Dietary patterns and gestational diabetes mellitus in a low income pregnant women population in Brazila cohort study

Our aim is to verify the association between dietary patterns during early pregnancy and development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in a low income Brazilian population. A cohort study followed 841 healthy pregnant women from the 15-20th gestational week until delivery. This study was conducted at the Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira, Brazil. 838 pregnant women during the first half of a healthy pregnancy with a monthly family income below US $ 500.00 were selected. 95 (11.3%) pregnant women developed gestational diabetes mellitus. Three dietary patterns from factor analysis were extracted. The traditional pattern was characterized by dairy products, fruits, vegetable and fish. The mixed pattern included fried food, pizza, juice, manioc flour, red meat and candies. The western pattern was characterized by eggs, white bread, cookies, pasta, pizza, fried food, chicken, candies, chocolate, salty snacks and soft drinks. There were no differences among GDM incidence according to these three dietary patterns. This finding remained after adjustment for maternal age, maternal education, body mass index pre-pregnancy and parity. We concluded that eating patterns studied during early pregnancy were not associated to the development of GDM in this sample of Brazilian pregnant women with low income(AU)

Hábitos dietéticos e diabetes mellitus gestacional em uma população de gestantes de baixa renda no Brasil estudo de coorte. Nosso objetivo foi verificar a associação entre o padrão alimentar no começo da gravidez com o desenvolvimento de diabetes mellitus gestacional (DMG) em um grupo populacional de baixa renda no Brasil. Um estudo de coorte seguiu 841 gestantes saudáveis da 15-20 semana gestacional até o parto. Esse estudo foi realizado no Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira (IMIP), Brasil. Oitocentas e trinta e oito gestantes no curso da primeira metade da gestação e com uma renda familiar abaixo de US $ 500.00 foram selecionadas. Noventa e cinco gestantes (11.3%) desenvolveram DMG. Três padrões alimentares distintos foram extraídos através da técnica do fator de análise. O padrão alimentar tradicional foi caracterizado pela ingestão de produtos lácteos, frutas, vegetais e peixes. O padrão alimentar misto incluiu frituras, pizza, sucos, farinha de mandioca, carne vermelha e doces. O padrão alimentar ocidental foi caracterizado por ovos, pão branco, biscoitos, massa, pizza, carne de galinha, doces, chocolate, salgadinhos e refrigerantes. Não foi observado diferença na incidência de DMG entre os três padrões alimentares identificados. Esse achado permaneceu inalterado após o ajuste para a idade e nível de educação maternal, assim como para o IMC antes da gravidez e paridade. Em conclusão, o padrão alimentar materno durante o começo da gravi- dez entre gestantes de baixa renda não parece estar associado com o desenvolvimento de DMG(AU)

Active learning on the ward: outcomes from a comparative trial with traditional methods.

CONTEXT: Academic activity during internship is essentially practical and ward rounds are traditionally considered the cornerstone of clinical education. However, the efficacy and effectiveness of ward rounds for learning purposes have been under-investigated and it is necessary to assess alternative educational paradigms for this activity. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the educational effectiveness of ward rounds conducted with two different learning methodologies. METHODS: Student subjects were first tested on 30 true/false questions to assess their initial degree of knowledge on pneumonia and diarrhoea. Afterwards, they attended ward rounds conducted using an active and a traditional learning methodology. The participants were submitted to a second test 48hours later in order to assess knowledge acquisition and were asked to answer two questions about self-directed learning and their opinions on the two learning methodologies used. RESULTS: Seventy-two medical students taking part in a paediatric clinic rotation were enrolled. The active methodology proved to be more effective than the traditional methodology for the three outcomes considered: knowledge acquisition (33 students [45.8%] versus 21 students [29.2%]; p=0.03); self-directed learning (38 students [52.8%] versus 11 students [15.3%]; p<0.001), and student opinion on the methods (61 students [84.7%] versus 38 students [52.8%]; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The active methodology produced better results than the traditional methodology in a ward-based context. This study seems to be valuable in terms of the new evidence it demonstrates on learning methodologies in the context of the ward round.