Early Career Investigator

Congratulations to Praveen Chandrasekharan, the Early Career Investigator for September. His personal experience has fueled his love for his work, with a preterm first son followed by a term second son. On the path toward understanding the effects of delayed cord clamping in preterm infants, he has just been awarded his first R01 grant for a research proposal titled “Optimizing chest compressions for bradycardia during neonatal resuscitation.” He is grateful to his former mentors—now colleagues—Satyan Lakshminrusimha, Steven Lipshultz, and Ranjit Singh. In this issue, he and coauthors explain how delayed cord clamping during ventilation in asphyxiated preterm infants may improve outcomes. Dr. Chandrasekharan’s advice for early-career academics is to contribute to building a thriving research environment. He believes that “It is in helping others we help ourselves.” See https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02234-1and https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02086-9

Global Pediatric Research Investigator

Congratulations to Mohammed Abd Ellatif Nassar, the Global Pediatric Research Investigator for September. Dr. Nassar was born and raised in Tanta, Egypt, and attended medical school and did his pediatrics training in Tanta. His family has been a source of support and inspiration for him all along the way. Although his uncle influenced him to go to medical school, it was Dr. Nassar’s own experience that led him to enter the field of pediatrics. His interest in research developed after medical school. This interest is reflected in an article he coauthored in this issue on a comparison of lactoferrin with oral iron for the treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in children with inflammatory bowel disease. Lactoferrin improved indices of iron-deficiency compared with both baseline and oral iron supplementation. His advice to other young investigators is to work, hard, read extensively, and try to contribute new ideas to the field. See https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02177-7and https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02136-2

Impact of maternal hypertensive disorders in twins

In a retrospective cohort study using the Canadian Neonatal Network database, Yurkiw et al. explored the impact of maternal hypertensive disorders on the outcomes of 1207 sets of preterm twins born at less than 29 weeks of gestation. They found that the twins, as compared with those born to normotensive mothers, were at greater risk for severe retinopathy of prematurity and death. An accompanying Comment makes the point that policy makers should remember that maternal health is infant health. See https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02044-5and https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02142-4

Stroke in ECMO patients

Ezetendu et al. identified 2982 of 28,695 patients ≤18 years of age as having had a stroke. Of these events, 1464 were hemorrhagic stroke, 1280 were ischemic stroke, and 238 were both. Mortality was higher in those with hemorrhagic or both types of stroke. All types of stroke were associated with an increase in length of hospitalization. In a Comment, Guerguerian et al. note that the frequency of stroke with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was highest in the children 1–18 years of age. Because stroke may have modifiable risk factors, increased investigation is needed into whether cannulation and decannulation procedures are associated with stroke. See https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02088-7and https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02199-1

Congenital urinary tract anomalies in children with a single functional kidney

Marzuillo et al. studied 75 children with congenital urinary tract anomalies in a single functional kidney, comparing them with 75 control children with unilateral congenital urinary tract anomalies. The children with a single functional kidney had a lower prevalence of severe forms of urinary tract anomalies and better outcomes than the controls. The experience of bringing up a child with chronic kidney disease is well described in the accompanying Family Reflections piece. See https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-021-01781-3and https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02078-9

Laryngeal mask ventilation with chest compressions

Mani et al. compared laryngeal mask ventilation with neonatal endotracheal intubation for outcome measurements using a lamb model of neonatal asphyxia. All outcomes, including return of spontaneous circulation and time to achieve it, were comparable between the two groups. The authors conclude that laryngeal mask ventilation during cardiac arrest is non-inferior to endotracheal intubation in this model. In an accompanying Comment, Vali and Laskminrusimha review the use of laryngeal mask ventilation and its success as a resuscitation tool. They call for recognition of the limitations of face mask ventilation and wider use of the laryngeal mask airway. See https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-021-01820-zand https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-021-01917-5

Effects of sodium bicarbonate infusion on cerebrovascular function

Using a newborn pig model, Chilakala et al. studied pial arteriolar diameter as a surrogate for cerebral blood flow during intravenous infusion of 3% NaHCO3. They found that the diameter of the pial arterioles decreased significantly during the infusion. Additional vasodilators increased the diameter whereas additional vasoconstrictors further decreased the diameters. The authors warn that using NaHCO3 in human neonates may cause cerebral hypoperfusion. See https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-021-01876-x