Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) once considered to be a disease only of the Western world is no longer so. Though good epidemiological studies are available from the West, still the information available from Asia is inadequate. This article is a review of the available epidemiological studies from Asia. The incidence / prevalence rates of IBD are still the highest in Europe and North America,...

Endemic mycoses are important fungal infections in their respective habitats. In the Asia-Pacific region, an accurate epidemiological picture of endemic mycoses is elusive; few epidemiological surveys have been performed, and limited laboratory facilities and experience with fungal infections have further hampered recognition of infection. However, pockets of endemicity do indeed exist, and end...

The recent global outbreak of human cases of swine origin influenza A (H1N1) has spread fear that this virus will be of pandemic proportions causing high morbidity and mortality. While it is too early to determine the pandemic nature of swine origin influenza A (H1N1), it may be useful to look at the history of influenza pandemics described since recorded history. The first well-documented outb...

Although the global prevalence of both the overweight and obese is on the rise, there are variations among regions or countries, and sexes. Approximately half or more than half of the population are overweight/obese defined as body mass index ≥25 kg/m(2)in the Americas (61.1%), Europe (54.8%), and Eastern Mediterranean (46.0%) according to the World Health Organization, while a much lower preva...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has become more common in Asia over the past few decades. The rate of increase in prevalence of the disease varies greatly in Asia, with several countries in East Asia experiencing a more than doubled increase in IBD prevalence over the past decade. Historically, ulcerative colitis (UC) is more common than Crohn's disease (CD) in Asia. However, a reverse trend i...

BACKGROUND Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. The Global Burden of Diseases, Risk Factors and Injuries 2010 Study estimated global and regional IHD mortality from 1980 to 2010. METHODS AND RESULTS Sources for IHD mortality estimates were country-level surveillance, verbal autopsy, and vital registration data. Regional income, metabolic and nutritional risk f...

Although a large part of the global domestic dog population is free-ranging and free-breeding, knowledge of genetic diversity in these free-breeding dogs (FBDs) and their ancestry relations to pure-breed dogs is limited, and the indigenous status of FBDs in Asia is still uncertain. We analyse genome-wide SNP variability of FBDs across Eurasia, and show that they display weak genetic structure a...

South Asia (SA) is both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. The countries in this region are undergoing epidemiological transition and are facing the double burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases. Heart failure (HF) is a major and increasing burden all over the world. In this review, we discuss the epidemiology of HF in SA today and its...

One of the most remarkable examples of intercontinental disjunction of the North Temperate Flora involves eastern Asia and eastern and western North America. Although there has been considerable interest in this phytogeographic pattern for over 150 years (e.g., Gray, 1859; Li, 1952; Graham, 1972; Boufford and Spongberg, 1983; Wu, 1983; Tiffney, 1985a, 1985b), relationships among taxa displaying...

Abstract An emerging body of scholarship suggests that "Western" notions policy analysis may not be relevant in "Eastern" jurisdictions, and non-Western countries, particularly Asia, have their own local analytical style or tradition. However, many Asian little is known about the work public sector analysts do. Using data from a survey focus groups, this article investigates capacity provincial...