Factors Influencing Dietary Diversity of Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Western Regional Hospital, Nepal: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Diet during pregnancy is important to fulfill the nutritional demand of physiological changes as well as to create an environment for fetal development. In Nepal, meal diversity scores of mothers and children are low. The situation of dietary diversity among pregnant women was unknown in the Western Region of Nepal. Thus, this study was conducted to generate evidence regarding the status and determinants of dietary diversity among pregnant women. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. Systematic random sampling was done to select 282 pregnant women of third trimester attending antenatal care in Western Regional Hospital, Nepal. The semi-structured questionnaires, 24-hour recall tool, and Household Food Insecurity Access Scale were used to collect information from participants. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis was done to assess the status, association as well as strength of association between study variables respectively.   Results: The mean (±SD) Women's Dietary Diversity Score was 4.96 (±1.42). Pregnant women having education level < SLC compared to ≥ SLC were 74.7% less likely to have high dietary diversity to lowest dietary diversity (AOR: 0.253, CI: 0.103 – 0.620, p=0.003). Similarly, pregnant women having an unpaid occupation of husbands compared to paid were 74.5% less likely to have high dietary diversity to lowest dietary diversity (AOR: 0.255, CI: 0.074 – 0.876, p=0.030). Conclusions: Consumption of medium dietary diversity was predominant among pregnant women. The education of pregnant women and the occupation of her husband were the two significantly associated factors with dietary diversity. Keywords: ANC; Dietary diversity; Household Food Security; Nepal; Pregnant women DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jkahs.v2i3.2665

Interpreting the Image of the Human Body in Premodern India

This paper sets out two main arguments. In part one, a description of the adherents of the various intellectual disciplines and religious faiths in premodern India is given, each having developed distinct and different imagined bodies; for example, the body described in Tantric circles had little or nothing in common with the body described in medical circles. In part two, an account is given of the encounter between Ayurvedic anatomy and early colonial European anatomy which led initially to attempts at synthesis; these gave way to an abandonment of the syncretist vision of the body and the acceptance of an epistemological suspension of judgment, in which radically different body conceptualizations are simultaneously held in unacknowledged cognitive dissonance

Genetic Variation of European Beech Populations and Their Progeny from Northeast Germany to Southwest Switzerland

Climate change can adversely affect the growth of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) across its entire distribution range. Therefore, knowledge of the adaptive potential of this species to changing climatic conditions is of foremost importance. Genetic diversity is the basis for adaptation to environmental stress, and the regeneration phase of forests is a key stage affecting genetic diversity. Nevertheless, little is known about the effect of climate change on the genetic diversity of adult trees compared to their progeny. Here, we present genetic diversity data for 24 beech populations ranging from northeast Germany to southwest Switzerland. Potentially adaptive genetic variation was studied using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in candidate genes that are possibly involved in adaptive trait variation. In addition, more than 2000 adult trees and 3000 of their seedlings were genotyped with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to determine selectively neutral genetic diversity and differentiation among populations. All populations showed high SSR and SNP variation, and no differences in genetic diversity were found between adult trees and their offspring. The genetic differentiation between adults and seedlings within the same stands was also insignificant or very low. Therefore, we can conclude tentatively that the transfer of genetic variation among tree generations, currently, is not much affected by climate change, at least in the studied beech populations