Health status of pregnant woman is associated with the risk of preterm delivery. An institutional-based descriptive study was conducted among 173 mothers who delivered preterm babies at the Teaching Hospital,

Background Learning capacity of university students is affected by several factors. Except some personal factors most of them can be modified to facilitate learning. Method A descriptive study was conducted among 144 students who are studying at Allied Health Sciences unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna to study their learning environment. Data were collected with self-administered questionnaire after obtaining the Ethical approval. Results More than half (52%) of the students stated that language is a barrier for their learning, but only 8% stated that their writing skill was poor. Writing in English was not problematic for the majority of the students. Among the students 43.6% stated more than half of their teachers were good role models for them, 30.3% stated more than half of their senior students were good role models for them and 60.8% of students stated more than half of their teachers were adequately prepared for teaching. Majority of them (98%) were utilizing resources in library and nearly 63% are using e-resources from computer laboratory. Three fourth (74%) of the students were accessing internet, most of them (82%) were utilizing their own internet fascilities. Majority of the students have email addresses (90%), even though only 40% of them checked emails at least once in a week. Conclusions Teachers and senior students should motivate the students by being role models for them. Use of academic supportive services among the students seems good. Faculty internet access availability should be expanded. Continuing the English language teaching throughout the course may help eliminate the language barriers of Allied Health Sciences students.

Background: Several maternal, socio-demographic and economic characteristics are associated with preterm birth. Objectives:To assess the influence of maternal socio-demographic and economic factors on preterm deliveries in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.Method: This is an institutional based prospective descriptive study conducted at the Teaching Hospital, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, from October 2015 to February 2017. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to study the association of maternal sociodemographic factors such as age, religion, marital status, education, and economic factors, such as employment, monthly income per person, and family type, to preterm deliveries. Preterm birth was categorized based on gestational age as very preterm (28 to <32 weeks) and moderate to late preterm (32 to <37 weeks). Data were entered and analysed using SPSS version 16.0. Results:In our study 54.3% of preterm babies were males. Mean gestational age of the preterm babies was 35.0 ±1.9 weeks. Frequency of moderate to late preterm delivery was 91.9% (n=159). Mean birth weight of the preterm babies was 2.2 ±0.6 kg with the range from 0.8 to 4.2 kg. Of the mothers of the preterm babies 84.4% were 20-34 years old, 72.3% were Hindus, 98.8% were legally married, 39.9% studied up to Grade 11, 86.1% were housewives, 62.4% received monthly income per _________________________________________