With collaboration of Dr. Lucky Jain, Consulting Editor, Dr. Caplan has assembled articles devoted to the most current clinical advances in necrotizing enterocolitis. He has invited expert authors from top institutions to contribute timely reviews on the following topics: Biomarker Discovery: New markers that improve early diagnostic capability; Probiotics: State of the art; NEC Pathophysiology: How microbiome data alters our understanding; Effect of Human Milk on NEC; Influence of Growth Factors on the Development of NEC; Can Fish Oil Reduce the Incidence of NEC by Altering the Inflammatory Response; Oral Mother’s Milk: State of the art and influence on NEC; Does Surgical Management Alter the Outcome of NEC; Epidemiology of NEC: New considerations and influence of PRBC transfusions and anemia; Role of Abdominal Ultrasound in Diagnosis of NEC; and Modifiable Risk Factors in NEC: 2018. Readers will come away with the scientific and medical information they need to make clinical decisions to improve patient outcomes.

This important topic in perinatology is getting its own issue for the first time. The Guest Editors have taken care to provide a full clinical overview in this issue. Articles are devoted to Feeding Practices and NEC; Prebiotics, Probiotics and Postbiotics; Clinical Presentations of NEC; Short Gut Syndrome in the NICU; NEC in Full-term Neonates; Lactoferrin and NEC; Altered Gut Microbiome and NEC; Inflammatory Signaling in NEC; Newer Monitoring Techniques (such as Near-Infrared Spectroscopy) to Determine the Risk of NEC; Surgical Treatment of NEC; Biomarkers of NEC; Intestinal Transplantation.

In this issue of Clinics in Perinatology, guest editors Joseph B. Cantey and Andi Shane bring their considerable expertise to the topic of Perinatal and Neonatal Infections. - Provides in-depth, clinical reviews on Perinatal and Neonatal Infections, providing actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field; Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create these timely topic-based reviews.

Recent advances in neonatal hematology, largely made by the authors of these chapters, are likely to generate wide spread and long-term improvements in outcomes, as well as reductions in costs of care. Publication of these advances in a single volume will facilitate dissemination of these techniques and practices. The advances include neuroprotection from erythropoietic stimulators, improved guidelines for platelet transfusions, evidence-based guidelines for FFP administration, improved diagnostic methods for genetic causes of severe neonatal jaundice, more accurate definitions of hematological perturbations in necrotizing enterocolitis and sepsis, and reduction in transfusions and in IVH rates by cord milking/delayed clamping.

Neonatal-perinatal medicine has a strong history of evidence based practice but unfortunately there remain many areas of uncertainty and unproven hypotheses and treatments that may harm our highly vulnerable patients. When new ideas are introduced into the labor and delivery room or the NICU we have to evaluate these procedures and therapies before they become accepted as standards of care. We need to learn from the past lessons of grey baby syndrome and chloramphenicol and of kernicterus and sulfonamide antibiotics where therapeutic good intentions actually did more harm than good and increased the mortality rate of premature babies in the NICU.This proposed edition addresses a broad range of current topics in perinatal neonatal practice. The AAP has just issued new guidelines for the approach to a neonate exposed to maternal genital herpes virus infection. The recommendations were not evidence based and are highly controversial as well as confusing. These topics are addressed in a scholarly and objective manner to both address the controversy and help the practitioner make informed decisions.

Together with Consulting Editor Dr. Lucky Jain, Dr. Sudarshan R. Jadcherla has put together a comprehensive issue devoted to neonatal gastroenterology. Expert authors have contributed clinical review articles on the following topics: Neonatal Aerodigestive Disorders: Epidemiology and Economic Burden; Feeding and Swallowing Difficulties in Neonates: Developmental Physiology and Pathophysiology; Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in the NICU Neonate: Controversies, Current Understanding and Future Directions; Feeding Difficulties and Tube-feeding Controversies in Complex Neonates: Evidence-Based Practices; Physiology and Pathological basis of Aerodigestive Difficulties in Chronic Lung Disease; Congenital Diarrheas in Infants: Pathophysiology, Consequences, and Potential Treatment Strategies; Short Gut syndrome: Recent Advances in Pathophysiology and Intestinal Support Practices; Neonatal Cholestasis in the Premature Infant: Approaches to Diagnosis and Management; Strategies for Prevention of TPN-related Liver Injury; Supplements and Additives to Human Milk: Principles and Practices, Current Controversies; Microbiome and Gut Injury in Neonates; Recent Advances in NEC Research: Strategies for Implementation in Clinical Practice; Transfusion-Related Gut Injury and NEC; Neonatal Endoscopy, Diagnosis and Intervention Procedures Crib-side; and Surgical Gastrointestinal Emergencies in Neonates: An overview. Readers will come away with the information they need to improve outcomes in the neonate.

The Guest Editors have collaborated on a state-of-the-art presentation of current clinical reviews on Quality in Neonatal Care. Top experts have prepared articles in the following areas: Standardizing Practices: How and why to standardize, using checklists, measuring variation; Health Informatics and Patient Safety; Using Statistical Process Control to Drive Improvement in Neonatal Care; Improving Value in Neonatal Intensive Care; Culture and Context in Quality of Care: Improving Teamwork and Resilience; Has Quality Improvement Improved Neonatal Outcomes; National Quality Measures in Perinatal Care; Perinatal and Obstetric Quality Initiatives; Family Involvement in Quality Improvement; Perinatal Quality Improvement: A Global Perspective; Delivery Room Care / Golden Hour; Respiratory Care and Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia; Reducing Incidence of Necrotizing Enterocolitis; Alarm Safety and Alarm Fatigue; and Patient Safety: Reducing Unplanned Extubations. Readers will come away with the clinical information they need improve quality in the NICU.

In consultation with Consulting Editor, Dr. Lucky Jain, Drs. Jonathan M. Davis and Errol R. Norwitz have put together a state-of the-art issue of the Clinics in Perinatology devoted to Perinatal Pharmacology. Clinical review articles are specifically devoted to the following: Drugs for the prevention and treatment of preterm labor; Drugs for the prevention and treatment of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy; Drugs to promote neuroprotection; Medications that cause fetal anomalies and possible prevention strategies; Safety and efficacy of psychotropic medications during pregnancy; Treatment of viral infections during pregnancy (HIV, herpes, CMV, hepatitis C); Drugs to control diabetes during pregnancy; Cardiotonic drugs; Drugs to treat coagulation disorders in the newborn; Drugs for the prevention and treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia; Drugs for the prevention and treatment of neonatal brain injury; Drugs for the prevention and treatment of sepsis in the newborn; Analgesia, opioids and other drug use during pregnancy and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome; Medications and breast feeding; Principles of pharmacokinetics in the pregnant woman and fetus; and Challenges in designing clinical trials to test new drugs in the pregnant woman and fetus. Readers will come away with the latest information on therapeutics as they seek to utilize evidence-based recommendations to improve patient outcomes.

Pediatric Surgery, Flowcharts and Clinical Algorithms is an updated review of some common pediatric surgical problems. The authors of the chapters have made a full review of the selected topics including the basic science facts necessary for the proper understanding of conditions (anatomy, physiology and embryology), such as gastrointestinal disorders, abdominal wall defects, choledochal cysts, and others, with special emphasis on antenatal diagnosis and management.A flow chart (or management algorithm) is included to facilitate decision making in choice of the proper diagnostic tools or the most efficient surgical (or non-surgical) strategy.The book is intended for pediatric surgeons, pediatricians, and researchers in any of the topics included.

This issue is a must-read for perinatologists and neonatologists who need current advances in treastment and interventions to improve the viability of the neonate. The Guest Editors have put together a concise monograph on the topic, offering the most current clinica review articles on the following topics: Antenatal corticosteroids: Who should we be treating?; Quality improvement strategies to improve care of women in preterm labor; Delivery at term: when, how, and why?; Detection and prevention of perinatal infection; Current strategies to prevent perinatal HIV transmission; Advances in fetal monitoring and association with outcomes; Relationship between perinatal interventions, the maternal-infant microbiome and neonatal outcomes; Understanding outcomes and counseling families at a periviable gestational age; Therapeutic hypothermia - how can we optimize this therapy to further improve outcomes; Reducing CPAP failure in extremely preterm infants; Optimizing caffeine therapy in preterm infants; Improving uptake of key perinatal interventions using state-wide quality collaboratives; Oxygen therapy in the delivery room: What is the right dose?; and Perinatal white matter injury: prevention and long-term outcomes. Readers will leave with the best evidence they need to improve outcomes.