BACKGROUND Little evidence about the effects of antenatal iron supplementation on infant anaemia is available. The aim was to compare effects on six-month-old infants' Haemoglobin (Hb) concentration and anaemia of daily iron-folic acid (IFA), twice-weekly IFA with or without other micronutrients (MMN) and usual antenatal care in rural Vietnam. METHODS AND FINDINGS Secondary data analysis from...

OBJECTIVE The present literature review aimed to review the evidence for community-based distribution (CBD) of iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation as a feasible approach to improve anaemia rates in low- and middle-income countries. DESIGN The literature review included peer-reviewed studies and grey literature from PubMed, Cochrane Library, LILAC and Scopus databases. SETTING Low- and mid...

Background Several epidemiological studies from low- and middle-income countries have reported a protective effect of maternal antenatal iron/folic acid (IFA) on childhood mortality. Objective The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of maternal antenatal IFA supplementation on childhood mortality in Pakistan. Design A propensity score-matched sample of 8,512 infants live-born within the ...

The first commercial indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using Euroimmun Biochip technology was evaluated for the serodiagnosis of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies against yellow fever virus (YFV) and was compared with the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), which is currently the gold standard test for YFV. An overall correlation between the tests of 98.7% was established...

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of antenatal iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation on child stunting in Nepalese children age <2 years. A retrospective cohort study design was used, in which a pooled cohort of 5235 most recent live births 2 years prior to interview from three Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (2001, 2006 and 2011) was analysed. The primary outcome was stun...

BACKGROUND/AIM Tests specific for VCA IgM, VCA IgG, and EBNA IgG are used to diagnose Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections and interpret disease status. The immunofluorescence assay (IFA) is accepted as the "gold standard" test. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of 4 methods in comparison with IFA. MATERIALS AND METHODS In total, 101 serum samples were obtained from cli...