Pakistan is an Islamic Republic in South-Central Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea (30 00 N, 70 00 E). It is situated between HIV/AIDS high risk countries, India on the east, China in the north, and Afghanistan on the west. Its only low risk neighbor is Iran. The estimated population of Pakistan is 162,419,946, with an annual population growth rate of 2.03% (July 2005). The population is young, t...

Race Ug99 of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, recognized for possessing virulence to Sr31, was first reported in Uganda in 1999 (Pretorius et al., 2000). Based on the North American stem rust nomenclature system of 16 differential lines (Roelfs and Martens, 1988; Roelfs et al., 1993), Ug99 is identified as race TTKS (Wanyera et al., 2006). Isolates with virulence similar to Ug99 were identifie...

Rhazya stricta (Apocynaceae) is an important medicinal plant found commonly in South Asia (Pakistan, India and Afghanistan) and the Middle East (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran and Iraq). It is used in local folk medicine to treat many diseases such as diabetes mellitus, certain inflammatory conditions, and helminthiasis because leaves of Rhazya stricta contains more ...

Recent allegations that Russian firms are aiding missile programs in Iran and India have renewed fears that sensitive technology is leaking to countries of proliferation concern from the economically strapped Russian missile industry. Pessimists argue that the leakage of Russian technology could greatly reduce the time needed by potential proliferants to develop mediumand longer-range missiles ...

Among the factors postulated to play a role in MS susceptibility, the role of vitamin D is outstanding. Since the function of vitamin D receptor (VDR) represents the effect of vitamin D on the body and genetic variations in VDR gene may affect its function, we aim to highlight the association of two VDR gene polymorphisms with MS susceptibility. In current study, we recruited 113 MS patients an...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (25(OH)D) <50 nmol/L among recently arrived immigrants from Africa and Asia in Oslo, and to explore 25(OH)D levels according to origin, gender and age. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SETTING Primary healthcare unit in Oslo, Norway, offering family immigrants, asylum seekers, United Nations (UN) refugees or individuals granted as...

garlic (allium sativum l.) as one of the most valuable industrial and pharmaceutical plants has been studied from many aspects because of its importance. but there is not any sufficient and reliable information about its distribution and classification. so its types are categorized according to traditional, local or geographical names or some visual traits. the most important reason is the ster...

BACKGROUND Evidences are suggesting that DNA damage is implicated in development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Therefore we focused on two common XRCC1 polymorphisms (Arg399Gln and Arg194Trp) in SLE susceptibility in South East of Iran. METHODS Peripheral blood DNA was extracted from 163 SLE patients and 180 healthy controls. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method was us...

Background. Screening of children who are household contacts of tuberculosis (TB) cases is universally recommended but rarely implemented in TB endemic setting. This paper aims to summarise published data of the prevalence of TB infection and disease among child contacts in South East Asia. Methods. Search strategies were developed to identify all published studies from South East Asia of house...

a World Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi, India. b Department of Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments, World Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi, India. Correspondence to Jai P Narain (email: [email protected]) The South-East Asia (SEA) Region of the World Health Organization (WHO), home to 26% of the world popul...