TY - JOUR T1 - Highlights from the literature JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition JO - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed SP - F192 LP - F192 DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2018-314804 VL - 103 IS - 2 A2 - , Y1 - 2018/03/01 UR - http://fn.bmj.com/content/103/2/F192.abstract N2 - First a fascinating paper from Moore et al (Development and Psychopathology 2017;29:1517–38) which demonstrated that although the degree of DNA methylation of some key genes was not associated with the degree of early postnatal contract, there was an association with methylation across the whole genome. As these authors suggest, the neurobiological effects of early contact or lack of it are likely to be long lasting and profound. On a related topic, Saliba et al (Acta Paediatrica, DOI:10.1111/apa.14170) systematically reviewed the effect of vocal stimuli on the physiological stability of preterm infants; disappointingly only 3 of the 11 papers that fulfilled their inclusion criteria were randomised trials. Nevertheless the weight of evidence supported the contention that talking to babies was a good thing and should be encouraged: more evidence for the importance of ensuring lots of parental contact with their baby, however premature or tiny.The 7 year follow-up of the babies<1500 g or <30 weeks randomised to tight versus routine … ER -