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Background: Young maternal age is associated with poorer birth outcomes, but the mechanisms are incompletely understood. Using data from a prospective cohort of pregnant women living in Mumbai slums, India, we tested whether lower maternal age was associated with adverse fetal growth. Methods: Fetal crown-rump length (CRL) was recorded at a median (interquartile range, IQR) of 10 weeks' gestation (9-10 weeks). Head circumference (HC), biparietal diameter (BPD), femur length (FL), and abdominal circumference (AC) were recorded at 19 (19-20) and 29 (28-30) weeks. Newborns were measured at a median (IQR) of 2 days (1-3 days) from delivery. Gestation was assessed using prospectively collected menstrual period dates. Results: The sample comprised 1653 singleton fetuses without major congenital abnormalities, of whom 1360 had newborn measurements. Fetuses of younger mothers had smaller CRL (0.01 standard deviation [SD] per year of maternal age; 95% confidence interval CI: 0.00-0.02 1 ; P =.04), and smaller HC, FL, and AC at subsequent visits. Fetal growth of HC (0.04 cm; 95% CI: 0.02-0.05; P <.001), BPD (0.01 cm; 95% CI: 0.00-0.01; P =.009), FL (0.04 cm; 95% CI: 0.02-0.06; P <.001), and AC (0.01 cm; 95% CI: 0.00-0.01; P =.003) up to the third trimester increased with maternal age. Skinfolds, head, and mid-upper arm circumferences were smaller in newborns of younger mothers. Adjusting for maternal prepregnancy socioeconomic status, body mass index, height, and parity attenuated the associations between maternal age and newborn size but did not change those with fetal biometry. Conclusion: Fetuses of younger mothers were smaller from the first trimester onward and grew slower, independently of known confounding factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makes an assessment of 5378 papers published by Indian Institute of Technology Madras and 4430 papers published by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay respectively indexed by the Scopus database in the field of Engineering Sciences and its sub-field during 2006-2015. The study indicates that the number of papers grew during the period of study. The findings indicate that the researchers of both the IITs in the field of engineering sciences published their papers in global journals published from USA, UK and Germany and other countries of the West. Around 19.66% papers published by IITM scientists and 26.54% papers published by IITB scientists in engineering sciences during 2006-2015 remained uncited. More authors from IITB were highly cited as compared to IITM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]