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A recent Baylor College of Medicine study led by Texas Children’s neonatologist Dr. Amy Hair, and published in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine, found that premature infants weighing less than 1,250 grams at birth showed improved outcomes after being fed a human milk-based diet.
Texas Children’s and Baylor researchers compared outcomes data of more than 1,500 premature infants in four large centers in the U.S. two years before and two years after implementing an exclusive human milk-based diet in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They found that babies who were exclusively fed human breast milk had a lower incidence of mortality, late-onset sepsis, retinopathy of prematurity (which can lead to blindness) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a form of chronic lung disease in infants.
Hair, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor and director of the Neonatal Nutrition Program at Texas Children’s, says feeding premature infants an exclusive human milk-based diet has also been shown to decrease the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening neonatal condition that causes inflammation and death of intestinal tissue.
“Since implementing an exclusive human milk feeding protocol for newborns weighing less than 1,500 grams at birth, not only have we reduced the rate of NEC by 77 percent in our NICU, but we have seen additional benefits with this diet,” Hair said.
An exclusive human milk-based diet consists of a mother’s own milk supplemented with donor human milk and fortifier derived from donor human milk. Babies do not receive any bovine protein as formula or fortifiers. Prior to implementing a human milk feeding protocol, infants were fed mother’s own milk with bovine fortifier or formula.
“We know that human milk has immune factors, antibodies, high levels of important fat and vitamins, so it makes sense that it would work with different processes in the body to improve the overall health in babies,” Hair said.
Click here to read the journal article highlighting their study, which was funded by Texas Children’s Hospital’s Bad Pants Day golf tournament.
Remember reading the official announcement of our CareFirst plans in November 2014? Well, as you can imagine, a lot has happened since then. After receiving the green light to proceed, Texas Children’s has made remarkable progress on the Pediatric Tower E vertical expansion project.
The first visible sign that construction has begun is the large crane that towers over the south end of Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. Concrete slabs were removed to make room for the tower crane installation which was completed last December.
“We’re excited to see everything gradually come together,” said Jill Pearsall, Texas Children’s assistant vice president of Facilities Planning and Development. “The progress over the last two months is a direct result of the collaboration among our CareFirst executive leadership and project management teams, our design and construction contractors, and most importantly, our patients and their families.”
Perhaps one of the most significant milestones to date is the completion of the pre-construction simulation-based design tests on the proposed patient room layouts for the cardiovascular intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit and the progressive care unit.
In collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Arnold and her simulation team, the CareFirst Quality, Service and Safety Project Team led by Dr. Angelo Giardino, Trudy Leidich and Maria Happe, participated in 32 hours of simulated patient scenarios over a period of four days inside a large warehouse mock-up that resembled a critical care environment. A multidisciplinary team of intensivists, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, respiratory therapists, patient families and other support staff, participated in the simulation and provided feedback to drive design of the space. During these simulations, 115 latent safety threats (LSTs) were identified. The LSTs were categorized based on Safe Hospital Design Principles outlined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and recommendations will be incorporated into the design.
“We have an opportunity to provide a new space that accommodates the needs of patients, families and clinicians,” said Happe, clinical senior project manager for CareFirst. “All patient rooms are configured to provide dedicated space for the patient, clinicians, all associated clinical equipment, as well as for the families, which helps to promote and enhance family engagement and patient and family-centered care. Simulation has allowed us to test these spaces prior to construction and has guided our design decisions.”
Other recent progress updates include:
“We’ve made incredible progress since the initial planning phase began for Pediatric Tower E,” said Texas Children’s Executive Vice President Mark Mullarkey. “This expansion will help us deliver on our promise to make Texas Children’s the best possible place to give and receive care.”
Click here to learn more about how the Pediatric Tower E project will help meet the growing needs of our critically ill patients.
Texas Children’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is making its services easier to access using video technology. Instead of driving to one of the organization’s main locations to meet with a counselor, Texas Children’s employees and dependents can get services anywhere via a device with a camera and Internet connection.
“We are casting a wide net so that we can easily reach everyone who needs us,” said EAP Program Manager Brent LoCaste Wilken. “Technology is helping us accomplish that goal.”
Unlike Skype and popular video chat technology, the system EAP uses is secure and HIPPA compliant. The video sessions are not recorded and no one else, outside of the client and the counselor, can participate in the session.
Video counseling sessions also are being offered at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus via a 47-inch monitor mounted on a wall in a private room of the hospital’s Human Resources suite. Similar video technology will be available at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands when it opens in 2017.
To make an appointment with an EAP counselor, call Ext. 4-3327. If the session will be via video, you will receive instructions on how to access the new video technology.
The EAP helps with:
Texas Children’s nurse Brandon Waterhouse and 4-year-old patient Sophia Torres became the latest internet sensation after a very sweet moment was caught on camera. Click here to watch the video and KHOU’s story about Waterhouse and Sophia.
Wangler, Yamamoto awarded SFARI grant for autism spectrum disorder study
Drs. Michael Wangler and Shinya Yamamoto recently obtained a research grant from the Simon’s Foundation for Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) to advance their study on autism spectrum disorders.
Their study titled, “In vivo functional analysis of autism candidate genes” is one of five projects selected for research funding by the SFARI.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are highly heritable but have a complex genetic architecture. Whole-genome sequencing has been used to identify many potential genetic mutations that may be responsible for ASD. However, interpreting the disease relevance of these enormous numbers of individual variants has been difficult because many of them are poorly characterized.
In their study, Wangler and Yamamoto will use a fruit fly model system to study a subset of 300 autism candidate genes to determine their role in disease causation and progression. They predict that using this powerful genetic system will provide much-needed information on the biological mechanisms underlying ASDs.
Besides being on the NRI faculty, Wangler and Yamamoto are assistant professors in the department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor.
Ballabio to receive the 2016 Louis-Jeantet Prize
Dr. Andrea Ballabio, founder and director of the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Italy, professor at Baylor and faculty member at the NRI, has been selected to receive the 2016 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine. He will share this award with biochemist John Diffley, associate research director at the Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom.
The Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine is awarded each year by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in Europe. The prize is intended to encourage the continuation of innovative research projects of major importance to fundamental or clinical medicine.
Ballabio was recognized for his contributions in advancing the understanding of molecular mechanisms controlling the function of lysosomes in health and disease.
Lysosomes are organelles responsible for the degradation of cellular waste. A growing number of diseases are associated to lysosomal dysfunction such as neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, obesity and infections. Ballabio’s group identified a master gene that globally controls lysosomal function and promotes intracellular clearance of accumulating pathological materials. These observations revealed a new biological pathway and provided a tool to modulate lysosomal function to treat human diseases.
Ballabio will receive the award during a special ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, April 20.
The Clinical Research Center will present the Clinical Research Award for First Quarter 2016 to Dr. Sara Anvari, physician, Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Anvari is a dedicated clinical scientist for the food allergy research trials at Texas Children’s Hospital.
The award was established by the Clinical Research Center in collaboration with the Research Resources Office to recognize and honor individual contributions to protecting the best interest of the research subjects and compliance with applicable rules and regulations.
Dr. Anvari’s research activities in the CRC focus on understanding the underlying immunopathogenesis of food allergies and the mechanisms that lead to the development of oral tolerance in food allergic patients undergoing immunotherapy.
Through the support of the Texas Children’s Food Allergy Program, Texas Children’s Center for Human Immunobiology and the Clinical Research Center, Dr. Anvari has been able to pursue her research goals and currently oversees the clinical research trials that will provide her with the groundwork for the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic options for patients with food allergies.