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Background: South and South-East Asian countries report a great liability for the world's road traffic injuries (RTIs) and deaths. A vast number of research studies tested various interventions including specific protective devices to prevent accidents, but no review papers have been conducted to find out the prevalence of RTIs in South-East and South Asian countries. Objective: This review paper was an attempt to find out the prevalence of RTIs and their associated factors in South-East and South Asian countries. Methods: Following the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), we searched the articles in the electronic databases of PubMed/Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, ProQuest, and Web of Science. Articles were selected if they reported the prevalence of RTI, or road traffic accident (RTA) deaths. In addition, a data quality assessment was done. Results: Out of the 10,818 article hits from the literature search, ten articles found the eligibility and inclusion criteria. Most of the studies reported that males are involved in the RTIs more than females. The male mortality rate is more than the female mortality in RTI mortality. Young adult males are the major victims when compared with the different age groups of male victims. Two-wheelers are the major contributors to the accident rate. Religious or national festivals are not free from accident-prone times. Climatic seasons and nighttime have a major influence on the RTIs. RTIs are increasing due to the sudden and huge increase in the number of motor vehicles and the development of cities and towns. Conclusion: Accidents are non-predictable but controllable disasters in society. Overspeeding, bad conditions on road, the vulnerability of the vehicles, and careless driving are the major reported reasons for RTIs. Making and implementing strict laws can help us to control RTAs. The major effect on the reduction of RTI can be assured only with the presence of responsible people. That can be achieved only by creating awareness in society about traffic rules and responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Up to 1.45 billion people currently suffer from soil transmitted helminth infection, with the largest burden occurring in Africa and Asia. Safe and cost effective deworming treatment exists, but there is a debate about mass distribution of this treatment in high prevalence settings. While the World Health Organization recommends mass administration of anthelmintic drugs for preschool and school-aged children in high (>20%) prevalence settings, and several long run follow up studies of an influential trial have suggested large benefits that persist over time, recent systematic reviews have called this recommendation into question. Methods and findings: This paper analyzes the long-term impact of a cluster-randomized trial in eastern Uganda that provided mass deworming treatment to preschool aged children from 2000 to 2003 on the numeracy and literacy skills of children and young adults living in those villages in 2010-2015. This study uses numeracy and literacy data collected seven to twelve years after the end of the deworming trial in a randomly selected subset of communities from the original trial, by an education-focused survey that had no relationship to the deworming study. Building on an earlier working paper which used data from 2010 and 2011 survey rounds, this paper uses an additional four years of numeracy and literacy data (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015). Aggregating data from all survey rounds, the difference between numeracy scores in treatment versus control communities is 0.07 standard deviations (SD) (95% CI -0.10, 0.24, p = 0.40), the difference in literacy scores is 0.05 SD (95% CI -0.16, 0.27, p = 0.62), and the difference in total scores is 0.07 SD (95% CI -0.11, 0.25, p = 0.44). There are significant differences in program impact by gender, with numeracy and literacy differentially positively affected for girls, and by age, with treatment effects larger for the primary school aged subsample. There are also significant treatment interactions for those living in households with more treatment-eligible children. There is no evidence of differential treatment effects on age at program eligibility or number of years of program eligibility. Conclusions: Mass deworming of preschool aged children in high prevalence communities in Uganda resulted in no statistically significant gains in numeracy or literacy 7-12 years after program completion. Point estimates were positive but imprecise; the study lacked sufficient power to rule out substantial positive effects or more modest negative effects. However, there is suggestive evidence that deworming was relatively more beneficial for girls, primary school aged children, and children living in households with other treated children. Research approval: As this analysis was conducted on secondary data which is publicly available, no research approval was sought or received. All individual records were anonymized by the data provider prior to public release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Granitoids of the Uda complex are distributed within the southeastern marginal part of the Siberian craton and its folded framing. Geochemical, isotope (Nd, Sr), and geochronological (U–Pb ID TIMS) studies of two massifs (Chalbuk-Yakon and Uyan-Tavitchak) of this complex of the Dzhugdzhur Block of the Stanovoy suture were carried out; the results are presented in this paper. It is found that formation of these massifs took place in the Early Cretaceous (116 ± 1 Ma) in the geodynamic setting of lithospheric extension. The initial magma for these granitoids was formed from a mixed source: Early Precambrian lower crust and mantle, with a clear predominance of the crustal component. The granitoids of the Uda complex of the Dzhugdzhur block most likely represent the eastern end of the Udsko-Zeya (Stanovoy) post-collision magmatic belt, stretching for more than 1000 km along the southern framing of the Siberian craton parallel to the Mongol–Okhotsk suture zone and stitching various tectonic blocks of the northeastern part of the Central Asian fold belt. There is every reason to believe that, further to the west, the Udsko-Zeya (Stanovoy) belt passes into the West Transbaikal rift system, the formation of which took place in the interval of 170–110 Ma. In other words, it can be assumed that in the Mesozoic, in the southern framing of the Siberian craton, there was a giant unified rift system stretching for more than 2000 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Bangladesh Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) Elimination Programme has made significant progress in interrupting transmission through mass drug administration (MDA) and has now focussed its efforts on scaling up managing morbidity and preventing disability (MMDP) activities to deliver the minimum package of care to people affected by LF clinical conditions. This paper highlights the Bangladesh LF Programme’s success in conducting a large-scale cross-sectional survey to determine the number of people affected by lymphoedema and hydrocoele, which enabled clinical risk maps to be developed for targeted interventions across the 34 endemic districts (19 high endemic; 15 low endemic). Methodology/Principal findings: In the 19 high endemic districts, 8,145 community clinic staff were trained to identify and report patients in their catchment area. In the 15 low endemic districts, a team of 10 trained field assistants conducted active case finding with cases reported via a SMS mHealth tool. Disease burden and prevalence maps were developed, with morbidity hotspots identified at sub-district level based on a combination of the highest prevalence rates per 100,000 and case-density rates per square kilometre (km2). The relationship between morbidity and baseline microfilaria (mf) prevalence was also examined. In total 43,678 cases were identified in the 19 high endemic districts; 30,616 limb lymphoedema (70.1%; female 55.3%), 12,824 hydrocoele (29.4%), and 238 breast/female genital swelling (0.5%). Rangpur Division reported the highest cases numbers and prevalence of lymphoedema (26,781 cases, 195 per 100,000) and hydrocoele (11661 cases, 169.6 per 100,000), with lymphoedema predominately affecting females (n = 21,652). Rangpur and Lalmonirhat Districts reported the highest case numbers (n = 11,199), and prevalence (569 per 100,000) respectively, with five overlapping lymphoedema and hydrocoele sub-district hotspots. In the 15 low endemic districts, 732 cases were identified; 661 lymphoedema (90.2%; female 39.6%), 56 hydrocoele (7.8%), and 15 both conditions (2.0%). Spearman’s correlation analysis found morbidity and mf prevalence significantly positively correlated (r = 0.904; p<0.01). Conclusions/Significance: The Bangladesh LF Programme has developed one of the largest, most comprehensive country databases on LF clinical conditions in the world. It provides an essential database for health workers to identify local morbidity hotspots, deliver the minimum package of care, and address the dossier elimination requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bangladesh is one of the most anemia prone countries in South Asia. Children of age under five years and women of reproductive age are particularly vulnerable in this region. Although several studies have investigated the risk factors of anemia, only few have explored its association with malnutrition, despite its high prevalence in the same group. The objective of this paper is to investigate the association of malnutrition with anemia by conducting separate analyses for under-five children and women of reproductive age using data from the nationally representative 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Methods: Two binary outcome variables are considered separately: presence of anemia in children under five years of age (Hb<11.0 g/dl) and presence of anemia in women of childbearing age (Hb<12.0 g/dl). The exposures of interest corresponding to these two outcomes are stunting (low height-for-age) and low BMI (<18.5 kg/m2), respectively. Preliminary analysis involves estimating the association between exposure and outcome while controlling for a single confounder by computing adjusted odds ratios (adjOR) using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel approach in stratified analysis. Later, associations between the exposures and outcomes are estimated separately for under-five children and women of reproductive age by fitting multivariable regression models that adjust simultaneously for several confounders. Results: The prevalence of anemia is found to be higher among both the stunted children and women with low BMI compared to their healthy counterparts (Children: 56% vs 48%; women: 50% vs 43%). Furthermore, stunted children and women with low BMI have significantly increased odds of developing anemia, as reflected by the adjusted ORs of 1.76 (95% CI:1.10–2.83) and 1.81 (95% CI: 1.11–3.48), respectively. The association of stunting with anemia in children was modified by their age and socio-economic condition, where risk of being anemic decreases with increasing age but with a lower rate for stunted children from richest family. In addition, stunted children of anemic mothers are at greater risk of being anemic compared to non-stunted children of anemic or non-anemic mothers. Again the association between BMI and anemia in women is modified by the level of education, with risk of anemia being lowest among women with low BMI and higher education. Conclusion: Evidence–based policies targeting the vulnerable groups are required to combat anemia and nutritional deficiencies simultaneously under the same program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]