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Objective: To investigate the relationship between maternal vitamin D status and glucose intolerance, and its impact on pregnant women and their newborns. Methods: A cohort of pregnant women were divided into three groups: women with gestational diabetes mellitus, ones with normal results both after the 50 gr and 100 gr OGTT (CG-1) and ones having a positive result after the 50 gr OGTT screening but negative results for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) after the 100 gr OGTT (CG-2) Results: The newborn length in CG-1 was greater than in GDM and CG-2 (p= 0.002 and p= 0.02). Fasting blood glucose and insulin resistance (IR) were negatively correlated with length of the newborns (r=-0.3, p=0.03 and r=-0.3, p=0.01). The newborns of women with GDM had lower APGAR-1 and 5 scores than those of CG-1 and CG-2 (APGAR-1 p= 0.001 and p= 0.004, APGAR-5 p=0.005 and p=0.007, respectively). APGAR scores were correlated negatively with IR (APGAR-1 r=-0.32, p=0.01, APGAR-5 r=-0.3, p=0.03) and positively with 25OHD levels (APGAR-1 r=0.3, p=0.01, APGAR-5 r=0.3, p=0.02). Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency, gestational diabetes and insulin resistance are interrelated. Severe vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy is associated with poor pregnancy and neonatal outcome.

The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive content analysis of Television (TV) food advertising and compare various food advertisements on free-to-air Turkish national TV channels by broadcast time (duration) and frequency over the period of a week (19-25 April 2012). TV food advertisements were the unit of content analysis in this study. Each advertisement identified as promoting a food product was analysed for content; non-food advertisements were not analysed, although they were counted as a proportion of the advertisements aired. We recorded all programmes for 4 h each per day (7 p.m.-11 p.m.), totalling 84 h. Five types of food-related advertisements were identified (basic foods, junk foods, meat products, beverages and fast food), and six types of non-food advertisements. The Student t-test and ANOVA were used to compare the mean broadcast time of all prime time advertising for the two groups. The mean broadcast times for prime time, non-food advertisements showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). This difference is related to the prime time period 7 p.m.-8 p.m. being considered dinner time for most Turkish families. Additionally, the number and broadcast times of beverage advertisements increased during this time period, while the broadcast time per beverage advertisement decreased (ratio = 20.8 s per ads). As a result, TV food advertising increased not only during dinner time but also in overall broadcast time (per advertisement). These findings may be useful for explaining how advertising can negatively influence food choices, thereby increasing public awareness of the need for health messages targeting obesity.

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&lt;p&gt;Severe weather and climate change take a high toll on the most vulnerable population of Tajikistan. Every year, droughts, flooding or avalanches and non-optimal management practices cause food insecurity and affect the lives of exposed rural communities. Weather, Water and Climate Services (WWCS) that support agronomic decisions and early warning systems can greatly reduce socio-economic and environmental impacts on vulnerability and well-being. However, a lack of resources and local capacities have so far inhibited their development. In response to this urgent need, a consortium of Swiss federal institutions, the WMO and ICARDA, led by CARITAS Switzerland and with co-funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, support governmental and private sector partners in Tajikistan to develop WWCS. The project improves the observational database by deploying a large number of low-cost automated weather stations complemented by citizen observations in remote areas. These stations enable post-processing of forecasts and thereby the development of reliable services tailored to local user-needs. &amp;#160;The underlying hardware and software developments follow a strict open-source policy and combine technical expertise in sensor development and statistical post-processing. The approach enables therefore replicability and scaling of the services at minimal costs. Comparative measurement studies show promising accuracy and stability of the data retrieval in comparison to more standard approaches. Post-processing of ECMWF ensemble predictions, which are now publicly available at a resolution of 0.4&amp;#176; (~40km), proved efficient to develop reliable air temperature forecasts. Pilot WWCS based on citizen observations have already helped to increase agricultural yield at a test site.&lt;/p&gt;

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