The effects of pre-term birth on the baboon and human neonatal kidney: data

This data collection is an output of an National Health Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant (2007-2009) which investigates the effect of preterm birth on the formation of nephrons. The raw data collected related to the investigation of the effects of premature birth on the development of the kidney and consisted of animal models, autopsies, analysis of tissue samples and functional data which involved quantitative analysis. Data from medical records data allows identification of factors in the care of the mother prior to birth, or of the baby after birth which may link to impaired nephron formation and kidney dysfunction in the baby. Mary Jane Black, John Bertram, Rosemary Horne, Andrew Ramsden, Lina Gubhaju and Megan Sutherland from Monash University collaborated with Lynette Moore (Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide), Alison Kent (Australian National University), Mildred T Stahlman (Vanderbilt University), Jacqueline Coalson (University of Texas, San Antonio) and Bradley Yoder (University of Utah) to form a team of clinicians, cell biologists and physiologists. The microscopy data includes animal and human samples; stereology data (3D analysis of tissue and quantitative analysis) and CAST (Computer assisted Stereology tool) system data. Image Pro Plus, an image analysis system is also used to visualise structure and quantity of data. More than ten years' worth of data has been obtained through the use of tissue banks. The data for kidney function shows levels of chemicals and substances indicative of disease in the blood and urine. Tissue analyses data is entered onto Excel spreadsheets and then converted to Graphpad (PRISM) for pictorial representation. SPSS and other statistical packages are also used. The collaborative studies enable more tissue analyses at cellular and molecular level, for example, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) data. Two more recent NHMRC projects will have outputs related to this data collection: Why is the kidney vulnerable to preterm birth? and Does maladaptive remodelling of the heart and vasculature in response to preterm birth lead to long-term cardivascular risk?