Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. Biochemical processes give rise to the complexity of life. A sub-discipline of both biology and chemistry, biochemistry can be divided in three fields. Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has through these three disciplines become successful at explaining living processes. All areas of the life sciences are being uncovered and developed by biochemical methodology and research. Biochemistry focuses on understanding how biological molecules give rise to the processes that occur within living cells and between cells, which in turn relates to the study and understanding of tissues and organism structure and function. Biochemistry is related to molecular biology, the study of the molecular mechanisms by which genetic information encoded in DNA is able to result in the processes of life. Much of biochemistry deals with the structures and interactions of biological macromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids and lipids, which provide the structure of cells and perform many of the functions associated with life.
The chemistry of the cell depends on the reactions of smaller molecules and ions. These can be inorganic, for example water and metal ions, or organic, for example the amino acids, which are used to synthesize proteins; the mechanisms by which cells harness energy from their environment via chemical reactions are known as metabolism. The findings of biochemistry are applied in medicine and agriculture. In medicine, biochemists investigate the cures of diseases. In nutrition, they study how to maintain health wellness and study the effects of nutritional deficiencies. In agriculture, biochemists investigate soil and fertilizers, try to discover ways to improve crop cultivation, crop storage and pest control. At its broadest definition, biochemistry can be seen as a study of the components and composition of living things and how they come together to become life, in this sense the history of biochemistry may therefore go back as far as the ancient Greeks. However, biochemistry as a specific scientific discipline has its beginning sometime in the 19th century, or a little earlier, depending on which aspect of biochemistry is being focused on.
Some argued that the beginning of biochemistry may have been the discovery of the first enzyme, diastase, in 1833 by Anselme Payen, while others considered Eduard Buchner's first demonstration of a complex biochemical process alcoholic fermentation in cell-free extracts in 1897 to be the birth of biochemistry. Some might point as its beginning to the influential 1842 work by Justus von Liebig, Animal chemistry, or, Organic chemistry in its applications to physiology and pathology, which presented a chemical theory of metabolism, or earlier to the 18th century studies on fermentation and respiration by Antoine Lavoisier. Many other pioneers in the field who helped to uncover the layers of complexity of biochemistry have been proclaimed founders of modern biochemistry, for example Emil Fischer for his work on the chemistry of proteins, F. Gowland Hopkins on enzymes and the dynamic nature of biochemistry; the term "biochemistry" itself is derived from a combination of chemistry. In 1877, Felix Hoppe-Seyler used the term as a synonym for physiological chemistry in the foreword to the first issue of Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie where he argued for the setting up of institutes dedicated to this field of study.
The German chemist Carl Neuberg however is cited to have coined the word in 1903, while some credited it to Franz Hofmeister. It was once believed that life and its materials had some essential property or substance distinct from any found in non-living matter, it was thought that only living beings could produce the molecules of life. In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler published a paper on the synthesis of urea, proving that organic compounds can be created artificially. Since biochemistry has advanced since the mid-20th century, with the development of new techniques such as chromatography, X-ray diffraction, dual polarisation interferometry, NMR spectroscopy, radioisotopic labeling, electron microscopy, molecular dynamics simulations; these techniques allowed for the discovery and detailed analysis of many molecules and metabolic pathways of the cell, such as glycolysis and the Krebs cycle, led to an understanding of biochemistry on a molecular level. Philip Randle is well known for his discovery in diabetes research is the glucose-fatty acid cycle in 1963.
He confirmed. High fat oxidation was responsible for the insulin resistance. Another significant historic event in biochemistry is the discovery of the gene, its role in the transfer of information in the cell; this part of biochemistry is called molecular biology. In the 1950s, James D. Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins were instrumental in solving DNA structure and suggesting its relationship with genetic transfer of information. In 1958, George Beadle and Edward Tatum received the Nobel Prize for work in fungi showing that one gene produces one enzyme. In 1988, Colin Pitchfork was the first person convicted of murder with DNA evidence, which led to the growth of forensic science. More Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello received the 2006 Nobel Prize for discovering the role of RNA interference, in the silencing of gene expression. Around two dozen of the 92
Anesthesiology
Anesthesiology, anaesthesia or anaesthetics is the medical speciality concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, pain medicine. A physician specialised in this field of medicine is called an anesthesiologist, anaesthesiologist or anaesthetist, depending on the country; the core element of the specialty is the study and use of anesthesia and anesthetics, since the 19th century anesthesiology has developed from an experimental field with non-specialist practitioners using novel, untested drugs and techniques into what is now a refined and effective field of medicine. In some countries, anesthesiologists comprise the largest single cohort of doctors in hospitals, their role can now extend far beyond the traditional role of anesthesia care in the operating room, into fields such as providing pre-hospital emergency medicine, running intensive care units, transporting critically ill patients between facilities, prehabilitation programs to optimize patients for surgery.
Various names are used for the specialty, those doctors who practise it, in different parts of the world: In North America and China, the medical study and application of anesthetics is called anesthesiology, a physician in the specialty is called an anesthesiologist. In these countries, the word "anesthetist" is used to refer to advanced non-physician providers of anesthesia services such as anesthesiologist assistants and nurse anesthetists. In some countries that are current or former members of the Commonwealth of Nations–namely, United Kingdom, New Zealand and South Africa–the medical specialty is instead referred to as anaesthesia or anaesthetics, with an extra "a"; as such, in these countries the same term may be used to refer to the overall medical specialty, the medications and techniques that are used, the resulting state of loss of sensation. The term anaesthetist is used only to refer to a physician practising in the field; some countries which used "anaesthesia" and "anaesthetist", such as Ireland and Hong Kong, have transitioned to "anaesthesiology" and "anaesthesiologist", or are in the process of transition.
In most other parts of the world, the spelling anaesthesiology is most used when writing in English, a physician practising it is termed an anaesthesiologist. This is the spelling adopted by the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists and most of its most of its member societies, as well as the European Society of Anaesthesiology, it is the most used term found in the titles of medical journals; as a specialty, the core element of anesthesiology is the practice of anesthesia. This comprises the use of various injected and inhaled medications to produce a loss of sensation in patients, making it possible to carry out procedures that would otherwise cause intolerable pain or be technically unfeasible. Safe anesthesia requires in-depth knowledge of various invasive and non-invasive organ support techniques that are used to control patients' vital functions while under the effects of anaesthetic drugs. Anesthesiologists are expected to have expert knowledge of human physiology, medical physics, pharmacology, as well as a broad general knowledge of all areas of medicine and surgery in all ages of patients, with a particular focus on those aspects which may impact on a surgical procedure.
In recent decades, the role of anesthesiologists has broadened to focus not just on administering anesthetics during the surgical procedure itself, but beforehand in order to identify high-risk patients and optimize their fitness, during the procedure to maintain situational awareness of the surgery itself so as to improve safety, as well as afterwards in order to promote and enhance recovery. This has been termed "perioperative medicine"; the concept of intensive care medicine arose in the 1950s and 1960s, with anesthesiologists taking organ support techniques that had traditionally been used only for short periods during surgical procedures, applying these therapies to patients with organ failure, who might require vital function support for extended periods until the effects of the illness could be reversed. The first intensive care unit was opened by Bjørn Aage Ibsen in Copenhagen in 1953, prompted by a polio epidemic during which many patients required prolonged artificial ventilation.
In many countries, intensive care medicine is considered to be a subspecialty of anesthesiology, anesthesiologists rotate between duties in the operating room and the intensive care unit. This allows continuity of care when patients are admitted to the ICU after their surgery, it means that anesthesiologists can maintain their expertise at invasive procedures and vital function support in the controlled setting of the operating room, while applying those skills in the more dangerous setting of the critically ill patient. In other countries, intensive care medicine has evolved further to become a separate medical specialty in its own right, or has become a "supra-specialty" which may be practiced by doctors from various base specialties such as anesthesiology, emergency medicine, general medicine, surgery or neurology. Anesthesiologists have key roles in major trauma, airway management, caring other patients outside the operating theatre who have critical emergencies that pose an immediate threat to life, a
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority, that the recipient admits a limited status within the relationship, it is within that sense that charters were granted, that sense is retained in modern usage of the term; the word entered the English language from the Old French charte, via Latin charta, from Greek χάρτης. It has come to be synonymous with a document that sets out a grant of privileges; the term is used for a special case to an institutional charter. A charter school, for example, is one that has different rules and statutes from a state school. Charter is sometimes used as a synonym for "tool" or "lease", as in the "charter" of a bus or boat or plane by an organization, intended for a similar group destination. A charter member of an organization is an original member. Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the early medieval period in Britain which make a grant of land or record a privilege.
They are written on parchment, in Latin but with sections in the vernacular, describing the bounds of estates, which correspond to modern parish boundaries. The earliest surviving charters were drawn up in the 670s; the British Empire used three main types of colonies as it sought to expand its territory to distant parts of the earth. These three types were royal colonies, proprietary colonies, corporate colonies. A charter colony by definition is a "colony chartered to an individual, trading company, etc. by the British crown." Although charter colonies were not the most prevalent of the three types of colonies in the British Empire, they were by no means insignificant. A congressional charter is a law passed by the United States Congress that states the mission and activities of a group. Congress issued federal charters from 1791 until 1992 under Title 36 of the United States Code. A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, towns, charter townships and boroughs.
Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located. This event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter. Charters for chivalric orders and other orders, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. In project management, a project charter or project definition is a statement of the scope and participants in a project, it provides a preliminary delineation of roles and responsibilities, outlines the project objectives, identifies the main stakeholders, defines the authority of the project manager. It serves as a reference of authority for the future of the project. In medieval Europe, royal charters were used to create cities; the date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was "founded", regardless of when the locality began to be settled. At one time a royal charter was the only way in which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means are now used instead.
A charter of "Inspeximus" is a royal charter, by which an earlier charter or series of charters relating to a particular foundation was recited and incorporated into a new charter in order to confirm and renew its validity under present authority. Where the original documents are lost, an inspeximus charter may sometimes preserve their texts and lists of witnesses. Articles of Incorporation Atlantic Charter Charter Roll Charter school Chartered company Earth Charter Freedom Charter Fueros General incorporation law Magna Carta Medieval Bulgarian royal charters Papal Bull United Nations Charter
Urdu
Urdu —or, more Modern Standard Urdu—is a Persianised standard register of the Hindustani language. It is the official national lingua franca of Pakistan. In India, it is one of the 22 official languages recognized in the Constitution of India, having official status in the six states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, as well as the national capital territory of Delhi, it is a registered regional language of Nepal. Apart from specialized vocabulary, spoken Urdu is mutually intelligible with Standard Hindi, another recognized register of Hindustani; the Urdu variant of Hindustani received recognition and patronage under British rule when the British replaced the local official languages with English and Hindustani written in Nastaʿlīq script, as the official language in North and Northwestern India. Religious and political factors pushed for a distinction between Urdu and Hindi in India, leading to the Hindi–Urdu controversy. According to Nationalencyklopedin's 2010 estimates, Urdu is the 21st most spoken first language in the world, with 66 million speakers.
According to Ethnologue's 2017 estimates, along with standard Hindi and the languages of the Hindi belt, is the 3rd most spoken language in the world, with 329.1 million native speakers, 697.4 million total speakers. Urdu, like Hindi, is a form of Hindustani, it evolved from the medieval Apabhraṃśa register of the preceding Shauraseni language, a Middle Indo-Aryan language, the ancestor of other modern Indo-Aryan languages. Around 75% of Urdu words have their etymological roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit, 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit; because Persian-speaking sultans ruled the Indian subcontinent for a number of years, Urdu was influenced by Persian and to a lesser extent, which have contributed to about 25% of Urdu's vocabulary. Although the word Urdu is derived from the Turkic word ordu or orda, from which English horde is derived, Turkic borrowings in Urdu are minimal and Urdu is not genetically related to the Turkic languages. Urdu words originating from Chagatai and Arabic were borrowed through Persian and hence are Persianized versions of the original words.
For instance, the Arabic ta' marbuta changes to te. Contrary to popular belief, Urdu did not borrow from the Turkish language, but from Chagatai, a Turkic language from Central Asia. Urdu and Turkish borrowed from Arabic and Persian, hence the similarity in pronunciation of many Urdu and Turkish words. Arabic influence in the region began with the late first-millennium Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent; the Persian language was introduced into the subcontinent a few centuries by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties including that of Mahmud of Ghazni. The Turko-Afghan Delhi Sultanate established Persian as its official language, a policy continued by the Mughal Empire, which extended over most of northern South Asia from the 16th to 18th centuries and cemented Persian influence on the developing Hindustani; the name Urdu was first used by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century Urdu was known as Hindi.
The language was known by various other names such as Hindavi and Dehlavi. Hindustani in Persian script was used by Muslims and Hindus, but was current chiefly in Muslim-influenced society; the communal nature of the language lasted until it replaced Persian as the official language in 1837 and was made co-official, along with English. Hindustani was promoted in British India by British policies to counter the previous emphasis on Persian; this triggered a Hindu backlash in northwestern India, which argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script. This literary standard called "Hindi" replaced Urdu as the official language of Bihar in 1881, establishing a sectarian divide of "Urdu" for Muslims and "Hindi" for Hindus, a divide, formalized with the division of India and Pakistan after independence. There have been attempts to "purify" Urdu and Hindi, by purging Urdu of Sanskrit words, Hindi of Persian loanwords, new vocabulary draws from Persian and Arabic for Urdu and from Sanskrit for Hindi.
English has exerted a heavy influence on both as a co-official language. There are over 100 million native speakers of Urdu in India and Pakistan together: there were 52 million and 80.5 million Urdu speakers in India as per the 2001 and 2011 censuses respectively. However, a knowledge of Urdu allows one to speak with far more people than that, because Hindustani, of which Urdu is one variety, is the third most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English; because of the difficulty in distinguishing between Urdu and Hindi speakers in India and Pakistan, as well as estimating the number of people for whom Urdu is a second language, the estimated number of speakers is uncertain and controversial. Owing to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localized wherever it is spoken, including in Pakistan. Urdu in Pakistan has undergone changes and has incorporated and borrowed many words from region
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Physical medicine and rehabilitation known as physiatry, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. A physician having completed training in this field may be referred to as a physiatrist. Physiatrists specialize in restoring optimal function to people with injuries to the muscles, ligaments, or nervous system. In the hospital setting, physiatrists treat patients who have had an amputation, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, other debilitating injuries. In treating these patients, physiatrists lead an interdisciplinary team of physical, occupational and speech therapists, nurses and social workers. In outpatient settings, physiatrists treat patients with muscle and joint injuries, pain syndromes, non-healing wounds, other disabling conditions. Physiatrists are trained to perform intramuscular and interarticular injections as well as nerve conduction studies. During the first half of the 20th century, two unofficial specialties, physical medicine and rehabilitation medicine, developed separately, but in practice both treated similar patient populations consisting of those with disabling injuries.
Frank H. Krusen was a pioneer of physical medicine, which emphasized the use of physical agents, such as hydrotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen, at Temple University and at Mayo Clinic and it was he that coined the term'physiatry' in 1938. Rehabilitation medicine gained prominence during both World Wars in the treatment of injured soldiers and laborers. Howard A. Rusk, an internal medicine physician from Missouri, became a pioneer of rehabilitation medicine after being appointed to rehabilitate airmen during World War II. In 1944, the Baruch Committee, commissioned by philanthropist Bernard Baruch, defined the specialty as a combination of the two fields and laid the framework for its acceptance as an official medical specialty; the committee distributed funds to establish training and research programs across the nation. The specialty that came to be known as physical medicine and rehabilitation in the United States was established in 1947, when an independent Board of Physical Medicine was established under the authority of the American Board of Medical Specialties.
In 1949, at the insistence of Dr. Rusk and others, the specialty incorporated rehabilitation medicine and changed its name to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; the major concern that physical medicine and rehabilitation addresses is the ability of a person to function optimally within the limitations placed upon them by a disabling impairment or disease process for which there is no known cure. The emphasis is not on the full restoration to the premorbid level of function, but rather the optimization of the quality of life for those not able to achieve full restoration. A team approach to chronic conditions is emphasized to coordinate care of patients. Comprehensive Rehabilitation is provided by specialists in this field, who act as facilitators, team leaders, medical experts for rehabilitation. In rehabilitation, goal setting is used by the clinical care team to provide the team and the person undergoing rehabilitation for an acquired disability a direction to work towards. Low quality evidence indicates that goal setting may lead to a higher quality of life for the person with the disability, it not clear if goal setting used in this context reduces or increases re-hospitalization or death.
Not only must a physiatrist know medical knowledge regarding a patient's condition, but they need to know relevant/practical knowledge regarding it as well. This involves issues such as: what type of wheelchair best suits the patient, what type of prosthetic would fit best, does their current house layout accommodate their handicap well, other every day complications that their patients might have. In the United States, residency training for physical medicine and rehabilitation is four years long, including an intern year. There are 83 programs in the United States accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, in 28 states. Specifics of training differs from program to program but the base knowledge acquired is the same. Residents are trained in the inpatient setting taking care of multiple types of rehabilitation including: spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, orthopedic, cerebral palsy, pediatric rehab, other disabling injuries; the residents are trained in the outpatient setting to know how to take care of the chronic conditions patient's have following their inpatient stay.
During training, residents are instructed on how to properly perform several diagnostic procedures which include electromyography and nerve conduction studies and procedures such as joint injections and trigger point injections. Seven accredited sub-specializations are recognized in the United States: Neuromuscular medicine Pain medicine Pediatric rehabilitation medicine Spinal cord injury Sports medicine Brain injury Hospice and palliative medicineFellowship training for other unaccredited subspecialties within the field include the following: Musculoskeletal/Spine Stroke Multiple sclerosis Neurorehabilitation Electrodiagnostic medicine Cancer rehabilitation Occupational and environmental medicine American Osteopathic Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Media related to Physical medicine and rehabilitation at Wikimedia Commons What Is PM&R? Gives a physical medicine and rehabilitation resident's description of the specialty and its appeal as a physician
Madras Medical College
The Madras Medical College is an educational institution located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established on 2 February 1835, it is the third oldest medical college in India, established after Ecole de Médicine de Pondichéry and Medical College Kolkata and is one of the foremost centres of post-graduate medical education in the country with 425 seats. At any point of time, more than 2500 medical and paramedical students study there; the Government General Hospital was established on 16 November 1664 to treat soldiers of the British East India Company. Mary Scharlieb graduated from Madras Medical College in 1878. In 1996, when the metropolis of Madras was renamed as Chennai, the college was renamed the Chennai Medical College, it was re-renamed back to the Madras Medical College, since the college was known worldwide by the older name. The foundation stone for the new building of the college was laid by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, on 28 February 2010. In January 2011, the hospital was renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.
A red-brick heritage structure known as the "Red Fort" stands to the east of the MMC buildings. Built in 1897, it has been classified as a Grade I heritage building by the Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee on heritage structures, it housed the anatomy department for several decades, moved to the new campus of the MMC at the erstwhile Central Prison campus in 2013. In December 2017, the PWD started restoration of the heritage structure at a cost of ₹ 19.7 million. Once restored, the structure will be converted to a museum, with the ground floor showcasing the history of MMC and the first floor showcasing specimens for comparative anatomy. A new campus with a six-storeyed building for Madras Medical College was built on a land covering 325,000 square feet on the erstwhile central prison premises in 2010 and was completed in 2012; the campus has 400 faculty and staff members. The campus was built at a cost of ₹ 566.3 million and started functioning in 2013. The old MMC buildings presently house the college of pharmacy, school of nursing and accommodate students of the added courses of audiology, speech learning and pathology, radio therapy and radio diagnosis.
Since 1857, the college has been affiliated to the University of Madras and all degrees of Health Sciences were awarded by the same until 1988 when the Tamil Nadu Dr. M. G. R. Medical University Act, 1987 received the assent of the president of India; this affiliating university is governed by the said Act. The college was declared as an independent university called the Madras Medical College and Research Institute; the status as an independent university was withdrawn shortly afterwards and the college was affiliated back to the Tamil Nadu Dr. M. G. R. Medical University, dropping the suffix: "Research Institute" in 2000. Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Park Town, Chennai – 600003 Tamil Nadu Government Dental College, Park Town, Chennai - 600003 Barnard Institute of Radiology, Park Town, Chennai - 600003 Institute of Mental Health, Chennai - 600010 Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Government Hospital for Women and Children, Chennai - 600008 Institute of Child Health and Government Hospital for Children, Chennai - 600008 Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Egmore, Chennai - 600008 Government Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, K.
K. Nagar, Chennai - 600083 Institute of Thoracic Medicine and Chest Diseases, Chennai - 600031 Government Peripheral Hospital, Periyar Nagar, Chennai Communicable Diseases Hospital, Chennai - 600081 Madras Medical College was 11 among medical colleges in India by The Week in 2017; the College of Pharmacy was ranked 41 in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework pharmacy ranking in 2018. Madras Medical college hosts inter-college cultural extravaganza known as "REVIVALS" and the annual inter-medical sports meet known as "ENCIERRO". Apart from this, it hosts annual intracollege cultural event known by the name " KALAIOMA" and the annual intracollege sports event known by the name "RANADHEERA"; the college and hospital are managed by the state government of Tamil Nadu. The head of the institution is the dean followed by the vice-principal. Dean of institution: Dr. Jayanthi Vice-Principal: Dr. Bharathi Vidhya Jayanthi Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari and President of the Indian National Congress Sivapatham Vittal, Endocrine Surgeon and a recipient of the Padma Shri and Dr. B. C. Roy Award C.
O. Karunakaran and founder of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram C. U. Velmurugendran,Neurologist and Padma Shri receipient V. Mohan and Padma Shri recipient Guruswami Mudaliar, a noted professor at MMC and doctor in Madras Arjunan Rajasekaran, urologist and a recipient of the Padma Shri and Dr. B. C. Roy Award Kadiyala Ramachandra, professor of medicine and Padma Shri recipient Natesan Rangabashyam, Gastroenterologist and Padma Bhushan recipient Muthulakshmi Reddi, one of the first female doctors in India Yellapragada Subbarow, known for the synthesis of the first chemotherapeutic drug aminopterin, subsequently methotrexate, he is known for the synthesis of folic acid and diethylcarbamazine and the purification of adenosine triphosphate and creatine. Abraham Verghese, teacher and recipient of the U. S. National Humanities Medal Raman Viswanathan, chest physician and Padma Bhushan recipient P. K. R. Warrier, cardiothoracic surgeon and social activist Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, Former Union health minister Dr Kannan Pugazhendi and Director of Indi
South Asia
South Asia or Southern Asia, is a term used to represent the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan SAARC countries and, for some authorities, adjoining countries to the west and east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia; the current territories of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka form South Asia. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is an economic cooperation organisation in the region, established in 1985 and includes all eight nations comprising South Asia. South Asia covers about 5.2 million km2, 11.71% of the Asian continent or 3.5% of the world's land surface area. The population of South Asia is about 1.891 billion or about one fourth of the world's population, making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world.
Overall, it accounts for about 39.49% of Asia's population, over 24% of the world's population, is home to a vast array of people. In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest population of Hindus and Sikhs, it has the largest population of Muslims in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as over 35 million Christians and 25 million Buddhists. The total area of South Asia and its geographical extent is not clear cut as systemic and foreign policy orientations of its constituents are quite asymmetrical. Aside from the central region of South Asia part of the British Empire, there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia. Modern definitions of South Asia are consistent in including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives as the constituent countries. Myanmar is included in Southeast Asia by others; some do not include Afghanistan, others question whether Afghanistan should be considered a part of South Asia or the Middle East. The current territories of Bangladesh and Pakistan, which were the core of the British Empire from 1857 to 1947, form the central region of South Asia, in addition to Afghanistan, a British protectorate until 1919, after the Afghans lost to the British in the Second Anglo-Afghan war.
The mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan, the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are included as well. Myanmar is added, by various deviating definitions based on substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Tibet Autonomous Region are included as well; the common concept of South Asia is inherited from the administrative boundaries of the British Raj, with several exceptions. The Aden Colony, British Somaliland and Singapore, though administered at various times under the Raj, have not been proposed as any part of South Asia. Additionally Burma was administered as part of the Raj until 1937, but is now considered a part of Southeast Asia and is a member state of ASEAN; the 562 princely states that were protected by but not directly ruled by the Raj became administrative parts of South Asia upon joining Union of India or Dominion of Pakistan. Geopolitically, it had formed the whole territory of Greater India,The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, a contiguous block of countries, started in 1985 with seven countries – Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka – and added Afghanistan as an eighth member in 2007.
China and Myanmar have applied for the status of full members of SAARC. This bloc of countries include two independent countries that were not part of the British Raj – Nepal, Bhutan. Afghanistan was a British protectorate from 1878 until 1919, after the Afghans lost to the British in the Second Anglo-Afghan war; the World Factbook, based on geo-politics and economy defines South Asia as comprising Afghanistan, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The South Asia Free Trade Agreement incorporated Afghanistan in 2011, the World Bank grouping of countries in the region includes all eight members comprising South Asia and SAARC as well, the same goes for the United Nations Children's Fund; the United Nations Statistics Division's scheme of sub-regions include all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia, along with Iran only for statistical purposes. Population Information Network includes Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal and Sri Lanka as part of South Asia.
Maldives, in view of its characteristics, was admitted as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network only in principle. The Hirschman–Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region includes only the original seven signatories of SAARC; the British Indian Ocean Territory is connected to the region by a publication of Jane's for security considerations. The region may include the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, part of the British Indian princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, but is now administered as part of the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang; the inclusion of Myanmar in South Asia is without consensus, with many considering it a part of Southeast Asia and others including it within South Asia. Afghanistan was of importance to the British colonial empire after the Second Anglo-Afghan War over 1878–1880. Afghanistan remained a British protectorate until 1919, when a treaty with Vladimir Lenin included the granting of independe
