Daily Prelims Notes 3 April 2022

Daily Prelims Notes

3 April 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Immunity following infection lasts up to 19 months
2. Bats
3. Need to change first-past-the-post (FPTP) system

1. Immunity following infection lasts up to 19 months

Subject: Science

Section: Basic

Context: Study undertaken in Sweden has once again found irrefutable evidence in support of vaccination, even among people who have been previously infected.

Findings:

What is Immunity? Immunity is the capability of multicellular organisms to resist harmful micro organisms. Immunity involves both specific and nonspecific components.

Innate Immunity

• Innate immunity is non-specific type of defense that is present at the time of birth.
• Innate immunity is accomplished by providing different types of barriers to the entry of the foreign agents into our body.
• Innate immunity consists of four types of barriers. These are;
  • Physical Barriers: Skin on our body is the main barrier which prevents entry of the micro-organisms.
  • Physiological Barriers: Acid in the stomach, saliva in the mouth, tears from eyes-all prevent microbial growth.
  • Cellular Barriers: Certain types of leukocytes (WBC) of our body like polymorpho-nuclear leukocytes (PMNL-neutrophils) and monocytes and natural killer (type of lymphocytes) in the blood as well as macrophages in tissues can phagocytose and destroy microbes.
  • Cytokine Barriers: Virus-infected cells secrete proteins called interferons which protect non-infected cells from further viral infection.

Acquired Immunity

• Acquired immunity is pathogen specific. It is characterized by memory. This means that our body when it encounters a pathogen for the first time produces a response called primary response which is of low intensity.
• Subsequent encounter with the same pathogen elicits a highly intensified secondary or anamnestic response. This is ascribed to the fact that our body appears to have memory of the first encounter.

Active and Passive Immunity

• When a host is exposed to antigens [a substance which the body recognizes as alien and which induces an immune response], which may be in the form of living or dead microbes or other proteins, antibodies are produced in the host body. This type of immunity is called active immunity.
• When ready-made antibodies are directly given to protect the body against foreign agents, it is called passive immunity.

Vaccination and Immunization

• In vaccination, a preparation of antigenic proteins of pathogen or inactivated / weakened pathogen (vaccine) is introduced into the body.
• The antibodies produced in the body against these antigens would neutralize the pathogenic agents during actual infection.

Hybrid Immunity

https://optimizeias.com/hybrid-immunity/

Antibodies and Cellular Immunity

https://optimizeias.com/antibodies-and-cellular-immunity/

2. Bats

Subject: Science

Section: Basic

Context: A genomic analysis suggests that there are probably dozens of unknown species of horseshoe bats in Southeast Asia.

About Bats:

https://optimizeias.com/bats/

3. Need to change first-past-the-post (FPTP) system

Subject: Polity

Section: Election

Context:

Indian elections since 1952 have under gone massive social changes. This has contributed to each caste polity reclaiming its share, giving rise to coalition governments, thus going against the maximum of FPTP

Concept –

• The first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is also known as the simple majority system. In this voting method, the candidate with the highest number of votes in a constituency is declared the winner.
• This system is used in India in direct elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
• While FPTP is relatively simple, it does not always allow for a truly representative mandate, as the candidate could win despite securing less than half the votes in a contest.

Proportional Representation (PR)

• Proportional representation (PR) is a concept in which the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received.
• India is not new to PR system; in our country, the following elections are held on the basis of proportional representation:
  • President
  • Vice President
  • Members of Rajya Sabha
  • Members of state legislative council