Purpose Aniridia is a congenital disorder caused by variants in the PAX6 gene. In this study, we assessed the involvement of PAX6 in patients with aniridia from Australasia and Southeast Asia. Methods Twenty-nine individuals with aniridia from 18 families originating from Australia, New Caledonia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan were included. The PAX6 gene was investigated for sequence varia...

There is limited evidence of rickettsial diseases in Bhutan. We explored the contribution of rickettsioses as a cause of undifferentiated febrile illness in patients presenting to 14 Bhutanese hospitals from October 2014 to June 2015. Obvious causes of fever were excluded clinically. Clinico-demographic information and acute blood samples were collected. Samples were tested by immunofluorescenc...

In its 60 years of pursuing modern developmental goals, Bhutan has done remarkably well. However, the country now faces a triple burden of diseases – communicable diseases, noncommunicable diseases, and accidents and injuries. Among the risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, hypertension is perhaps the most important cause of an increasing number of strokes, heart attacks and chronic kidney...

This study aims to develop and validate a new glacial lake inventory in order to gain an understanding of existing conditions. This is being done using optical imageries acquired by the Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) and the Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2) onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS, nicknamed ‘Daichi’). ...

The Himalayan region is likely particularly exposed to climate change indicated by the high regional rate of change. number high-resolution, well-calibrated, and long-term paleoclimate reconstructions are however regrettably few, set this in a longer-term context. dendroclimatic over Himalaya that do exist have only reconstructed summer season temperatures, rarely or never attempted reconstruct...

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is the most common female cancer in Bhutan, the first low/middle-income country to implement a national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme. METHODS To provide a robust baseline for future evaluations of vaccine effectiveness, cervical cell specimens were obtained from 2,505 women aged 18-69 years from the general population, and biopsies from 211 cervi...

The great Assam earthquake of 12 June 1897 reduced to rubble all masonry buildings within a region of NE India roughly the size of England, and its felt area exceeded that of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake. Hitherto it was believed that rupture occurred on a north-dipping Himalayan thrust propagating south of Bhutan . We show here that this view is incorrect. The northern edge of the Shillong Plate...

Governments around the world are increasingly devolving authority for forest management to the local level in an attempt to strengthen the management of national forests. Community forestry programs are recognized as providing a range of economic and social benefits and having a positive impact on increasing forest cover. However, concerns have been raised about the capability of user groups to...

As part of efforts to develop an informed policy for rotavirus vaccination, this prospective study was conducted to estimate the burden of rotavirus diarrhea among children less than 5 years old attended to the Department of Pediatrics, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH), Thimphu, Bhutan. The duration of the study was three years, extending from February 2010 through Decem...

SETTING All tuberculosis (TB) registration sites in Bhutan. DESIGN Cross-sectional study involving a retrospective review of TB registers and TB treatment cards. OBJECTIVES To determine: 1) the number and proportion of all TB cases registered as extra-pulmonary TB (EPTB) from 2001 to 2010, 2) the age and sex of the patients and the categories and types of EPTB registered in 2010, and 3) the...