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The South Asia is at the focus of Post 2015 developmental agenda primarily because of the largest concentration of poor population. Though the region is growing at the rate of 6% during past 20 years the inequalities are on rise. It is a major impediment in the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The glaring socioeconomically inequalities in the region call for major educational interventions in the region. Open and Distance Learning systems (ODL) have emerged as a viable option due to its potential to smooth out inequalities. However the growth of these systems has been largely uneven in the region. Whereas some of the countries have been able to develop world class capabilities to design and deliver such programmes, the smaller countries have little policy level sensitization on these matters. The Quality, Scope and Diversity of these programmes make them ideal option for Educational Diplomacy. Regional Cooperation based on ODL can help the South Asia to achieve SDGs. Such soft diplomatic initiatives will build "People to People Contacts", create workforce to Strengthen Trade, develop Mutual Appreciation and Trust in South Asian Communities. Further it will counter the hard diplomatic interventions of developed countries and balance the geopolitical environment of the South Asian region. This article evolves a perspective for networking of ODL institutions for meeting the emerging developmental needs and describes the issues which come across such a networking.

Background: Lumbar discectomy is performed for symptomatic lumbar disc herniation and is one of the most widely performed spinal surgical procedures worldwide in a variety of ways. This survey aimed at providing an overview/perspective of different practice patterns and the impact of lumbar discectomy on axial back pain with or without sciatica. Methods: An online survey was performed using the application “Google Forms.” The link to the questionnaire was distributed to neurosurgeons through personal E‑mail and social media platforms. Results: We received 333 responses. The largest percentage of responses across five continents was from Asia (66.97%, n = 223). The mean age of the respondents was 40.08 ± 10.5 years. A total of 66 respondents (20%) had a spine practice of 7%–90%, and 28 respondents had a spine practice of 90%–100% (8.4%). The number of respondents who practiced microscopic discectomy using a tubular retractor (n = 143 respondents, 42.9%) was nearly equal to the number of respondents who practiced open discectomy (n = 142 respondents, 42.6%). An almost equal proportion of respondents believed discectomy does not help in relieving axial back pain. Only 20.4% (n = 68) of respondents recommend bed rest for a longer duration postoperatively. Conclusions: Our survey revealed that only 22.2% of spine surgeons recommended discectomy in patients with radiological disc herniation with axial back pain alone and preferred a minimally invasive method of discectomy. Almost half of them believed discectomy to be ineffective for axial low back pain and only a few recommended prolonged bed rest postoperatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens Stål) is the most devastating pest of rice in Asia and causes significant yield loss annually. Around 37 BPH resistance genes have been identified so far in indica , African rice varieties along with wild germplasms such as Oryza officinalis , O. minuta , O. nivara , O. punctata , O. rufipogon and O. latifolia. Genes/QTLs involved in BPH resistance, including Bph1 , bph2/BPH26 , Bph3 , Bph6 , bph7 , BPH9 , Bph12 , Bph14 , Bph15 , Bph17 , BPH18 , bph19 , Bph20 , Bph21 (t), Bph27 , Bph27 (t), Bph28 (t), BPH29 , QBph3 , QBph4 , QBph4.2 , Bph30 , Bph32 , Bph33 , Bph35 and Bph36 , have been fine-mapped by different researchers across the globe. The majority of genes/QTLs are located on rice chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 6, 11 and 12. Rice plants respond to BPH attack by releasing various endogenous metabolites like proteinase inhibitors, callose, secondary metabolites (terpenes, alkaloids, flavonoid, etc.) and volatile compounds. Besides that, hormonal signal pathways mediating (antagonistic/synergistic) resistance responses in rice have been well studied. Marker-assisted breeding and genome editing techniques can also be adopted for improving resistance to novel BPH biotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the global financial crisis, European banks sharply contracted foreign claims on recipient economies. This paper examines the impact of that deleveraging on credit supply in recipient economies, with a particular focus on Asia. Identification is achieved by exploiting heterogeneity in the ex-ante patterns of funding reliance on different European banking systems, and in variation in the ratio of local claims in local currency to total foreign claims in recipient economies. These sources of variation are used to create instruments for the deleveraging shock. We find that the contraction of foreign claims in European bank was associated with a substantial reduction in domestic credit supply in a broad sample of countries. However, the credit supply response in Asia was only about half the size of the response in non-Asian countries, possibly due to stronger policy response and healthier local bank balance sheets in the Asian countries at the outset of the crisis.JEL Classifications: G01, G2, E3, E5 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychiatric practice faces many challenges in the first quarter of 21st century. Society has transformed, as have training requirements and patient expectations, underlining an urgent need to look at educational programmes. Meanwhile, awareness has grown around psychiatric disorders and there are evolving workforce trends, with more women going to medical school and specialising in psychiatry. Trainee psychiatrists carry different expectations for work-life balance and are increasingly becoming conscious of their own mental health. A tendency to see health as a commodity and the litigious nature of society has elicited additional pressures for healthcare professionals. Cartesian mind-body dualism has created further complexity and this can often be frustrating for patients and care-partners alike. In many cultures across Asia and beyond, patients can present with physical symptoms to express underlying psychological distress with increasing physical investigations. Simultaneously, in various countries, a shift from asylums to community-based interventions and then home treatments have changed psychiatric care in remarkable ways. These changes have added to pressures faced by mental healthcare professionals. However, trainees and other mental healthcare professionals continue to receive similar training as they did a generation ago. The tensions and differences in ideology/orientation between different branches of psychiatry have made responses to patient needs challenging. Recognising that it is difficult to predict the future, this World Psychiatric Association-Asian Journal of Psychiatry Commission makes recommendations that could help institutions and individuals enhance psychiatric education. This Commission draws from existing resources and recent developments to propose a training framework for future psychiatrists., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No competing interests to declare in relation to this manuscript., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vasoproliferative disease of developing retinal vessels that affects premature infants and can lead to severe and irreversible visual loss if left untreated. India and some other Asian countries are in the middle of a 'third ROP epidemic'. Blindness due to ROP is largely preventable if appropriate, adequate and accessible screening programmes are available. Screening of the premature babies is the first step in ROP management. With the increase in use of tele-screening techniques, more premature babies have been brought under the screening network both from urban and rural regions. Laser photocoagulation to the avascular retina using indirect ophthalmoscopy delivery system is the gold standard for ROP treatment and is usually done under topical anaesthesia in the Asian region in contrast to the western world. Use of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) although controversial in management of ROP has been found to be effective in various Asian studies as well. ROP surgery in India and other middle-income Asian countries is largely performed only in few tertiary eye care centres. Poor visual prognosis, late presentation with advanced retinal detachments, lack of adequate number of trained paediatric retinal surgeons and paediatric anaesthetists also contribute to this problem. This current paper summarizes the Asian experience of ROP management.

Background: Currently, invasive physiologic assessment such as fractional flow reserve is widely used worldwide with different adoption rates around the globe. Patient characteristics and physician preferences often differ in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region with respect to treatment strategy, techniques, lesion complexity, access to coronary physiology and imaging devices, as well as patient management. Thus, there is a need to construct a consensus document on recommendations for use of physiology-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in APAC populations. This document serves as an overview of recommendations describing the best practices for APAC populations to achieve more consistent and optimal clinical outcomes., Methods and Results: A comprehensive multiple-choice questionnaire was provided to 20 interven- tional cardiologists from 10 countries in the APAC region. Clinical evidence, tips and techniques, and clinical situations for the use of physiology-guided PCI in APAC were reviewed and used to propose key recommendations. There are suggestions to continue to develop evidence for lesion and patient types that will benefit from physiology, develop directions for future research in health economics and local data, develop appropriate use criteria in different countries, and emphasize the importance of education of all stakeholders. A consensus recommendation to enhance the penetration of invasive physiology-based therapy was to adopt the 5E approach: Evidence, Education, Expand hardware, Economics and Expert consensus., Conclusions: This consensus document and recommendations support interventional fellows and cardiologists, hospital administrators, patients, and medical device companies to build confidence and encourage wider implementation of invasive coronary physiology-guided therapy in the APAC region.

Background: Pemetrexed maintenance therapy significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival compared with placebo, and had a good safety profile in a phase 3 placebo-controlled study in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Results for quality of life, symptom palliation, and tolerability are presented here., Methods: After four cycles of platinum-based induction therapy, 663 patients with stage IIIB or stage IV NSCLC and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1 were randomly assigned (in a 2:1 ratio) from March 15, 2005, to July 20, 2007, using the Pocock and Simon minimisation method to receive pemetrexed (500 mg/m(2) every 21 days; n=441) or placebo (n=222) plus best supportive care until disease progression. The primary efficacy data have been reported previously. Patients completed the Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS) at baseline, after each cycle, and post-discontinuation. Worsening of symptoms was defined as an increase of 15 mm or more from baseline on a 100 mm scale for each LCSS item. The primary outcome for these quality-of-life analyses was time to worsening of symptoms, analysed for all randomised patients. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00102804., Findings: Baseline characteristics, including LCSS scores, were well balanced between groups. Baseline LCSS scores were low, indicating low symptom burden for patients without disease progression after completion of first-line treatment. Longer time to worsening was recorded for pain (hazard ratio [HR] 0·76, 95% CI 0·59-0·99; p=0·041) and haemoptysis (HR 0·58, 95% CI 0·34-0·97; p=0·038) with pemetrexed than with placebo; no other significant differences in analyses of time to worsening were noted. Additional longitudinal analyses showed a greater increase in loss of appetite in the pemetrexed group than in the placebo group (4·3 mm vs 0·2 mm; p=0·028). Rates of resource use were statistically higher for pemetrexed than for placebo: admissions to hospital for drug-related adverse events (19 [4%] vs none; p=0·001), transfusions (42 [10%] vs seven [3%]; p=0·003), and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (26 [6%] vs four [2%]; p=0·017)., Interpretation: Quality of life during maintenance therapy with pemetrexed is similar to placebo, except for a small increase in loss of appetite, and significantly delayed worsening of pain and haemoptysis. In view of the improvements in overall and progression-free survival noted with pemetrexed maintenance therapy, such treatment is an option for patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC who have not progressed after platinum-based induction therapy., Funding: Eli Lilly., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)