Background: Preterm deliveries of babies weighing less than 1500 grams (VLBW, very low birth weight) are of major concern because of maximum perinatal morbidity and mortality found in this group. VLBW babies overload the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and their mortality contributes significantly to neonatal and infant mortality. Objectives: To study the common maternal risk factors associated with VLBW births. To study the morbidity and mortality patterns of VLBW babies. Methods: This was a hospital based retrospective study done in NICU of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. Data were collected from medical records of VLBW babies admitted in NICU over a period of three years (13 April 2005 to 12 April 2008). Data were analyzed with SPSS 10.0 software. Results: Data of 140 VLBW babies were analyzed. Mean birth weight was 1188.9 (±212.78), 10.7% were home deliveries, 24.3% were twins, 31.4% required active resuscitation at birth and 46.4% were exposed to antenatal steroid. Common maternal risk factors associated with premature deliveries were inadequate antenatal check up (ANC) visits (95.7%), twin pregnancy (24.3%), antepartum hemorrhage (APH, 28.6%), premature rupture of membrane (23.6%), pregnancy induced hypertension (12.9%), bad obstetric history (12.9%) and maternal age less than 20 years (8.6%). Common morbidities among VLBW babies were clinical sepsis (77.1%), non physiological hyperbilirubinemia (73.6%), apnea (48.6%), shock (42.9%), hypoglycemia(39.3%), anemia (29.3%), hyaline membrane disease (HMD, 21.4%), patent ductus arteriosus (15.0%), severe hypothermia (12.1%), culture proven sepsis (15.7%), retinopathy of prematurity (5.7%), and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (3.6%). Overall survival was 54.3% and major causes of death were HMD (51.0%) and sepsis (34.7%). Median durations of hospital stay were 17.5 days for survivors and five days for expired cases.Conclusion: Increasing the coverage of ANC visits, early diagnosis and treatment of APH and pregnancy induced hypertension, discouraging the childbirth at too young age, early diagnosis and treatment of acute infections and chronic medical diseases in mothers are important measures to decrease the burden of VLBW births. Common morbidities in VLBW babies are sepsis, HMD, apnea, hyperbilirubinemia, patent ductus arteriosus, shock, anemia, hypoglycemia, hypothermia and hypocalcemia. Common causes death of VLBW babies are HMD and sepsis. Overall survival of VLBW babies in our settings is less. More numbers of well equipped NICUs and services like surfactant therapy are needed to improve survival of VLBW infants in our set up. Key words: Maternal risk factors, Morbidity, Mortality, Very low birth weight.   doi: 10.3126/jnps.v29i2.2040 J. Nepal Paediatr. Soc. Vol 29, No. 2, pp.59-66

This study does not report decrease in mortality rates, duration of hospital stay and requirement of higher lines of antibiotic therapy following zinc supplementation in neonatal sepsis.

No abstract

Greengram is India's most significant legume crop, and because there is relatively little genetic variety, increasing productivity demands increased attention in research for the development of superior cultivars. During Kharif 2020-21, an experiment was conducted to the evaluation of the genetic parameters for yield and their associated attributes for thirty-nine Mungbean genotypes. Using a Randomised Block Design (RBD), all genotypes were sown in three replications. The observations on various quantitative characters were recorded, and the genetic parameters, PCV, GCV, heritability(bs), and genetic advance, along with the analysis of variances, were estimated. According to ANOVA, almost all genotypes exhibited significant variances for all characters. The highest GCV and PCV was found to be pod length (cm), number of pods cluster-1, number of primary branches plant-1, biological yield plant-1 as well as seed yield plant-1. The heritability was recorded high for pod length (cm) followed by number of primary branches plant-1, number of pods cluster-1, days to pod initiation, number of seeds pod-1, days to 50% flowering, seed yield plant-1, biological yield plant-1, number of effective pods plant-1. The character’s days to flower initiation, total number of pods plant-1, harvest index and number of clusters plant-1 revealed medium genetic advance. High heritability(bs) coupled high genetic advance as percent of mean was observed for pod length (cm), number of branches plant-1, number of pods cluster-1, days to pod initiation, number of seeds pod-1, days to 50% flowering, seed yield plant-1, biological yield plant-1 and number of effective pods plant-1.

Background: Maternal diabetes mellitus (DM) has been shown to be high risk factor for congenital anomalies. It carries 3-5 times higher risk of incidence compared to the general population. The aims of present study is to investigate and portray the incidence of congenital heart disease in infants of diabetic mothers and know the utility of echocardiography in the early diagnosis of CHD at Nobel Medical College teaching hospital, a tertiary care centre in the eastern part of Nepal and review the current literature. Material & Methods: This is a prospective observational study conducted in Nobel Medical College Teaching hospital, Kanchanbari, Biratnagar Nepal over the period of 12 months. A structured questionnaire was designed which included demographic profile and the Echocardiography findings. The collected data were analysed using window’s SPSS version 20. Results: In the present study of the total deliveries 1.99 % was diabetic mother comprising 208 deliveries.127 had undergone echocardiography in which 10.2 % (n=13) had anomalies. One hundred sixteen were term and 11 were preterm. PDA was the most common anomaly (38.4%) followed by VSD (23.1%) and HCM (15.4%). Conclusion: With the review of current literature it has been found that maternal diabetes mellitus is a significant risk factor for congenital heart disease so it is suggested that the presence of diabetes mellitus in a pregnancy should be taken as a strong suspicious of having CHD and infants should be screened for the same .so as to diagnose the anomaly at the earliest possible.