Background:Obesity is now a major public health problem. It has detrimental effect to mother and fetus. Maternal malnutrition also has a negative impact. Materials and Methods: 500 women with singleton pregnancy and spontaneous conception, who attended antenatal OPD in our tertiary hospital, were included in this study after informed consent. Those with known pre-pregnancy weight, pre pregnancy BMI was calculated using the formula BMI= weight in kilograms/ height in metre square. They were followed up until delivery and their maternal and perinatal outcomes such as anaemia, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, preterm labour, past dates, intrauterine growth restriction, low birth weight and neonatal intensive care admission were studied. Results: The mean age of the woman in this study was 24.3 ± 2.4 years. Of these, 14% (n= 70) of women were underweight. 43% (n= 215) of women were of normal BMI. 34% (n= 170) of women were overweight. 9% (n= 45) of women were obese. Maternal complications such as anaemia, preterm labour and intrauterine growth restriction were significantly common in underweight woman. Gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension were more in obese woman. Low birth weight babies were more in underweight woman. Conclusion: Pre pregnancy counselling should be given to woman of childbearing age to maintain normal BMI to prevent maternal and neonatal complications.

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Background: COVID-19 pandemic has created thelargest disruption in education systems in history. Numerous medical institutions have shifted to online teaching with the hope to reduce viral transmission.Objectives:To compare the effectiveness of online teaching and traditional teaching in the domains of collaborative learning, critical thinking skills and social interaction and to describe the advantages and difficulties faced in online learning by MBBS students.Materials and Methods: Anonline-based cross-sectional study was conducted fromMay 2021 to August 2021 in a private medical college in Salem district of Tamil Nadu, India. Among the 600 MBBS students attending online classes from the first year to final year MBBS, 574 students consented tothe study through mail and were studied using a semi-structured questionnaire prepared in Google form and sent through mail. Descriptive analysis was done and the association between the categorical variables were tested using chi-square test.Results: Traditional way of teaching was perceived to improve the critical thinking skills (p <0.0006), social interaction skills (p<0.044) and collaborative learning (p <0.01) more than online teaching. Advantages of online teaching identified were comfortable learning environment (38%) easier for slow learners (19%), learning at their own pace (18%) etc. Difficulties faced in online teaching were technical difficulties (62%), lack of self-motivation (61%), time management (56%) etc. Conclusion: Challenges faced by the students need to be identified earlier and Governments/educational institutions can focus more on removing the barriers to connectivity.