Donough O'brien

Studies of respiratory physiology in the newborn infant. II. Observations during and after respiratory distress.

An invitation to participate in this publication honoring Professor Wallgren confers no small distinction on any American pediatrician. It also imposes a high standard of scientific scholarship upon those so invited. The Harvard group working with newborn infants are more hopeful of meeting that standard because of the recent presence of one of Dr. Wallgrens own staff in our laboratory, a happy circumstance which has considerably increased the information we can contribute to this publication. Although we are submitting only a preliminary report of studies now in progress, the opportunity of presenting the data here was too tempting to be resisted by this international team of admirers of Professor Wallgren, C. A. S.

Water and Electrolyte Economy in Newborn Infants of Diabetic Mothers

The excessive size and weight and the increased mortality of infants born to diabetic mothers continue as puzzles for obstetricians and pediatricians ( 2 4 ) . In an attempt to reveal some abnormality of body components a t birth, water, electrolyte and nitrogen balances were measured in such infants during the period of postnatal adjustment. This report presents the results of studies carried out during the first three days of life on 19 diabetic mothers’ infants and compares them with previously reported similar observations on normal control infants ( 5 ) .

Laboratory Techniques for the Detection of Hereditary Metabolic Disorders

Vivian Shih, MD, is assistant professor of neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a well-known laboratory expert in the field of inborn errors of metabolism. Inheriting the mantle of Dr. Mary Efron, she and Dr. Harvey Levy have developed the much-published Massachusetts Screening Program with its supporting laboratory services. This small volume on laboratory techniques is well printed and concisely and clearly written. Reproductions of paper chromatograms are rewardingly easy to interpret. Most important of all, the text has the assurance and the attention to small but important details that come only from complete and long familiarity with the subject. More than half the book is devoted to amino acid procedures, and although there is perhaps a certain overemphasis on paper techniques, chapter 2 is excellent. Organic acid procedures are well and competently covered, but chapter 3 on sugars might have been more detailed. Tissue culture work, mass spectroscopy,