The Science Behind Preterm Infant Pain

Today, you’ll learn about an interesting way pills made from poop could help millions of people with allergies, how researchers edited the contents of a pair of donor lungs to better match the recipient, and how pain can affect a baby’s development and what parents can do about it.

Peanut allergies are being treated in an…interesting new way. 

• "Fecal transplant pills helped some peanut allergy sufferers in a small trial” by
  • https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fecal-transplant-pills-peanut-allergy-clinical-trial-poop-bacteria
• “Good early results with fecal microbiota therapy for peanut-allergic patients” by Bethany Tripp / Boston Children’s Hospital
  • https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944014
• “Fecal matter pills used to treat peanut allergies in Boston study” by Heather Hegedus
  • https://www.boston25news.com/news/fecal-matter-pills-used-to-treat-peanut-allergies-in-boston-study/875577919/
• “Fecal Microbiota Transplant: We Know Its History, but Can We Predict Its Future?” by Todd H. Baron, MD (Mayo Clinic Proceedings)
  • https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(13)00481-3/fulltext
• Peanut allergy facts - NIH
  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10200001/

Lungs can now be edited for a better organ donor match. 

• "Researchers Want to Create 'Universal Donor' Lungs” by Sara Harrison
  • https://www.wired.com/story/researchers-want-to-create-universal-donor-lungs/
• “Creating 'universal' transplant organs: New study moves us one step closer.” by Nicoletta Lanese
  • https://www.livescience.com/universal-blood-type-transplant-lungs-study
• "Scientists Say They've Found a Way to Create Universal Donor Lungs" by Ed Cara
  • https://gizmodo.com/universal-donor-lungs-research-1848548951
• “Researchers Investigate How to Make Donated Organs Compatible With Any Blood Type” by Meagan Drillinger
  • https://www.healthline.com/health-news/researchers-investigate-how-to-make-donated-organs-compatible-with-any-blood-type
• “In medical first, kidneys from gene-edited pig implanted into brain-dead patient” by Elizabeth Chuck
  • https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/kidneys-gene-edited-pig-implanted-brain-dead-patient-rcna12928

Pain isn’t just physically bad for babies - it can stunt their development. Here’s how doctors are treating it. 

• "Doctors learned how to save premature infants’ lives. They forgot about pain." by Brian Resnick
  • https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22949159/nicu-babies-pain-treatments-podcast-unexplainable
• “Skin-to-skin contact with a parent may reduce newborn babies’ brain response to pain” by Jason Goodyer
  • https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/skin-to-skin-contact-with-a-parent-may-reduce-newborn-babies-brain-response-to-pain/
• "What parents need to know about pain in newborns" by Claire McCarthy, MD
  • https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-parents-need-to-know-about-pain-in-newborns-201601269076
• “Miracle baby finally leaves NICU after 460 days” by Harper Robinson
  • https://fox8.com/news/miracle-baby-finally-leaves-nicu-after-460-days/

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