Daily Prelims Notes 7 May 2023

May 7, 2023
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

7 May 2023

Table of Contents

1. Credit Suisse-Ecuador deal for Galapagos conservation

Subject: Environment

Section: Places in news

Concept:

Ecuador has committed to spending millions of dollars annually for 20 years to protect one of the world’s most precious ecosystems, after the Swiss bank bought bonds at less than half of their original value.
Effectively, Ecuador has now bought its own debt back at a knock-down price via a fresh loan from Credit Suisse.
And in return, Ecuador’s government had pledged to spend about $18 million annually for two decades on conservation in the Galapagos Islands.
The remote islands — home to some of the most unspoiled nature in the world — are a UNESCO world nature heritage site, and their animal life was crucial to Charles Darwin’s research before publishing his theory of evolution.

About Galapagos Islands

It is an archipelago of volcanic islands.
It belongs to the Republic of Ecuador that lies 926 km to the east.
The islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 973 km off the west coast of South America
They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere.
The islands are located at the Galapagos Triple Junction. The Galapagos Triple Junction is a geological area in the eastern Pacific Ocean several hundred miles west of the Galapagos Islands where three tectonic plates – the Cocos Plate, the Nazca Plate and the Pacific Plate – meet.
The archipelago is precisely located on the Nazca Plate (a tectonic plate), which is moving east/southeast, diving under the South American Plate at a rate of about 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) per year.
Mount Azul, at 5,541 feet is the highest point of the Galapagos Islands.
The islands are well known for their distinctive endemic species, including giant tortoises, finches, flightless cormorants, Galápagos lava lizards and marine iguanas, which evolved to adapt to islands’ environments.

2. Scientists identify mutations in DNA for early diagnosis of drug-resistant bacteria for TB

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Health

Concept :

According to the World Health Organization, India has the highest burden of Multi-Drug Resistant-TB (MDR-TB).
There are nearly 0.39 million cases across the world.
A group of scientists at CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) has observed that mutations in DNA repair genes can be used for early diagnosis of MDR/XDR-TB.
It was found through the whole genome sequencing of bacteria, that perturbed DNA repair aids in the acquisition of drug resistance in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB)

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
TB commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect other parts (extrapulmonary TB)
Tuberculosis spreads from person to person through the air, when people who are infected with TB infection cough, sneeze or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air.
The most common risk factor associated with TB is HIV & other conditions that impair the immune system.
Common symptoms of tuberculosis are Chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, Loss of weight, Loss of appetite, Fever and night sweats, Fatigue , etc.
TB Treatment: consists of four drugs:
- Isoniazid (INH)
- Rifampicin
- Pyrazinamide
- Ethambutol

Multidrug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB)

In MDR-TB, the bacteria that cause TB develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs used to cure the disease.
MDR-TB does not respond to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most powerful anti-TB drugs.
Treatment options for MDR-TB are limited and expensive. CBNAAT (Cartridges Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) is used for early diagnosis of MDR-TB.

Extensively Drug-Resistant TB (XDR-TB)

XDR-TB is a form of multidrug-resistant TB with additional resistance to more anti-TB drugs.
People who are resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin, plus any fluoroquinolone and at least one of three injectable second-line drugs (amikacin, kanamycin, capreomycin) are said to have XDR-TB.
To achieve goal: To end TB by 2025

For further details, refer – https://optimizeias.com/the-road-to-ending-tuberculosis/

3. 10 Indian languages to get technical-term dictionaries

Subject : Science and Technology

Concept :

The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) is dealing with technical and scientific terminology in 10 Indian languages that are under-represented in the field of education.
It will introduce fundamental (basic) dictionaries in a span of three to four months. These dictionaries will contain 5000 words per language.
The dictionaries will be digital and free of cost.
The CSTT will print about 1000 to 2000 copies in each language.
It should be noted that languages like Bodo, Santhali, Dogri, Kashmiri, Konkani, Nepali, Manipuri, Sindhi, Maithili, and Sanskrit lack words to describe scientific and technical terms.
The initial task of CSTT is to cover 15 disciplines such as journalism, public administration, chemistry, botany, zoology, physics, computer science, engineering (civil and electrical), etc.
It will further enable textbook formulation for middle, high, and university levels.
The dictionaries will be distributed to education boards, universities, and testing agencies to aid in content preparation.

About Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT):

CSTT was established on October 01, 1961 in pursuance of a Presidential Order dated April 27, 1960 with the objective to evolve technical terminology in all Indian Languages.
It was established under clause (4) of Article 344 of the Constitution of India.
It is functioning under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India with its headquarters at New Delhi.
Primary Function: Evolve standard terminology, propagate its use and distribute it widely.
Other functions:
- Preparation and Publication of Bilingual and Trilingual Glossaries involving English/Hindi and other Indian Languages.
- Preparation and Publication of National terminology.
- Identification and Publication of School Level Terminology and Departmental Glossaries.
- Identification of Pan Indian Terms.
- Preparation of Definitional Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias.
- Preparation of University level textbooks, monographs and journals.
- Grant-in-Aid to Granth Academies, Textbook Boards and University Cells for University level books in regional languages.
- Propagation, expansion and critical review of terms coined and defined through training/orientation programmes, workshops, seminars etc.
- Free distribution of Publications.
- Providing necessary terminology to the National Translation Mission.
In the process of evolution of scientific and technical terminology and reference material in Hindi and Indian Languages, the Commission shall have collaboration of State Governments, Universities, Regional Text-Book Boards and State Granth Academies.

4. Pakistan and China vow to press ahead with CPEC

Subject :International Relations

Section: Groupings

Context: Pakistan and China held their fourth edition of the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue on Saturday where both affirmed to continue their commitment to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a day after India criticised the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project.

What is CPEC:

CPEC is a 3,000-km long route of infrastructure projects connecting China’s northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Gwadar Port in the western province of Balochistanin Pakistan.
It is a bilateral project between Pakistan and China, intended to promote connectivity across Pakistan with a network of highways, railways, and pipelines accompanied by energy, industrial, and other infrastructure development projects.
CPEC is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The proposed projects in CPEC will be financed by heavily subsidised loans that will be disbursed to the Government of Pakistan by Chinese banks.

What is India’s Stand on CPEC:

India has been severely critical of the CPEC, as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which is a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.

What is Border Road Initiative(BRI):

Belt & Road Initiative is an ambitious project that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among multiple countries spread across the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.
BRI was announced in the year 2013.
The project has a target completion date of 2049, which will coincide with the centennial anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s founding.
The project involves building networks of roadways, railways, maritime ports, power grids, oil and gas pipelines, and associated infrastructure projects.
The project covers two parts.
Silk Road Economic Belt: It is land-based and is expected to connect China with Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.
21st Century Maritime Silk Road: It is sea-based and is expected to connect China’s southern coast to the Mediterranean, Africa, South-East Asia, and Central Asia.

5. FDA approves first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Health

Context:

The first of several expected vaccine options for preventing respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in older adults has been approved by the FDA.

What is Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)?

It belongs to the genus Orthopneumovirus within the family Pneumoviridae and order Mononegavirales
RSV is a highly contagious virus that causes infections of the lungs and breathing passages in individuals of all age groups. RSV circulation is seasonal, typically starting during the fall and peaking in the winter.
In older adults, RSV is a common cause of lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD), which affects the lungs and can cause life-threatening pneumonia and bronchiolitis (swelling of the small airway passages in the lungs)
RSV is increasingly being recognized as an important pathogen in older adults, with infection leading to an increase in hospitalization rates among those aged 65 years and over, and to increased mortality rates among the frail elderly that approach the rates seen with influenza

RSV Vaccine:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Arexvy, the first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine approved for use in the United States.

Arexvy is approved for the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in individuals 60 years of age and older.

The shot, called Arexvy, is made by the British pharmaceutical company GSK.

Two more vaccines for RSV by Pﬁzer and Moderna have already completed clinical trials on adults older than 60 years and may soon be approved by the FDA.

While the vaccine developed by Pﬁzer is protein based, Moderna has used mRNA technology, like in the case of the SARS CoV2 vaccine, to develop the RSV vaccine.

6. Scientists help find new kind of molecular motor

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Health

Context:

An international team of researchers, including from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, has reported a new kind of molecular motor.

Concept:

Cells have a fascinating feature to neatly organize their interior by using tiny protein machines called molecular motors that generate directed movements.
Most of them use a common type of fuel, a kind of chemical energy, called ATP to operate.
Now researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (PoL) and the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of the TU Dresden in Dresden, Germany, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, India, discovered a novel molecular system that uses an alternative chemical energy and employs a novel mechanism to perform mechanical work.
By repeatedly contracting and expanding, this molecular motor functions similarly to a classical Stirling engine and helps to distribute cargo to membrane-bound organelles
It is the first motor using two components, two differently sized proteins, Rab5 and EEA1, and is driven by GTP instead of ATP.
In a 2016 paper, re searchers from Australia and Germany reported that when an enzyme called Rab5 binds to a long protein called EEA1, the protein loses its taut and rigid shape and becomes ﬂoppy. This ‘collapse’ pulls two membranes inside a cell closer to each other.
In the new study, researchers have reported that EEA1 regains its rigid shape in another mechanism so that it can become ﬂoppy again to pull the membranes closer, creating a new kind of two-part molecular motor.
When the 2016 paper was published, it was unclear whether EEA1 could resume its rigid shape, so that the whole process could repeat itself without the help of other proteins.
The researchers of the latest study reported that EEA1 draws energy from a reaction called GTP hydrolysis to become rigid again. The GTP hydrolysis is mediated by enzymes called GTPases. Rab5 is one such.

7. Wastewater study detects a large, silent wave in Bengaluru

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Health

Context:

It appears that Bengaluru witnessed an invisible wave of COVID-19 that was far bigger than the third wave driven by BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron variants in January 2022. Based on 2,856 genome sequences from India posted on GISAID between December 1, 2022 and April 8, 2023, a team led by Dr. Rajesh P. Karyakarte, Head of the Microbiology Department at the BJ Medical College, Pune found that the XBB.1.16 lineage had grown from 9.3% in the first week of February to 79.17% in the first week of April

How wastewater surveillance is helping the COVID-19 fight

People infected with SARS-CoV-2 can shed the virus in their feces, even if they don’t have symptoms. The virus can then be detected in wastewater, enabling wastewater surveillance to capture presence of SARS-CoV-2 shed by people with and without symptoms.
This allows wastewater surveillance to serve as an early warning that COVID-19 is spreading in a community.
It is difficult to test everyone who has COVID-19, but it is easy to take a single wastewater test and you will have effectively tested everyone who lives in a particular area.

National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS)

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC (Centre for disease control and prevention) launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) in September 2020.
CDC developed NWSS to coordinate and build the nation’s capacity to track the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in wastewater samples collected across the country.

Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID)

The GISAID platform was launched on the occasion of the Sixty-first World Health Assembly in May 2008.
GISAID is a global science initiative and primary source for genomic data of influenza viruses and the novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19.
Headquarters: Munich, Germany
In 2010 the Federal Republic of Germany became the official host of the GISAID platform and its database (named EpiFlu) providing sustainability of the platform and stability through its public-private-partnership with the GISAID Initiative to this day.
In 2013 the European Commission recognized GISAID as a research organization and partner in the PREDEMICS consortium, a project on the Preparedness, Prediction and the Prevention of Emerging Zoonotic Viruses with Pandemic Potential using multidisciplinary approaches.
Key role:
The Initiative ensures that open access to data in GISAID is provided free-of-charge to all individuals that agreed to identify themselves and agreed to uphold the GISAID sharing mechanism governed through its Database Access Agreement.