Use of Population Pharmacokinetics and Electronic Health Records to Assess Piperacillin-Tazobactam Safety in Infants

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal • September 2017

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Salerno S, Hornik CP, Cohen-Wolkowiez M, Smith PB, Ku LC, Kelly MS, Clark R, Gonzalez D; Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act–Pediatric Trials Network Steering Committee.

Piperacillin, in combination with tazobactam, is frequently used in infants for treating nosocomial infections, although safety data in this population are limited. Electronic health record (EHR) data can be used to evaluate drug safety in infants, but measures of drug exposure are lacking. To relate simulated piperacillin exposure with adverse events (AEs) in infants using EHR data, we identified infants discharged from 333 neonatal intensive care units managed by the Pediatrix Medical Group between 1997 and 2012.

Intestinal Fatty-Acid Binding Protein and Metronidazole Response in Premature Infants

Journal of Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine • November 2014

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Sampson MR, Bloom BT, Arrieta A, Capparelli E, Benjamin DK Jr, Smith PB, Kearns GL, van den Anker J, Cohen-Wolkowiez M.

In premature infants with suspected intra-abdominal infection, biomarkers for treatment response to antimicrobial therapy are lacking. Intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) is specific to the enterocyte and is released in response to intestinal mucosal injury. I-FABP has not been evaluated as a surrogate marker of disease response to antimicrobial therapy. We examined the relationship between metronidazole exposure and urinary I-FABP concentrations in premature infants with suspected intra-abdominal infection.