RESUMO
Vitamin A (VA) is a fat-soluble vitamin with all-trans-retinoic biological activities. In addition to maintaining the normal functions of the eye, skin, immune, and reproductive systems, VA is also widely distributed in brain tissues, and important to the generation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells in the developing nervous system. Pregnant women are susceptible to vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Retinoic acid, the active form of VA, is very important to the brain development of offspring. This article reviews the literatures of maternal VAD during pregnancy, summarizing the risk factors of maternal VAD during pregnancy, and the research findings of the effects of maternal VAD during pregnancy on offspring neurodevelopment based on both human studies and animal experiments, and the possible underlying mechanisms by which maternal VAD affects the development of embryonic layers, brain structures, hippocampal synaptic transmission, and the biological clock in offspring.
RESUMO
A large number of children were reached on national immunization day (NID ) on 20.01.2002 in Srinagar, and an attempt was made to assess the nutritional status of under fives by using weight for age criteria. Eight hundred seventy under fives were selected randomly from urban, rural and slum areas of Srinagar. Protein energy malnutrition (PEM) was found to be in 390(44.82%) of cases. out which 24.14%, 14.96%, 5.06%, 0.068% had grade I, II , III and IV PEM respectively. The prevalence of PEM was higher among females (49.58%) as compared to males (41.48%). It was also high in the age group of 1-3 yrs (55.84%) in slums (57.83%) and in the children or labour classl (58.99%). The prevalence of malnutrition increased with the birth order and family size and decreased with high literacy rate in parents. National immunization day can by used to assess the nutritional status of children and on this day other common childhood problems can be successfully looked into, so that a normogram for any region or country for administering vitamin A and education mothers can be prepared.