Abu Mansur's Al-Abniya a pioneering work on pharmacological treatise in Persian language, has not received the attention that it richly deserves. This work provides as a starting point to probe into the hitherto neglected field of study regarding the relationship of medical systems prevalent in Central, West and South Asia-Greco-Syriac, Iranian and Ayurvedic medical sciences.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder, common in clinic and in the community. It has a significant impact on both society and patients' quality of life. The epidemiology, clinical presentation, and management of IBS may vary in different geographical regions due to differences in diet, gastrointestinal infection, socio-cultural and psycho-social factors, religiou...

The Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii is a partial migrant of conservation concern found in deserts of central Asia and the Middle East. In the southern part of the species range, resident populations have been greatly fragmented and reduced by sustained human pressure. In the north, birds migrate from breeding grounds between West Kazakhstan and Mongolia to wintering areas in the Mi...

Partial 1D gene characterization was used to study phylogenetic relationships between 17 serotype O foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) viruses in Ethiopia as well as with other O-type isolates from Eritrea, Kenya, South and West Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America. A homologous region of 495 bp corresponding to the C-terminus end of the 1D gene was used for phylogenetic analysis. This stu...

This paper examines cross-country patterns of economic growth by estimating a stochastic frontier production function for 80 developed and developing countries and decomposing output change into factor accumulation, total factor productivity growth, and production efficiency improvement. In addition, this paper incorporates the quality of inputs in analyzing output growth, where the productivit...

The precipitation climatology and the underlying climate mechanisms of the eastern Mediterranean, West Asia, and the Indian subcontinent are reviewed, with emphasis on upper and middle tropospheric flow in the subtropics and its steering of precipitation. Holocene climate change of the region is summarized from proxy records. The Indian monsoon weakened during the Holocene over its northernmost...

Influenza D virus has been identified in America, Europe, and Asia. We detected influenza D virus antibodies in cattle and small ruminants from North (Morocco) and West (Togo and Benin) Africa. Dromedary camels in Kenya harbored influenza C or D virus antibodies, indicating a potential new host for these viruses.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a malignant tumor responsible for approximately 600,000-700,000 deaths worldwide, and is becoming more prevalent not only in South-East Asia and Africa, but also in Western countries; therefore, interest in hepatocellular carcinoma has mounted in recent years in the West, where little or no interest was evident 10-20 years ago.

Conidiobolus coronatus is a zygomycete that commonly involves the rhinomaxillary area in humans and animals. Infections are reported mostly from West Africa and South East Asia. Vaginal involvement in humans has not been described before. We report a case of C. coronatus infection involving the vagina that was successfully treated.

* World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark; † International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India; ‡ Department of Global Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, § PharmAccess Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; ¶ Ministry of Justice, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan; # University of Malaya, Kuala Lum...