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Subject: Science and Technology

  • What is Contact Tracing Technology?

    Global technology giants Apple and Google have announced that they are partnering on developing contact tracing technology to help governments and health authorities tackle the novel coronavirus pandemic.

    What did tech-giants announce?

    • Contact tracing is considered essential for bringing epidemics under control and is expected to help governments in relaxing lockdown orders.
    • The tech companies announced that they would build a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing.

    What is contact tracing?

    • The WHO defines contact tracing as the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who have been exposed to a disease to prevent onward transmission.
    • Via contact tracing, people who have come into contact with a person carrying a disease are alerted and identified.

    Importance of contact tracing

    • Identifying people at the onset of symptoms and promptly isolating them reduces exposure to other persons, preventing subsequent EVD (Ebola Virus Disease) infections.
    • Additionally, prompt isolation and admission of the symptomatic person to a treatment facility decreases the delay to supportive treatment, which improves the likelihood of survival.

    How will the new technology by Google and Apple work?

    • Google and Apple are the developers of the Android and iOS platforms respectively, which together power most of the world’s smartphones.
    • Both companies will release application programming interfaces (APIs) that would enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities.
    • The official apps will be available for users to download via their respective app stores, as per the press release.
    • When this step is realized, phone-based matching via official apps will help alert people if they have come in contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19.

    Actual working

    • For this to work, COVID-19 patients would have to declare their status to the respective apps voluntarily.
    • Following this, all people whose Android/iOS smartphones were detected nearby such patients, would get notified.
    • This means the user will be notified even if he/she was around a stranger who has tested positive for the disease.

    Issues with contact tracing

    • Privacy, transparency, and consent are of utmost importance in this effort.
    • The tech giants should look forward to building this functionality in consultation with interested stakeholders.

    Note: How is our Aarogya Setu app different from the technology mentioned in the newscard?

  • [pib] Diverse names of harvesting festival

    The nation today celebrates the festival of harvest, Vaishakhi under diverse names. Vaisakhi celebrates the solar new year, based on the Hindu Vikram Samvat calendar.

    Vaishakhi

    • Vaisakhi also known as Baisakhi is a historical and religious festival in Sikhism.
    • It is usually celebrated on 13 or 14 April every year which commemorates the formation of Khalsa panth of warriors under Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.
    • In Sikhism, Vaisakhi marks the start of the Khalsa in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh.

    Other names

    • Maha Bishuba Pana Sankranti (Odisha)
    • Bikhu or Bikhauti (Kumaon region of Uttarakhand)
    • Bisu (Tulu region of Karnataka)
    • Bohag Bihu (Assam)
    • Puthandu (Tamil Nadu)
    • Vishu (Kerala)

    Note: Harvest festivals are significant events. Do try to remember their names as one can expect a match the pair question.

  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

  • TB diagnostic kit ‘Truenat’

    ‘Truenat’, a diagnostic machine used to test drug-resistant TB has now been approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting Covid-19 tests.

    Truenat

    • The Truenat TB test is a new molecular test that can diagnosis TB in one hour as well as testing for resistance to the drug rifampicin.
    • This test for TB uses a sputum sample taken from each patient.
    • It is a small battery operated device which requires minimal training and is usable even in smaller settings such as the Primary Health Centre.
    • It uses a chip-based technology and takes just up to 60 minutes for a test, screening or confirmatory.

  • Assamese Gamosa 

    The COVID-19 pandemic has made the Assamese gamosa, a decorative cotton towel, evolve from memento to mask.

    Gamosa

    • The Gamosa is an article of significance for the people of Assam.
    • It is generally a white rectangular piece of cloth with primarily a red border on three sides and red woven motifs on the fourth (in addition to red, other colors are also used).
    • Although cotton yarn is the most common material for making/weaving gamosas, there are special occasion ones made from Pat silk.

    Types

    • Assam has traditionally had two types of gamosas the uka and the phulam.
    • The uka or plain kind is used to wipe sweat or dry the body after a bath.
    • The phulam is decorated with floral motifs to be gifted as a memento or during festivals such as Bihu.

    Significance

    • Cultural historians say the gamosa came to symbolise Assamese nationalism in 1916 when the Asom Chatra Sanmilan, a students’ organisation was formed, followed by the Assam Sahitya Sabha, a literary body.
    • Wearing the phulam gamosa around the neck became a standard for cultural identity.
    • Thegamosa’s graph as a symbol of protest rose during the anti-foreigners Assam Agitation from 1979 to 1985.
    • The gamosa staged a comeback as a political statement with the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act from mid-December 2019.

  • [pib] Chitra Acrylosorb Secretion Solidification System

    Scientists at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) have designed and developed a highly efficient superabsorbent material for liquid respiratory and other body fluid solidification and disinfection for the safe management of infected respiratory secretions.

     Chitra Acrylosorb Secretion Solidification System

    • It is a highly efficient superabsorbent material for liquid respiratory and other body fluid solidification and disinfection.
    • AcryloSorb can absorb liquids at least 20 times more than its dry weight and also contains a decontaminant for in situ disinfection.
    • Containers filled with this material will immobilize the contaminated fluid by solidifying it (gel-like), thus avoiding spillage and will also disinfect it.
    • The canister containing the solidified waste canister can then be decomposed as all other biomedical waste by incineration.

    How it works?

    • In the developed system, suction canisters, disposable spit bags have been designed with “AcryloSorb” technology.
    • They are lined inside with the AcryloSorb material.
    • The AcryloSorb suction canisters will collect the liquid respiratory secretions from ICU patients or those with copious secretions treated in the wards.
    • The container will be spill-proof and can be sealed after use, making it safe and fit for disposal through the usual incineration system for biomedical wastes.

    Significance of Acrylosorb

    • Sealable and disposable spit bags can be provided for solidifying the sputum and saliva of ambulant patients with respiratory infections, which can then be incinerated.
    • Thus it reduces the risk for the hospital staff, the need for personnel for disinfecting and cleaning the bottles and canisters for reusing them and makes the disposal safer and easier.

  • [pib] Ionospheric based monitoring of large earthquakes

    Scientists of Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) an autonomous institution of the DST have extensively studied the signatures of recent large earthquakes into the ionosphere with an ambitious aim to derive the seismic source characteristics from the ionosphere.

    CLAIMS

    • The research is a part of the interdisciplinary program ‘Coupled Lithosphere-Atmosphere- Ionosphere-Magnetosphere System (CLAIMS)’ of IIG.
    • CLAIMS focuses on energy transfer to the atmosphere during solid Earth processes such as earthquakes as well as tsunamis.

    Key terms: Co-seismic Ionospheric Perturbations (CIP)

    • In general, the Earth crust uplift during an earthquake produces compressional (i.e. pressure) waves in the overlying atmosphere.
    • These waves propagate upward in the region of exponentially decreasing atmospheric neutral density, and thus, wave amplitude increase with atmospheric heights.
    • On arrival at ionospheric heights, the waves redistribute ionospheric electron density and produce electron density perturbations (disruption) known as CIP.

    Objective of CLAIMS

    • The spatial distribution of near field co-seismic Ionospheric perturbations (CIP) associated with this event could reflect well the ground deformation pattern evolved around the epicentre.
    • These CIPs were derived using the Global Positioning System (GPS) measured Total Electron Content (TEC).
    • The CIP distribution was estimated at Ionospheric piercing point (IPP) altitude.

    Other factors affecting CIP

    The major effective non-tectonic forcing mechanisms at ionospheric altitudes are the-

    1. orientation between the ambient geomagnetic field and seismic induced neutral wave perturbations.
    2. orientation between the moving satellite line of sights and the wave perturbations.
    3. ambient ionospheric electron density gradient.

    Back2Basics

    Ionosphere

    • The ionosphere is the ionized part of Earth’s upper atmosphere, from about 60 km to 1,000 km altitude.
    • It is a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere.
    • It is ionized by solar radiation.

  • Pink Supermoon/ Paschal Moon

    A supermoon is all scheduled to show up in the sky on April 7. It would be the biggest and brightest full moon of 2020.

    Pink Supermoon

    • According to NASA, a supermoon takes place when a full moon is at its closest to the Earth.
    • When the full moon appears at perigee (closest point from the earth) it is slightly brighter and larger than a regular full moon — and that is what we call a “supermoon.”
    • They are called Supermoons because they are 7 per cent bigger and 15 per cent brighter, compared to an average full Moon.
    • The moon will not be originally pink in colour. It got its name from the pink wildflowers – Wild Ground Phlox – that bloom in the spring and are native to North America.
    • It is also called Paschal moon because, in the Christian calendar, this is used to calculate the date for Easter – the first Sunday after the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday.

  • Man versus microbe

    Context

    The present COVID-19 outbreak has brought to light the old struggle between humans and viruses.

    The constant struggle between humans and viruses

    • Hijacking the cell machinery of the host: Microbes, particularly viruses, have only one goal — to find a suitable host and multiply. Viruses, however, do not multiply by themselves. They need the cell machinery of the host for replication.
    • Around two-thirds of all infections in humans are caused by viruses.
    • The current COVID-19 outbreak caused by a coronavirus, SARS-CoV2, has brought this struggle to light once again.
    • Coronavirus has the upper hand now: The virus seems highly successful because it spreads rapidly from human to human and has a lower rate of mortality.
    • Humans have faced new viruses at regular intervals. These include the Ebola, Zika, HIV, the Flu virus H1N1, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) — the latter two are from the coronavirus family.
    • Animal to humans: These viruses have all appeared in the last few decades, having jumped from their animal reservoirs to humans.
    • Many of these viruses have a much higher mortality rate than the SARS-CoV2 that caused COVID-19.
    • Victory would be at huge costs: Like before, humans will come out of the present crisis as winners but that will happen at a huge cost, in every sense of the word.
    • The loss would include untimely loss of human lives, economic losses and a general loss of confidence in the human ability to deal with a tiny unknown enemy.

    Steps involved in dealing with the virus

    • It involves dealing with any new viral outbreak is to be able to accurately test, detect and track the spread of the virus, and isolate the infected persons to stop further spread.
    • Knowing the genetic makeup of virus matters: In order to implement the first step, it is important to obtain information on the genetic makeup of the virus, which forms the basis of developing highly specific diagnostic tests.
    • Three types of tests are being used which have different advantages associated with them and are based on different technologies. These are described below-

    1. What is the RT-PCR technique?

    • Currently, the most reliable and widely-used test is based on a technique called RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Time Polymerase Chain Reaction).
    • This test aims to detect the viral RNA, the genetic material of SARS-CoV2.
    • The testing begins with the careful collection of swabs taken from the nose or the back of the throat of the patient and extraction of the viral RNA.
    • However, this extracted viral RNA from the swab is too tiny an amount for direct detection.
    • Amplification: The RT-PCR, through many different reactions that include the conversion of viral RNA to DNA — its amplification and detection — makes it possible to confirm the presence or absence of the virus.
    • The testing kits contain all chemicals and materials required for carrying out the RT-PCR based tests, which are performed by government-approved laboratories such as India’s National Institute of Virology.
    • However, many more testing centres, including those run by private players, have now been allowed to carry out the tests in many countries to bridge the huge demand and supply gap.
    • Why testing matters? It is now clear that countries which were able to scale up the testing of the virus in patients at an early stage were able to control the spread of the disease far better than those which did not.
    • Only viable control measure: Given that there is no cure or vaccine for the control of COVID-19, testing of infected patients much more quickly and tracking their contacts to isolate them till they clear off the virus is currently the only viable control measure.

    2. How CRISPR is proving helpful in scaling up the testing?

    • There is good news of a relatively new but powerful technology called CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats).
    • CRISPR is highly specific in directly detecting viral RNA and confirming the presence or absence of the virus.
    • Interestingly, viruses also attack bacteria and the discovery of CRISPR itself was based on understanding how bacteria cut off the viruses.
    • What are the advantages of CRISPR-based test? The CRISPR-based test is quick and circumvents the need for both expert handling as well as PCR machines and can be done at multiple locations in about half an hour.
    • It can also fend off delays and other logistic problems in collection and transportation of test samples.
    • These tests are being validated and readied for approval.
    • Two companies, separately founded by the two scientists who discovered the CRISPR technique, have also announced that they are ready with their CRISPR-based test for validation and approval.
    • Test in 10 minutes: They have claimed that these tests can be performed within 10 minutes and can be conducted by using a paper strip format.
    • Test in 5 minutes: Another company, Abbott Laboratories, has recently announced the approval of their portable test for coronavirus, which the company claims can provide the results in five minutes.
    • Such a point of care test will not only greatly enhance the speed of large-scale testing but will also relieve the tremendous pressure faced by frontline healthcare providers.

    3. Serological tests to detect the realistic information on the spread of the virus

    • Why we need serological tests? The above described RT-PCR and the newly developed CRISPR based tests are needed for scaling up the testing.
    • But many individuals infected with the virus do not show symptoms of the disease and recover completely.
    • How to test these cases to gather realistic information on the spread of the virus?
    • Such information will be necessary for designing future control strategies.
    • How serological tests work? This is done with serological tests, which are carried out in blood samples collected from a large population and are based on the detection of antibodies that are produced in response to the viral infection.
    • Advantage of the serological tests: These tests are relatively easier to develop and use, less expensive, and also do not need much sophisticated infrastructure or highly trained manpower.
    • Serological tests for COVID-19 have already been developed by many groups and are already in use.
    • India also plans to carry out serological tests to examine the actual spread of the disease in different parts of the country.

    Conclusion

    Lockdowns are essential to control the disease but long-term strategies to deal with the disease would be based on the knowledge of its actual spread. The newly-developed point of care tests should be successfully able to bridge the existing gap in the testing of the virus. This will also assist in gearing up facilities to treat the severely sick as well as relieve and protect frontline health providers. Meanwhile, hopefully, efficient drugs therapies and efficacious vaccines against COVID-19 will also be discovered soon.

  • What is Geo-fencing?

    The Centre is using powers under the Indian Telegraph Act to “fetch information” from telecom companies every 15 minutes to track COVID-19 cases across the country.

    What is Geo-fencing?

    • A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area.
    • A geo-fence could be dynamically generated—as in a radius around a point location, or a geo-fence can be a predefined set of boundaries (such as school zones or neighbourhood boundaries).
    • The use of a geofence is called geofencing, and one example of usage involves a location-aware device of a location-based service (LBS) user entering or exiting a geo-fence.
    • This activity could trigger an alert to the device’s user as well as messaging to the geo-fence operator.

    Tracking COVID-19 patients

    • The government has tested an application that triggers e-mails and SMS alerts to an authorised government agency if a person has jumped quarantine or escaped from isolation, based on the person’s mobile phone’s cell tower location.
    • This “geo-fencing” is accurate by up to 300 m.