Community perceptions of birth weight in rural Uttar Pradesh, India: implications for care of low-birth-weight infants.

Effective implementation of interventions targeting low birth weight (LBW) and preterm infants, who contribute 60 to 80% of all neonatal deaths, requires an understanding of local people's perceptions of birth weight. This study was conducted to understand how birth weight is perceived in a low-resource setting, including the etiology, signs and care given to infants of various weights. In this qualitative research study, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with recently delivered women (RDW) and their families, as well as local health stakeholders in a rural North Indian community. Birth weight per se is not considered a determinant of newborn health. Instead, newborns are classified into types, and care is provided based on these types. Classification is based on observable criteria, including feeding, vigor and alertness, and interviewees did not always consider low weight a criterion for weak type. In communities that do not perceive birth weight to be an important determinant of health, public health programmes and practitioners must reframe messages regarding additional care for LBW infants at home and care seeking outside the home in locally relevant ways.

Effect of light and exhaustive ergometric exercise on blood sugar, total cholesterol and pH in untrained young human subjects.

Light and exhaustive ergometric exercise in untrained male and female medical students in the age group 18-21 years resulted in significant lowering of the blood sugar, cholesterol and pH. Females exhibited hypoglycemia of slightly greater magnitude as compared to male subjects and during both the exercises, however, such sex differences were not observed for changes in cholesterol and pH.

A comparative study of some methods of detecting ovulation.

PIP: Ovulation detection is important in fertility control or promotion. This study compares 2 methods of ovulation detection, Basal Body Temperature (BBT) and calorimetric readings of urine by Sevag and Colton's method, in 70 healthy unmarried medical students (17 to 25 years old) from the G.S.V.M. Medical College, Kanpur. The girls were thoroughly instructed in BBT record maintenance, including a record of dates of occurrence of intermenstrual abdominal pain and appearance of vaginal discharge of clear slippery mucus. Sevag and Colton's method for detecting day of ovulation involved chemical examination of urine collected between 11 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. for successive nights. Ovulation day in all cycles fell within the 6th to 18th day range. Both methods gave similar results in range and distribution of ovulatory days and incidence of ovulatory/anovulatory cycles. Both methods found 88.6% of total cycles to be anovulatory. Occurrence of intermenstrual pain and appearance of characteristic vaginal mucus discharge occurred in 5.7% and 20% of ovulatory cycles, if these phenomena are taken as criteria for ovulation. Ovulation day occurred within the range of 8th to 15th day in 91.4% of ovulatory cycles in the chemical method and in 89.8% of ovulatory cycles in the BBT method. The study shows that ovulation detection by either chemical examination of urine or BBT record has some degree of reliability, but intermenstrual pain or characteristic vaginal mucus discharge have limited value.^ieng