Paddy rice in monsoon Asia plays an important role in global food security and climate change. Here we documented annual dynamics of paddy rice areas in the northern frontier of Asia, including Northeastern (NE) China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan, from 2000-2014 through analysis of satellite images. The paddy rice area has increased by 120% (2.5 to 5.5 million ha) in NE China, in compar...

The complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors in the causation of diabetes mellitus is well illustrated by the epidemiology of diabetes in the Asia-Pacific region. Among the Chinese, the prevalence of diabetes is uniformly higher among Chinese living outside China than in the Chinese in The People's Republic of China. Similarly among the Indians, the prevalence of diabetes i...

Western Asia has recently become an arena for significant upheavals of various kinds, be it political, safety-related, geopolitical, social, etc. These have in turn focalized the salience of the region as well as its ensuing situation and challenges on a global perspective. Such a naturally-born phenomenon is characterized, amidst other factors, by its transregional quality, granting it some so...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer among men worldwide and even ranks first in Europe. Although Asia is known as the region with the lowest PCa incidence, it has been rising rapidly over the last 20 years mostly due to the introduction of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. Randomized PCa screening studies in Europe show a mortality reduction in favor of PSA-based scree...

Official tabulations from household survey data suggest rising income inequality in post-reform rural China, and this trend has been of public concern. However, the structural changes in the Chinese rural economy had not been properly reflected in the methods used for processing the raw survey data. Using micro data for four provinces, we find that two-thirds of the conventionally measured incr...

The Greater Himalayas hold the largest mass of ice outside polar regions and are the source of the 10 largest rivers in Asia. Rapid reduction in the volume of Himalayan glaciers due to climate change is occurring. The cascading effects of rising temperatures and loss of ice and snow in the region are affecting, for example, water availability (amounts, seasonality), biodiversity (endemic specie...

according to the historians, the safavid dynasty was the pioneer of the shī‘ī ideology against the official rule of the ottoman empire in eastern countries. the safavid empire in iran came into being by the mutual assistance of the qizilbāsh troops rising form the geopolitics of asia minor. what is of importance, however, is the attitude and beliefs of these supporting troops of the safavid ord...

This paper examines the factors explaining the very different relationship between anthropometric shortfall and child mortality in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa. While in the former, very high rates of anthropometric shortfall coexist with comparatively lower child mortality rates, rates of anthropometric shortfall in Sub Saharan Africa are much lower, yet under five mortality is much highe...