Corrigendum to “Ribonucleotides: Conditionally essential nutrients shown to enhance immune function and reduce diarrheal disease in infants [Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine 12 (2007) 35–44]”

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The author regrets that documentation at the time of manuscript preparation stated that the Merolla et al. 2000 report in Italian was performed with formula containing 72mg. nucleotides/L and was placed in Table 2. We have since learned that the test formula actually contained 31mg. nucleotides/L and therefore belongs in Table 1. Table 1, Table 2 have been corrected and are presented below. Tabulation of the number of subjects per group has been appropriately corrected to reflect this change.

Table 1. Randomized trials evaluating supplemented free ribonucleotide levels (12−33mg/L)

Published references	No. of subjects completing trial	Infant population	Control formula (n)	Study formula (n)	Human milk-fed (n)	Duration (months)	Level supplemented (mg/L)	Observations
								Immunologic outcome	Clinical outcomes
Carver et al., 199124	37	Healthy, full term	15	13	9	4	33	NT>C (NK)
								NT>C (IL-2)
Brunser et al., 199425	392	Healthy, full term	198	194	0	3	14		NT<C (diarrhea)
Lama More et al., 199826	3243	Healthy, full term	1621	1622	0	6	∼12		NT<C (diarrhea)
Hawkes et al., 200627	325	Healthy, full term	102	98	125	7	33	NT>C (Tt) 7 months	NT>C (URI symptoms)
								NT=C (cell maturation) 7 weeks
								NT, C<HM (cell maturation) 7 weeks
Merolla et al., 200030	3315		824	958	920 (613 human-milk-fed and formula fed)	Enrolled age 1–3 months; fed until age 6 months			NT<C (diarrhea; NT vs C)
									NT<C (diarrhea; HM+NT vs HM+C)
Navarro et al., 199952	24	Premature infants	12	12	0	3	∼12	NT>C (IgA)
								NT>C (IgM)
Navarro et al., 199614	33	Malnourished	16	17	0	3.3	∼12	NT>C (Skin test)	NT<C (URI)
Martinez-Augustin et al., 199741,53	27	Premature infants	11	16	0	1	∼12	NT>C (Ig to β-lac)
Total	7396		2834	2969	1667

C, control formula-fed; Ig to β-lac, immunoglobulins to β-lactoglobulin; IL-2, interleukin-2; NK, natural killer cells; NT, nucleotide-supplemented formula-fed; skin test, delayed type hypersensitivity test with seven standardized antigens; Tt, tetanus-toxoid-specific antibody; URI, symptoms of upper respiratory disease.

Table 2. Studies carried out with supplementation at 72mg/L

	No. subjects completing trial	Infant population	Control formula (n)	Study formula (n)	Human milk-fed (n)	Duration (months)	Level supplemented (mg/L)	Observations
								Immunologic outcomes	Clinical outcomes
Pickering et al., 199828	311	Healthy, full term	107	101	103	12	72	NT>C (Hib) 7, 12 months	NT<C (diarrhea)
								NT>HM (Hib) 7, 12 months
								NT>C (Dt) 7 months
Yau et al., 200329	336	Healthy, full term	170	166	0	12	72	NT>C (serum IgA)	NT<C (diarrhea: 8--28 weeks)
									NT>C (URI symptoms)
Buck et al., 200432; Schaller et al., 200434	381	Healthy, full term	115	113	153	12	72	NT>C (OPV-1)
								NT>C (cellular maturation)
								NT=HM (cellular maturation)
								C<HM (cellular maturation)
Subtotal – milk-based	1028		392	380	256
Ostrom et al., 2002a,64; Cordle et al., 2002	213	Healthy, full term	73	73	67	12	72	HM>Soy (OPV-1) 12 months	HM<Soy N=Soy (diarrhea)
								Soy N=HM (OPV-1) 12 months
								Soy N>HM (Hib) 7, 12 months
								Soy N=Soy (Hib) 7, 12 months
								Soy N>HM (cellular maturation)
Total	1241		465	453	323

C, control formula-fed; Dt, diphtheria-specific antibody; Hib, Haemophilus influenzae type b specific antibody; HM, human-milk-fed; IgA, immunoglobulin A; NT, nucleotide-formula-fed; OPV, oral poliovirus specific antibody; OPV-1, oral poliovirus specific antibody to poliovirus serotype 1; Tt, tetanus-toxoid-specific antibody; URI, symptoms of upper respiratory disease.

Finally, the description of the Merolla et al. study (third paragraph of the section describing studies performed with nucleotide levels of 72mg/L), should be considered as part of the previous section describing studies performed with nucleotide levels of 12–35mg/L.

The caption for Fig. 4. should read as follows:

Fig. 4. Reduction in incidence of diarrhea among published reports. Diarrhea incidence in infants fed NT-containing formula was compared to infants fed unsupplemented formula. The Lama More and Gil-Alberdi²⁶ and Brunser et al.²⁵ studies evaluated NT supplementation at low levels (∼12mg/L), the Merolla et al.³⁰ study at a moderate level (31mg/L), and the Yau et al.²⁹ and Pickering et al.²⁸ studies at higher levels (72mg/mL). All studies reported significantly reduced incidences of diarrhea.