Relationship Between Unintended Pregnancy and Antenatal Care Use During Pregnancy in Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Unintended pregnancy has direct relation with poor utilization of maternal health care services and also associated with unhealthy behaviors during pregnancy. Few studies have examined the association between unintended pregnancy and maternal health behaviors during pregnancy in developing countries including Ethiopia. The purpose of the study was to determine the association of unintended pregnancy with use of antenatal care during pregnancy among pregnant women in Hadiya zone, southern Ethiopia. METHODS: Community based cross sectional study design was employed in Hadiya zone, southern Ethiopia in 2017. 748 pregnant mothers were included using single population proportion. Study participants were selected by simple random sampling technique. A structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was employed to identify the independent effect of unintended pregnancy on the outcomes of interest. The level of significance was confirmed if p-value was less than 0.05. RESULTS: More than one third (36.2%) of women reported unintended pregnancy. Unintended pregnancy was significantly associated with use of antenatal care. Women with unintended pregnancy were 69% less likely to receive ANC (AOR=0.31, 95% CI; 0.21-0.46) and were four times more likely to have late ANC initiation (AOR=4.40, 95% CI; 1.70-11.40) during pregnancy as compared to counterparts. CONCLUSION: This study finding showed an association between unintended pregnancy and ANC use during pregnancy. Women with unintended pregnancy were less likely to use antenatal care and more likely to delay initiation of antenatal care. Longitudinal studies are recommended on relationship between unintended pregnancy and ANC use.

Rate of belowground carbon allocation differs with successional habit of two afromontane trees.

BACKGROUND: Anthropogenic disturbance of old-growth tropical forests increases the abundance of early successional tree species at the cost of late successional ones. Quantifying differences in terms of carbon allocation and the proportion of recently fixed carbon in soil CO(2) efflux is crucial for addressing the carbon footprint of creeping degradation. METHODOLOGY: We compared the carbon allocation pattern of the late successional gymnosperm Podocarpus falcatus (Thunb.) Mirb. and the early successional (gap filling) angiosperm Croton macrostachyus Hochst. es Del. in an Ethiopian Afromontane forest by whole tree (13)CO(2) pulse labeling. Over a one-year period we monitored the temporal resolution of the label in the foliage, the phloem sap, the arbuscular mycorrhiza, and in soil-derived CO(2). Further, we quantified the overall losses of assimilated (13)C with soil CO(2) efflux. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: (13)C in leaves of C. macrostachyus declined more rapidly with a larger size of a fast pool (64% vs. 50% of the assimilated carbon), having a shorter mean residence time (14 h vs. 55 h) as in leaves of P. falcatus. Phloem sap velocity was about 4 times higher for C. macrostachyus. Likewise, the label appeared earlier in the arbuscular mycorrhiza of C. macrostachyus and in the soil CO(2) efflux as in case of P. falcatus (24 h vs. 72 h). Within one year soil CO(2) efflux amounted to a loss of 32% of assimilated carbon for the gap filling tree and to 15% for the late successional one. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed clear differences in carbon allocation patterns between tree species, although we caution that this experiment was unreplicated. A shift in tree species composition of tropical montane forests (e.g., by degradation) accelerates carbon allocation belowground and increases respiratory carbon losses by the autotrophic community. If ongoing disturbance keeps early successional species in dominance, the larger allocation to fast cycling compartments may deplete soil organic carbon in the long run.

Synthesis of enantiomerically pure isotopomers of 2-phenylpropionic acids.

A series of enantiomerically pure [D,(13)C]-labeled isotopomeric 2-phenylpropionic acids were efficiently synthesized using a diastereoselective alkylation and kinetic resolution strategy.

(-)-Dimenthyl malonate.

The title compound, bis(2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohex-1-yl) malonate, C(23)H(40)O(4), crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1). In the crystal, the molecule is not C(2) symmetric.

The synthesis and structure of substituted dimenthyl malonate derivatives.

A series of substituted dimenthyl malonate derivatives were efficiently synthesized from dimenthyl malonate using a deprotonation and alkylation strategy. The elucidation of the structure of these derivatives were determined by a combination of X-ray crystallography, NMR and IR spectroscopy.