Background: The low birth weight (LBW) is considered as sensitive index of nation’s health and development. Almost a third of the newborn in the South East Asia region is low birth weight. Over three- quarters of newborn deaths in Nepal occur in low birth weight babies. The causes of low birth weight are multi-factorial and birth weight is determined by the interaction of both socio-demographic and biological factors. Aims and Objective: To find out the prevalence of low birth weight babies among institutional deliveries and its association with socio-cultural and maternal risk factors. Materials and Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was undertaken comprising of 220 postnatal mothers along with singleton live born baby delivered in College of Medical Sciences and Teaching Hospital, Bharatpur, Nepal during the study period of April 2011 to March 2012. Binary logistic regression was used to find the association between dependent variable (LBW) and independent variables. Model accuracy test in binary logistic regression was done by using Hosmer and Lemeshow Test . To find the strength of binary logistic regression Pseudo R-square was used. Results: Out of 220 respondents, the prevalence of LBW was 23.6% (with 95% CI 21.88 to 25.32%). The risk factors like rest received in afternoon during pregnancy, dietary intake during pregnancy and period of gestation were found to be statistically significant. The odds of having LBW babies was 9.07 times higher in preterm births, 2.44 times higher among mothers who took afternoon rest of less than two hours and 3.44 times higher among those mothers who took dietary intake less or same as before during pregnancy. The variation in LBW due to these factors was found to be 22.9% to 34.4%.  Conclusion: The prevalence of low birth weight was found to be significantly high among institutional deliveries of this region of the country. Socio-cultural and maternal risk factors like rest received in the afternoon during pregnancy, dietary intake during pregnancy and period of gestation were found to be significantly associated with low birth weight babies. The problem of low birth weight babies can be lessened down as most of these factors can be tackled easily by providing adequate and effective antenatal care services with its maximum utilisation as well as home care by emphasising upon education of mothers and family members, hence decreasing infant and child mortality rates.

A B S T R A C TFertility is one of the three principal components of population dynamics that determine the size, structure, and composition of the population in any country. Children ever born refer to the number of children born alive to the person up to a specified reference date. It includes children who have died since birth. This study aims to identify the socioeconomic and demographic factors influencing Children Ever Born (CEB) to the women of Somadi village development committee (VDC) of Palpa district of Nepal. This study is entirely based on primary data collected using convenience sampling through questionnaire methods. A representative sample of size 298 married women was taken for the study using proportionate sampling from the different ethnic groups. The result of the study shows that the factors age at marriage, occupation of husband and knowledge of contraceptive/family planning have statistically significant role for varying CEB among the women under study. The result of the study compels to recommend that various awareness programs should be conducted about the use of contraceptive/family planning and to stop practice of early marriage among the women to reduce the higher fertility. The factors 'knowledge of contraceptive/family planning', 'occupation of husband' and 'age at marriage' are seen to have very significant impact for explaining the children ever born (CEB) to the women of Somadi VDC of Palpa district of Nepal.

BackgroundDoor-to-balloon (DTB) time of 90 min during primary angioplasty is considered as the benchmark duration. Shorter DTB time is preferable, and longer duration can have poor clinical outcomes.MethodsA cross-sectional observational study of three months in Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center was conducted in which all patients undergoing primary angioplasty were included. The DTB time was calculated, and the different determining factors were studied.ResultsSeventy-nine patients undergoing primary percutaneous intervention were studied. The median DTB time was 79 minutes (Interquartile range [IQR] 59–115 min). Forty-six (58.2%) patients had a DTB time of less than 90 min. DTB time varied significantly with direct visit vs transfer (p = 0.029) and office time visit (9 am–5 pm) vs off time (5 pm–9 am) (p = 0.012). DTB time did not differ between any infarct-related vessels (p = 0.471), number of vessels involved (p = 0.638), and the added procedures (defibrillation, thrombosuction, and temporary pacemaker insertion) (p = 0.682) during angioplasty. No significant differences were recorded according to age (p = 0.330), gender (p = 0.254), hypertension (p = 0.073), diabetes (p = 0.487), heart failure (p = 0.316), and baseline left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (p = 0.819).ConclusionThe median DTB time in primary angioplasty was less than 90 minutes. The significant determining factors were timing of hospital visit (office vs off time) and type of visit (direct vs transfer). There can be improvement in factors determining DTB time to lower it further.

A B S T R A C TMalnutrition among under five year of age group is a major underlying cause of the child morbidity and mortality in many developing countries like Nepal. Nutritional status of children is a proxy indicator for assessing the health status of entire population. This study was carried out to evaluate the nutritional status of the most vulnerable age group of children (0-59 months) and to identify different factors associated with it. Generally three anthropometric indicators were often used to assess the nutritional status of children height-for-age, weight-for-height and weight-for-age. This study is based on data of Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. WHO Anthro software and IBM SPSS 20 were used to analyze the data. The prevalence of the malnutrition (stunted, wasted and underweight) was found in the different aspect. This study consists of 2334 children of under five years age groups, out of this 50.9% were male children and 49.1% were female children, the prevalence of the stunted is 41%, wasted 29% and underweight 11%. The prevalence of diarrhea during the data collection period is 13.80% and prevalence of fever during the data collection period is 18.70%. The statistically significant factor were body mass index of mother, wealth index, size of child at birth and education of mother and smoking habit of mother. Malnutrition (stunted, wasted and underweight) still remains as a major health problem in our country Nepal. So, our government should be focused on those factors which are significantly associated with malnutrition like health care during pregnancy period, education of mother etc. Significant number of under-five children's of Nepal was malnourished. Maternal factors have significant association with nutritional status of the children which include extra diet in pregnancy and lactation, iron supplements in pregnancy, exclusive breast feeding for six months.