Community Based Nutrition Education for Promoting Nutritional Status of Children under Three Years of Age in Rural Areas of Mahottari District of Nepal

Introduction: Maternal and child mortality have declined significantly in Nepal to the extent that Nepal is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child mortality. Similar improvements have not been seen in general nutrition status of them. Objective of this study was to evaluate a nutrition-education intervention designed to improve nutritional status (reduce stunting, wasting and underweight) of children. Materials and Methods: It was an intervention with separate sample pretest posttest design. Two groups of Village Development Committee (VDC) from Mahottari district were recruited as interventional and control areas. The intervention was a 12-months nutrition education program and comprised of twelve times with 2-3 hour nutrition lectures and discussion classless conducted by the Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs). Results: The Present study found that number of underweight children increased by 7.6% in control group while it decreased by 17.7% in intervention group from baseline to endline in both groups. So, intervention programme was able to decrease the number of underweight children significantly. Study shows that wasting status of children increased by 11.4% in control group from baseline to endline period. While in intervention group wasting status of children decreased by more than 5% from baseline to endline period. Conclusion: Nutrition education intervention was effective to reduce wasting and underweight but did not reduce the stunting status of children. Stunting reflects failure to receive adequate nutrition over a long period of time and is affected by recurrent and chronic illness. Findings suggested that nutrition programme of longer duration should be implemented to control the stunting status of children. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jnps.v34i3.10286   J Nepal Paediatr Soc 2014;34(3):181-187

Automatic analysis of gated heart studies using a Galois lattice

Gated heart studies are currently assessed using the parametric images of first harmonic phase and amplitude in addition to the original images. More information can be obtained by multi-harmonic analysis, but the quantity of information is too great to be assessed by visual methods alone. We propose an automatic diagnosis support system which will use all the additional information, compress and analyse the data, and present the results in a single image to assist the consultant in his or her diagnosis. Multi-harmonic analysis produces many parameters to describe features of the images. A set of parameters will be selected using guidelines that link parameters and intervals of their values to clinical conditions. Images are processed using these parameters and the results stored in a binary matrix. A Galois lattice structure is then derived from the matrix where a vertex of the lattice represents a 'significant' region of the heart together with a 'logic description' of this region. Using this, areas of clinical interest can be found and displayed on a diastolic image of the heart.