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Greater India's northern edge prior to collision with Asia is typically modelled as a rifted passive margin. We argue for a quite different geometry as a consequence of two tectonic episodes that happened sometime before the main impact. Whilst the western segment of India's northern boundary had formed in the Late Triassic as a rifted margin, the central and eastern portions developed between 132 and 110 Ma when the sub-continent separated from Australia-Antarctica as the inner wall of a dextral 'scything' transform fault along the Wallaby-Zenith Fracture Zone off western Australia. Key features would have been (i) the very narrow (20-30 km wide) ocean-continent transition zone marking the sub-continent's eastern northern boundary, and (ii) similar to the region offshore South Africa's Garden Route coast, Greater India's NE corner may have developed a series of 'perched' half grabens due to shearing related to its motion along the Wallaby-Zenith Fracture Zone, from initial break-up until it passed the Zenith Plateau ( ca. 110 Ma). Differences in the development of NW Greater India may be reflected in restriction of ultra-high pressure metamorphic rocks to the western Himalaya where late Paleocene subduction of the rifted passive margin occurred at sub-equatorial latitudes beneath the intra-Tethyan arc. Further east, where the margin developed along the scything transform, the continent-ocean boundary would have been more abrupt and probably less strongly welded. Ophiolite emplacement appears to have been penecontemporaneous along the margin. A subsequent slab break-off episode then eliminated the original plate boundary. Thereafter, remaining oceanic lithosphere north of the arc sutured to the sub-continent, albeit rather weakly, was consumed beneath Eurasia, culminating in India-Asia collision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is the most important factor limiting rice productivity in the rainfed areas of Asia. In this study, 48 pyramiding lines (PLs) and their recurrent parent, IR64, were evaluated over two years for their yield performances and related traits under severe drought stress at the reproductive stage (RS), the vegetative stage (VS) and irrigated control in order to understand the relationship between drought tolerance (DT) and yield potential (YP) in rice and their underlying mechanisms. When compared with IR64, all PLs had significantly improved DT to RS and 36 PLs also had significantly improved DT to VS. In addition, 17 PLs had higher YP than IR64 and the remaining 31 PLs had a similar YP IR64 under irrigated conditions. Detailed characterization of the PLs revealed three possible mechanisms that functioned together to contribute to their improved DT. The most important mechanism was dehydration avoidance (DA), characterized by significantly higher growth rate and biomass of all PLs than IR64 under stress and no reduction in biomass under control conditions. The second mechanism was efficient partitioning, characterized by improved harvest index in all PLs compared with IR64, resulting primarily from heavier grain weight and/or higher spikelet fertility under control conditions, which was the major constituent of the improved YP in the 17 best performing PLs. Drought escape (DE) by accelerated heading under drought was the third mechanism that contributed to DT of the PLs to RS. The considerable variation in the measured traits among the PLs with similar levels of DT and YP implies the complex genetic control of the mechanisms for DT/YP and offers opportunities to improve DT and YP further by fine-tuning of a small number of QTLs segregating among the PLs using MAS. Finally, our results indicate that selection for yield plus some secondary traits under appropriate type(s) of stress and non-stress conditions similar to the target environments are critically important for improving both DT and YP in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focuses on a study which assessed whether the traditional risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) apply to women of Asian origin. Subjects; Incidence of GDM; Recommendations for universal screening for GDM.

Key Message: The "Green Super Rice" (GSR) project aims to fundamentally transform crop production techniques and promote the development of green agriculture based on functional genomics and breeding of GSR varieties by whole-genome breeding platforms. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the leading food crops of the world, and the safe production of rice plays a central role in ensuring food security. However, the conflicts between rice production and environmental resources are becoming increasingly acute. For this reason, scientists in China have proposed the concept of Green Super Rice for promoting resource-saving and environment-friendly rice production, while still achieving a yield increase and quality improvement. GSR is becoming one of the major goals for agricultural research and crop improvement worldwide, which aims to mine and use vital genes associated with superior agronomic traits such as high yield, good quality, nutrient efficiency, and resistance against insects and stresses; establish genomic breeding platforms to breed and apply GSR; and set up resource-saving and environment-friendly cultivation management systems. GSR has been introduced into eight African and eight Asian countries and has contributed significantly to rice cultivation and food security in these countries. This article mainly describes the GSR concept and recent research progress, as well as the significant achievements in GSR breeding and its application.

Advances in genetic and genomic technology changed health-care services rapidly in low and middle income countries (LMICs) in the Asia-Pacific region. While genetic services were initially focused on population-based disease prevention strategies, they have evolved into clinic-based and therapeutics-oriented service. Many LMICs struggled with these noncommunicable diseases and were unprepared for the needs of a clinical genetic service. The emergence of a middle class population, the lack of regulatory oversight, and weak capacity-building in medical genetics expertise and genetic counseling services led to a range of genetic services of variable quality with minimal ethical oversight. Some of the current shortcomings faced include the lack of awareness of cultural values in genetic health care, the variable stages of socioeconomic development and educational background that led to increased demand and abuse of genetics, the role of women in society and the crisis of gender selection, the lack of preventive and care services for genetic and birth defects, the issues of gene ethics in medicine, and the lack of understanding of some religious controversies. These challenges provide opportunities for both developing and developed nations to work together to reduce the inequalities and to ensure a caring, inclusive, ethical, and cost-effective genetic service in the region.