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The association between glucose intolerance and high altitudes (2900-4900m) was clarified in Tibetan highlanders. The hypothesis was verified that dwelling at high altitudes have vulnerability to diabetes accelerated by lifestyle change or aging. 1258 subjects (40-87 years) were examined; farmers in Domkhar (2900-3800m), nomads in Haiyan, Ryuho, and Changthang (3000-4800m), and urban dwellers in Leh and Jiegu (3300-3700m). The prevalence of glucose intolerance was higher in urban dwellers and in farmers compared with nomads. Dwelling at a higher altitude was significantly associated with fasting hyperglycemia (odds ratios for >4500 and 3500-3999m were 3. 59 and 2. 07 vs 1.0 ; <3500m) by multiple logistic regression analysis with adjustment of age, sex, and confounding factors. Further hypoxemia and polycythemia were closely associated with glucose intolerance. Socioeconomic factors, hypoxemia, and the effects of altitudes over 3500m play a major role in the high prevalence of glucose intolerance in highlanders. Tibetan highlanders may be vulnerable to glucose intolerance, with polycythemia as a sign of poor hypoxic adaptation, accelerated by lifestyle change and aging.

Regional development in Eastern Himalaya has been progressed by the Indian government since 1940s. Geographical documents of this region focused more on the traditional culture than on the development policies and their impacts on the communities. This paper aims to depict the local experience of regional development in eastern Himalaya from the oral history of the elderly people in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Mr. Toko Riba at Deed village in Lower Subansiri District, Mr. Gunken Bagra at Doji village in West Siang District, Mr. Romga Durom at Ligu village in Upper Subansiri District remembered the detailed process of introducing paddy rice cultivation promoted by Indian government since 1940s. The three informants narrated that the high-yield rice variety led the people to start paddy rice cultivation, and that they have developed their original cultivation techniques after several decades of trial and errors. The record on oral history of regional development will be useful in considering the future perspective of local governance and cultural conservation.

The prevalence of hypertension in 2800 people in Ladakh was studied cross-sectionally from 2007 to 2011. We found 37.0% crude prevalence rate in the total subjects. The associated factors with hypertension were aging, overweight, dwelling at higher altitude, engagement in modernized sedentary occupation, and rural-to-urban migration. There was the interaction of both altitude and lifestyle change for the effect of hypertension.

The prevalence of hypertension in 2800 people in Ladakh was studied cross-sectionally from 2007 to 2011. We found 37.0% crude prevalence rate in the total subjects. The associated factors with hypertension were aging, overweight, dwelling at higher altitude, engagement in modernized sedentary occupation, and rural-to-urban migration. There was the interaction of both altitude and lifestyle change for the effect of hypertension.

This paper reports the ways of plant resource use and management in Arunachal Pradesh which harbors a diversity of biological resources along an altitudinal gradient in the eastern Himalaya. In the tropical forest below 900 m and the sub-tropical forest between 900 m and 1800 m, swidden cultivators and paddy rice cultivators collected flower buds of cardamom and wild bananas, leaves and fruits of Zanthoxylum trees and leaves of Urticaceae and Verbenaceae herbs as vegetables and spices, and utilized a variety of bamboos and rattans as the materials for handicrafts. In the temperate broadleaf forest between 1800 m and 2800 m, local people covered the upland fields with the fallen leaves of deciduous oak tree for weed control and soil improvement, protected the wild stands of walnut, persimmon and oleaster for their edible fruits, and consumed the local tea made of the leaves of wild Rubiaceae and Loranthaceae tree. In the temperate coniferous forest between 2800 m and 3500 m and sub-alpine vegetation above 3500 m, pastoral people utilized fir tree as timber, Rhododendron as firewood, Rosaceae berries as fruits, whereas livestock fed on grasses and sedges as well as leaves of oak and maple trees. Taking advantage of the recent trend in re-evaluating the local natural resources, traditional knowledge and technique were preferably utilized in silkworm breeding in the lowland, natural dyeing and weaving in the mid-altitude land, and medicinal and aromatic plant collection in highland. It is necessary to record and share the local ecological knowledge through the collaboration among researchers, local villagers and policy makers for plant resource management in Asia.

Dirang Circle locates in the west of Arunachal Pradesh, north East part of India. Monpa ethnic people live there. Monpa ethnic is classified into two groups having different life styles. One group is mainly nomad, Brokpa. The another group is mainly agriculturist, Unpa. Brokpa people live at more than about 3000m altitude in mountains of Arunachal Pradesh. They go to higher mountain to do stock farming during summer seasons and live at their village (lower altitude) during winter season. Whereas, the Unpa people live at about 1500-2500m altitude, and settle in house and do farming throughout the year. Health check up was carried out two times (November 2009 and August 2010) in 6 places of Dirang Circle. 109 Brokpa and 174 Unpa people joined in the health check up. We investigated correlation between SBP (Systolic Blood Pressure) and age in Bropka and Unpa. As the results, we found significant correlation between SBP and age both in Brokpa (r=0.36, p<0.01) and in Unpa (r=0.32, p<0.001). It is postulated that the rise of blood pressure with advancing age, observed in the great majority of the groups, is a consequence of modernization. Although Brokpa and Unpa people appear to continue traditional life style now, however, it is supposed that so-called traditional lifestyle might be gradually changing with the effect of global modernization as the correlation between age and SBP both in Brokpa and in Unpa people had suggested.

It has recently been reported from all over the world that the invasion of alien plants causes a negative impact on agricultural production and natural environment. This paper clarified the distribution, spreading route and impact of alien plants, and argued the way of management against their invasion in the Himalaya-Tibetan Highland. The dominant alien plants growing along the main roads in Arunachal Pradesh were water hyacinth, Mikania micrantha, Eupatorium odoratum below the altitude of 1600m, and Eupatorium adenophorum, Galinsoga quadriradiata, dandelion above the altitude of 1600m. Solanum carolinense, Ageratum conyzoides, Bidens pilosa var. minor also grew in the land with wide range of altitude. Among 24 alien plants recorded in Dirang, 20 species were found at roadsides. Although homestead, agricultural field and grassland also harbored several species, there were no ones in waterside and forest. Through the field survey since 2007, a total of 32 alien plant species were recorded at Arunachal Pradesh, 8 species at Ladakh, 9 species at Qinghai Province. The species recorded at Arunachal Pradesh were mostly originated in Central and South America, whereas the ones at Ladakh and Qinghai Province were mostly originated in Europe. It is suggested that the alien plants intruded into Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet, Assam and Myanmar through trading activities between Assam and Tibet, road construction after the independence of India in 1947, and the World War Second. Eupatorium odoratum, Ageratum conyzoides, Eupatorium adenophorum, Mikania micrantha were the noxious weeds in agricultural fields as well as degrading the growth of native useful plants. On the other hand, the leaf of Ageratum conyzoides was used as medicine, and the young shoot of Crassocephalum crepidioides was eaten as vegetable. It is necessary to analyze the spreading route and impact of alien plants for preparing measures against their invasion in Arunachal Pradesh. However, considering that veget

Dirang Circle located the east part of Arunachal Pradesh north East part of India. Monpa tribe lives there. Monpa tribe is classified into two tribe, one is a Brokpa, the other one is Unpa. Brokpa is Nomads. They live at about 3000m and over altitude and do farming in higher mountain during summer season and live in their own village during winter season. Unpa is agricultural people. They live at about 2000m altitude and settle in house and farming whole year. Unpa people grow rice, corn, buckwheat and vegetables. Their life-style is very different. But both Brokpa and Unpa peoples cherish the time they spend with family. In Monpa erea, Tibetan Buddhism has an important role. When the puja is taken in Gompa 2 or 3 times a month, many elderly come to Gompa. Everyone enjoy listening rama's word, talking with friends and family, and taking lunch that was cooked by themselves and share it with friends. Gonpa is place of exchange. Good traditional system and local knowledge exist in Monpa's life. We may find the key for solving problems of medical care for elderly, environmental issues.

Elderly highlanders have had long-term adaptation to the harsh environment of hypoxia and low food resources; however, rapid changes in life styles associated with the progress of global modernization and urbanization might overwhelm high altitude adaptation with lifestyle-related diseases and the change of ageing in elderly highlanders in Himalaya/Tibet. Worthy of study is the question of whether elderly highlanders who have had evolutionary adaptation to hypoxic environments are vulnerable to lifestyle-related diseases associated with globalism.

Aim: To investigate the association of comprehensive health of elderly highlanders in Qinghai in China with biological and cultural adaptation to hypoxic environment. Methods: Activities of daily living (ADL), screening-based depression, quality of life (QOL) and checking-up of metabolic syndrome including community-based oral glucose tolerance test were assessed in 393 community-dwelling elderly subjects in Haiyuan and 219 Tibetan highlanders in YuShyu. Results: Tibetan elderly highlanders were more disabled in ADL, but had higher QOL than Han elderly ones in Haiyuan. Blood pressure measurements, rate of hypertension and hemoglobin concentrations in Tibetan elderly highlanders were lower than Han ones in Haiyuan. Despite of lower ADLs, subjective QOLs in Tibenatn elderly was higher than Han elderly in Haiyuan. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome was higher and scores in ADL was lower in Tibetan elderly in YuShyu than those in Haiyuan. Conclusion: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in elderly highlanders in Haiyuan was not still high even now, however, that in YuShyu was increasing. Further investigation on physiological adaptability to hypoxic environment and human ageing phenomena in global context may open new research frontier for ageing science.

The health problem in Ladakh in India was reviewed. There were the problems on hypertension, stroke, gastric cancer associated with poverty and low intake of vegetable, pneumoconiosis, and silicosis. Now, rapid lifestyle changes with socio-economic globalization are occurring and effects will be prominent. The influence of changing lifestyles on these diseases and quality of life in the elderly should be studied from interdisciplinary and comprehensive perspectives, including medicine, geography, agriculture, anthropology, meteorology, ecology and economics.

Domkhar consists of three villages located in the northwestern part of Ladakh, at altitudes between 2900 and 4000 meters above sea level. We visited there in July, 2008 and conducted medical check-ups for the elderly and interviewed with them. About 73% of elderly residents over 60 years old who took our medical checkups had blood pressures of 140/90 mmHg or higher. Knee pain was the most common symptom supposed to be associated with heavy physical activities in the mountain. The average arterial blood oxygen saturation was 91.4±3.6 % among males and 88.7±4.8 % among females. The average hemoglobin level was 15.9±2.8 g/dl among males and 13.9±2.9 g/dl among females. Three out of 17 residents had a casual blood sugar 140 mg/dl or more. The average subjective quality of life (QOL) measured by visual analogue scale was 52.7±18.0 in health, 82.2±10.0 in family relationship, 82.7±9.9 in friendship, 62.4±21.3 in economics and 69.4±19.0 in happiness. We should pay more attention to the impact of changing lifestyle and environments on prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases and QOL in the elderly in highland worlds.

There was the close association of polycythemia with life-style related diseases (high blood pressure and glucose intolerance) in high-altitude elderly people. Han people had higher hemoglobin concentration after adjustment of age, sex and life-style related diseases compared with Tibetan people. The difference of hemoglobin concentration may be due to Tibetans undergoing a much longer period of adaptation than Han people. The further and longitudinal study may be needed to disclose the association between the different ways of hypoxic adaptation with susceptibility to life-style related diseases. It should be also disclosed that how life-style related diseases would aggravate the risk of CMS. The prevention of life-style related diseases may be important for the prevention of CMS in highlanders. We have reported that subjective quality of life of elderly highlanders is higher in spite of having more disorders and they have characteristic sense of value compared with that of the elderly population in Japan. There may be characteristic" wisdom of the aged", i.e. wisdom for the sustainable livelihood, sense of value with high quality of life and community-networks for supporting and respecting elderly people in the harsh high-altitude environments. "Wisdom of the aged" will be studied further in various perspectives.

Himalayan vegetation has attracted worldwide interests for long time. This paper describes the old trend and future perspective of the studies on the vegetation in northeast India, an easternmost part of Himalayan region, where the authors visited in July and August 2007. The early studies on the vegetation in northeast India were mainly conducted from the viewpoints of ecology, agronomy, and ethnobotany. Those early studies mostly focused on the vegetation of protected forests or shifting cultivation fields. The trend of the early studies seemed to reflect the old paradigm on nature conservation, which insisted "untouched virgin wilderness" should be protected from destructive human activities such as shifting cultivation. On the other hand, field observation and interview in the state of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in northeast India showed that "human-managed vegetation" harbored multiple plant resources. For example, at the grazing lands for yak rearing created by cutting Abies forest at 3500m a.s.l. near Bhutan, various alpine plants grew and some of them had use for local livelihoods. In addition, deciduous Quercus forest at 2000m a.s.l. around Dilang was managed by local people in order to collect the fallen leaves used as organic fertilizers in upland fields. Furthermore, paddy field vegetation near Ziro and Kohima played important roles in local diet, soil improvement, and protection of paddy dikes. Thus, "human-managed vegetation" in northeast India has importance in terms of both local livelihoods and plant resources management, and will be paid more attention to in the future studies.