. Binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine the association and the possible risk factors for adverse neonatal outcomes respectively. Results were presented using result statements, graphs, tables and charts. Results: In this study, six different types of adverse neonatal outcomes were identified. Among them, low birth weight [30 (57.7%)], preterm birth [28 (53.9%)] and low Apgar score [28 (53.9%)] were the majorities. Based on the multivariable logistic regression analysis, rural place of residence [AOR=5.992, 95% CI (1.011-35.809)], low monthly income [AOR=4.364, 95% CI (1.050-18.129)], middle monthly income (AOR=4.364, 95% CI (1.050-18.129), and emergency cesarean section [AOR=9.969, 95% CI (1.023-7.148)] were the potential risk factors for adverse neonatal outcomes. Conclusions: The adverse neonatal outcomes and the risk factors identified in this research have a negative impact on the neonate and mothers health. Thus, it needs emphasis to tackle the problems and save the life of the newborn through better and strengthened ANC follow-up accesses for health care, and income generation activities for all reproductive-age women in general and pregnant women in particular.

Monika Kamianowska has completed his PhD from Medical University in Białystok, Poland. He has published 44 papers in polish and foreign journals.

Background: Netrin-1, a laminin-related secreted protein, is widely expressed in many tissues, including renal tissues. In normal kidneys, netrin-1 is expressed in endothelial cells and in tubular epithelial cells. Urinary netrin-1 is maybe a new marker to demonstrate early kidney damage because is highly induced after acute and chronic kidney injury and excreted in urine. Aim: The main aim of this work was to determine the normal levels of urinary netrin-1 in healthy full-term newborns. Methods: The study included 88 healthy full-term neonates (51 male and 37 female) born from normal, uncomplicated pregnancies. Urinary concentrations of netrin-1 in the material obtained in the first or second day of life were determined with a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results: Male and female newborns, as well as children in whom the samples were obtained in the first or second day of life, did not differ significantly in terms of their urinary netrin-1 levels. The values of netrin-1/creatinine in the urine differ significantly depending on the time of urine collection. We found a negative correlation between the urinary netrin-1 level after normalization for urinary creatinine and the birth weight. The correlation between urinary netrin-1/creatinine and serum creatinine and cystatin C was positive, but not statistically significant. Conclusions: This is the first report of urinary netrin-1 levels in healthy full-term newborns during the first postnatal days. We hope that the results will be helpful in further clinical studies.