Seeing “New India” with Indian Studies Center of Chulalongkorn University, an Expressway to Connect Thailand-India

Chulalongkorn University’s Indian Studies Center serves as a hub of connection and cooperation between Indians and Thais. It is also a storehouse of knowledge and information about India, including ancient India, contemporary India, and new India in different dimensions, which encourages Thai people to adjust their views of India, reduce prejudices, and focus on looking for clear opportunities to form collaboration with the “New India.”

Paths for reducing harmful air pollution in South Asia identified

A new analysis of fine particulate matter exposure led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis illuminates ways to improve health in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar

Moving epilepsy care closer to home: Dr. Gagandeep Singh and Dr. Meenakshi Sharma

Can bringing epilepsy care to people’s homes improve outcomes? ILAE spoke with two researchers who conducted a randomized trial of home-based care versus clinic-based care in northern India. Those receiving the home-based care, delivered by community health workers, had better outcomes.

Comment les soins de santé primaires peuvent-ils aider à combler les lacunes dans le traitement de l’épilepsie? Un voyage à travers l’Andhra Pradesh, Inde

Le rôle des soins de santé primaires dans l’identification, le diagnostic et le traitement des personnes atteintes d’épilepsie est de plus en plus important. Cependant, les attitudes sociétales et la stigmatisation entourant l’épilepsie peuvent constituer des obstacles majeurs à l’amélioration des soins.

‘Ragpickers’ of Mumbai use entrepreneurship to find meaning, study shows

A new study from Dean Shepherd, the Ray and Milann Siegfried Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business considers meaning-making in the face of difficult dirty work by examining the “ragpickers” in Mumbai, India. These members of the lowest caste in Indian society live in the slums and dig through trash for food and necessities. And yet, they manage to embrace hope, destiny and survival.

Increasing education opportunities for girls could help reduce preventable deaths in children under five

An IIASA study shows that maternal education, and particularly secondary education, plays a significant role in reducing deaths in newborns and children under five years of age in both rural and urban areas of India.

How can primary health care help to close the epilepsy treatment gap? A journey through Andhra Pradesh, India

Hours from the nearest city in India, down a pothole-studded road framed by fish farms, primary care centers in Andra Pradesh provide service to tens of thousands of people. How do these centers care for people with epilepsy, and what challenges do they face?

Epilepsy education in India: Teacher training project aims to address stigma, increase inclusion

Schools can be important for epilepsy screening, as well as awareness of seizure first aid and basic knowledge. In a rural area of Punjab, a three-year project of surveys and training activities aimed to increase knowledge and dispel myths and misconceptions.

HELPING INDIA’S SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

Instead of simply employing the practice of multiple cropping — producing crops multiple times during the year and not just in one growing season — a new study led by the University of Delaware’s Pinki Mondal shows that smallholder farmers in India should instead look toward different nutrition strategies. These strategies can be on the individual level, such as growing more diverse crops for personal consumption in their home gardens, or on a community-level, where individuals would work with their local communities and arrange to have farmers bring in different vegetables each week to the local markets.

Cause, scope determined for deadly winter debris flow in Uttarakhand, India

The Uttarakhand region of India experienced a humanitarian tragedy on Feb. 7, 2021, when a wall of debris and water barreled down the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga and Dhauliganga river valleys. This debris flow destroyed two hydropower facilities and left more than 200 people dead or missing. A self-organized coalition of 53 scientists, including researchers from the University of Washington, came together in the days following the disaster to investigate the cause, scope and impacts.

MAPPING COVID RISK IN URBAN AREAS: A WAY TO KEEP THE ECONOMY OPEN

As COVID-19 vaccines slowly roll out across the world, government officials in densely populated countries must still manage vulnerable communities at highest risk of an outbreak. In a new study published in the journal Risk Analysis, researchers in India propose a COVID Risk Assessment and Mapping (CRAM) framework that results in a zoned map that officials can use to place more targeted restrictions on high-risk communities. Successfully used by officials in Jaipur at the peak of the pandemic last spring, their framework could help other vulnerable countries avoid a shutdown of their regional economies.

Nuclear War Could Trigger Big El Niño and Decrease Seafood

A nuclear war could trigger an unprecedented El Niño-like warming episode in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, slashing algal populations by 40 percent and likely lowering the fish catch, according to a Rutgers-led study. The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, shows that turning to the oceans for food if land-based farming fails after a nuclear war is unlikely to be a successful strategy – at least in the equatorial Pacific.

Marine Fisheries Will Not Offset Farm Losses after Nuclear War

After a nuclear war, wild-catch marine fisheries will not offset the loss of food grown on land, especially if widespread overfishing continues, according to a Rutgers co-authored study. But effective pre-war fisheries management would greatly boost the oceans’ potential contribution of protein and nutrients during a global food emergency, according to the study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study for the first time explored the effects of nuclear war on wild-catch marine fisheries.

Most Nations Failing to Protect Nature in COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Plans

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to reset the global economy and reverse decades of ecosystem and species losses, but most countries are failing to invest in nature-related economic reforms or investments, according to a Rutgers-led paper.

Affirmative Action Incentivizes High Schoolers to Perform Better, New Research Shows

Affirmative action is a contentious issue across the globe, hotly debated in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Nigeria and Brazil, as well as in the United States. While the direct effects of affirmative action on college admissions are well known, new evidence from India shows that affirmative action has indirect benefits on the behavior of underrepresented high school students, who tend to stay in school longer when they know higher education is within reach.

Research News Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins Medicine

Within a month following a heart attack, people are at increased risk for a second one. As a result, physicians treat these patients with medications to rapidly reduce cardiovascular risk factors for another event. Although statins are designed to reduce the risk from one underlying problem, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol, they often aren’t able drop it to recommended levels within 30 days. Now, testing a next-generation cholesterol-lowering drug known as a PCSK9 inhibitor, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers showed they could lower blood cholesterol to safer levels faster when it is added to traditional therapies.

Geoengineering’s Benefits Limited for Apple Crops in India

Geoengineering – spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to combat global warming – would only temporarily and partially benefit apple production in northern India, according to a Rutgers co-authored study. But abruptly ending geoengineering might lead to total crop failure faster than if geoengineering were not done, according to the study – believed to be the first of its kind – in the journal Climatic Change.

Can community-based interventions help to close the epilepsy treatment gap?

More than 50 million people have epilepsy; about 80% live in lower- or middle-income countries, where diagnosis and treatment can be difficult or impossible. The percentage of people with epilepsy that is not receiving treatment is known as the treatment gap; in some countries, this gap exceeds 90%.

Rutgers Expert Can Discuss Ethnic or Exotic Crops in N.J., Mid-Atlantic

New Brunswick, N.J. (June 9, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick ethnic crop research specialist Albert Ayeni is available for interviews on growing non-native crops in New Jersey and the mid-Atlantic, including exotic peppers, okra, roselle (sorrel), tropical spinach (amaranths) and…

Reducing the risk to children’s health in flood-prone areas of India

Monsoon rainfall has become more unpredictable in India. Floods and droughts have become more common and pose multiple risks to human health and wellbeing, with children under five being particularly vulnerable. New research finds that more assistance needs to be provided to communities in flood-prone areas to protect children under five from undernutrition.

Global Cooling After Nuclear War Would Harm Ocean Life

A nuclear war that cooled Earth could worsen the impact of ocean acidification on corals, clams, oysters and other marine life with shells or skeletons, according to the first study of its kind.

New Heart Attack Registry to Provide Unprecedented Insight into STEMI Occurrence, Treatment in North India

A new study published in Clinical Cardiology introduces the North Indian (NORIN) ST‐Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Registry and provides preliminary data collected since its start in January of this year. The prospective cohort study’s first author, Sameer Arora, MD, UNC School of Medicine cardiology fellow and preventive medicine resident