This study aims to investigate the effect of maternal pre‐pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) on offspring body composition. In this prospective cohort study, offspring body composition at 6 years of age was obtained through air displacement plethysmography. Linear regression was used to obtain crude and adjusted coefficients. Information regarding offspring body composition and maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI was available for 3156 children and on offspring body composition and GWG for 3129 children. There was a direct association of maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI and GWG with offspring's fat mass (FM), fat‐free mass (FFM), fat mass index (FMI), fat‐free mass index (FFMI) and body fat percent (BF%) in crude and adjusted analyses. After adjustment for co‐variables, for each kg m−2 of maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI increase, there was a mean increment of 0.13 kg in the offspring FFM, 0.06 kg m−2 in FFMI, 0.11 kg in FM, 0.07 kg m−2 in FMI and 0.18% in BF%. For each kilogram of maternal GWG increase, there was a mean increment of 0.08 kg in offspring's FM, 0.05 kg m−2 in FMI, 0.04 kg in FFM, 0.01 kg m−2 in FFMI and 0.18 % in BF%. Mothers with a higher pre‐pregnancy BMI or GWG tend to have children with greater adiposity at age 6 years. Fetal overnutrition is more likely among mothers with greater BMI during pregnancy; as a consequence, it can accelerate the childhood obesity epidemic.

Background/Objectives:The aims were to investigate the association of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) with breastfeeding (BF) duration and BF pattern at 3 months of age.Subjects/Methods:This was a prospective cohort study of 4231 children who were enrolled at birth and were followed-up at 3, 12, 24 and 48 months of age to gather information on maternal and offspring characteristics including BF patterns and BF duration. Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was categorized according to the WHO classification and GWG according to the 2009 Institute of Medicine recommendations. Cox's proportional hazards model was used to assess whether pre-pregnancy BMI and GWG were associated with BF and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) duration. Predicted probabilities of BF patterns at 3 months were estimated by multinomial logistic regression.Results:Information on BF was available to 4011 infants. The total BF and EBF median durations were 7.0 months and 1.5 months, respectively. There were no differences in duration of any BF or EBF according to pre-pregnancy BMI or GWG categories. There was an increased predicted probability for weaning before the age of 3 months among infants from obese women, compared with those from mothers with normal pre-pregnancy BMI, with margins adjusted predictions of 0.36 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31–0.41) and 0.23 (95% CI 0.21–0.25), respectively.Conclusions:Infants from pre-pregnancy overweight/obese mothers presented higher probability of early weaning compared with infants from normal-weight mothers. Obese/overweight pregnant women need supplementary guidance about BF benefits to infant health during prenatal and postnatal care.

Vector control has led to a drastic decrease in the prevalence of acquired Chagas disease in Latin America, thus redirecting attention to congenital Chagas disease. We report results of a longitudinal study of 359 pregnant women in Yacuiba in southern Bolivia, of whom 147 (40.9%) were infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, to evaluate the relationship between the patency period of the parasitemia and the risk of congenital infection. Maternal infection was assessed by using T. cruzi-specific serologic tests, and parasitemia in mothers and newborns was diagnosed by using microscopic examination of blood in heparinized microhematocrit tubes. Parasitemia was present in 28.6% of the infected women. Its prevalence increased during the third trimester, then decreased at delivery. The likelihood of congenital infection was significantly correlated with the parasite density in the mother's blood. The risk of transmission increased during the third trimester of pregnancy and could explain premature births or low-weight newborns for infected mothers.

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the study was to describe the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in the period 2000e2009. Methods We conducted a descriptive study using secondary data provided by the National HIV/AIDS Program in Ecuador for the period 2000e2009. The analyses were performed in Epi Info 3.5.2. Results The general population prevalence of HIV was 0.14% in the period 2000e2009. In this period there were 5791 AIDS cases and 13 567 HIV cases. The incidence rate of HIV/AIDS increased from 5.23 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2000 to 38.35 per 100 000 in 2009. During this period, the mortality rate was 5.03 per 100 000 inhabitants. In 2009, the HIV prevalence among MSM (men who have sex with men) was 19%, among sex workers 3.2%, and among pregnant women 0.18%. Conclusion The prevalence of HIV in the general population is low. The results also show an increasing incidence rate of HIV/ AIDS in the period 2000e2009. The mortality rate from HIV was low in relation to the morality rate in Central and South America (14.5 per 100 000 inhabitants) for the same period. In MSM, the prevalence of HIV was more than 5% meeting the criteria of concentrated.