Background: Low birth weight (LBW) has been defined as a birth weight of <2.5 kilogram regardless of gestational age. In India, every 3rd born child is of LBW. LBW is associated with increased neonatal mortality and morbidity, compromised growth and cognitive development.Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using previously collected data from January 2015 to December 2015.Results: Out of 1238 live births, 485 (39.17%) were LBW. 456(94.01%) were LBW weighing >1500 grams (LBW), 22(4.53%) were VLBW, and 07(1.44%) were ELBW. 361(74.43%) were LBW2 (birth weight ≥2000 - <2500 grams), 95(19.58%) were LBW1 (birth weight ≥1500 - <2000 grams). 289(59.58%) of LBW neonates were full term. SNCU admission is significantly higher in LBW neonates (25.8% vs 9.61%). Morbidities were higher in LBW neonates compared to normal birth weight neonates. Difference was more significant in incidence of sepsis (3.72% vs 0.83%), RDS (2.19% vs 0%), TTN (5.48% vs 2.36%), hypoglycemia (1.31% vs 0%), feed intolerance (1.09% vs 0%) and risk of major congenital malformation (1.97% vs 0.27%). Need for respiratory support was 4.82% in LBW vs 2.36% in normal birth weight neonates. Morbidities were significantly higher in VLBW and ELBW neonates. Immediate poor outcome was in 3.92% in LBW neonates, while it was 0.56% in normal weight neonates. Poor immediate outcome was 1.11% in LBW2, 2.10% in LBW1, 10% in VLBW1, 41.66% IN VLBW2, and 100% in ELBW.Conclusions: LBW neonates are at higher risk of morbidities and mortalities. The major determinant for mortality in LBW babies is the birth weight. The best option to prevent LBW is by improving maternal health. Improvement of perinatal and neonatal services   in government sector and public private partnership model of free neonatal care can help to achieve the INAP goal of NMR <10 by 2030.

Background India is strongly committed to reducing the burden of child malnutrition, which has remained a persistent concern. Findings from recent surveys indicate co-existence of child undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency and overweight/obesity, i.e. the triple burden of malnutrition among children below 5 years. While considerable efforts are being made to address this challenge, and several composite indices are being explored to inform policy actions, the methodology used for creating such indices, i.e., linear averaging, has its limitations. Briefly put, it could mask the uneven improvement across different indicators by discounting the ‘lagging’ indicators, and hence not incentivising a balanced improvement. Signifying negative implications on policy discourse for improved nutrition. To address this gap, we attempt to develop a composite index for estimating the triple burden of malnutrition in India, using a more sensitive measure, MANUSH. Methodology Data from publicly available nation-wide surveys - National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS), was used for this study. First, we addressed the robustness of MANUSH method of composite indexing over conventional aggregation methods. Second, using MANUSH scores, we assessed the triple burden of malnutrition at the subnational level over different periods NHFS- 3(2005–06), NFHS-4 (2015–16) and CNNS (2106–18). Using mapping and spatial analysis tools, we assessed neighbourhood dependency and formation of clusters, within and across states. Result MANUSH method scores over other aggregation measures that use linear aggregation or geometric mean. It does so by fulfilling additional conditions of Shortfall and Hiatus Sensitivity, implicitly penalising cases where the improvement in worst-off dimension is lesser than the improvement in best-off dimension, or where, even with an overall improvement in the composite index, the gap between different dimensions does not reduce. MANUSH scores helped in revealing the gaps in the improvement of nutrition outcomes among different indicators and, the rising inequalities within and across states and districts in India. Significant clusters (p < 0.05) of high burden and low burden districts were found, revealing geographical heterogeneities and sharp regional disparities. A MANUSH based index is useful in context-specific planning and prioritising different interventions, an approach advocated by the newly launched National Nutrition Mission in India. Conclusion MANUSH based index emphasises balanced development in nutritional outcomes and is hence relevant for diverse and unevenly developing economy like India.

Objectives Infant and Young Child Feeding practices, mainly, complementary feeding in children between 6 months and two years of age, is found to be sub-optimal and emerge as the weakest link in improving child nutrition outcomes in India. Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD), comprising of two sub-indicator – Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) and Minimum Meal Frequency (MMF), serves as an essential indicator to understand the diet adequacy pattern in children. The objective of this study was thus to investigate the role of MDD-MMF dyad in influencing the nutritional outcomes in children and its pattern across regions in India. Methods Data was obtained from the National Family Health Survey – 4 (NFHS-4) from the DHS Program website. The prevalence of MMF and MDD was calculated for 640 districts in India. The MMF and MDD were classified into three categories - high, medium and low based on equal percentile distribution of their prevalence range. Districts with high MMF and high MDD formed one cohort. Similarly, eight other cohorts were created based on their performance on MMF and MDD indicator. The prevalence of Stunting (St), Wasting (Wa) and Underweight (Uw) in children between 6 months and two years of age was then calculated for each of the nine cohorts. The districts were also mapped based on their cohort category to study the variation across regions in India. Results All three anthropometric indicators – stunting, wasting and underweight showed significant decline moving across low MMF- low MDD cohort (40% St; 26.2% Wa; 37.1% Uw) to medium MMF – medium MDD cohort (38.6% St; 23.8% Wa; 35.4% Uw) to high MMF – high MDD cohort (29% St; 15.5% Wa; 19.2% Uw). Second, the importance of minimum dietary diversity in improving nutritional outcomes was revealed, as opposed to minimum meal frequency, which shows improvement only when it reaches a certain threshold. Third, mapping revealed sharp differences across various regions in MMF-MDD pattern, especially in the states like Odisha, Assam and Andhra Pradesh. States in the central region performed poorly on complementary feeding indicators, specifically diet diversity. Conclusions The study highlights the importance of optimal complementary feeding practices in improving nutrition outcomes and the need to consider the regional heterogeneities while promoting IYCF practices in India. Funding Sources None.

The quality of animal experiments in terms of appropriate reporting is a concern, particularly with regard to their validity and the recording of the measures taken to reduce various types of bias. A systematic survey of 1371 and 236 publications from India and Sri Lanka, respectively, which were published between 1905 and 2017 and indexed in NCBI-PubMed, Cinhal, MEDLINE and Scopus, was carried out. The level of detail in the descriptions of animals used and the measures taken to reduce bias were analysed in each article. Selected parameters from the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines, such as age, weight, sex, sample size calculation, blinding and randomisation were considered. The findings revealed poor reporting standards in animal experiments carried out in India and Sri Lanka, confirming the limited impact of the ARRIVE guidelines. These findings emphasise the urgent need for improvements in the peer review process, both prior to a study being set up and in the post-study reporting phase, and for more stringent adherence to the ARRIVE guidelines in the reporting of animal experiments.

Background: India is strongly committed to reducing the burden of child malnutrition, which has remained a persistent concern. Findings from recent surveys indicate co-existence of child undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency and overweight/obesity, i.e. the triple burden of malnutrition among children below five years. While considerable efforts are being made to address this challenge, and several composite indices are being explored to inform policy actions, the methodology used for creating such indices, i.e., linear averaging, has its limitations. Briefly put, it could mask the uneven improvement across different indicators by discounting the ‘lagging’ indicators, and hence not incentivising a balanced improvement. signifying negative implications on policy discourse for improved nutrition. To address this gap, we attempt to develop a composite index for estimating the triple burden of malnutrition in India, using a more sensitive measure, MANUSH. Methodology: Data from publicly available nation-wide surveys - National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS), was used for this study. First, we addressed the robustness of MANUSH method of composite indexing over conventional aggregation methods. Second, using MANUSH scores, we assessed the triple burden of malnutrition at the subnational level over different periods NHFS- 3(2005-06), NFHS-4 (2015-16) and CNNS (2106-18). Using mapping and spatial analysis tools, we assessed neighbourhood dependency and formation of clusters, within and across states. Result: MANUSH method scores over other aggregation measures that use linear aggregation or geometric mean. It does so by fulfilling additional conditions of Shortfall and Hiatus Sensitivity, implicitly penalising cases where the improvement in worst-off dimension is lesser than the improvement in best-off dimension, or where, even with an overall improvement in the composite index, the gap between different dimensions does not reduce. MANUSH scores helped in revealing the gaps in the improvement of nutrition outcomes among different indicators and, the rising inequalities within and across states and districts in India. Significant clusters (p<0.05) of high burden and low burden districts were found, revealing geographical heterogeneities and sharp regional disparities. A MANUSH based index is useful in context-specific planning and prioritising different interventions, an approach advocated by the newly launched National Nutrition Mission in India. Conclusion: MANUSH based index emphasises balanced development in nutritional outcomes and is hence relevant for diverse and unevenly developing economy like India.

Background: Menopause being an unavoidable time in every woman's life brings up various challenges. Inevitable changes in body systems affect the life of a woman permanently. The symptoms constitute the postmenopausal syndrome which further affects the quality of life (QOL). Women spend most of the time working during the menopausal transition period and also during postmenopause. The discussion of symptoms is still considered a taboo. Exercise intervention to reduce the symptoms related to menopause which can show a positive impact on health status and work needs to be incorporated. Methodology: Tai Chi exercise intervention was given for 8 weeks to the women who achieved natural menopause and were included in the study (n = 76). They were assessed for sleep, QOL, and physical performance before and after the intervention. Results: A significant difference was observed in all the outcomes after 8 weeks of intervention (Sleep Quality Scale (SQS)-t = 7.57, P = 0.0001; WHOQOL-BREF-t = 7.56, P = 0.0001; and Physical Performance Test PPT-t = 19.93, P = 0.0001). The results were consistent due to the active participation and high adherence rate of the individuals to the protocol. Conclusion: Our study revealed that besides being low velocity and low impact exercise, Tai Chi was a safe and effective mode of treatment in postmenopausal working women. In this group approach sessions were interactive and improved socialization skills because it was conducted in a community setting minimum equipment's and greater feasibility. Hence, this could also be incorporated in different age group population.

Omental cyst is a rare clinical entity and often poses a diagnostic challenge to the surgeon. The incidence is about 1 per 1,000,000 in adults and about 1 per 20,000 pediatric patients. 1 These cases are mostly reported as incidental radiological findings and on laparotomy due to varied clinical presentation.

Background: India is strongly committed to reducing the burden of child malnutrition, which has remained a persistent issue. Findings from recent surveys indicate co-existence of child undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency and overweight/obesity, i.e. the triple burden of malnutrition in children below five years. While considerable efforts are being made to address this challenging issue, and several composite indices are being explored to inform policy actions, the methodology used for creating such indices, i.e., linear averaging, has its limitations. Briefly put, it could mask the uneven improvement across different indicators by discounting the ‘lagging’ indicators, signifying negative implications on policy discourse for improved nutrition. To address this gap, we attempt to develop a composite index for estimating the triple burden of malnutrition in India, using a more sensitive measure, MANUSH.Methodology: Data from publicly available nation-wide surveys - National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS), was used for this study. First, we addressed the robustness of MANUSH method of composite indexing over conventional aggregation methods. Second, using MANUSH scores, we assessed the triple burden of malnutrition at the subnational level over different periods NHFS- 3(2005-06), NFHS-4 (2015-16) and CNNS (2106-18). Through the use of maps and spatial tools, we gauged the existence of neighbourhood dependency, the formation of clusters, within and across states.Result: MANUSH method succeeds over its counterparts – linear aggregation and geometric mean, by fulfilling additional conditions of Shortfall and Hiatus Sensitivity, implicitly penalising when, improvement in worst-off dimension is less or not proportionate to improvement in best-off dimension, or when, even with overall improvement, the gap between dimensions remain same. MANUSH scores helped in revealing the changing paradigm in the improvement of nutrition outcomes and the rising inequalities within and across states and districts in India. Significant clusters (p<0.05) of high burden and low burden districts were found, revealing geographical heterogeneities and sharp regional disparities. The usefulness of MANUSH index in context-specific planning and prioritising actions is also brought out using the case of the National Nutrition Mission.Conclusion: MANUSH indexing depicts balanced development effectively, hence finds relevance in bringing out inequality in a diverse and developing economy like India.