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Background: Severe acute respiratory virus coronavirus-2 disease (COVID-19) vaccination among antenatal mothers plays a vital role in preventing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. We attempted to find out the COVID-19 vaccine uptake rate and to determine the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Methods: Community-based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted for 6 months amongst antenatal mothers who are residing in the field practice area of primary healthcare (PHC). The participants were selected based on simple random sampling. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in their house using a pre-designed structured questionnaire after obtaining consent. Results: Amongst 246 antenatal mothers, 82.5% were in the 20-29 years of age group. Only 17.9% of the mothers were illiterates, 88.2% of the participants were homemakers. Majority (97%) belonged to the Hindu religion and more than half of them lived in nuclear families. One hundred and fifty (61%) had taken at least one dose of the vaccine. The logistic regression model was statistically significant (P < 0.05) and had explained 14.2% of the variance in acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and correctly classified 67.9% of cases. Fear concerning the safety of the vaccine and its side effects was the most commonly reported reason for not taking the vaccine. Conclusion: Targeted interventions to maximise COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant women from ethnic minority communities and those living in deprived areas should be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Medical abortion is safer than surgical abortion. Several studies have shown that combination of antiprogesterone drug mifepristone and prostaglandin misoprostol can increase complete abortion rate in medical management of first-trimester miscarriage compared to misoprostol alone. Letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, has emerged as an alternative to mifepristone for induction of medical abortion as mifepristone is expensive and not registered in many countries. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of combined regimen of letrozole and misoprostol in first-trimester medical abortion compared to misoprostol alone. Materials and Methods: It was a comparative observational study conducted at R. G. Kar Medical College, a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal, India. The study population was the antenatal mothers booked at antenatal clinic willing for termination of pregnancy at <12 weeks of gestational age. Participants were allocated, 39 in each group in a nonrandomized manner. Patients in one group (Group A) were posted for medical abortion with combination regimen of tablet letrozole (10 mg) once daily for 3 days followed by application of tablet misoprostol 800 mcg sublingually on day 4. In other group (Group B), patients were on misoprostol-only regimen with the application of tablet misoprostol 800 mcg sublingually. Results: Induction-abortion time was significantly less in the letrozole group (11±0.79 h) than the misoprostol group (13.23±0.81 h), P=0.0001. Complete abortion rate was significantly higher in the letrozole group compared to misoprostol group (84.62% and 64.10%, respectively, P=0.03). 15.38% patients in the letrozole group and 35.90% patients in the misoprostol group had excessive vaginal bleeding and the difference was statistically significant, P=0.03. The duration of vaginal bleeding was also significantly less in the letrozole group (2.45±0.29 days) than the misoprostol group (2.82±0.37 days), P<0.0001. Incidence of side-effects was comparable and the severity of side-effects was not significantly different between the groups. Conclusion: Letrozole and misoprostol combination regimen leads to significant increase in complete abortion rate and also significant reduction of the duration of vaginal bleeding, induction-abortion time, and need for surgical intervention when compared to misoprostol regimen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breastfeeding the baby is the most important practice that promotes optimal growth and development of the infant. World Health Organization has recommended exclusive Breastfeeding for the first six months. Breastfeeding not only promotes Infant health and wellbeing but also protects the mother from developing illnesses. There is a compelling need to understand the level of awareness, perceptions and attitude towards breastfeeding and also develop programs to ensure that the knowledge is translated to practice in the postnatal phase. This review highlights the level of knowledge, attitude and perceptions towards breastfeeding, factors influencing the breastfeeding practices, Breastfeeding and its relation to Mental health of new mothers and the various initiatives launched by the Government to promote awareness on breastfeeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus is a public health concern and one of the causes of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. Gestational diabetes is one of the most common health issue that can occur during pregnancy.it happens when the mother is first diagnosed with diabetes during the pregnancy. The minimizing factors for gestational diabetes are adequate knowledge about the condition for early detection and treatment; healthy practices on diet and physical activeness. Awareness of the condition among antenatal women will translate into adoption of a healthy lifestyle, better health-seeking pattern, better self-care practice, which prevent acute complications and reduce the risk of long-term complications and promote pregnancy outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Background: Breast milk is the perfect food and uniquely superior to, artificial baby milk. Giving a child breast milk from another woman is not a newer concept; wet nursing was a fairly common practice a few decades ago. Human milk banks are services which collect, screen, process and distribute donated breast milk. Current research evidences suggest that pasteurized donor human milk can provide many of the components and eliminate the risk of transmission of infectious agents. Method: Quantitative research approach was adopted to assess the knowledge on Human Milk Banking; a structured knowledge questionnaire was given to100 antenatal mothers. The study was conducted at Justice K.S Hegde charitable Hospital. Descriptive survey design was adopted to accomplish the objectives. Results: Findings revealed that 52% of mothers had good knowledge and remaining mothers had an average knowledge. The 'p' value of age with regards to knowledge on human milk banking is 0.099, whereas the 'p' value of parity is 0.718. Meanwhile the 'p' value of family is 0.213 and that of religion is 0.428. For education, occupation, income and any previous exposure with human milk banking the 'p' values were 0.284, 0.082, 0.104 and 0.750 respectively. The above results shows that for all the demographic characteristics, the 'p' value is >0.05. Hence it was found that there was no significant association between knowledge of antenatal mothers with selected demographic variables. Conclusion: Providing knowledge to antenatal mothers on human milk banking serve as an investment for the future needs. The nurse practitioner has a primary responsibility of enhancing the knowledge and developing positive attitude, towards utilization of human milk banking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess the knowledge on fetal well being among antenatal mothers in selected tertiary care hospital at Kelambakkam, Kanchipuram District, Tamil Nadu. Methodology: Thenon probability purposive sampling technique sampling technique with the sample of 45 antenatal mothers and questionnaires were formulated structured questionnaire schedule were used to assess the knowledge. Results: Majority of antenatal mothers are inadequate knowledge about fetal well being. Conclusion: The study was conclude improve the knowledge on antenatal mothers about fetal well being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: During pregnancy many changes occur in women's self-concept and the changes in their self- image and the shift in focus from themselves to the needs of the foetus and unfamiliar territory of pregnancy and early motherhood creates anxiety. Relaxation techniques are a great way to help in managing anxiety such as progressive muscle relaxation technique(PMRT) which may be very useful for treating anxiety symptoms during pregnancy. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of progressive muscle relaxation on anxiety among antenatal mothers. Material & Method: Quasi Experimental design with two group pre-test and post-test design was used. Conceptual framework for the study was adopted from Ludwig Von Bertalanffy (1968) General System Model was chosen to conduct the study. Through convenience sampling, 35 subjects were selected in experimental and 35 in control group. Subjects in experimental group (n=35) were provided PMRT and conventional care and in control group (n=35) only conventional care was provided. Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS) and Socio demographic data sheet was used to collect the data. Results: Results revealed that there was significant difference in level of anxiety after four weeks of progressive muscle relaxation technique in experimental group (p value 0.005) as compared to control group. However, there was no association of pre-test level of anxiety with selected demographic variables Conclusion: The study concluded that progressive muscle relaxation technique was effective in reducing anxiety among antenatal mothers after 4 weeks of intervention in experimental group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A True experimental study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of Helfer skin tap technique on the level of pain during intramuscular injection of Tetanus Toxoid among Antenatal Mothers in a selected Hospital of Delhi and to find out the association between the level of pain experienced by Antenatal Mothers during intramuscular injection using Helfer skin tap technique and selected variables. A total of sixty sample were randomly assigned into 2 groups (30 in experimental group and 30 in control group)using simple random sampling technique. Structured interview schedule was used to collect the demographic characteristics and clinical health data. For the administration of intramuscular injection, Helfer skin tap technique was used for the experimental group and routine technique was used for the control group. Immediately after the administration, the post test pain score was obtained using Numeric pain rating scale. Findings revealed that the mean post test pain score and standard deviation of the experimental group was 1.13 ±1.11 whereas of the control group was 4.23±2.01. The calculated 't' test value 4.42 was found significant at p< 0.05. Significant association was found between the level of pain experienced by Antenatal Mothers during intramuscular injection with Helfer skin tap technique and selected variables such as religion and Body Mass Index but no association was found with other selected variables. The study results showed that Helfer skin tap technique was effective in reducing the level of pain during intramuscular injection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi experimental research study was conducted during the month of August 2018 with the aim of establishing the effectiveness of ginger tea in reducing the morning sickness. Total of 60 antenatal mothers were selected and grouped into 30 in each for experimental and control respectively. The subjects were selected by using Non probability purposive sampling technique. The level of morning sickness was evaluated by using modified Rhodes index scale among antenatal mothers. The intervention was exercised i.e. Ginger tea 200ml once in a day for 5 days was administered to the subjects of experimental group. The reliability of the tool was determined by using split half method. The reliability coefficient “r” was more than 0.7, hence the tool was found to be reliable. Also, 30 eminent experts from all over India had validated the tool for its content. Data was analyzed using descriptive ie. Frequency and percentage distribution, inferential statistics ie. ‘t’ test, z test. Study results showed that, the ginger tea is effective on morning sickness and statistically there is significant difference in the experimental and control group. Hence study concludes that there is significant effect of ginger tea on morning sickness among antenatal mothers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Anaemia in pregnancy is still a major concern in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in India particularly in rural population. Haemoglobinopathies are important contributors to anaemia in pregnancy in rural India particularly in tribal population. Beta thalassemia is the commonest type of haemoglobinopathy all over the world. Thalassemia and other haemoglobinopathies are highly prevalent among the tribal communities in West Bengal. Bankura is one of the districts of West Bengal where more tribal population are present. So detection and prevention of thalassemias is one of the major public health problems in this part of the state of West Bengal.Study done by Manna et al4 showed that about 10% of the population is carrier of haemoglobin disorder.This study was taken up to document the recent prevalence status of hemoglobinopathies particularly Thalassemias and coexistence of iron deficiency anaemias Objective: To find out prevalence of haemoglobinopathies and to compare the prevalence of different types of Thalassemias among the antenatal mothers. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out in Bankura Sammilani Medical College (BSMC), Bankura West Bengal among 3500 tribal and non-tribal antenatal mothers. Cation exchange-high performance liquid chromatography (CE-HPLC) is being used for investigation for hemoglobinopathies and thalassemias. Together with a complete blood count, the CE-HPLC is effective in categorizing hemoglobinopathies as traits, homozygous disorders and compound heterozygous disorders. Results: In our study 275 mothers had haemoglobinopathy. The commonest disorder we encountered was Beta Thalassemia trait (57.5%), followed by HbE carrier (36%), homozygous HbE disease (1%), HbS carrier (4%), HbE Beta Thalassemia (1.5%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing comfort to an antenatal mother is one of the critical components of the nonstress test (NST). An experimental study was conducted on 450 antenatal mothers beyond 34 weeks, who were randomly allocated into three groups - supine, left lateral, and semi-fowler's position, to explore the association of selected maternal positions on NST results and to find the impact of these positions on the comfort level of antenatal mothers. The fetal parameters were assessed by observing and recording biophysiological measurements from the NST and the maternal comfort of different positions by the Verbal Numerical Rating Scale. The data analyzed reveal a significant association between maternal positions and fetal parameters at P < 0.05 level. Antenatal women who were in semi-fowler's position exhibited more comfort and fetal NST reactivity as noted by significant variation in the baseline fetal heart rate, beat-to-beat variability, acceleration, deceleration, and fetal movements., Competing Interests: None

Mothers are the primary caregiver of the newborns, thus the knowledge of the mothers regarding newborn danger signs has great influence on the health of the newborns. The purpose of the present study was to prepare the mothers (antenatally) to handle tactfully and wisely to the situation which can pose threat to their newborn. Moreover, this will improve the health status of the newborns and newborns' survival. The present study revealed that the information booklet on newborn danger signs was found to be effective as the mean post-test knowledge score (18.83) was higher than the mean pre-test knowledge scores (10.13). The overall actual gain in the knowledge was 31.08 and the modified gain was 0.48. Wilcoxon Signed rank test showed that there was significant difference between the mean pre-test and post test knowledge scores (Z=-6.402, p< 0.001) of antenatal mothers. Significant association was found between pre-test knowledge score and parity of the antenatal mothers. The total percentage of antenatal mothers who strongly agreed on the booklet was 78.47%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]