We performed a prospective screening for Trypanosoma cruzi infection in 1350 Latin American pregnant women and their offspring in Barcelona, Spain. The rate of seroprevalence was 3.4%, and 7.3% of the newborns were infected. Routine screening and management programs in maternity wards may be warranted.

The following is taken from the column From other journals in issue no 19/2014 of the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association (1): «Benford’s Law, also referred to as the First-Digit Law, says that the first digit 1 – 9 for numbers in natural growth processes occurs most frequently for 1 and least frequently for 9. It has long been assumed that births are distributed evenly over the dates ...

It is now well established that a person's valuation of the benefit from an outcome of a decision is determined by the intrinsic "consumption utility" of the outcome itself and also by the relation of the outcome to some reference point. The most notable expression of such reference-dependent preferences is loss aversion. What precisely this reference point is, however, is less clear. This pape...

A steady and significant decline in the proportions of liveborn infants who died in the first week from problems associated with immaturity occurred among Sheffield babies born between 1947 and 1979. The decline occurred in all three maternity units, regardless of the availability of neonatal care facilities. The rate of decline in the best equipped and best staffed hospital, however, was signi...

This article mentions briefly the history of the early General Hospitals of Singapore, and the events leading to the opening of the 1926 General Hospital (the predecessor of the present General Hospital). There is a detailed description of this hospital. During the next four decades there were many changes (alterations and additions) to cater to changing circumstances. The hospital also underwe...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of training based on the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative on breastfeeding practices in maternity wards and during the first 6 months of life. METHODS Ninety percent of nursing auxiliaries and midwives were trained at two institutions (A and B) in Palmares, Pernambuco state. Three hundred and thirty-four mothers were interviewed within the first 48 hours and ...

OBJECTIVE We describe the prevalence of depressive and bipolar spectrum episodes in fathers in antenatal and postnatal periods, as well as at 12 months after childbirth. METHOD A longitudinal follow-up study was conducted with a representative sample of 739 fathers whose children were born between April 2007 and May 2008 in maternity wards in the city of Pelotas, southern Brazil. Paternal psy...

CONTEXT Women's relationship context likely influences both their ability and their motivation to use contraceptives. No recent studies, however, have examined associations between women's relationship characteristics and use of different methods. METHODS Data were collected in a longitudinal study of 839 low-income women at risk of unintended pregnancy who visited public family planning and ...

The rooming-in system is the practice of placing the baby in the same hospital room as the mother, where care is provided by a single therapeutic team. In Poland, the organization of work in the rooming-in system is of twofold character. These are either separate wards taking care of the mother and her baby, functioning as one maternity ward, or it consists of two organizational units – obstetr...

OBJECTIVES To identify the prevalence of breast-feeding at discharge and the determinants of breast-feeding initiation amongst Aboriginal women. DESIGN A prospective cohort study using a self-administered baseline questionnaire and telephone-administered follow-up interviews. SETTING Six hospitals with maternity wards in Perth, Western Australia. SUBJECTS Four hundred and twenty-five Abor...