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GS Paper: GS3-17.Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.

  • Mosquirix: First malaria vaccine to get WHO nod

    In a historic move, the World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the first anti-malarial vaccine, as mankind enters a key turning point in a battle waged relentlessly over decades between man and mosquito, the vector.

    Mosquirix

    • RTS,S/ASO1 (RTS.S), trade name Mosquirix acts against P. falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally, and the most prevalent in Africa.
    • The vaccine was able to prevent approximately 4 in 10 cases of malaria over a 4-year period in Africa.
    • This is the first malaria vaccine that has completed the clinical development process.
    • It is also the first malaria vaccine to be introduced by three national ministries of health through their childhood immunization programs — more than 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
    • have been vaccinated, and are benefiting from the added protection provided by the vaccine as part of a pilot program.

    How the vaccine can help?

    • WHO’s recommendation is based on the advice of its two global advisory bodies, one for immunization and the other for malaria.
    • WHO has recommended that in the context of comprehensive malaria control, the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine be used for the prevention of P. falciparum malaria in children living in regions with moderate to high transmission as defined by it.
    • The malaria vaccine should be provided in a schedule of 4 doses in children from 5 months of age for the reduction of malaria disease and burden.

    Back2Basics: Malaria

    • Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
    • There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
    • Therefore, to say that someone has contracted the Plasmodium ovale type of malaria means that the person has been infected by that particular parasite.
    • Malaria is treated with prescription drugs to kill the parasite. Chloroquine is the preferred treatment for any parasite that is sensitive to the drug.

    Countries that have eliminated malaria

    • Globally, the elimination net is widening, with more countries moving towards the goal of zero malaria.
    • In 2019, 27 countries reported fewer than 100 indigenous cases of the disease, up from 6 countries in 2000.
    • Countries that have achieved at least 3 consecutive years of zero indigenous cases of malaria are eligible to apply for the WHO certification of malaria elimination.
    • 11 countries have been certified as malaria-free: United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010), Armenia (2011), Sri Lanka (2016), Kyrgyzstan (2016), Paraguay (2018), Uzbekistan (2018), Algeria (2019), Argentina (2019), and El Salvador (2021).

    Burden of Malaria in India

    • In 2018, the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) estimated that approximately 5 lakh people suffered from malaria.
    • 63% of the cases were of Plasmodium falciparum.
    • The recent World Malaria Report 2020 said cases in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.

     

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  • What is Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) ?

    The outages at Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram occurred because of a problem in the company’s domain name system. At the heart of it was a BGP or Border Gateway Protocol issue.

    What is BGP?

    • Simply put, it is the protocol that runs the internet or makes it work.
    • Since the internet is a network of networks, BGP is the mechanism that bounds it together.
    • When the BGP doesn’t work, internet routers can’t really figure out what to do and that leads to the internet not working.
    • The routers — big ones — keep up on updating other possible routes that are used to deliver network packets to the last possible source.
    • In this case, Facebook platforms were the last point of destination and BGP problem meant Facebook was unable to tell other networks know that it was on the internet.

    How does it work?

    • The BGP is like an entity that is responsible for creating and more importantly updating maps that lead you to sites like Google, Facebook or YouTube.
    • So if someone is responsible for making and updating the map, and they make a mistake, then the traffic — or users — will not end up reaching that place.

    How did a BGP issue affect Facebook?

    • A BGP update message informs a router of any changes you’ve made to a prefix advertisement or entirely withdraws the prefix.
    • There were a lot of routing changes from Facebook last night and then routes were withdrawn, Facebook’s Domain Name Server went offline.

    Role of DNS

    • DNS is the phonebook of the Internet.
    • People access information online through domain names — timesofindia.com or facebook.com.
    • Internet browsers use IP or Internet Protocol addresses and what DNS does is that it translates domain names to IP addresses to browsers can load Internet resources.
    • If DNS is the internet’s phone book, BGP is its postal service.
    • When a user enters data in the internet, BGP determines the best available paths that data could travel.

     

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  • Physiology Nobel for work on temperature and touch

     

    U.S. scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have won the Nobel Medicine Prize for discoveries on receptors for temperature and touch.

    Who are the Laureates?

    • David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, working independently in the United States, made a series of discoveries in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
    • They figured out the touch detectors in our body and the mechanism through which they communicate with the nervous system to identify and respond to a particular touch.

    What did they discover?

    • They discovered the molecular sensors in the human body that are sensitive to heat, and to mechanical pressure, and make us “feel” hot or cold, or the touch of a sharp object on our skin.
    • n 1997, Dr. Julius and his team published a paper in Nature detailing how capsaicin, or the chemical compound in chili peppers, causes the burning sensation.
    • They created a library of DNA fragments to understand the corresponding genes and finally discovered a new capsaicin receptor and named it TRPV1.
    • This discovery paved the way for the identification of many other temperature-sensing receptors.
    • They identified another new receptor called TRPM8, a receptor that is activated by cold. It is specifically expressed in a subset of pain-and-temperature-sensing neurons.
    • They identified a single gene PIEZO2, which when silenced made the cells insensitive to the poking. They named this new mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1.

    How do they work?

    • The human ability to sense heat or cold and pressure is not very different from the working of the many detectors that we are familiar with.
    • When something hot, or cold, touches the body, the heat receptors enable the passage of some specific chemicals, like calcium ions, through the membrane of nerve cells.
    • It’s like a gate that opens up on a very specific request. The entry of the chemical inside the cell causes a small change in electrical voltage, which is picked up by the nervous system.
    • There is a whole spectrum of receptors that are sensitive to different ranges of temperature.
    • When there is more heat, more channels open up to allow the flow of ions, and the brain is able to perceive higher temperatures.

    Therapeutic implications

    • Breakthroughs in physiology have often resulted in an improvement in the ability to fight diseases and disorders. This one is no different.
    • There are receptors that make us feel pain. If these receptors can suppress, or made less effective, the person had felt less pain.
    • Chronic pain is present is a number of illnesses and disorders. Earlier, the experience of pain was a mystery.
    • But as we understand these receptors more and more, it is possible that we gain the ability to regulate them in such a way that the pain is minimized.

    [Note: We will compile all Nobel Prizes into a single post once all are awarded.]

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  • Antimalarial drug resistance in India

    In recent years there is increasing evidence for the failure of artemisinin-based combination therapy for falciparum malaria either alone or with partner drugs.

    What is Malaria?

    • Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
    • There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
    • Therefore, to say that someone has contracted the Plasmodium ovale type of malaria means that the person has been infected by that particular parasite.

    Burden of Malaria in India

    • In 2018, the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) estimated that approximately 5 lakh people suffered from malaria.
    • 63% of the cases were of Plasmodium falciparum.
    • The recent World Malaria Report 2020 said cases in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.

    Treatment of Malaria

    • Malaria is treated with prescription drugs to kill the parasite. Chloroquine is the preferred treatment for any parasite that is sensitive to the drug.
    • In most malaria-endemic countries including India, Artemisinin-based antimalarial drugs are the first-line choice for malaria treatment.
    • This is especially against Plasmodium falciparum parasite which is responsible for almost all malaria-related deaths in the world.

    Why in news now?

    • There are reports of artemisinin resistance in East Africa and is a matter of great concern as this is the only drug that has saved several lives across the globe.
    • In India, after the failure of chloroquine to treat P. falciparum malaria successfully, artemisinin-based combination therapy was initially introduced in 2008.
    • Currently, several combinations of artemisinin derivatives are registered in India.

    Artemisinin-based combination therapy failure in India

    • In 2019, a report from Eastern India indicated the presence of two mutations in P. falciparum cases treated with artemisinin that linked to its presence of resistance.
    • Again in 2021, artemisinin-based combination therapy failure was reported from Central India where the partner drug SP showed triple mutations with artemisinin wild type.
    • This means the failure of artemisinin-based combination therapy may not be solely linked to artemisinin. Here it is needed to change the partner drug as has been done in NE states in 2013.

    History of drug resistance

    • In the 1950s chloroquine resistance came to light.
    • Both chloroquine and pyrimethamine resistance originated from Southeast Asia following their migration to India and then on to Africa with disastrous consequences.
    • Similarly, artemisinin resistance developed from the six Southeast Asian countries and migrated to other continents, as is reported in India and Africa.
    • It would not be out of context that artemisinin is following the same path as has been seen with chloroquine.
    • Now, the time has come to carry out Molecular Malaria Surveillance to find out the drug-resistant variants so that corrective measures can be undertaken in time to avert any consequences.
    • Some experts even advocate using triple artemisinin-based combination therapies where the partner drug is less effective.

    Try this PYQ:

    Widespread resistance of malarial parasite to drugs like chloroquine has prompted attempts to develop a malarial vaccine to combat malaria.

    Why is it difficult to develop an effective malaria vaccine?

    (a) Malaria is caused by several species of Plasmodium

    (b) Man does not develop immunity to malaria during natural infection

    (c) Vaccines can be developed only against bacteria

    (d) Man is only an intermediate host and not the definitive host

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”m5iy5a8pmc” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • What is Meningitis?

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the first-ever global strategy to defeat meningitis, a debilitating disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year.

    What is Meningitis?

    • Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord.
    • People of any age can get meningitis.

    What Causes Meningitis?

    • Most cases are caused by bacteria or viruses, but some can be due to certain medicines or illnesses.
    • Meningitis is usually caused by a viral infection but can also be bacterial or fungal.
    • Both kinds of meningitis spread like most other common infections do — someone who’s infected touches, kisses, or coughs or sneezes on someone who isn’t infected.
    • Bacterial meningitis is rare, but is usually serious and can be life-threatening if not treated right away.
    • Viral meningitis (also called aseptic meningitis) is more common than bacterial meningitis and usually less serious.
    • Many of the viruses that cause meningitis are common, such as those that cause colds, diarrhea, cold sores, and the flu.

    What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Meningitis?

    • Meningitis symptoms vary, depending on the person’s age and the cause of the infection.
    • The first symptoms can come on quickly or start several days after someone has had a cold, diarrhea, vomiting, or other signs of an infection.

    Common symptoms include:

    • fever
    • lack of energy
    • irritability
    • headache
    • sensitivity to light
    • stiff neck
    • skin rash

    Treatment

    • Several vaccines protect against meningitis, including meningococcal, Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal vaccines.
    • If dealt with quickly, meningitis can be treated successfully.

     

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  • What is Dark Energy?

    Last week, an international team of researchers has made the first direct detection of dark energy.

    About the Project

    • The XENON1T experiment is the world’s most sensitive dark matter experiment and was operated deep underground at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy.
    • The finding also suggests that experiments like XENON1T, which are designed to detect dark matter, could also be used to detect dark energy.

    What is Dark Energy?

    • Dark energy is an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales.
    • The first observational evidence for its existence came from measurements of supernovae, which showed that the universe does not expand at a constant rate; rather, the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
    • Prior to these observations, it was thought that all forms of matter and energy in the universe would only cause the expansion to slow down over time.
    • Measurements of the cosmic microwave background suggest the universe began in a hot Big Bang, from which general relativity explains its evolution and the subsequent large-scale motion.
    • Without introducing a new form of energy, there was no way to explain how an accelerating universe could be measured.

    Does it exist?

    • Since the 1990s, dark energy has been the most accepted premise to account for the accelerated expansion.
    • As of 2021, there are active areas of cosmology research aimed at understanding the fundamental nature of dark energy.

    Dark energy Vs Dark matter

    • Everything we see – the planets, moons, massive galaxies, you, me, this website – makes up less than 5% of the universe.
    • About 27% is dark matter and 68% is dark energy.
    • While dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.

     

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  • Chang’e-5 Lunar Mission

    The Europlanet Society has released details from the samples brought back by China’s Chang’e-5 Lunar Mission in December 2020.

    Chang’e-5 Lunar Mission

    • The Chang’e-5 lunar mission delivered to Earth nearly 2 kg of rocky fragments and dust from the Moon.
    • It had landed on an area of the Moon (the ‘far side’) not sampled by the American or Soviet missions nearly 50 years ago.
    • It thus retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for analysis in laboratories on Earth.
    • The rocks are also different from those returned decades ago.

    Key findings

    • 90% of the materials collected by Chang’e-5 likely derive from the landing site and its immediate surroundings, which are of a type termed ‘mare basalts’.
    • These volcanic rocks are visible to us as the darker grey areas that spilled over much of the nearside of the Moon as ancient eruptions of lava.
    • Yet 10% percent of the fragments have distinctly different, ‘exotic’ chemical compositions.

    What are the exotic compositions?

    • The distinct 10% fragments may preserve records of other parts of the lunar surface as well as hints of the types of space rocks that have impacted the Moon’s surface.
    • Researchers have looked at the potential sources of beads of rapidly cooled glassy material.
    • They have traced these glassy droplets to extinct volcanic vents known as ‘Rima Mairan’ and ‘Rima Sharp’.
    • These fragments could give insights into past episodes of energetic, fountain-like volcanic activity on the Moon.

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  • What is Vishnuonyx?

    Between 12.5 million and 14 million years ago, members of a genus of otters called Vishnuonyx lived in the major rivers of southern Asia.

    Vishnuonyx neptuni

    • Vishnuonyx were mid-sized predators that weighed, on average, 10-15 kg.
    • Before this, the genus was known only in Asia and Africa (recent findings show that Vishnuonyx reached East Africa about 12 million years ago, according to the release).
    • Vishnuonyx depended on water and could not travel long distances over land.

    Why in news?

    • German researchers have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown species, which they have named Vishnuonyx neptuni, meaning ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’.
    • Fossils of these now extinct otters were first discovered in sediments found in the foothills of the Himalayas.
    • Now, a newly found fossil indicates it had travelled as far as Germany. ‘
    • The dispersal of Vishnuonyx otters from the Indian subcontinent to Africa and Europe about 13 million years ago. ‘
    • This is the first discovery of any member of the Vishnuonyx genus in Europe; it is also its most northern and western record till date.

    How did it travel as far as Europe?

    • According to the researchers, its travels over 6,000 km were probably made possible by the geography of 12 million years ago, when the Alps were recently formed.
    • These Alps and the Iranian Elbrus Mountains were separated by a large ocean basin, which would have made it easier for the otters to cross it.
    • Researchers believe ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’ first reached southern Germany, followed by Ancient Guenz and eventually, the Hammerschmiede.

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  • What is Planet Nine?

    A new study’s “treasure map” suggests that a planet several times more massive than Earth could be hiding in our solar system, camouflaged by the bright strip of stars that make up the Milky Way.

    Do not wonder. This too was a PYQ:

    Q.Which planet was downgraded to dwarf planet status?

    (a) Pluto

    (b) Mars

    (c) Earth

    (d) Venus

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”j8ws1stgve” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here![/wpdiscuz-feedback]

    Planet 9

    • Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet in the outer region of the Solar System.
    • Its gravitational effects could explain the unlikely clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs), bodies beyond Neptune that orbit the Sun at distances averaging more than 250 times that of the Earth.
    • Based on earlier considerations, this hypothetical super-Earth-sized planet would have had a predicted mass of five to ten times that of the Earth, and an elongated orbit 400 to 800 times as far from the Sun as the Earth.

    Curiosity for the ninth Planet

    • In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union broke several hearts when it announced that it had reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. ‘
    • The decision was based on Pluto’s size and the fact that it resides within a zone of other similarly-sized objects.

    Is everyone convinced that Planet Nine exists?

    • Researchers from across the globe have carried out several studies on Planet Nine and there are several theories about it, including one that stated Planet Nine could in fact be a black hole.
    • Another research has argued that the unknown object causing anomalous orbits of the trans-Neptunian objects could be a primordial black hole.
    • Yet another study noted that a trans-Neptunian object called 2015 BP519 had an unusual trajectory because it was affected by Planet Nine’s strong gravity.

    Back2Basics: Dwarf Planet

    • A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun – something smaller than any of the eight classical planets, but still a world in its own right.
    • As of today, there are officially five dwarf planets in our Solar System.
    • The most famous is Pluto, downgraded from the status of a planet in 2006.
    • The other four, in order of size, are Eris, Makemake, Haumea and Ceres. The sixth claimant for a dwarf planet is Hygiea, which so far has been taken to be an asteroid.
    • These four criteria are – that the body orbits around the Sun, it is not a moon, has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and has enough mass for its gravity to pull it into a roughly spherical shape.

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  • What is Serotype 2 Dengue?

    The Union Health Ministry has flagged the emerging challenge in 11 States across India of serotype 2 dengue, which it said is associated with “more cases and more complications” than other forms of the disease.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2015:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. In tropical regions, Zika virus disease is transmitted by the same mosquito that transmits dengue.
    2. Sexual transmission of Zika virus disease is possible.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”f66l7r4swb” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here![/wpdiscuz-feedback]

    What is Dengue?

    • Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection, found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.
    • It is transmitted by female mosquitoes mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and, to a lesser extent, Ae. albopictus.
    • These mosquitoes are also vectors of chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses.
    • Dengue is widespread throughout the tropics, with local variations in risk influenced by rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and unplanned rapid urbanization.

    Its transmission

    • The virus is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti
    • Other species within the Aedes genus can also act as vectors, but their contribution is secondary to Aedes aegypti.
    • Mosquitoes can become infected from people who are viremic with dengue.

    Various serotypes

    • Dengue is caused by a virus of the Flaviviridae family and there are four distinct, but closely related, serotypes of the virus that cause dengue (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4).
    • Recovery from infection is believed to provide lifelong immunity against that serotype.
    • However, cross-immunity to the other serotypes after recovery is only partial and temporary.
    • Subsequent infections (secondary infection) by other serotypes increase the risk of developing severe dengue.

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