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Abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is a problem that is increasingly of concern to global fisheries resources and the aquatic environment. Nearly 2% of all fishing gear used in marine fisheries is lost to the ocean annually. This has negative impacts on the aquatic ecosystem, which includes but not limited to ghostfishing mortality to commercial, recreational and protected species, degradation of benthic habitat, and change to the ecosystem. Fishing gear left in the sea can drift ashore affecting recreational use of beaches and shorelines and poses hazards to navigation. Most of the research on ALDFG has been in the marine fisheries of the developed world with very few studies in the inland fisheries, mostly in the developing world of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. This paper reviews and synthesizes literature about the status of ALDFG in inland fisheries globally. Only 16 studies, between 1970 to 2023, that referenced ALDFG causes, levels, impacts, and preventive measures were found. Thus, this review highlights that ALDFG in inland fisheries remains a highly understudied area of aquatic plastic pollution. Further studies are recommended to fully understand its status, extent, and potential environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Head and neck sarcomas (HNS) constitute a rare and heterogeneous cancer entity. Management remains a challenge due their rarity and different biological behaviour among tens of subtypes. This systematic review aimed to describe HNS global frequency and distribution in adulthood. Methods: A systematic review was performed using PICOTS search strategies for qualitative question and it was written in accordance with PRISMA 2020 Statement. 70,653 publications were identified, and 15 variables were evaluated for a total of 2428 patients. Results: We identified 47 studies from 21 different countries from 5 different continents. Most of studies (83.3%) were performed in single institutions and America and Asia overruled for number of papers included (21 and 10, respectivelly). Osteosarcoma was more frequent, followed by chondrosarcoma, angiosarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma. Early stage accounted for almost 80% of cases; advanced stage prevailed in developing countries. 1783 patients (90.1%) underwent surgery and 780 (39.4%) had adjuvant therapy. 50.8% of patients experienced tumour recurrence and the lowest mortality rate was reported in Europe (29.9%). Conclusions: HNS holds a relative poor prognosis possibly explained by the heterogeneity of the disease. Treatment of HNS has shown to be highly diverse among different countries, underlining the importance of uniformed treatment guidelines to achieve better patient management and to improve survival outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is an invasive pest that can cause serious crop loss to various important food crops and risk to global food security. FAW can cause damage to over 350 plant species by feeding on vegetative and reproductive stages of crops. Currently, chemical pesticides and transgenic maize are widely used to safeguard crops from this serious pest. However, biological control is a safer and more sustainable alternative in the long term for FAW management. Of the various natural enemies of FAW, egg parasitoids of genus Trichogramma have been used in augmentative biological control of FAW in the Americas and invaded regions such as Africa and Asia. Main body: Several species of Trichogramma have been reported naturally parasitizing FAW eggs and emerged as important biocontrol agents. This paper presents a comprehensive review of potential and challenges associated with Trichogramma in biological control of FAW. A total of 11 species of trichogrammatids occurred naturally on FAW eggs. This review includes the occurrence of Trichogramma species on FAW, biological attributes, mass rearing, release techniques, field efficacy and interaction and integration with other parasitoids. Integration of Trichogramma with other parasitoids can resolve the problem related to its penetrative ability against scaled and multi-layered FAW eggs which were discussed. Conclusion: Invasion of FAW in Africa and Asia has provided a prospect for augmentative biological control of FAW using Trichogramma for sustainable production, especially in maize which is used as food and fodder. Integrating Trichogramma with safer and selective green pesticides and their conservation with other natural enemies could help in sustainable and environment-friendly FAW control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danmaku, a real-time comment function covering the top of the video, appears from the right of the video like a bullet and slides out horizontally from the left, which is gaining popularity in Asia. In recent years, the research on the analysis of massive danmaku data has mushroomed. The danmaku data contains a host of valuable information, such as the emotional expressions, attitudes, and opinions of the people watching the video, which helps people quickly get the content and effect of the video. The information is more representative and comprehensive with the ever-increasing amount of danmaku data over time. However, extracting valuable danmaku from huge amounts of data is a challenging task. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce VisDmk, an interactive visual analysis system, to help to analyze video content and effect. VisDmk incorporates five views: the projection view to exhibit emotion distribution, the detail view to analyze specific danmaku information, the individual view to illustrate the difference between viewers, the theme-aware view to identify themes in different periods, and the video view to ascertain some inference within a video. Case studies and user observation were conducted to evaluate this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the authors suggest, the Japanese experience can serve as an illustrative lesson for other countries faced with similar technological developments and governance challenges, including the politics of bioethics that are inevitable in contemporary biomedicine. Before turning to the papers that make up this issue, it is important to give our readers an update on the commitment of the Asian Bioethics Review to matters of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). This October 2023 issue of Asian Bioethics Review showcases work with a focus on Northeast Asia. [Extracted from the article]

The coronaviruses (CoV) are ubiquitous pathogens found in wide variety of hosts that constantly pose a threat to human and animal health as a result of their enormous capacity to generate genetic changes. Constant monitoring of virus reservoirs can constitute an early-warning tool and control the spread and evolution of the virus. Coronaviruses are common in wild birds, globally, and birds of the Charadriiformes in particular have been demonstrated to be carriers of delta- (dCoV) and gammacoronaviruses (gCoV). In this paper, we present the genetic characterisation of five CoV strains from black-headed (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and common (Larus canus) gulls. Whole genome sequence analysis showed high similarity of detected dCoV in gulls to previously identified strains from falcon, houbara, pigeon and gulls from Asia (UAE, China). However, phylogenetic analysis revealed bifurcation within a common branch. Furthermore, the accumulation of numerous amino acid changes within the S-protein was demonstrated, indicating further evolution of dCoV within a single gull host. In turn, phylogenetic analysis for the most of the structural and non-structural genes of identified gCoV confirmed that the strain belongs to the duck coronavirus 2714 (DuCoV2714) species within Igacovirus subgenera, while for the spike protein it forms a separate branch not closely related to any gCoV species known to date. The current study provides new and significant insights into the evolution and diversification of circulating coronaviruses in members of Laridae family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is an increasing number of patients following hernia surgery with implanted mesh reporting symptoms that could indicate autoimmune or allergic reactions to mesh. 'Allergy' to metals, various drugs, and chemicals is well recognised. However, hypersensitivity, allergy or autoimmunity caused by surgical mesh has not been proven by a scientific method to date. The aim of this study was twofold: to describe the pathophysiology of autoimmunity and foreign body reaction and to undertake a systematic review of surgical mesh implanted at the time of hernia repair and the subsequent development of autoimmune disease. Methods: A systematic review using the PRISMA guidelines was undertaken. Pubmed (Medline), Google Scholar and Cochrane databases were searched for all English-written peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021. The search was performed using the keywords "hernia", "mesh", "autoimmunity", "ASIA", "immune response", "autoimmune response". Results: Seven papers were included in the final analysis—three systematic reviews, three cohort studies and one case report. Much of the current data regarding the association of hernia mesh and autoimmunity relies on retrospective cohort studies and/or case reports with limited availability of cofounding factor data linked to autoimmune disease such as smoking status or indeed a detailed medical history of patients. Three systematic reviews have discussed this topic, each with a slightly different approach and none of them has identified causality between the use of mesh and the subsequent development of autoimmune disease. Conclusion: There is little evidence that the use of polypropylene mesh can lead to autoimmunity. A large number of potential triggers of autoimmunity along with the genetic predisposition to autoimmune disease and the commonality of hernia, make a cause and effect difficult to unravel at present. Biomaterials cause foreign body reactions, but a chronic foreign body reaction does not indicate autoimmunity, a common misunderstanding in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses issues related to the main features of subseasonal variability in the tropics, as well as the influence of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) on atmospheric processes in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. To identify weather patterns in the tropics, the RMM (Real-time Multivariate) index proposed by M. Wheeler and H. Hendon is used. Teleconnection indices are used to quantify atmospheric processes in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. The analysis of variance leads to the conclusion that there are teleconnections between the weather patterns in the tropics and the mid-latitudes at time intervals of about 5–7 days, which are most clearly pronounced in the Pacific–North American region, as well as in Asia. The MJO effect on the circulation in the Euro-Atlantic sector is quite complex and requires consideration of additional factors, in particular, the circulation in the stratosphere and El Niño events. Using the INM-CM5 climate model (Russia), the potential of predicting the MJO over a three-week time interval is demonstrated. The results are expected to be used in the operational practice of the North Eurasia Climate Center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. is one of the worst agricultural weeds and invasive species in the world, being widely established in many countries. Despite its impact on agriculture and the growing awareness of authorities and consumers about the consequences of synthetic herbicides, alternative control methods for this weed have been poorly reviewed. A systematic review of the literature published over the last 50 years was used to assess the most studied control methods of C. dactylon (excluding synthetic herbicides) and to summarize the trends and knowledge gaps. The major findings are as follows: (1) the number of publications that studied alternative methods to synthetic chemical control in C. dactylon management has been increasing exponentially since 1972; (2) most of the studies were made under controlled conditions (57%) and lack observations under real production conditions; (3) most of the field experiments were carried out in Asia (42%), under temperate subtropical and arid climates; (4) the publication of articles studying allelopathy stands out significantly (50% of the papers found), with two species from the Poaceae family, rice (Oryza sativa L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), showing very high allelopathic inhibitory effects (often above 80%), especially under open field conditions; and (5) preventive soil tillage is the most studied treatment among indirect weed control treatments, and although there is a high risk of propagation, the results indicate that tillage can significantly contribute to control C. dactylon, when compared to no-tillage treatments. Further research is needed to optimize treatments and methods so that they can be applied by farmers under real production conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the 1970s, the paleobotanist V.A. Samylina published her concept of stratofloras: a stratigraphic scale of nonmarine Cretaceous deposits of Northeast Russia based on plant megafossils. This concept derived from the evolution of a systematic composition of plant communities upon the transition from Mesophyte to Cenophyte. Because the accuracy of this scale was similar to that for marine deposits, it almost instantaneously began to be used for the determination of the age and the correlation of continental deposits of the region. The paper considers the changes in views on the evolution of plant world of the region as new data arrive. It is shown that the elaboration of a common scale for the region is impossible, because the paleolandscape environments differed on this territory. The accuracy of scales for various parts of the region with similar paleolandscape conditions is lower than the stages of the General Stratigraphic Chart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a widely used non-conventional machining technique in manufacturing industries, capable of accurately machining electrically conductive materials of any hardness and strength. However, to achieve low production costs and minimal machining time, a comprehensive understanding of the EDM system is necessary. Due to the stochastic nature of the process and the numerous variables involved, it can be challenging to develop an analytical model of EDM through theoretical and numerical simulations alone. This paper conducts an extensive review of the various experimental (or empirical) modeling techniques used by researchers over the past two decades, including a geographic and temporal analysis of these approaches. The major methods employed to describe the EDM process include regression, response surface methodology (RSM), fuzzy inference systems (FIS), artificial neural networks (ANN), and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS). Additionally, the optimization methods used in conjunction with these methods are also discussed. Although RSM is the most commonly used empirical modeling technique, recent years have seen an increase in the use of ANN for providing the most accurate predictions of EDM process responses. The review of the literature shows that most of the investigations on experimental EDM modeling were conducted in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common histological types of esophageal cancers. It can seriously affect public health, particularly in Eastern Asia. Early diagnosis and effective therapy of ESCC can significantly help improve patient prognoses. The visualization of intrapapillary capillary loops (IPCLs) under magnification endoscopy (ME) can greatly support the identification of ESCC occurrences by endoscopists. This paper proposes an artificial-intelligence-assisted endoscopic diagnosis approach using deep learning for localizing and identifying IPCLs to diagnose early-stage ESCC. An improved Faster region-based convolutional network (R-CNN) with a polarized self-attention (PSA)-HRNetV2p backbone was employed to automatically detect IPCLs in ME images. In our study, 2887 ME with blue laser imaging (ME-BLI) images of 246 patients and 493 ME with narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI) images of 81 patients were collected from multiple hospitals and used to train and test our detection model. The ME-NBI images were used as the external testing set to verify the generalizability of the model. The experimental evaluation revealed that the proposed method achieved a recall of 79.25%, precision of 75.54%, F1-score of 0.764 and mean average precision (mAP) of 74.95%. Our method outperformed other existing approaches in our evaluation. It can effectively improve the accuracy of ESCC detection and provide a useful adjunct to the assessment of early-stage ESCC for endoscopists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some biological therapies for psoriasis can cause the reactivation of viral infections. Although recent studies suggest no increased rate of reactivation with biological therapies, some life-threatening cases have been reported. Therefore, this meta-analysis examined the rate of virus reactivation in patients with psoriasis with biological therapies and concurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for available papers from inception to December 2021. The outcome was the number of patients with virus reactivation after using biological therapies. The random-effect model was used in all analyses. Fourteen reports (1033 patients) were included. The pooled overall rate of virus reactivation was 0.04 (95%CI 0.01–0.09; I2 = 67.7%, P < 0.001). The pooled rates of HBV, HCV, and HIV reactivation were 0.04 (95%CI 0.00–0.10; I2 = 79.9%, P < 0.001), 0.07 (95%CI 0.02–0.14; I2 = 23.7%, P = 0.24), and 0.12 (95%CI 0.00–0.40), respectively. The pooled rates of HBV and HCV reactivation were 0.10 (95%CI 0.03–0.19) and 0.08 (95%CI 0.03–0.15) in Asia, but 0.00 (95%CI 0.00–0.01) and 0.04 (95%CI 0.00–0.21) in Europe. The publication type also influenced the results. The use of biological therapy in patients with psoriasis and HBV, HCV, or HIV infection might be associated with the rate of viral reactivation, but this meta-analysis had limitations, and the evidence might be weak. Nevertheless, it might suggest that at least a consultation with an infection specialist might be warranted in patients with psoriasis in whom biological therapies are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western Ghats (WG) is one of the important biodiversity hotspots and rainfall intense regions in south Asia. In this paper, the long-term trend analysis is carried out during southwest monsoon rainfall over different latitudinal regions of the WG. Further, the gridded daily rainfall data (0.25 × 0.25 spatial grid resolution) is classified into six intensity bins: dry, low, moderate, heavy, very heavy, and extreme, from 1951 to 2015. A detailed trend and variability analysis of rainfall and its frequency in different intensity bins along with their relative contribution were carried out. The results of different rainfall intensity bins depict that the moderate and low intensity bins contribute a maximum share in seasonal rainfall with 45% and 20%, respectively, from the 30% and 50% rainy days in all the regions. Heavy and very heavy intensity bins together contribute about 30% of the seasonal rainfall from about 9% rainy days. Extreme intensity bin recorded an alarming share of 6% with only 1% rainy day occurrences. In general, the relative contribution shows an ascending pattern of moderate, low, very heavy, heavy, extreme, and dry intensity bins. A decreasing trend in rainfall was observed in heavy and very heavy intensity bins, while other intensity bins illustrated mixed trends in different study regions. Extreme rainfall events marked a major shift upward in the WG region during the study period. Overall, our result portrays a negative trend in rainfall during the southwest monsoon season over all the study regions during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pan Lumbar Arthodesis (PLA) are often required for Adult Spinal Deformity (ASD) correction, reducing significantly the compensatory capacity in case of postoperative sagittal malalignment. Few papers have investigated outcomes and complications in this vulnerable subset of patients. The objective of this study was to assess revision surgery rate for PLA in ASD, its risk factors and impact on clinical outcomes. Methods: Retrospective multicenter review of prospective ASD data from 7 hospitals covering Europe and Asia. ASD patients included in two prospective databases having a posterior instrumentation spanning the whole lumbar region with more than 2-years of follow-up were reviewed. Demographic, surgical, radiographic parameters and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) scores were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate regression models analyzed risk factors for revision surgery as well as surgical outcomes. Patients with Early versus Late and PJK versus Non-PJK mechanical complications were also compared. Results: Out of 1359 ASD patients included in the database 589 (43%) had a PLA and 357 reached 2-years mark. They were analyzed and compared to non-PLA patients. Average age was 67 and 82% were females. 100 Patients (28.1%) needed 114 revision surgeries (75.4% for mechanical failures). Revised patients were more likely to have a nerve system disorder, higher BMI and worst immediate postoperative alignment (as measured by GAP Parameters). These risk factors were also associated with earlier mechanical complications and PJK. Deformity and HRQoL parameters were comparable at baseline. Non-revised patients had significantly better clinical outcomes at 2-years (SRS 22 scores, ODI, Back pain). Multivariate analysis could identify nerve system disorder (OR 4.8; CI 1.8–12.6; p = 0.001), postoperative sagittal alignment (GAP Score) and high BMI (OR 1.07; CI 1.01–1.13; p = 0.004) as independent risk factors for revisions. Conclusions: Revision surgery due to mechanical failures is relatively common after PLA leading to worse clinical outcomes. Prevention strategies should focus on individualized restoration of sagittal alignment and better weight control to decrease stress on these rigid constructs in non-compliant spines. Nerve system disorders independently increase revision risk in PLA. Level of evidence II: Prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aedesalbopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) is a mosquito from Asia that can transmit a variety of diseases. This paper aimed to explore the effects of temperature, relative humidity, and illumination on the entomological parameters related to the population growth of Aedes albopictus, and provide specific parameters for developing dynamic models of mosquito-borne infectious disease. We used artificial simulation lab experiments, and set 27 different meteorological conditions to observe and record mosquito's hatching time, emergence time, longevity of adult females, and oviposition amount. We then applied generalized additive model (GAM) and polynomial regression to formulate the effects of temperature, relative humidity, and illumination on the biological characteristics of Aedes albopictus. Our results showed that hatchability closely related to temperature and illumination. The immature stage and the survival time of adult female mosquitoes were associated with temperature and relative humidity. The oviposition rate related to temperature, relative humidity, and illumination. Under the control of relative humidity and illumination, ecological characteristics of mosquitoes such as hatching rate, transition rate, longevity, and oviposition rate had an inverted J shape with temperature, and the thresholds were 31.2 °C, 32.1 °C, 17.7 °C, and 25.7 °C, respectively. The parameter expressions of Aedes albopictus using meteorological factors as predictors under different stages were established. Meteorological factors especially temperature significantly influence the development of Aedes albopictus under different physiological stages. The established formulas of ecological parameters can provide important information for modeling mosquito-borne infectious diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education pathways and opportunities of schoolgirls in Asia are facing different challenges. The empirical studies have implemented Information and Communication Technology-enabled learning to expand such pathways and opportunities and promote education inclusiveness and equity. Through the Gender Analysis Framework, this review paper focuses on exploring and discussing how ICT-enabled learning may expand schoolgirls' education pathways and opportunities in Asia for inclusive and equitable education. This review covers 30 studies that adopted ICT-enabled learning, synthesizes, and presents four key ICT-enabled learning approaches: Emerging technologies-enabled learning, Digital game-based learning, Mobile-enabled learning, and Computer-assisted learning. Our result discusses about how different approaches in this review (in)directly impact on schoolgirls' access to assets, their practice and participation in learning activities, belief and perception of their own and other stakeholders', and how policies accommodate these approaches. The review further suggests several guidelines to develop an inclusive learning environment enabled by ICT to education pathways and opportunities of schoolgirls, thereby enhancing education inclusiveness and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cortical deafness is an unusual occurrence caused by injury to the central auditory pathway but not to the hearing organ. This paper reports the first case of cortical deafness as a sequel of recurrent stroke in a patient with prosthetic heart valves and atrial fibrillation in Asia. Case presentation: A 40-year-old man with a history of atrial fibrillation and valvular heart disease comes with weakness on the right side of the body and slurred speech. Examination showed hemiplegia with increased d-dimer and activated partial thromboplastin time. (APTT). Brain MRI showed multiple subacute infarctions in the temporal lobe. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) tractography showed no visible auditory tract. Pure tone audiogram and brainstem auditory evoked potential test was normal, but speech reception threshold test was very poor. The patient has been diagnosed with recurrent ischemic stroke with sequel cortical deafness and received anticoagulant therapy and speech therapy. The patient reported minimal subjective impairment 1 month later with no further neurological deterioration. Conclusions: A multidisciplinary clinical approach is needed in patients with cortical deafness, especially distinguishing it from other central hearing losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high mountain regions of Asia contain more glacial ice than anywhere on the planet outside of the polar regions. Because of the large population living in the Indus watershed region who are reliant on melt from these glaciers for fresh water, understanding the factors that affect glacial melt along with the impacts of climate change on the region is important for managing these natural resources. While there are multiple climate data products (e.g., reanalysis and global climate models) available to study the impact of climate change on this region, each product will have a different amount of skill in projecting a given climate variable, such as precipitation. In this research, we develop a spatially varying mixture model to compare the distribution of precipitation in the High Mountain Asia region as produced by climate models with the corresponding distribution from in situ observations from the Asian Precipitation—Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation (APHRODITE) data product. Parameter estimation is carried out via a computationally efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Each of the estimated climate distributions from each climate data product is then validated against APHRODITE using a spatially varying Kullback–Leibler divergence measure. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract—The Uyandina–Yasachnaya volcano-plutonic belt (UYVB) is one of the largest structures of this type in Northeast Asia. It strikes in the north-west direction for 900 km from the upper reaches of the Kolyma River to the upper reaches of the Selenyakh River. The belt is characterized by the strong facies variability and zoning, which is expressed in a change from mafic volcanic rocks (Ilin'-Tass zone) in the northeast to felsic volcanic rocks (Darpir zone) in the southwest. Poor knowledge of the UYVB results in an ambiguous interpretation of its geodynamic nature and volcanic evolution. The paper presents new detailed geochemical, isotopic, and geochronological data on the volcanic rocks of the Indigirka section of the Darpir zone of the UYVB. The U-Th-Pb SIMS zircon dating showed that volcanic rocks of the section previously attributed to the Oxfordian–Tithonian stages have the younger age within 150 ± 2–152 ± 2 Ma, which corresponds to the Tithonian. Andesites from the section base show Ta–Nb depletion, indicator element ratios Th/Nbpm, La/Nbpm, and La/Smpm > 1, and extremely low εNd = (–8), which may indicate a crustal contamination of mantle sources. Felsic volcanic rocks overlying the andesites have the postcollisional signatures. They are also characterized by the wide variations of εNd from –2.4 to –6.5 and model ages. The systematic position of the rocks in the section as well as upward increase of alkalinity and silica content from basaltic andesites to rhyolites in the upper parts of the section, which is typical of island-arc buildups, suggest that suprasubduction melts were generated beneath the collisional crust. Source of these melts could be a mantle domain that was enriched in fluid during previous subduction event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published reviews of written medicine information (WMI) have mainly drawn on studies published in high-income countries, including very few Asian or African studies. We therefore set out to scope the research literature to determine the extent and type of studies concerning WMI for patients/consumers across these two continents. We sought empirical studies published between January 2004 and December 2019, conducted in any Asian or African country, as defined by the United Nations, in English or with an English abstract. The majority of the 923 papers identified were from high-income countries. We retained 26 papers from Africa and 99 from Asia. Most African studies (n = 20) involved patients in the development of PILs, in the assessment of the effectiveness of PILs or in surveys. In contrast, the highest proportion of Asian studies concerned the content of WMI (n = 42). WMI is desired, but needs to be in local languages, and there needs to be more use made of pre-tested pictograms. Existing WMI frequently does not meet local regulatory requirements, particularly locally manufactured products. A number of studies reported potentially positive impacts of providing WMI on knowledge and medicine use behaviours. Provision of medicine information is essential for safe use of medicines in all countries. Internationally agreed guidelines, incorporating good design principles, are needed to ensure the optimal content and design of WMI. The World Health Organization should support African and Asian regulatory bodies to share best practice in relation to WMI for patients/consumers and to develop and implement pan-continental guidelines that take into account consumer needs and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Albian–Campanian Okhotsk–Chukotka Volcanic Belt (OCVB) extends along the northeastern Asian margin for more than 3000 km. Toward the Pacific, this belt adjoins the microcontinent of the Sea of Okhotsk in the west and the Jurassic–Early Cretaceous terranes of the Northern Koryak region in the east. Various rock assemblages of these terranes are overlain by shallow-water and continental sediments coeval with the OCVB volcanic rocks. These sediments significantly differ from deposits of deep-water trenches and accretionary wedges suggesting location of the Late Cretaceous OCVP subduction zone southeast of the Koryak terranes. The Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Uda‒Murgal island arc (which was accreted in the Barremian) and the Late Albian–Campanian Okhotsk–Chukotka Volcanic Belt, which are two major subduction-related structures of the northeastern active margin of Asia, were originated with the interval of 20 Ma (Late Barremian–Aptian–Early Albian). During this time interval the Jurassic–Late Cretaceous North Koryak complexes of various geodynamic affinities were juxtaposed, transported and accreted to the Asian continent in a local area restricted by the Siberian continent and the Chukotka continental block (Hauterivian–Early Barremian). The data presented in this paper contradict the hypothesis of the North Koryak terranes having been formed within the Pacific oceanic plates. It is proposed that these terranes composed of rock complexes of various geodynamic settings were originated in the Late Mesozoic eastern part of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean. The chaotic transformation and movement of the Northern Koryak terranes were probably related to escape tectonics during the closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean, which resulted from collision of the Amur block of the Sino-Korean craton with the Siberian continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to identify the determinants of life satisfaction in the four regions of Asia. Because the determinants of life satisfaction may differ between people who are at a different level of life satisfaction, quantile regression was used to yield more accurate inferences. An earlier study using ordinary least square regression found that the standard of living, marital status, education and the role of government were the most significant determinants of life satisfaction in Asia. Results from the present study also show that these three factors were significant determinants of life satisfaction, but their effects varied considerably across the quantiles. Gender and age were significant determinants of life satisfaction only in Central & West Asia, but the education factor was relatively less significant here as compared to the other regions. In all the four Asia regions, the income variable was a less significant predictor of life satisfaction as compared to the standard of living. This paper further found that employment was more influential in South and Southeast Asia as compared to the other two regions. The effects of these variables varied substantially across the quantiles. Some of these variables had a positive effect on life satisfaction for some quantiles, but a negative effect for other quantiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a systematic literature review was conducted to synthesize understanding on farmers' perception on climate change. Farmers' perception of climate change is conceptualized as comprising of three dimensions—first, as farmers' "awareness"; second, "conceptual understanding"; and third, the "experience" of climate change. The review included 162 papers published during the period January 2000 to July 2019. The highest number of studies was conducted in Africa, followed by Asia. A large majority of farmers report being aware of climate change. However, only a few studies elicit the difference between climate variability and climate change from farmers. A negligible number of studies attempt to identify the role of agricultural activities in greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Furthermore, authors compare farmers' perception with meteorological evidence, which is more aligned in terms of change in "temperature" rather than "precipitation." The insights from the review provide guidance on conceptualization and operationalization of the variable "farmers' perception of climate change" for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: We present a comprehensive survey of cytogenetic and genomic diversity of the GGAtAt genepool of wheat, thereby unlocking these plant genetic resources for wheat improvement. Wheat yields are stagnating around the world and new sources of genes for resistance or tolerances to abiotic traits are required. In this context, the tetraploid wheat wild relatives are among the key candidates for wheat improvement. Despite its potential huge value for wheat breeding, the tetraploid GGAtAt genepool is largely neglected. Understanding the population structure, native distribution range, intraspecific variation of the entire tetraploid GGAtAt genepool and its domestication history would further its use for wheat improvement. The paper provides the first comprehensive survey of genomic and cytogenetic diversity sampling the full breadth and depth of the tetraploid GGAtAt genepool. According to the results obtained, the extant GGAtAt genepool consists of three distinct lineages. We provide detailed insights into the cytogenetic composition of GGAtAt wheats, revealed group- and population-specific markers and show that chromosomal rearrangements play an important role in intraspecific diversity of T. araraticum. The origin and domestication history of the GGAtAt lineages is discussed in the context of state-of-the-art archaeobotanical finds. We shed new light on the complex evolutionary history of the GGAtAt wheat genepool and provide the basis for an increased use of the GGAtAt wheat genepool for wheat improvement. The findings have implications for our understanding of the origins of agriculture in southwest Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper aimed to explore factors that affect life satisfaction among older adults (60 years and above) in Asia by systematically reviewing 21 research articles published post-2000 from major databases including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and PsycArticles with the related keywords to "life satisfaction in older adults". Based on the reviewed studies following PRISMA guideline, 19 main factors are associated with older adults life satisfaction; activities of daily living, ageing, childlessness, cognitive ability, daily life decisions, depression, discordant living arrangement, education level, economic status, health status, housing satisfaction, insurance, marital status, perceived discrimination, preferred living arrangement quality, quality and duration of sleep, religiosity, social functioning and social support. This systematic review found social support to be the major factor for life satisfaction. Giving exposure to this matter would help to educate our society on the importance of social support for older adults to increase their life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behçet's disease (BD) can affect the genital system and is more common in Middle Eastern countries and Asia but also occurs in Caucasian people. Aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of sexual dysfunction (SD) and depression in patients with BD compared to a healthy control group (HCG). In addition, differences with regard to depression and patients' origin were evaluated. This prospective, monocentric study included 106 consecutive patients from our specialized BD outpatient clinic. Patients were asked to fill out the paper based standardized and validated questionnaires International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In addition, 206 healthy controls were asked to fill out the questionnaires. 106 patients with BD were evaluated and 206 participants in the HCG. The mean age in BD group was 40.5 years as compared to 44.4 years in the HCG. Half of the patients had Middle Eastern and half Caucasian origin. SD was found in 24.5% of all subjects. Only 6.9% of male patients showed signs of SD, while half of the women's group was suffering from SD. The prevalence for SD was significantly higher in women with Middle Eastern ethnic origin compared to women with Caucasian origin (75 vs. 33.3%, p = 0.024). Erectile Dysfunction occurred in 55% of all male patients which was not statistical different from the HCG. Genital ulcers affected 73.6% of all patients. Depression was found in 36.7% of all subjects as compared to 6.25% in the HCG (p < 0.001). Both, SD and depression correlated positively in males (p = 0.017) and females (p = 0.013). SD and depression are very common problems in BD and should be addressed by the treating physician. Both manifestations are intensifying each other. Depression especially is more prevalent compared to the healthy population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Our aim was to systematically review published evidence on the construct validity, test-retest reliability and responsiveness of generic preference-based measures (PBMs) used in East and South-East Asia.Methods: This systematic review was guided by the COSMIN guideline. A literature search on the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and PubMed databases up to August 2019 was conducted for measurement properties validation papers of the EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D), Short Form-6 Dimensions (SF-6D), Health Utilities Index (HUI), Quality of Well-Being (QWB), 15-Dimensional (15D) and Assessment of Quality of Life (AQOL) in East and South-East Asian countries. Included papers were disaggregated into individual studies whose results and quality of design were rated separately. The population-specific measurement properties (construct validity, test-retest reliability and responsiveness) of each PBM were assessed separately using relevant studies. The overall methodological quality of the studies used in each of the assessments was also rated.Results: A total of 79 papers containing 1504 studies were included in this systematic review. The methodological quality was 'very good' or 'adequate' for the majority of the construct validity studies (99%) and responsiveness studies (61%), but for only a small portion of the test-retest reliability studies (23%). EQ-5D was most widely assessed and was found to have 'sufficient' construct validity and responsiveness in many populations, while the SF-6D and EuroQol-Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) exhibited 'inconsistent' construct validity in some populations. Scarce evidence was available on HUI and QWB, but current evidence supported the use of HUI.Conclusions: This systematic review provides a summary of the quality of existing generic PBMs in Asian populations. The current evidence supports the use of EQ-5D as the preferred choice when a generic PBM is needed, and continuous testing of all PBMs in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drone pupae of Apis cerana are sealed in their cells under a hard silken cap with a central pore, a feature notably lacking in the closely related species, Apis nigrocincta. In this paper, the hard cap with a pore is confirmed for drone cells of four additional species or putative species of cavity-nesting honey bees of Asia. Inaccuracies in the literature related to cell cappings of Asian bees are clarified. The character state of the drone cell cap for each taxon was added to a recent phylogeny for the genus Apis. Parsimony analysis indicates that the hard cap evolved once in the common ancestor to all Asian cavity-nesting honey bees and was subsequently lost in Apis nigrocincta. Possible functions of the hard drone cell cap are reviewed, but the true functions of the cap and the reasons underlying its loss in A. nigrocincta remain unresolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that thousands of students from four Asian countries are to be barred from taking part in the Graduate Record Examination general test online after their compatriots were found cheating. Examination test skills administered by the Educational Testing Service to graduate school entrants in the U.S.; Administration of paper versions of the test to the graduates.

This paper demonstrates and assesses the capability of the advanced three-dimensional (3-D) ionosphere tomography technique, during severe conditions. The study area is northeast Asia and quasi-Japan-centred. Reconstructions are based on total electron content data from a dense ground-based global navigation satellite system receiver network and parameters from operational ionosondes. We used observations from ionosondes, Swarm satellites and radio occultation (RO) to assess the 3-D picture. Specifically, we focus on St. Patrick's day geomagnetic storm (17–19 March 2015), the most intense in solar cycle 24. During this event, the energy ingested into the ionosphere resulted in Dst and Kp and reaching values ~ − 223 nT and 8, respectively, and the region of interest, the East Asian sector, was characterized by a ~ 60% reduction in electron densities. Results show that the reconstructed densities follow the physical dynamics previously discussed in earlier publications about storm events. Moreover, even when ionosonde data were not available, the technique could still provide a consistent picture of the ionosphere vertical structure. Furthermore, analyses show that there is a profound agreement between the RO profiles/in-situ densities and the reconstructions. Therefore, the technique is a potential candidate for applications that are sensitive to ionospheric corrections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Granitoids of the Uda complex are distributed within the southeastern marginal part of the Siberian craton and its folded framing. Geochemical, isotope (Nd, Sr), and geochronological (U–Pb ID TIMS) studies of two massifs (Chalbuk-Yakon and Uyan-Tavitchak) of this complex of the Dzhugdzhur Block of the Stanovoy suture were carried out; the results are presented in this paper. It is found that formation of these massifs took place in the Early Cretaceous (116 ± 1 Ma) in the geodynamic setting of lithospheric extension. The initial magma for these granitoids was formed from a mixed source: Early Precambrian lower crust and mantle, with a clear predominance of the crustal component. The granitoids of the Uda complex of the Dzhugdzhur block most likely represent the eastern end of the Udsko-Zeya (Stanovoy) post-collision magmatic belt, stretching for more than 1000 km along the southern framing of the Siberian craton parallel to the Mongol–Okhotsk suture zone and stitching various tectonic blocks of the northeastern part of the Central Asian fold belt. There is every reason to believe that, further to the west, the Udsko-Zeya (Stanovoy) belt passes into the West Transbaikal rift system, the formation of which took place in the interval of 170–110 Ma. In other words, it can be assumed that in the Mesozoic, in the southern framing of the Siberian craton, there was a giant unified rift system stretching for more than 2000 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart diseases are currently a major cause of death in the world. This problem is severe in developing countries in Africa and Asia. A heart disease predicted at earlier stages not only helps the patients prevent it, but I can also help the medical practitioners learn the major causes of a heart attack and avoid it before its actual occurrence in patient. In this paper, we propose a method named CardioHelp which predicts the probability of the presence of cardiovascular disease in a patient by incorporating a deep learning algorithm called convolutional neural networks (CNN). The proposed method is concerned with temporal data modeling by utilizing CNN for HF prediction at its earliest stage. We prepared the heart disease dataset and compared the results with state-of-the-art methods and achieved good results. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods in terms of performance evaluation metrics. The achieved accuracy of the proposed method is 97%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from a research project investigating text lists in the Senior Victorian English curriculum between 2010 and 2019. Policy documents emphasise the need for the English curriculum to foster values of inclusivity and diversity of culture and for texts that reflect these values in constructive and affirmative senses. In order to test the extent to which text lists associated with subject English address these ambitions, a content analysis of three hundred and sixty texts was conducted, guided by the question: to what extent do the VCE English text lists between 2010 and 2019 meet policy objectives? Focusing on findings related to text type, story setting, sex/sexuality and Indigenous themes, we found that while some goals of policy documents were met, the lists show significant shortfalls in meeting objectives for Asia-literacy, literature by Indigenous Australians and diversity in text type, especially in the marked lack of digital and non-traditional texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to disentangle the poverty-growth-inequality triangle for Asia, its sub-regions and individual economies by constructing poverty and inequality profiles, decomposing poverty changes and modelling inequality. Due to a shortage of unit record data, analytical techniques are developed for estimating the poverty headcount ratio and regional inequality with minimum data requirements. Analytical results confirm significant reductions in poverty across the board due to fast growth, although the benign effect of growth on poverty was offset by worsening distributions in many economies. Furthermore, the poverty-reducing effect of growth has been diminishing over time and converging to 0 for many countries. Also, the cost of rising inequality in Asia was found to be surprisingly large in terms of missed poverty reduction. Looking ahead, Asia is expected to eradicate abject poverty soon but likely to continue facing high inequality, particularly income gaps between economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luffa spp. is readily available and widely grown in Asia and Africa and is a rich source of natural fibres for composite development. This paper reviews research findings on Luffa fibres and their composites. The progress of research, novel findings that affect the paradigm of the research area, recent trends, knowledge gaps and future perspectives are evaluated. It was found that the average chemical composition of Luffa fibres ranges from 57–74% cellulose, 14–30% of hemicellulose, 1–22% of lignin and 0–12.8% of the other components. Luffa fibres were usually extracted by drying. Furthermore, the most common modification technique was found to be by alkali mercerisation. About 53% of the research studies made use of epoxy resins for their base polymer making it the most popular polymer type for Luffa fibre reinforced composites. The composites are fabricated usually by manual mixing and hand layup and the most common curing technique was found to be compression moulding (about 63% of the research studies). The mechanical, thermal, crystalline and other properties of the composites are also considered in this review. Further interesting areas suggested for future work include investigation of the effect of drying, more trials with L. acutangula and utilisation of multi-resin ternary systems. It is concluded that Luffa is a promising material for composite development and based on its favourable properties is likely to continue playing an important role for the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that most of the resilient literature tends to focus on Western contexts, and the western-based research may have limited applications for policy and preventions in Asia, this issue attempts to examine educational resilience in Asian or Eastern societies to complement the wealth of research in the western-based research. In Asia, a large number of children live in challenging family environments such as poverty, increasing labor migration, increased divorced and associated factors. Investigating the pathways to educational resilience, particularly focusing on the protective factors that can buffer the negative effects of low socio-economic status or dysfunctional family environments or migrant family environments on Asian children's educational outcomes has significant implications. In this research, we found that, in Asia, education is a key vehicle for individual's social mobility, and factors from the school, home, and community may increase students' chances of success by buffering the effect of some of the stressors from family on academic and personal success. This issue adds an empirical support from the East to Ungar's (2012) social ecology framing of resilience. This paper also provides evidence that suggests efforts by educators to promote resilience should be tailored to the unique risks to which a sub-population of children and youth is exposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Uyandina–Yasachnaya volcanoplutonic belt (UYVB) is located in Northeast Asia. As one of the largest volcanic belts in the region, it extends for 900 km from the headwaters of the Kolyma River in the northwesterly direction. The Late Jurassic UYVB overlaps the folds of the Cherskii collision belt. The UYVB rocks are characterized by highly variable facies indicating the heterogeneous nature of the belt. The UYVB has been studied at the cross section of the Indigirka River. This paper reports the first data on U–Pb dating of zircons and the geochemical features of rocks. The concordant U–Pb age of volcanic rocks is 150 ± 2–152 ± 2 Ma (Kimmeridgian–Volgian of the Late Jurassic). It is concluded that the formation conditions of the volcanic rocks change upward through the section, from those typical of mature island arcs to those more typical of active continental margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on what will happen if a flu pandemic arose in Asia according to Neil Ferguson. Research conducted by Ferguson; Model simulating an outbreak.

An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869593823970014 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the differences in the characteristics and spatio-temporal variabilities of summertime rainfall and water vapor transport between the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) systems. The results show obvious differences in summertime rainfall characteristics between these two monsoon systems. The summertime rainfall cloud systems of the EASM show a mixed stratiform and cumulus cloud system, while cumulus cloud dominates the SASM. These differences may be caused by differences in the vertical shear of zonal and meridional circulations and the convergence of water vapor transport fluxes. Moreover, the leading modes of the two systems' summertime rainfall anomalies also differ in terms of their spatiotemporal features on the interannual and interdecadal timescales. Nevertheless, several close links with respect to the spatiotemporal variabilities of summertime rainfall and water vapor transport exist between the two monsoon systems. The first modes of summertime rainfall in the SASM and EASM regions reveal a significant negative correlation on the interannual and the interdecadal timescales. This close relationship may be linked by a meridional teleconnection in the regressed summertime rainfall anomalies from India to North China through the southeastern part over the Tibetan Plateau, which we refer to as the South Asia/East Asia teleconnection pattern of Asian summer monsoon rainfall. The authors wish to dedicate this paper to Prof. Duzheng YE, and commemorate his 100th anniversary and his great contributions to the development of atmospheric dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes to surgical practice across the worlds. Some countries are seeing a tailing down of cases, while others are still having persistent and sustained community spread. These evolving disease patterns call for a customized and dynamic approach to the selection, screening, planning, and for the conduct of surgery for these patients.Methods: The current literature and various international society guidelines were reviewed and a set of recommendations were drafted. These were circulated to the Governors of the Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia (ELSA) for expert comments and discussion. The results of these were compiled and are presented in this paper.Results: The recommendations include guidance for selection and screening of patients in times of active community spread, limited community spread, during times of sporadic cases or recovery and the transition between phases. Personal protective equipment requirements are also reviewed for each phase as minimum requirements. Capability management for the re-opening of services is also discussed. The choice between open and laparoscopic surgery is patient based, and the relative advantages of laparoscopic surgery with regard to complications, and respiratory recovery after major surgery has to be weighed against the lack of safety data for laparoscopic surgery in COVID-19 positive patients. We provide recommendations on the operating room set up and conduct of general surgery. If laparoscopic surgery is to be performed, we describe circuit modifications to assist in reducing plume generation and aerosolization.Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic requires every surgical unit to have clear guidelines to ensure both patient and staff safety. These guidelines may assist in providing guidance to units developing their own protocols. A judicious approach must be adopted as surgical units look to re-open services as the pandemic evolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian developing countries face challenges of serious air pollution and large shadow economy. Fiscal policy is anticipated as a solution to cope with these obstacles. This paper empirically examines the impact of shadow economy on air pollution and the role of fiscal policy in moderating the impact through the two tools of government expenditure and taxation in 22 Asian developing countries during 2002–2015. The estimation results from the fixed effects and the system generalized method of moments show that air pollution is positively affected by the shadow economy; and expansionary fiscal policy can reduce air pollution through abating shadow economy, and can lessen the detrimental effect of shadow economy on the environmental quality. Specifically, the increase in government expenditure reduces the positive effect of shadow economy on air pollution, but a tax-hike intensifies it. It is also found a stronger negative impact of government expenditure, compared to positive impact of taxation, and a dominant impact of shadow economy on air pollution. The findings imply that policy-makers can use appropriate fiscal policies to control air pollution and to reduce the destructive effect of the informal economy on the environmental quality in developing countries. Especially, governments in developing countries should allocate more budgets on environmental projects in their fiscal reforms for the sake of moving to greener and more inclusive economies with low-carbon activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a staple crop across the world and plays a remarkable role in food supplying security. Over the past few decades, basic and applied research on wheat has lagged behind other cereal crops due to the complex and polyploid genome and difficulties in genetic transformation. A breakthrough called as PureWheat was made in the genetic transformation of wheat in 2014 in Asia, leading to a noticeable progress of wheat genome editing. Due to this great achievement, it is predicated that wheat biotechnology revolution is arriving. Genome editing technologies using zinc finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nuclease, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated endonucleases (CRISR/Cas) are becoming powerful tools for crop modification which can help biologists and biotechnologists better understand the processes of mutagenesis and genomic alteration. Among the three genome editing systems, CRISR/Cas has high specificity and activity, and therefore it is widely used in genetic engineering. Generally, the genome editing technologies depend on an efficient genetic transformation system. In this paper, we summarize recent progresses and applications on genetic transformation and genome editing in wheat. We also examine the future aspects of genetic transformation and genome editing. We believe that the technologies for wheat efficient genetic engineering and functional studies will become routine with the emergence of high-quality genomic sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most charring experiments are carried out in the muffle furnace in highly controlled conditions and tackle the taphonomic issues of seed shrinkage and distortion caused by carbonisation. This paper presents the results from charring experiments conducted using real fire conditions. The objective of this study is to reproduce the charring processes that occur naturally and so address the issue of preservation biases which occurred in prehistoric contexts of carbonisation. This is particularly important in addressing the possible overrepresentation of rice over other taxa in the archaeological record. Prior charring experiments focus on Old World crops, but in this study the taxa used are East, South and Southeast Asian cereals and pulses. An ethnographic study conducted in Thailand examining the rice processing stages of dehusking and winnowing is also included since differential preservation may also result from crop processing. Archaeological results from sites in Mainland Southeast Asia are then interpreted using the results of the charring experiments and the ethnographic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US South Asian population has grown tremendously, and is now over 2.5 million. South Asians often face tremendous cultural, socioeconomic, linguistic and structural obstacles to good health, and face staggering cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer risk. Coupled with this is a paucity of detailed data on the population's unique CVD and cancer risk profiles, etiologic mechanisms, and effective interventions to address South Asian health disparities. This data gap compelled an initiative to develop more targeted research and evidence-based practice and policy approaches. The South Asian Health Initiative (SAHI), a community based participatory research partnership between the Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer and the South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS), and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute thus partnered to effect the first national South Asian translational research endeavor, South Asian Health: From Research to Practice and Policy, summarized in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of the literature review conducted for the working group topic on inflammation, infection, exposure, and the human microbiome. Infection and chronic inflammation can elevate risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer. Environmental exposures common among South Asian (SA) subgroups, such as arsenic exposure among Bangladeshis and particulate matter air pollution among taxi drivers, also pose risks. This review explores the effects of exposure to arsenic and particulate matter, as well as other infections common among SAs, including human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B/C infection. Emerging research on the human microbiome, and the effect of microbiome changes on obesity and diabetes risk among SAs are also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of the warm climates of the Cretaceous has been enigmatic since the first numerical climate models were run in the late 1970s. Quantitative simulations of the paleoclimate have consistently failed to agree with information from plant and animal fossils and climate sensitive sediments. The 'cold continental interior paradox' (first described by DeConto et al. in Barrera E, Johnson C (eds) Evolution of the Cretaceous Ocean/climate system, vol 332. Geological Society of America Special Paper, Boulder, pp 391–406, 1999), has been an enigma, with extensive continental interiors, especially in northeast Asia, modeled as below freezing in spite of plant and other evidence to the contrary. We reconsider the paleoelevations of specific areas, particularly along the northeastern Siberian continental margin, where paleofloras indeed indicate higher temperatures than suggested by current climate models. Evidence for significant masses of ice on land during even the otherwise warmest times of the Cretaceous is solved by reinterpretation of the δ18O record of fossil plankton. The signal interpreted as an increase in ice volume on land is the same as the signal for an increase in the volume of groundwater reservoirs on land. The problem of a warm Arctic, where fossil floras indicate that they never experienced freezing conditions in winter, could not be solved by numerical simulations using higher CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas concentrations. We propose a solution by assuming that paleoelevations were less than today and that there were much more extensive wetlands (lakes, meandering rivers, swamps, bogs) on the continents than previously assumed. Using ~ 8 × CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas concentrations and assuming 50–75% water surfaces providing water vapor as a supplementary greenhouse gas on the continents reduces the meridional temperature gradients. Under these conditions the equatorial to polar region temperature gradients produce conditions compatible with fossil and sedimentological evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper updates the results obtained earlier with the climate model developed at the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM) and describing the impact of atmospheric sulfur dioxide on the terrestrial carbon cycle. Since no global data are available for the near-surface SO2 concentration, a statistical model was used to reconstruct its concentration from appropriate data on surface sulfate concentrations; the coefficients of this model were tuned by using the output of the RAMS-CMAQ atmospheric chemistry and transport model. The results obtained in this study are generally consistent with data reported earlier. Specifically, the most significant SO2 impact on the terrestrial carbon cycle was found to be for southeastern North America and for Europe. However, this impact for southeastern Asia obtained in this study is considerably weaker than the value obtained earlier, which can be explained by the excessive moisture content in the atmosphere used in the IAP RAS CM for this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology for combined usage of data envelopment analysis (DEA), analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and extended goal programming (EGP) in order to provide managerial decision support. The methodology allows the three techniques to be used in a coordinated manner to give an enhanced level of holistic decision support. DEA is first used in a descriptive sense in order to provide information regarding the efficiency of a set of units. The AHP is then used in order to determine the importance of criteria arising from decision problem(s) related to the improvement of unit efficiency. Finally, EGP is used in a prescriptive sense in order to select a set of specific actions for improving unit efficiency. Two specific multi-objective situations arising from the Thai Silk industry are used as case studies for the proposed methodology. These involve supplier selection and inventory management system management in the presence of multiple conflicting goals and objectives. In the case studies, DEA is used to provide efficiency estimates of current suppliers and processes. AHP is then used in order to determine the relative importance of criteria for supply chain efficiency improvement. Adaptations are made to an automated inconsistency reduction algorithm in order to resolve high levels of inconsistency found. The relation between decision maker confidence and consistency is investigated. Finally, an EGP model is built in order to suggest improvement actions to the supply chain processes. Results are given for a set of eight Thai silk manufacturers and conclusions are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]