South Southeast Asia Research Articles

DDTs, PCBs and PBDEs contamination in Africa, Latin America and South-southeast Asia—a review

Levels of polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its degradation products (DDTs) in the environment (ambient air, soil and aquatic mammals) and in humans from the developing regions (Africa, Latin America, and South-southeast Asia) are reviewed. Higher DDTs levels in certain parts of the developing regions due to agricultural applications and disease control measures are evident. The data however do not indicate higher levels of PCBs and PBDEs in the developing regions compared to developed countries. We also compared globally the levels of these chemicals in human milk sampled since year 2000. Human milk data again showed higher DDTs levels in the developing regions. For PBDEs, though current levels in human milk from the developing regions do not exceed levels found in the developed countries, data suggest the levels of PBDEs in the developing regions may be on the rise.

Laboratory Profile, Predictors of Severity and Factors Involved in Adverse Outcome in Pediatric Snake Envenomation in North Indian Tertiary Care Hospital: An Observational Study

Snake bite is a common life-threatening condition in many tropical countries. The highest burden of snakebites is in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Among these, India has the highest incidence of mortality from snakebite annually. Children are more prone for severe envenomation and complication due to lesser body surface area. This study was aimed at analyzing predictors of severity and factors involved in adverse outcome in pediatric snake envenomation. A descriptive evaluation for outcome determinants of snake envenomation was carried out based on a clinico – laboratory severity grading scale, among 60 out of 71 patients with envenomation in a tertiary care hospital in northern India from January 2008 to December 2013. Analysis was done using SPSS 17 trial version. Student t-test (unpaired), chi square tests, analysis of variance, coefficient of correlation and logistic regression were used to find out the predictors. Predictors associated with adverse outcome were neurotoxic envenomation, absence of local envenomation and cardiovascular involvement (OR 76.66, 95% CI (6.65-883.23), p value 0.001). Leucocytosis (pvalue<0.07), thrombocytopenia (p value<0.05), prolonged 20 minute clotting time (p value 0.008) were associated with severe envenomation and hence more complications. There was a relationship between grade of envenomation and the length of hospitalization (p=0.04), a shorter duration of hospital stay being associated with poor outcome (OR 0.425, 95% CI (0.212- 0.851), p value 0.02). So in order to reduce the mortality from snake bite, it is important for the patient to reach the hospital as early as possible so as to get timely and appropriate treatment with anti-snake venom to prevent the development or progression of complications.

From ASPAC to EAS: South Korea and Southeast Asia

: South Korea's diplomatic and security focus has inevitably been on northeast Asia and its difficult relationship with its northern neighbour, but South Korea also has a role to play in the broader Asian Pacific region. This article analyzes South Korea's increasing economic, political, and cultural links with the wider region, in particular with Southeast Asia, and its role in the development of Asian Pacific regionalism. Utilizing the concept of “middle power,” it argues that, while clearly South Korea cannot ignore what is happening in its immediate geographical environment of North-east Asia, it does have the economic and political resources to enable it to take advantage of the opportunities for greater interactions with other parts of the Asian Pacific region, particularly Southeast Asia, if the political will exists.

Achievements of the FIGO Initiative for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion and its Consequences in South-Southeast Asia

Since 2008, the FIGO Initiative for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion and its Consequences has contributed to ensuring the substitution of sharp curettage by manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medical abortion in selected hospitals in participating countries of South-Southeast Asia. This initiative facilitated the registration of misoprostol in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the approval of mifepristone for “menstrual regulation” in Bangladesh. The Pakistan Nursing Council agreed to include MVA and medical abortion in the midwifery curriculum. The Bangladesh Government has approved the training of nurses and paramedics in the use of MVA to treat incomplete abortion in selected cases. The Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in collaboration with partners, has presented a draft petition to the relevant authorities appealing for them to liberalize the abortion law in cases of rape and incest or when lethal congenital abnormalities are present. Significantly, the initiative has introduced or strengthened the provision of postabortion contraception.

Introducing the International System(s) Dataset (ISD), 1816–2011

We argue that the Correlates of War dataset on sovereign state membership has two weaknesses: a requirement that states maintain diplomatic relations with Britain and France, and a size inconsistency that disqualifies many mid-sized states in the pre-1920 period. As a consequence, entire state systems are excluded from the data, and the total number of states during the nineteenth century is undercounted. After reviewing two other approaches to identifying states, we offer an alternative set of criteria that identifies 100 completely new cases, and a total of 363 states between 1816 and 2011. These modifications reveal several previously overlooked patterns. Most importantly, the global trend in the number of states over time is concave. From a high of 134 in 1816, states declined precipitously in the mid-nineteenth century through the processes of accession, conquest, and unification. This pattern of state consolidation bottomed out in 1912, and states have proliferated since 1945. However, the pattern of state death and state birth varied by region in the nineteenth century. Whereas the state systems of South Asia and Southeast Asia experienced a steady reduction in the number of states, Africa underwent a more dynamic process of state formation, consolidation, and death.

Tales From the Sea: Critical Care Nurses Serving Aboard the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy

During the springs and summers of 2009 to 2012, military and nongovernment organization nurses served side by side on hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy to offer free humanitarian clinical services to developing nations in Central and South America and Southeast Asia. Translators were engaged to facilitate communication on shore and off. Host nation patients came on board for prearranged surgery and then were returned to land within a few days for follow-up care with local clinicians. Nurses had opportunities to go onshore to assist in clinics, teach as subject matter experts, or participate in construction/remodeling projects. Weather and other environmental conditions influenced the availability and services of the ships, which could also be deployed to provide support for global disaster relief. Professional and personal preparedness and flexibility were essential for operational effectiveness. The authors, both critical care nurses, learned many lessons in teamwork, education, and life at sea. Readers are encouraged to consider the challenges, hard work, and vast rewards of hospital ship service.

Patterns of Maternal Tobacco Use Among Cambodian Women

Although current trends indicate that the rate of cigarette smoking tends to be low among women in the Western Pacific Region (<10%), recent epidemiologic data from South Asia (India, Bangladesh) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia) identify that a large proportion of women of reproductive age and older chew tobacco--often as part of a betel quid mixture that includes other potentially harmful ingredients (eg, areca nut). Our findings from currently pregnant women identified during a nationwide survey of adult tobacco use in Cambodia indicate that 13.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8% to 17%) were current users of smoked or smokeless (in the form of a betel quid) tobacco. Most pregnant women who used tobacco indicated that their habit was either initiated (29.1%; 95% CI = 16.3-46.3) or increased (33.7%; 95% CI = 18.3-53.5) during pregnancy. Pregnancy-related symptoms such as morning sickness were reported as the reason for more than half (54.9%; 95% CI = 34.8-73.4) of the currently pregnant users to have started a tobacco habit during their lifetime. Among those pregnant women who did not use tobacco, we found strong associations (odds ratios from 2 to 14) with beliefs about the harmful effects of tobacco on adult health, faith-based beliefs in addictive substances, and beliefs that influential members of the community, health professionals, and children should not use tobacco. Our findings indicate that tobacco cessation and prevention programs in Cambodia should specifically target pregnant and reproductive-age women.

South Asia and South-East Asia: new paths of African footballer migration

Today, playing football can be considered a global practice, a universal reference that transcends cultures and nations. Football players’ global mobility exhibits some aspects of the worldwide dimension of the culture of the game. Quantitative data (along with academic analysis and studies of the contemporary migration) rank Africa as the third-largest exporter of footballers. Such data explain the magnitude of the exodus and the migratory routes in light of Africa’s colonial history and world economic disparities. Although the colonial and neocolonial approaches to analysing the migration of African footballers remain valid, Asian trajectories of the African players’ migrations have emerged and suggest different frames of analysis. This article (after reviewing African football migration factors, such as the colonial connections and the ‘push and pull’ factor) examines the particularities and the impact that the Asian paths of migration have had on the emergence of the semi-peripheral football economy located in South Asia and South-East Asia.

Exportações e inovação: uma análise para América Latina e Sul-Sudeste da Ásia

The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of Latin America and South-Southeast Asia countries over the past three decades with respect to technological intensity of their exports. The main contribution of this paper is to construct an indicator of technological intensity to allow adequate measurement of the degree of knowledge content of exports from both regions. This indicator was calculated for all sample countries for the period 1983-2008, based on data from Comtrade/WITS and clearly show how Asian countries have a technological intensity of their exports much higher than the Latin American countries.

A new host record and a new combination in Cotesia Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from India

Cotesia tiracolae (=Apanteles tiracolae), new combination proposed, is redescribed and illustrated. It is recorded as a larval parasitoid of Phaedyma columella (Cramer) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) feeding on the host plant Grewia tiliifolia Vahl from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. This is the first record of larval parasitism associated with P. columella from India. P. columella, the Short Banded Sailer, is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The present study also represents host range extension of the parasitoid C. tiracolae to Nymphalidae.

Biogeographical and palaeoclimate appraisal of mangrove vegetation in South Asia and Southeast Asia in the post Himalayan uplift scenario

Fossil evidence indicates that mangrove species have had their first appearance in the Late Cretaceous(70 65 Ma) and they have evolved around the Tethys seaway after the plate tectonics and the movement of the continents when Tethys Sea was fast closing as the massive continental fragments continued to shift and jostle across the globe. The oldest geological record of Acrostichum and Nypa palm offers good examples as these species prefer low-salinity requirements and have wide ecological tolerance. Such environmental and habitat preferences must have been the probable reason for their initial adaptation to mangrove habitat and a wider distribution. The open sea link must have also provided enough coastal areas for the establishment of mangrove ecosystem and subsequent spreading of the mangroves into newer areas by Early to Middle Eocene(ca 50–40 Ma). However,the mangroves started acquiring the present geographical positions towards OligoceneMiddle Miocene period. The fossil record and the modern analogues of Kandelia,Nypa and Pelliciera indicate that their biogeographical preferences have been shifted due to oceanic reorganization wherein the latter is now confined only to Atlantic East Pacific mangrove realm despite it was earlier widespread in the Tethys Sea. Although Rhizophora and Avicennia differ only at the species level and common occurrence of Acrostichum aureum,the present mangrove distribution shows the contrast in the biogeography of many genera due to geomorphic barriers and climatic changes. The Himalayan uplift and establishment of Asian summer monsoon system towards Late Neogene has also affected the coastal dynamics considerably which in turn modified the distribution of mangrove vegetation of the Indian subcontinent. The loss of sensitive habitats,disjunct distribution of a few species and local extinction of significant taxa has affected the overall biogeography of mangroves in South and SE Asia.

Eco-bio-social research on dengue in Asia: a multicountry study on ecosystem and community-based approaches for the control of dengue vectors in urban and peri-urban Asia

This article provides an overview of methods and cross-site insights of a 5-year research and capacity building initiative conducted between 2006 and 2011 in six countries of South Asia (India, Sri Lanka) and South-East Asia (Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand).The initiative managed an interdisciplinary investigation of ecological, biological, and social (i.e., eco-bio-social) dimensions of dengue in urban and peri-urban areas, and developed community-based interventions aimed at reducing dengue vector breeding and viral transmission. The multicountry study comprised interdisciplinary research groups from six leading Asian research institutions. The groups conducted a detailed situation analysis to identify and characterize local eco-bio-social conditions, and formed a community-of-practice for EcoHealth research where group partners disseminated results and collaboratively developed site-specific intervention tools for vector-borne diseases. In sites where water containers produced more than 70% of Aedes pupae, interventions ranged from mechanical lid covers for containers to biological control. Where small discarded containers presented the main problem, groups experimented with solid waste management, composting and recycling schemes. Many intervention tools were locally produced and all tools were implemented through community partnership strategies. All sites developed socially and culturally appropriate health education materials. The study also mobilised and empowered women’s, students’ and community groups and at several sites organized new volunteer groups for environmental health. The initiative’s programmes showed significant impact on vector densities in some sites. Other sites showed varying effect — partially attributable to the ‘contamination’ of control groups — yet led to significant outcomes at the community level where local groups united around broad interests in environmental hygiene and sanitation. The programme’s findings are relevant for defining efficient, effective and ecologically sound vector control interventions based on local evidence and in accordance with WHO’s strategy for integrated vector management.

Volume 4: South Asia and Southeast Asia

Volume 4: South Asia and Southeast Asia

Asian Human Rights Mechanism: Problems and Prospects

The Asian continent can be divided into four basic regions, The South Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East Asia and The Commonwealth of Independent nations. The nation which comes under the Middle East Asia falls under “Arab system of human rights.” The Commonwealth of Independent states are the countries which got segregated from the former USSR. Most of these commonwealth countries still lack a proper governmental setup and the possibility of having a human rights mechanism in this region is a distant dream. Although in the region of South Asia and Southeast Asia, a sincere effort has been made to achieve a common human rights mechanism, but the results were not very fruitful. In this paper we will try to look into the problems for not having a common human rights mechanism for this part of the sub-continent and will also try to apprehend the future of this region if we succeed to achieve a common human rights mechanism in this region.

The phylogeographic system survey of native sheep breeds in the eastern and southern Central Asia

The genetic diversity and phylogenetic survey of native sheep breeds in the eastern and southern Central Asia were assessed in the present study. The clustering, principal components, structure and F statistics all demonstrate that the native sheep breeds in these regions be classified into two genetic groups: Mongolia-Tibetan sheep group and South-Southeast Asia sheep group. The Mongolia sheep group and the Tibetan sheep group had a certain degree of gene communication from the ancient times. In the present study we demonstrated that the Chinese native sheep populations belonged to Mongolia-Tibetan sheep group. However, the relationships among the sheep populations in Mongolia sheep group in China were not closely related to the geographical distance among sheep populations.

Nuclear-weapon-free zone initiatives: challenges and opportunities for regional cooperation on non-proliferation

The successful 2006 negotiation of the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (CANWFZ) Treaty indicates the continuing relevance of regional denuclearization measures as an important element in global non-proliferation strategies. Following on earlier nuclear-weapon-free zones in Latin America, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa, the CANWFZ is the first to be wholly located in the Northern hemisphere. Such zones face major challenges, including the existence of major regional conflicts, regional proliferation developments, lack of effective regional organizations in some regions for negotiating cooperative security arrangements, and difficulties in securing negative security guarantees from nuclear weapon states. Despite in-principle support to such zones, the nuclear powers, with the exception of China, have been highly selective in giving security guarantees to specific zones, with only two zones (Latin America and South Pacific) securing guarantees from most of the nuclear states. Nuclear weapon states are continuing to put their own military navigation, transit or deployment interests ahead of the non-proliferation benefits flowing from whole regions making binding agreements not to develop, acquire or possess nuclear weapons. New opportunities for nuclear-weapon-free zone establishment may be found in a return to multilateralist approaches with the advent of the US Obama Administration, current regional negotiations, and the role of middle level powers in mobilizing international support for nuclear-weapon-free zone initiatives, including further conferences of nuclear-weapon-free zone member countries. Proposed steps forward include: nuclear weapon state reviews of the current non-proliferation benefits of nuclear-weapon-free zones; commissioning of a new UN Experts' Study on nuclear-weapon-free zones; regional studies of the human, economic and climatic impact of nuclear war; and renewed regional nuclear-weapon-free zone efforts to establish new zones and strengthen existing zones.

Building Exposure Biology Centers to Put the E into “G × E” Interaction Studies

Building Exposure Biology Centers to Put the E into “G × E” Interaction Studies

Madrasa education in South Asia and Southeast Asia: current issues and debates

Madaris (plural of madrasa) face a multitude of challenges in preparing students for life in rapidly modernising societies and emerging globalised knowledge economies. The complexity of the role and tasks of madaris, which are caught in the interface of modernity and tradition, the challenges they face, and the strategies they develop to address these challenges, suggest the need for a very cautious approach when attaining a clear picture of madrasa education and making conclusive statements about them. The literature has contributed more to confusion than clarity about the number of madaris, their rationale, purpose, pedagogy, curricula, funding, administration, relations with the state, and global violence. This paper presents an account of current debates of madrasa education and reform focusing on madaris within the diverse Sunni schools of thought and denominations located across South Asia and Southeast Asia. Based on an extensive review and analysis of over 90 articles, an overview of madrasa education and an examination of the issues and challenges facing Islamic schools that struggle to uphold tradition, and those that have begun to embrace modernisation and integration in the global process of change is given. The extent that some Islamic education systems are willing to collaborate with non-Muslims and in the process potentially enrich their circle of interest while engaging with the rest of the world in dialogue offers promising glimpses and a sense of hope for religious-based education in Muslim communities in the 21st century.

Environmental significance of snowpit chemistry in the typical monsoonal temperate glacier region, Baishui glacier no. 1, Mt Yulong, China

Samples were collected from two snowpits in Baishui glacier no. 1, Mt Yulong, China, in May 2006. Snowpit chemistry was studied, using ion tracer techniques, HYSPLIT model, factor analysis, correlation and trend analysis. It indicated that total cation concentration is higher in 4,900-m snowpit than in 4,750-m snowpit, whereas total anion concentration is higher in 4,750-m snowpit. Cations, especially Ca2+, dominate ionic concentrations in Baishui glacier no. 1. According to correlation analysis and factor analysis, ions can be categorized as follows: Cl− and NO3− as Group 1, SO42− as Group 2, Mg2+ and Ca2+ as Group 3, Na+ as Group 4, K+ as Group 5. Contribution made by terrestrial dust to ionic concentration accounts for 52.27, 100, 99.36, 98.91, 96.16 and 99.97% of Cl−, NO3−, SO42−, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+, respectively, in 4,900-m snowpit, and for 64.00, 100, 99.57, 98.63, 96.25 and 99.97% in 4,750-m snowpit. Local dust is the principal source of snowpit chemical components. Pollutants brought from industrial areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and South China by monsoonal circulation also makes some contribution to anion concentrations, but pollution associated with human activities makes a very slight contribution in study area. The chemical characteristics of two snowpits are different owing to the difference of deposition mechanism and local environment in different altitudes.

Indigenous Culture and Architecture in the South Pacific Region

Through an analysis of over 100 papers presented at conferences of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand and published in its journal Fabrications, this retrospective study examines the development of architectural history and theory within SAHANZ, with reference to the indigenous cultures of the South Pacific and South-East Asia regions. Over the last 25 years, SAHANZ researchers have departed from a Eurocentric preoccupation with the region's historiography to a broadening set of cross-cultural themes that move beyond commentary about the influences of these indigenous groups on transported colonial architectural styles from the 1800s, to more complex issues about the representation of indigenous cultural identity in contemporary architecture, and the processes of cultural change and transforming Indigenous architectural traditions. Gradual infusion of contributions from disciplines such as architectural anthropology, cultural studies, history, political science and fine arts into the debate has culminated in a sustained revision of what architecture is in the South Pacific and how cross-cultural theory may serve the region's architectural production in a socially and environmentally appropriate manner, reflecting the ongoing presence and cultural significance of the first peoples.