Abstract: Background: It is well established that improving human health has direct obvious payoff on enhancing life expectancy along with economic growth. Infant mortality deliberately used to understand a countries overall public health status particularly child bearing mothers. But the prevalence of child mortality continues to be a prime public health concerns in Bangladesh. This study aims to investigate the impact of some geospatial, socioeconomic, demographic and health factors on infant mortality in Bangladesh.

Methods: The study modeled infant mortality (aged 0-11 months) as the categorical dependent variable using 11 selected covariates from the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS-2014) dataset. The Pearson-Chi square test and Binary Logistic Regression methods were utilized for the bivariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: All the selected covariates were significantly associated with infant mortality in bivariate analysis. The results of the logistic regression revealed that illiterate father, household without toilet facility or having hanging toilet, multiple birth and small size at birth appeared at the significant risk factors for infant mortality. In contrast, receiving vitamin A dose and visiting in antenatal care revealed as protective factor for infant deaths.

Conclusion: This study is uniquely addressed some several determinants which are the immediate cause of infant deaths. This evidence based empirical study suggests that more attention needs regarding to eliminate all kinds of child mortality in Bangladesh along with infant mortality.

Keywords:  Determinants, Socio-economic variables, Infant mortality, 0-11 months, Bangladesh.

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Abstract: Objective: Malnutrition is a common worldwide problem and, for children, has a major impact on cognitive and physical development, productivity and health. The damage due to malnutrition is largest when it occurs in the first 1000 days of life. It is largely irreversible and has far-reaching consequences. There is as yet no known cure for the negative effects of malnutrition, while a cure for a large number of previously malnourished children worldwide would lead to better chances for them in life. This case study, therefore, examines the effect of a six-month treatment of MalnuForte on the quality of life of children between 5 and 11 years who suffered malnutrition in the first 1000 days of their lives

Methods: The study subjects are five adopted children who suffered malnutrition in the first 1000 days of their lives and experienced problems or backlog in their quality of life. For six months, the children took one tablet of food supplement MalnuForte a day orally. To estimate the subjects’ quality of life, a standardized and validated quality of life questionnaire for children was used, the PedsQL.

Results: A higher quality of life after six months was found for all subjects. The mean total increase of the PedsQL scores between baseline and 6 months was 50%.

Conclusion: In this case study, the intake of food supplement MalnuForte shows remarkable increases in the quality of life of five adopted children who had suffered from malnutrition during the first 1000 days of their lives.

Keywords:  Malnutrition, intervention, damage, cure.

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Abstract: Aim: To evaluate serum zinc levels and breast milk intake in pediatric patients with recurrent tonsillopharyngitis

Material Method: 40 pediatric patients who were admitted to our polyclinics with the diagnosis of tonsillopharyngitis diagnosed as ≥ 7 times a year were included in Group 1; 40 healthy children who applied to the outpatient clinic for routine control in the same period were defined as Group 2. Serum zinc, blood parameters, C-reactive protein (CRP) values were studied from all patients. Patient complaints, breastfeeding time, and family history were questioned.

Results: There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of Hemaoglobin(Hb), hematocrit(Hct), white blood cell count(WBC), platelet count(Plt), mean platelet volume(MPV) and CRP values were significantly higher in the patient group (p=0.001). Serum zinc levels were significantly lower in Group 1 than Group 2 (p=0.000; p <0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups regarding the duration of breastfeeding (p=0.086; p> 0.05).

Conclusion: Our study showed that zinc deficiency may play a role in the etiopathogenesis of recurrent tonsillopharyngitis. Zinc supplementation may be recommended for children with recurrent tonsillopharyngitis There is a need for further studies to be done in larger population related to zinc levels in mother's milk content, serum zinc levels in mothers and zinc deficiency.

Keywords:  Recurrent tonsillopharyngitis, zinc, breast milk, child, tonsillitis.

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Abstract: Photovoice is a community-based participatory research method where participants can showcase their life experiences through photography. The objective of this study was to have adolescent girls attending an after-school program use photovoice to represent their perceptions of physical activity practices. Photovoice was used to allow adolescent girls to express their perspectives, through photographs and narratives, of their personal and community strengths and concerns related to their involvement in physical activity. The phenomenological methodology was used as a framework for the study. Qualitative analyses were conducted throughout the research process. Constant comparison was used to analyze the focus group, scrapbook data, and notes recorded by the author to determine key themes and ideas. Participants for the study included 14 girls attending a school in an urban area. Benefits of physical activity as provided by the girls in their personal lives and the community included: understanding activity contributed to wellness, increased social opportunities, and the school as a hub of activities. Personal and community barriers to physical activity included: lack of neighbourhood safety, being involved in other sedentary activities, parental rules restricting outside play, outside conditions, personal choices to not exercise, and a lack of opportunity to exercise. Potential ways to increase physical activity among these participants are to create more group games and activities at the after-school program daily. Involving parents in activities with the girls at home may increase physical activity levels while at home.

Keywords:  Photovoice, physical activity, urban, elementary, girls.

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