Monitoring the progress and impact of a multicountry, interdisciplinary research project on childhood stunting: the UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub MEL protocol.

Introduction: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) is an integral part of research, programme and policy development and implementation. However, MEL methods used to monitor and evaluate interdisciplinary research projects are often informal and under-reported. This article describes the MEL protocol of the UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub (AASH).

Developing a data repository to support interdisciplinary research into childhood stunting: a UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub protocol paper.

Introduction: As a topic of inquiry in its own right, data management for interdisciplinary research projects is in its infancy. Key issues include the inability of researchers to effectively query diverse data outputs and to identify potentially important synergies between discipline-specific data. Equally problematic, few semantic ontologies exist to better support data organisation and discovery.

Eggs for Improving Nutrition, cognitive development and reducing linear growth retardation among Infants and young Children (ENRICH): protocol of an egg supplementation trial among children aged 9-18 months in Hyderabad, India.

Introduction: Evidence on the impact of nutrient-rich animal source foods such as eggs for improving child growth and cognition is inconsistent. This study aims to examine the impact of an egg intervention in children, along with behaviour change communication (BCC) to the mother, on linear growth and cognition, and nutritional status in children aged 9-18 months.

Methods And Analysis: A 9-month open-labelled randomised controlled trial will be conducted in three urban slums in Hyderabad, India, as a substudy of an observational cohort study (n=350) following pregnant women and their children until 18 months of age in a population at risk of stunting.

Epigenetic studies in children at risk of stunting and their parents in India, Indonesia and Senegal: a UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub protocol paper.

Introduction: In 2020, an estimated 150 million children under the age of 5 years were stunted. Stunting results from early-life adversity and it is associated with significant physical and cognitive deficit, lifelong socioeconomic disadvantage and reduced life expectancy. There is a need to understand the causes of stunting and its effects in order to develop strategies to avoid it and to mitigate the consequences once stunting has occurred.

A Point-of-Care Method with Integrated Decision Support Tool to Estimate Anemia at Population Level.

Robust point-of-care methods are required to estimate anemia at the population level. The accurate methods are lab-based and cannot be used at the point of care. To address this caveat, a novel method based on pooled capillary blood and a portable autoanalyzer was developed for the estimation of Hb.

Disruptions, restorations and adaptations to health and nutrition service delivery in multiple states across India over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: An observational study.

Background: Modeling studies estimated severe impacts of potential service delivery disruptions due to COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child nutrition outcomes. Although anecdotal evidence exists on disruptions, little is known about the actual state of service delivery at scale. We studied disruptions and restorations, challenges and adaptations in health and nutrition service delivery by frontline workers (FLWs) in India during COVID-19 in 2020.

Sun exposure as a strategy for acquiring vitamin D in developing countries of tropical region: Challenges & way forward.

Adopting sun exposure as a low-cost sustainable strategy in tropical countries needs critical analysis for its feasibility and inclusion in national policy. This review explores the opportunities and challenges associated with sun exposure in tropical countries and discusses potential strategies that may be adopted for promoting sun exposure. For this, two strands of evidence were reviewed; trials on sun exposure, analysed for risk of bias and, the environmental factors that influence acquisition of vitamin D from sun exposure in the context of on-going ecological and nutritional transition.

Point-of-care Hb measurement in pooled capillary blood by a portable autoanalyser: comparison with venous blood Hb measured by reference methods in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.

Population-based surveys commonly use point-of-care (POC) methods with capillary blood samples for estimating Hb concentrations; these estimates need to be validated by comparison with reference methods using venous blood. In a cross-sectional study in 748 participants (17-86 years, 708 women, Hb: 5·1 to 18·2 g/dl) from Hyderabad, India, we validated Hb measured from a pooled capillary blood sample by a POC autoanalyser (Horiba ABX Micros 60OT, ) by comparison with venous blood Hb measured by two reference methods: POC autoanalyser () and cyanmethemoglobin method (). These comparisons also allowed estimation of blood sample-related and equipment-related differences in the Hb estimates.

Point of Care Diagnosis of Anemia Using Portable Auto Analyzer.

We describe a method for capillary blood sample-based point-of care testing of hemoglobin in population-based surveys using an automated analyzer system. The accuracy and precision of this method was comparable to hemoglobin estimated from venous blood sample (mean difference (SD) =0.2 (-2.

Country-specific nutrient requirements & recommended dietary allowances for Indians: Current status & future directions.

Nutrient requirements and recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) are set and revised periodically by the Indian Council of Medical Research. These are meant to guide the population and provide policy directions regarding nutrient requirements corresponding to a healthy population. This review article provides an overview of the current recommendations (RDA, 2010) and the challenges faced by the committee to contextualize RDA to the Indian scenario which has a background of double burden of malnutrition, diverse dietary habits but predominantly home-based cereal-pulse vegetarian diet with low bioavailability of several nutrients and lower consumption of packaged fortified foods.

Food synergies for improving bioavailability of micronutrients from plant foods.

Plant foods are endowed with micronutrients but an understanding of bioavailability is essential in countries primarily dependent on plant based foods. Bioavailability depends majorly on food synergies. This review examines the nature of certain food synergies and methods to screen and establish it as a strategy to control micronutrient deficiency in the populations.

Exploring the bio-behavioural link between stress, allostatic load & micronutrient status: A cross-sectional study among adolescent boys.

Background & Objectives: Allostatic load (AL) is a cumulative measure of physiological deregulation and is influenced by multiple factors including nutrition. The objectives of the study were to assess AL among adolescent boys (15-19 yr) and delineate its association with psychological stress and micronutrient status.

Methods: A cross-sectional, school-based study was conducted among 370 adolescent boys of five higher secondary schools from Hyderabad, India.

Food-Based Interventions to Modify Diet Quality and Diversity to Address Multiple Micronutrient Deficiency.

Global data indicate a high prevalence of hidden hunger among population. Deficiencies of certain micronutrients such as folic acid, iodine, iron, and vitamin A have long lasting effects on growth and development and therefore have been a National priority from many decades. The strategy implemented so far limits to the use of supplemental sources or fortified foods in alleviating the burden of deficiencies.

Characterisation of anaemia and associated factors among infants and pre-schoolers from rural India.

Objective: In India, national databases indicate anaemia prevalence of 80 % among 6-35-month-old children and 58 % among 36-59-month-old children. The present study aimed to characterise anaemia and the associated factors among infants and pre-schoolers living in rural India.

Design: Multivariate logistic regression analysis of data collected prior to an intervention trial.

Adolescent life-event stress in boys is associated with elevated IL-6 and hepcidin but not hypoferremia.

Objective: The link between stress-related increases in inflammatory markers, hepcidin, and iron status are poorly understood, especially in developing countries like India. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between adolescent life-event stress (ALES), inflammatory markers, and its association with hepcidin and biomarkers of iron status among adolescent boys.

Methods: Data pertaining to a subsample of 145 participants from a cross-sectional, school-based study recruiting 370 adolescent boys aged 15-19 years, from 5 schools in Hyderabad, India, were analyzed.

Psychometric validation of a knowledge questionnaire on micronutrients among adolescents and its relationship to micronutrient status of 15-19-year-old adolescent boys, Hyderabad, India.

Objective: To develop a psychometrically valid questionnaire for testing knowledge on micronutrients and to assess the relationship between knowledge and biomarkers of micronutrient status among adolescents.

Design: Cross-sectional, institution-based, validity and reliability study.

Setting: Seven higher secondary schools were covered in the limits of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad, India.

Perceived stress, life events & coping among higher secondary students of Hyderabad, India: a pilot study.

Background & Objectives: Psychosocial stressors leading to allostatic load need to be explored further as these have great scope for early intervention. Stress studies done in India are mostly based on sources of stress and objective measures of stress. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess stress appraisal among students (16-17 yr) and to identify institution-specific differences (Private vs.