This report describes the study design and summary data from the first year of data collection for the Urban Child Institute Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood Study: participant demographics, prenatal and birth measures; child and family health and nutrition; mothers' mental and behavioral health; and cognitive performance, psychosocial measures, and biological samples for mothers and children.

To date, limited evidence suggests that maternal preconception and pregnancy dietary patterns are associated with reduced risks of adverse maternal and child health outcomes such as gestational diabetes mellitus and preterm birth. However, there are insufficient studies examining preconception and pregnancy dietary patterns on birth weight outcomes such as gestational-age birth weight for any conclusion to be made. Additionally, there is a relative paucity of studies investigating preconception, postpartum, and beyond postpartum dietary patterns. Recent research has advanced from examining each modifiable lifestyle factor singly (e.g. diet, physical activity, smoking) towards a holistic approach of examining multiple lifestyle factors using composite healthy lifestyle scores. Two large-scale mother-offspring cohorts in Ireland and the United States have shown that adherence to a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and beyond pregnancy is associated with reduced risks of adverse offspring birth outcomes and childhood obesity. These findings are consistent with data obtained from cross-sectional studies based in China and Tanzania.

In pregnancy, maternal nutrition sustains and nourishes the developing child. Imbalances in either the direction of nutritional excess or deficiency can have adverse consequences for child health. In addition, more research now suggests that good pregnancy nutrition influences child health beyond pregnancy and delivery. This includes modifying the risk of child health outcomes as they enter childhood and adulthood through influences on placental development, hormonal pathways, and organ structure and function. Poor pregnancy nutrition may also compromise maternal health during pregnancy, which may have long-term consequences for women’s health. Understanding the biological and social mechanisms operating during pregnancy can help in the design of better clinical and public health interventions. This Special Issue on “The Role of Pregnancy Nutrition in Maternal and Offspring Health” includes etiological and mechanistic studies of pregnancy nutrition with short- and long-term maternal and child health outcomes, including original research, narrative reviews, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Together, this body of work provides important insights into the influence of dietary patterns, food groups, and nutrients on pregnancy outcomes, and long-term neurodevelopmental, respiratory, and metabolic health in the children. It also highlights nutritional consequences for specific groups of women, including those with pregnancy complications and eating disorders.

Pregnancy is a viewed as a window to future health. With the birth of the developmental origins of human adult disease hypothesis, research and clinical practice has turned its attention to the influence of maternal factors such as health and lifestyle surrounding pregnancy as a means to understand and prevent the inter-generational inheritance of chronic disease susceptibility. Outcomes during pregnancy have long-lasting impacts on both women on children. Moreover, nutrition early in life can influence growth and the establishment of lifelong eating habits and behaviors. This Special Issue on “Nutrition during Pregnancy and Lactation: Implications for Maternal and Infant Health” is intended to highlight new epidemiological, mechanistic and interventional studies that investigate maternal nutrition around the pregnancy period on maternal and infant outcomes. Submissions may include original research, narrative reviews, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

This book describes the risks facing patients with congenital heart disease who wish to become pregnant and the ways in which these patients can best be followed and treated during pregnancy. In addition, the organization of care around the delivery is discussed in detail. The first section provides clear advice on pre-pregnancy risk estimation, counseling of patients, medication use, and inheritance. The specific risks associated with congenital heart defects of differing severity are then explained, with guidance on monitoring and management. The coverage includes simple lesions such as atrial and ventricular septal defects, conditions associated with moderate risk, including tetralogy of Fallot and coarctation, and complex disease such as a Fontan or Mustard repair. The final section is devoted to delivery and considers the mode of delivery, anesthetic use, and postpartum care. Readers will find much information that is underreported in the literature, and the book goes well beyond the European Society of Cardiology guidelines, for example, by considering medical conditions not defined as high risk and addressing the organization of care thoroughly.

The delivery of high quality and equitable care for both mothers and newborns is complex and requires efforts across many sectors. The United States spends more on childbirth than any other country in the world, yet outcomes are worse than other high-resource countries, and even worse for Black and Native American women. There are a variety of factors that influence childbirth, including social determinants such as income, educational levels, access to care, financing, transportation, structural racism and geographic variability in birth settings. It is important to reevaluate the United States' approach to maternal and newborn care through the lens of these factors across multiple disciplines. Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice reviews and evaluates maternal and newborn care in the United States, the epidemiology of social and clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, birth settings research, and access to and choice of birth settings.

The World Health Organization's comprehensive antenatal care (ANC) guideline WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience was first published in 2016 with the objective of improving the quality of routine health care that all women and adolescent girls receive during pregnancy. The overarching principle - to provide pregnant service users with a positive pregnancy experience - aims to encourage countries to expand their health-care agendas beyond survival, with a view to maximizing health, human rights and the potential of their populations. This guideline presents that evidence and updated recommendation on antenatal vitamin D supplements, which updates and does not alter the corresponding recommendation previously issued.

The Nordic countries have collaborated in setting guidelines for dietary composition and recommended intakes of nutrients for several decades through the joint publication of the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR). This 5th edition, the NNR 2012, gives Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) for nutrients, and compared with earlier editions more emphasis has been put on evaluating the scientific evidence for the role of food and food patterns contributing to the prevention of the major diet-related chronic diseases. Recommendations on physical activity are included and interaction with physical activity has been taken into account for the individual nutrient recommendations wherever appropriate. A chapter on sustainable food consumption has been added. A Nordic perspective has been accounted for in setting the reference values.The NNR 2012 has used an evidence-based and transparent approach in assessing associations between nutrients and foods and certain health outcomes. Systematic reviews form the basis for the recommendations of several nutrients and topics, while a less stringent update has been done for others. The systematic reviews and individual chapters have been peer reviewed and the systematic reviews are published in the Food & Nutrition Research journal. The draft chapters were subject to an open public consultation. Recommendations have been changed only when sufficient scientific evidence has evolved since the 4th edition. The primary aim of the NNR 2012 is to present the scientific background of the recommendations and their application. A secondary aim is for the NNR 2012 to function as a basis for the national recommendations that are adopted by the individual

The goal of the book is to make easier to carry out the computations necessary for the full interpretation of regression nonlinear models for categorical outcomes usign Stata.