Religion’s Impact on the Mental Health of Seventh-Day Adventist College Students

Depression and anxiety rates among college students are increasing around the world. This paper will examine results of a 2018 survey that found high rates of depression and anxiety among Adventist College students as well as results from a focus group follow-up study that helped to explain those results. Our objective is to examine the positive and negative influence of religion on the mental health of Seventh-day Adventist college students

Gestational weight gain and its effect on birth outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION:An increased metabolic demand during pregnancy is fulfilled by gaining sufficient gestational weight. Women who gain inadequate-weight are at a high-risk of premature birth or having a baby with low-birth weight. However, women who gain excessive-weight are at a high-risk of having a baby with macrosomia. The aim of this review was to determine the distribution of gestational weight gain and its association with birth-outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS:For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we performed a literature search using PubMed, Medline, Embase, Scopus, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. We searched grey-literature from Google and Google Scholar, and region-specific journals from the African Journals Online (AJOL) database. We critically appraised the included studies using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Two independent reviewers evaluated the quality of the studies and extracted the data. We calculated pooled relative-risks (RR) with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS:Of 1450 retrieved studies, 26 met the inclusion criteria. Sixteen studies classified gestational weight gain according to the United States Institute of Medicine recommendations. The percentage adequate amount of gestational weight ranged from 3% to 62%. The percentage of inadequate weight was >50% among nine studies. Among underweight women, the percentage of women who gained inadequate gestational weight ranged from 67% to 98%. Only two studies were included in the meta-analyses to evaluate the association of gestational weight gain with pre-eclampsia and macrosomia. No difference was observed among women who gained inadequate and adequate gestational weight regarding experiencing pre-eclampsia (RR, 0.71; 95% CI: 0.22, 2.28, P = 0.57). Excessive gestational weight gain was not significantly associated with macrosomia compared to adequate weight gain (RR, 0.68; 95% CI: 0.38, 1.22, P = 0.20). CONCLUSION:A substantial proportion of sub-Saharan African women gain inadequate gestational weight particularly high among underweight women. Future interventions would need to design effective pre-pregnancy weight management strategies

Midwives' and obstetricians' perspectives about pregnancy related weight management in Ethiopia: A qualitative study.

BackgroundMidwives and obstetricians are key maternity care providers; they are the most trusted source of information regarding nutrition and gestational weight gain. However, their views, practices and perceived barriers to managing pregnancy related weight gain have not been studied in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to explore midwives' and obstetricians' observations and perspectives about gestational weight gain and postpartum weight management in Ethiopia.MethodsWe conducted face-to-face interviews with 11 midwives and 10 obstetricians, from January 2019 to March 2019. All interview data were transcribed verbatim. We analysed the data using thematic analysis with an inductive approach.ResultsWe identified three themes and associated subthemes. Midwives and obstetricians had limited knowledge of the optimal gestational weight gain. Almost all participants were unaware of the presence of the Institute of Medicine recommendations for optimal weight gain in pregnancy. According to the study participants, women in Ethiopia do not want to gain weight during pregnancy, but do want to gain weight after the birth. Counselling about gestational weight gain and postpartum weight management was not routinely provided for pregnant women. This is mostly because gestational weight gain counselling was not considered to be a priority by maternity care providers in Ethiopia.ConclusionsThe limited knowledge of and low attention to pregnancy related weight management by midwives and obstetricians in this setting needs appropriate intervention. Adapting a guideline for pregnancy weight management and integrating it into antenatal care is essential

Influence of gestational weight gain on baby's birth weight in Addis Ababa, Central Ethiopia: a follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: Gestational weight gain (GWG) is an important indicator of fetal well-being during pregnancy. Inadequate or excessive GWG could have undesirable effects on birth weight. However, information regarding the influence of GWG on birth weight is lacking from the Ethiopian setting. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the influence of GWG and other maternal-related factors on birth weight in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cohort of pregnant women who received the first antenatal care before or at 16 weeks of gestation in health centres in Addis Ababa were followed from 10 January 2019 to 25 September 2019. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and medical record reviews. We conducted a multivariable linear regression analysis to determine the independent effect of gestational weight on birth weight. RESULTS: Of the 395 women enrolled in the study, the participants' pregnancy outcome was available for 329 (83.3%). The mean birth weight was 3130 (SD, 509) g. The proportion of low birth weight (<2500 g) was 7.5% (95% CI 4.8% to 11.0%). Babies born to underweight women were 150.9 g (95% CI 5.8 to 308.6 g, p=0.049) lighter than babies born to normal-weight women. Similarly, babies whose mothers gained inadequate weight were 248 g (95% CI 112.8 to 383.6 g, p<0.001) lighter than those who gained adequate weight. Moreover, babies whose mothers had a previous history of abortion or miscarriages or developed gestational hypertension in the current pregnancy were 147.2 g (95% CI 3.2 to 291.3 g, p=0.045) and 310.7 g (95% CI 62.7 to 552.8 g, p=0.012) lighter, respectively, compared with those whose mothers had not. CONCLUSIONS: Prepregnancy weight, GWG, having had a previous history of abortion or miscarriages, and developing gestational hypertension during a current pregnancy were independently associated with birth weight. Pregnancy-related weight management should be actively promoted through intensive counseling during routine antenatal care contacts

Patterns and predictors of gestational weight gain in Addis Ababa, Central Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study

Introduction Gaining excessive or inadequate gestational weight is associated with many adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Inadequate gestational weight gain (GWG) increases the risk of fetal growth restriction, pre-term birth, and low birth weight. It is a public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to assess the patterns and predictors of GWG in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study among pregnant women who attended antenatal care in health centres in Addis Ababa, from January to September 2019. Data were collected by a structured questionnaire and checklists and analysed using Stata version-14. Weight at or before 16 weeks gestation was used as a proxy for pre-pregnancy weight. Women’s height and baseline weight were measured by data collectors, and we obtained weight at the end of the 24th and 36th weeks of gestation from women’s medical records. GWG was categorized as inadequate, adequate and excessive based on the United States Institute of Medicine criteria. Predictors of GWG were identified using multinomial logistic regression. Results A total of 395 pregnant women were enrolled in the study. GWG was assessed for 369 (93%) women. The median GWG was 8.7 kg with inter quartile ranges (25th, 75th percentiles) of 7.0 kg and 11.6 kg. More than two-third of the participants, 248 (67.2% [95% CI: 62.2, 72.0%]), gained inadequate weight; 103 (27.9% [95% CI: 23.4, 32.8%]) gained adequate weight; and 18 (4.9% [95% CI: 2.9%, 7.6%]) gained excessive weight. Three quarters (75%) of underweight women gained inadequate gestational weight, whereas 43% of overweight or obese women gained inadequate gestational weight. Being underweight (AOR = 3.30 [95% CI: 1.32, 8.24]) or normal weight (AOR = 2.68 [95% CI: 1.37, 5.24]) before pregnancy increased the odds of gaining inadequate gestational weight compared to overweight or obese women. Not having paid employment was associated with higher odds of gaining inadequate gestational weight compared to women employed outside the home (AOR = 2.17 [95% CI: 1.16, 4.07]). Conclusions Most pregnant women in Addis Ababa gain inadequate gestational weight. In particular, three quarters of underweight women gained inadequate gestational weight. Being underweight, normal weight or having no paid employment were associated with higher odds of inadequate GWG. Promoting adequate GWG in Addis Ababa among underweight and normal weight women may be an important public health initiative

Evaluation and application of multi-source satellite rainfall product CHIRPS to assess spatio-temporal rainfall variability on data-sparse Western margins of Ethiopian Highlands

The spatio-temporal characteristic of rainfall in the Beles Basin of Ethiopia is poorly understood, mainly due to lack of data. With recent advances in remote sensing, satellite derived rainfall products have become alternative sources of rainfall data for such poorly gauged areas. The objectives of this study were: (i) to evaluate a multi-source rainfall product (Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations: CHIRPS) for the Beles Basin using gauge measurements and (ii) to assess the spatial and temporal variability of rainfall across the basin using validated CHIRPS data for the period 1981-2017. Categorical and continuous validation statistics were used to evaluate the performance, and time-space variability of rainfall was analyzed using GIS operations and statistical methods. Results showed a slight overestimation of rainfall occurrence by CHIRPS for the lowland region and underestimation for the highland region. CHIRPS underestimated the proportion of light daily rainfall events and overestimated the proportion of high intensity daily rainfall events. CHIRPS rainfall amount estimates were better in highland regions than in lowland regions, and became more accurate as the duration of the integration time increases from days to months. The annual spatio-temporal analysis result using CHIRPS revealed: a mean annual rainfall of the basin is 1490 mm (1050-2090 mm), a 50 mm increase of mean annual rainfall per 100 m elevation rise, periodical and persistent drought occurrence every 8 to 10 years, a significant increasing trend of rainfall (similar to 5 mm year(-1)), high rainfall variability observed at the lowland and drier parts of the basin and high coefficient of variation of monthly rainfall in March and April (revealing occurrence of bimodal rainfall characteristics). This study shows that the performance of CHIRPS product can vary spatially within a small basin level, and CHIRPS can help for better decision making in poorly gauged areas by giving an option to understand the space-time variability of rainfall characteristics

Relatedness and Population Differentiation in a Colonial Butterfly, Eucheira socialis (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

Eucheira socialis (Westwood) occurs above 1,800 m in mountains throughout Mexico and has a remarkable suite of autapomorphies, including communal larval nests and a mean primary sex ratio of 70% males. We gathered allozyme data for 31 loci from individuals within nests within populations and used hierarchical F statistics to assess population structure and relatedness at these levels. Allozyme variation was far lower than reported in most Lepidoptera, and was absent from the populations sampled from southern Mexico. Among 5 sample sites distributed throughout Mexico, differentiation was high (FST = 0.54), which is consistent with a history of interrupted gene flow. At lower hierarchical levels in the variable populations, we found significant excess heterozygotes within nests (FIN = −0.15) and evidence for structuring within subpopulations (FIS =0.015, significantly greater than FIN). Average relatedness among nestmates was rNS = 0.28, which is significantly less than r = 0.5. This is probably caused largely by interchange among nests on multinest trees. ADAM H. PORTE