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Background WHO estimates that seasonal influenza epidemics result in three to five million cases of severe illness (hospitalisations) every year. We aimed to improve the understanding of influenza-associated hospitalisation estimates at a national and global level. Methods We performed a systematic literature review of English- and Chinese-language studies published between 1995 and 2020 estimating influenza-associated hospitalisation. We included a total of 127 studies (seven in Chinese) in the meta-analysis and analyzed their data using a logit-logistic regression model to understand the influence of five study factors and produce national and global estimates by age groups. The five study factors assessed were: 1) the method used to calculate the influenza-associated hospitalisation estimates (rateor time series regression-based), 2) the outcome measure (divided into three envelopes: narrow, medium, or wide), 3) whether every case was laboratory-confirmed or not, 4) whether the estimates were national or sub-national, 5) whether the rates were based on a single year or multiple years. Results The overall pooled influenza-associated hospitalisation rate was 40.5 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 24.3-67.4) per 100 000 persons, with rates varying substantially by age: 224.0 (95% CI = 118.8-420.0) in children aged 0-4 years and 96.8 (95% CI = 57.0-164.3) in the elderly aged >65 years. The overall pooled hospitalisation rates varied by calculation method; for all ages, the rates were significantly higher when they were based on rate-based methods or calculated on a single season and significantly lower when cases were laboratory-confirmed. The national hospitalisation rates (all ages) varied considerably, ranging from 11.7 (95% CI = 3.8-36.3) per 100 000 in New Zealand to 122.1 (95% CI = 41.5-358.4) per 100 000 in India (all age estimates). Conclusions Using the pooled global influenza-associated hospitalisation rate, we estimate that seasonal influenza epidemics result in 3.2 million cases of severe illness (hospitalisations) per annum. More extensive analyses are required to assess the influence of other factors on the estimates (e.g. vaccination and dominant virus (sub)types) and efforts to harmonize the methods should be encouraged. Our study highlights the high rates of influenza-associated hospitalisations in children aged 0-4 years and the elderly aged 65+ years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between internationally educated nurses’ (IENs’) performance in a registered nurse competency assessment process and the outcomes of their nursing registration applications. Assessments of nursing practice competencies, IEN applicant characteristics and registration outcomes were explored.Design/methodology/approach This is a secondary statistical analysis of a subset of IEN application data from a previous study in combination with assessment data from an additional database. Application data between 2008 and 2011 were analyzed using univariate/bivariate analyses and regression models to explore the relationship of performance in the assessment process and outcomes of the registration process.Findings Competency categories IEN applicants had difficulties with (from least to most) were Professional Responsibility and Accountability, Ethical Practice, Self-Regulation, Service to the Public, Knowledge-Based Practice: Specialized Body of Knowledge and Knowledge-Based Practice: Competent Application of Knowledge. IENs educated in the UK and USA had the highest scores and odds of meeting competencies. Applicants educated in India and Asia had lower scores and odds ratios. All national entry-to-practice examination and registration eligibility competencies were significantly related to registration outcomes. Applicants passing the exam had higher competency scores while applicants ineligible for registration had lower competency scores.Research limitations/implications Limitations include integrity of data extracted from active databases, IEN motivation to complete the RN registration process and conversion of assessment scales for research analysis.Originality/value Results inform regulation policies that improve IEN registration processes and may be informative to regulators, assessment centers, educational institutions and IENs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines if the Indian stock market moves with other markets in Asia and the United States in an era of capital market reforms and the sustained interest of foreign investors in that market. By using techniques of cointegration, vector autoregression, vector error-correction models, and Granger causality, we find that, though there is definite information leadership from the U.S. market to all Asian markets, the U.S. indexes do not uniquely influence the integration of Asian markets, while Japan is found to play a unique role in the integration of Asian markets. The U.S. market is seen not only to influence, but also to be influenced by information from most of the major Asian markets. The Indian stock return in recent times is definitely led by major stock index returns in the United States, Japan, as well as other Asian markets, such as Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore. More important, returns on the Indian market are also seen to exert considerable influence on stock returns in major Asian markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is written from the perspective of a historian who is aware of the 20th century roots of current problems between the two Asian giants, as well as their tremendous contributions to world civilization and Asian prosperity in the past, and hopefully in the future. The paper analyzes issues troubling India-China relations, such as the unresolved boundary question, sensitivity on matters of international status, and mutual perceptions of threat arising from fears of encirclement. It shows how the two governments have made tremendous progress in overcoming or mitigating these problems, and in establishing strong human and economic ties between the two fastest growing economies in the world. Pakistan continues to be a wild card with a negative impact on India-China as well as India-U.S. relations, but its capacity to create trouble may have been reduced by its own internal problems, as well as progress in the India-Pakistan composite peace process. The United States remains the preponderant military and economic global power, despite recent damage to its moral influence, and all countries, including China and India, try to cultivate close relations with it. Both India and China are engaged with Southeast Asia and with other Asian countries, and each has close and complex relations with the United States. The author sees a low risk of military conflict between India and China and a high desirability of international cooperation among all three in tackling the many facets of human security in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of flipped learning as a pedagogical approach has increased in the 21st century. While there is an existing survey of literature regarding the development in American educational institutions--and fewer in an Asian context--there are some unique cultural considerations that may need to be examined regarding flipped learning's adoption and adaptation in Asia. This paper serves as a literature review focusing on several Asian nations with respect to three major considerations in comparison to the United States: geographical, educational, and cultural. After the comprehensive review, which comments on the number of relevant publications available per nation, this paper concludes that there is no significant barrier to the implementation of flipped learning in Asia beyond the existing considerations apparent in the United States (access, time, and institutional support). Additionally, the prevalence of flipped learning in Asia, and the purposes of various studies surveyed, indicate that cultural barriers, at least in this area, are becoming less notable or authoritative as national or historical distinctions are diminishing through Millennials' tendencies toward globalization.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the holistic picture of sustainability curricula in Asian higher education. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis was conducted based on Asian management education for sustainability in higher education. Online courses arrangement, teaching methods, instructors' educational background and cross-referencing data between triple bottom line and sustainability courses have been investigated. Findings: The paper provides empirical insights about the current state of sustainability education in Asia. The results show that there is an opportunity for interdisciplinary integration, as there are imbalanced sustainability courses offered by business, science and engineering schools. It also suggests that Asian universities should add an international connection and active promotion of sustainability education on their Web sites. Research limitations/implications: Findings are based on web-based sustainability-related courses. Future research could apply method of case study to do a deeper study. Practical implications: The paper provides an overview of Asian management education for sustainability and curricula analysis through our research, and that this will further assist in the development of interdisciplinary integration in Asian management education for sustainability. Originality/value: This paper is the first attempt to gain better understanding of sustainability-related courses offered in leading business/management colleges in Asia.

The article discusses the role played by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regarding the bilateral relations among the great powers in Asia, China-U.S., China-Japan, and China-India. It is stated that China has remained a strong supporter of ASEAN's central position in regional organizations since the 1990s, and the two sides have developed an extensive framework for bilateral cooperation. The ASEAN countries themselves promote good relations within these major powers.

The research into bioactive natural products originating from medicinal plants, fungi and other organisms has a long history, accumulating abundant and diverse publications. However no quantitative literature analysis has been conducted so far. Here we analyze the bibliometric data of ethnopharmacology literature and relate the semantic content to the publication and citation data so that the major research themes, contributors, and journals of different time periods could be identified and evaluated. Web of Science (WoS) was searched to identify relevant publications. The Analyze function of WoS and bibliometric software (VOSviewer) were utilized to perform the analyses. Until the end of November 2018, 59,576 publications -linked to 'ethnopharmacology' indexed by WoS, published since 1958 in more than 5600 journals, and contributed by over 20,600 institutions located in more than 200 countries/regions, were identified. The papers were published under four dominating WoS categories, namely pharmacology/pharmacy (34.4%), plant sciences (28.6%), medicinal chemistry (25.3%), and integrative complementary medicine (20.6%). India (14.6%) and China (13.2%) were dominating the publication space. The United States and Brazil also had more than 8.0% contribution each. The rest of the top ten countries/regions were mainly from Asia. There were around ten-fold more original articles (84.6%) than reviews (8.4%). Ethnopharmacological research has a consistent focus on food and plant sciences, (bio)chemistry, complementary medicine and pharmacology, with a more limited scientific acceptance in the socio-cultural sciences. Dynamic global contributions have been shifting from developed countries to economically and scientifically emerging countries in Asia, South America and the Middle East. Research on recording medicinal plant species used by traditional medicine continues, but the evaluation of specific properties or treatment effects of extracts and compounds has increased enormously. Moreover increasing attention is paid to some widely distributed natural products, such as curcumin, quercetin, and rutin. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita L) is a perennial, glabrous and strongly scented herb belongs to the family Lamiaceae. It is cultivated in a temperate region of Europe, Asia, United States, India and Mediterranean countries due to their commercial value and distinct aroma. In addition to traditional food flavouring uses, M. × piperita is well recognized for their traditional use to treat fever, cold, digestive, anti-viral, anti-fungal and oral mucosa and throat inflammation. The scientific studies provide awareness on the use of M. × piperita for biological effects such as anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, biopesticidal, larvicidal, anticancer, radioprotective effect, genotoxicity and anti-diabetic activity have been ascribed. A wide spectrum of bioactive phytochemicals such as flavonoids, phenolics lignans and stilbenes and essential oils are expected to be responsible for the aroma effects. In this sense, this present review provides an extensive overview of the traditional medicinal, phytochemical and multiple biological activities of this "Peppermint." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequalities between native-born and foreign-born individuals in screening rates for a variety of conditions have been well-documented in literature on immigrant health. A preponderance of this research focuses on the Latin American case and on cancer-specific screening. This study seeks to expand knowledge of such preventative-health screening differences by analyzing screening rates for blood sugar, blood pressure, and serum cholesterol among nine groups overall and (for immigrants) at various stages of US residency. Using nationally representative data from the National Health Interview Survey, we find that immigrants from eight geographic regions receive preventative care at lower rates than US-born Whites and that preventative screening is generally higher after 15 years than during the first 4 years of residency in the United States. Importantly, our data also show that screening patterns and trends vary based on region of origin and outcome. These findings improve our understanding of immigrant health and health care use in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of China in the global economy. It mentions that the Chinese economy increases due to a 10 percent increase in its trade integration with countries such as the U.S. India and Brazil. It states that trade and the advantage-based relocation of productivity develops economic growth across the globe. It further mentions a study which traced that a one percent positive change in Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) on inflation has a substantial effect on Asia.

Scholars attribute conventional violence in a nuclear South Asia to a phenomenon known as the "stability/instability paradox." According to this paradox, the risk of nuclear war makes it unlikely that conventional conflict will escalate to the nuclear level, thereby making conventional conflict more likely. Although this phenomenon encouraged U.S.-Soviet violence during the Cold War, it does not explain the dynamics of the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. Recent violence has seen Pakistan or its proxies launching limited attacks on Indian territory, and India refusing to retaliate in kind. The stability/instability paradox would not predict such behavior. A low probability of conventional war escalating to the nuclear level would reduce the ability of Pakistan's nuclear weapons to deter an Indian conventional attack. Because Pakistan is conventionally weaker than India, this would discourage Pakistani aggression and encourage robust Indian conventional retaliation against Pakistani provocations. Pakistani boldness and Indian restraint have actually resulted from instability in the strategic environment. A full-scale Indo-Pakistani conventional conflict would create a significant risk of nuclear escalation. This danger enables Pakistan to launch limited attacks on India while deterring all-out Indian conventional retaliation and attracting international attention to the two countries' dispute over Kashmir. Unlike in Cold War Europe, in contemporary South Asia nuclear danger facilitates, rather than impedes, conventional conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses problems of economic growth in the poorer nations that became a major foreign policy concern of the wealthy and powerful nations of the world. The relative progress in the development of the two countries, India and China, is of great significance. There were strong parallels in their preplan structure and strong contrasts between China's totalitarian and India's democratic programs. Their performance relative to one another may influence the programs adopted by other, now less advanced, countries. It will certainly bear upon the United States and Soviet foreign policies. Furthermore, the record of the course of development in these two lands provides a unique opportunity for examining the process of development as such. Structural unemployment, underutilized resources, overurbanization, nonmonetized savings and investment flows-these are illustrative of the types of problems that must be understood and treated if there are to be steady output gains in most of today's underdeveloped areas.

According to the Open Doors report from the Institute of International Education, more than a half million international students are currently studying in the United States. Over half of the international students are from Asia, both the subcontinent (India is the leading sending nation of students) and the Far East (China, Korea, and Japan leading in numbers sent). Following Asia, 13% of our international students are from Europe, 12% from Latin America, 6% from Africa, 6% from the Middle East, and 1 % from Oceania. Open Doors reports that international students contribute over $13 billion to the U.S. economy. The author believes that the contributions of these students are much more far-reaching than monetary, however. The author stresses that Americans are blessed to have their lives enriched by other cultures and their minds broadened by insightful students. People might have stories about compelling, perspective-changing experiences by or with international students. In this article, the author shares a few of the students that enrich the author's life every day.

The author reflects on medical researches made in India. The research conducted by Wong and colleagues describes the challenges met in the development of research in Asian countries. The research made by Thatte and colleagues shows the reasons for the anticipated outsourcing of 65% of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated trials from the U.S. The study conducted by Dhaliwal and colleagues reveals that only 30% of postgraduate theses are published from an Indian university medical college.

There is a sense of urgency in America today, reminiscent of the "space race" rhetoric of the cold-war era, that Americans must get their act together in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education because the Asians are coming. Many people believe that higher-education institutions in countries like China and India produce professionals in those so-called STEM fields far more effectively than U.S. institutions do, thus posing a major threat to the nation's global competitiveness. Amid the Spellings Commission's concern about America's global competitiveness, the author argues that it would be a mistake to infer that Asian institutions do a better job teaching in STEM fields. The extraordinary talent pool of Asian scientists is not the result of a superior educational system, but rather of the fact that a larger proportion of top students in Asia choose to enter STEM fields in college or graduate school and have the requisite preparation. Several cultural factors account for that phenomenon, none of which have to do with the way the United States or other countries run their institutions or teach their students. What is known about how the brain learns suggests that Asian colleges should become more like their American counterparts, not the other way around. This author contends that the American system of higher education, perhaps unwittingly, promotes more endured learning. It mixes things up, offers students more choices in any given semester, and allows more student engagement with a variety of course materials. An understanding of how the brain learns suggests that the more varied and innovative approaches of American higher education manifests itself in one's thinking in the future--which is the object of education.

Background: The prevalence of mental health disorders is increasing globally. Countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East regions carry high burdens of mental health need; however, there are relatively few mental health research publications from this region, suggesting inadequate research funds and a paucity of qualified research personnel. To increase and strengthen the pool of mental health researchers in India and Egypt, we conducted three psychiatric research programmes in these countries: the Training Program for Psychiatric Genetics in India (2002-2011), the Tri-National Training Program for Psychiatric Genetics (2009-2014) and the Cross-Fertilized Research Training for New Investigators in Egypt and India (2014-2019). A total of 66 trainees, including psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers, clinical psychologists and research psychologists, were supported in research development, which included didactic training, proposal development, hands-on research and manuscript preparation., Methods: The aim of this study is to evaluate these three training programmes using the four-level Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation that assesses reaction, learning, behaviour and outcomes. A descriptive analysis was used to explore the data collected throughout the duration of the three training programmes. Online surveys were crafted and sent to the mentors and trainees of the three programmes to supplement objective training data., Results: In addition to positive changes in the areas of reaction, learning and behaviour, significant outcomes were demonstrated. As of the writing of this manuscript, the trainees published a total of 130 papers, 59 as first author. In addition, 26 trainees have co-authored papers with one or more trainees or mentors, which demonstrates successful research networking and collaboration., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that our training approach is a successful model for building independent mental health researchers. This is a critical step in the development of effective mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries.

A great deal is known on the epidemiology of breast cancer. In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss the epidemiology and trends in incidence of breast cancer in various populations of India with special reference to the data available at Mumbai Cancer Registry. For discussing descriptive epidemiology of breast cancer the data collected for most recent year, 1999, by Mumbai Cancer Registry has been utilized. For studying time trends in breast cancer the data collected for the Mumbai Cancer Registry for the years 1982-99 and for Bangalore and Chennai 1982-96 and for Barshi, Bhopal and Delhi for the years 1988-96 has been employed. A linear regression model based on the logarithms of the various incidence rates, a method frequently used for studying time trends, was applied to the entire dataset. Age specific incidence rates for breast cancer for most of the urban population in India were found to show steep increase till menopause years, after which the curves plateau. Most of the registries data indicate that Christians in India have the greatest risk of breast risk and Muslims have the lowest rate. In all the populations breast cancer was found to be less prevalent at the lower education level and the incidence increased with the education level. The trends for increase in breast cancer incidence over time for most of the populations in India were found to be statistically significant.

"The post-mid-1970's picture of international migration from India...gives the impression that its 'brain drain' to the developed countries of the West, particularly the U.S.A. declined.... The impression was also consolidated by changes in the American Immigration Law wherein the emphasis had seemingly shifted from the 'occupational usefulness' of the immigrants in the American labour market to their 'family reunification.'.... The paper argues that human capital transfers through migration from India [have] not abated simply because of immigration under the 'occupational preference' categories. Rather what happened is that the brain drain has continued through alternative channels...." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA), (excerpt)