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Mad Cow Disease

Context

• Brazil has halted its beef exports after the confirmation of a case of mad cow disease in its northern state.
  • Brazil is the largest exporter of Beef in the world while the USA is the largest producer.

What is mad cow disease?

• Mad cow disease is also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). 
• It is a transmissible, slowly progressive, degenerative, and fatal disease which affects the central nervous system of adult cattle. The infectious agent that causes mad cow disease is an abnormal version of a protein normally found on cell surfaces called a prion.
• When protein gets altered, it destroys the nervous system tissue- the brain and spinal cord. 

Microbiome Link to Autism

Gut Microbiome link To Autism

• A study was done to determine how the gut microbiome and autism spectrum disease are related (ASD).
• It has been discovered that human gut microbiome makeup is linked to several disorders, including autism, Crohn's disease, and others.
• The bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses that inhabit human digestive tracts are known as the gut microbiome or gut microbiota. These microorganisms have an impact on the body from birth and throughout life by regulating digestion, the immune system, the central nervous system, and other bodily functions.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD): What is it?

• A range of neurodevelopmental abnormalities are collectively referred to as autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• One in 100 kids have ASD, according to the WHO. Children with ASD have trouble interacting with others, struggle with verbal and nonverbal communication, and engage in repetitive and constrained behaviours.
• One's cognitive capacities may be negatively impacted by these traits, which over time may lower one's quality of life.
• ASD cannot currently be treated or reversed by therapeutic methods or recognised remedies.
• The causative agents of ASD are still not fully understood by researchers. Yet, they are starting to discover that a problem with the gut-brain axis may play a significant role.
• The study of the factors that contribute to a condition or disease is known as aetiology.
• It is a complex developmental impairment of the brain that manifests itself throughout the first three years of life.
• While persons with autism can display exceptional skills in fields like art, music, writing, etc., it is not a sign of mental impairment. Individuals with ASDs have a wide range of intellectual functioning, from severe impairment to excellent levels.

Causes:

• Environmental and genetic variables, among others, may increase a child's risk of developing an ASD.

What is the relationship between ASD and the gut microbiome?

• The modulation of the immune system and metabolic processes in the human body are thought to be significantly influenced by the gut microbiome. Immune modulation is the process through which the immune system tries to make sure that the reaction it produces is appropriate for the threat.
• The gut microbiome and ASD symptoms may be related, according to the study. In children with ASD, they discovered dysbiosis, or an imbalance, in the gut flora.
• These results led the researchers to the conclusion that restoring gut microbiome balance and treating gut dysbiosis in ASD children could help them with a variety of issues and enhance their quality of life.
• The human microbiome, frequently referred to as the "lost organ," is important for a variety of host activities, including physiology, nutrition, growth, and disease.
• The modulation of the immune system and metabolic processes in the human body are thought to be significantly influenced by the gut microbiome.
• Immune modulation, among other things, refers to an immune system's efforts to make sure that its reaction is appropriate for the threat.
• Some researchers have contested the importance of the gut microbiome by arguing that since ASD cannot be caused by the microbiome, it has a limited involvement in the pathophysiology of the disorder.
• Hence, "fixing" the gut in ASD can lessen the toxic load, including that which crosses the blood-brain barrier, and/or assist in completing the crucial routes for neurotransmitter synthesis.

What ASD-related initiatives are there?

• The Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) both address the rights of individuals with disabilities, including autism.
• The number of disability kinds has expanded from 7 to 21 as a result of the Right of People with Disabilities Act, 2016. Along with other conditions that were mostly disregarded in prior Acts, it also includes autism spectrum disorder.
• More than 60 nations backed a resolution that the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted in 2014 titled "Comprehensive and coordinated efforts for the management of ASD."
• The 2nd of April was unanimously designated as International Autism Awareness Day by the UN General Assembly in 2008.

Brain-Inspired Image Sensor Can Detect Miniscule Objects

Context

A new study at Indian Institue of science (IISc) has shown that a brain-inspired image sensor can go beyond the diffraction limit of light to detect miniscule objects such as cellular components or nanoparticles invisible to current microscopes.

What is this Technology?

• The technique combines optical microscopy with a neuromorphic camera and machine learning algorithms and presents a major step forward in pinpointing objects smaller than 50 nanometers in size.
  • The diffraction limit prevents optical microscopes from distinguishing between two objects smaller than a certain size (typically 200-300 nanometers).
• The neuromorphic camera mimics the way the human retina converts light into electrical impulses.
  • In neuromorphic cameras, each pixel operates independently, generating sparse and lower amount of data. The process is similar to how the human retina works.
    • It allows the camera to “sample” the environment with much higher temporal resolution.
  • In conventional cameras, each pixel captures the intensity of light falling on it and these pixels are pooled together to reconstruct an image of the object.
• The experiment used the neuromorphic camera to pinpoint individual fluorescent beads smaller than the limit of diffraction, by shining laser pulses at both high and low intensities, and measuring the variation in the fluorescence levels.
  • As the intensity increases, the camera captures the signal as an “ON” event, while an “OFF” event is reported when the light intensity decreases.
  • The data from these events were pooled together to reconstruct frames.

What is the Significance of this Technique?

• This approach can have widespread applications in precisely tracking and understanding stochastic processes in biology, chemistry and physics.
  • It will help understand the thumb rules of biological processes like self-organisation.
  • The team was also able to closely track the movement of a fluorescent bead moving freely in an aqueous solution using this technique.

ALMA Telescope 

Context

• The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) is set to get software and hardware upgrades.

About

• The upgrade  will help it collect much more data and produce sharper images than ever before.
• The most significant modernisation made to ALMA will be the replacement of its correlator, a supercomputer that combines the input from individual antennas and allows astronomers to produce highly detailed images of celestial objects.
• ALMA’s correlators are among the world’s fastest supercomputers.

Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array

• About: ALMA is a state-of-the-art  radio telescope comprising 66 antennas that studies celestial objects at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths.
  • They can penetrate through dust clouds and help astronomers examine dim and distant galaxies and stars out there. 
  • It also has extraordinary sensitivity, which allows it to detect even extremely faint radio signals.
  • Location: Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
  • It has been fully functional since 2013, and has helped astronomers make groundbreaking discoveries, including that of starburst galaxies and the dust formation inside supernova 1987A.
• Development: It was designed, planned and constructed by the US’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
• Operation:  ALMA is operated under a partnership among the United States, 16 countries in Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile; the announcement came after all the partners cleared the funding required for the improvements.

Why is ALMA located in Chile’s Atacama Desert?

• ALMA is situated at an altitude of 16,570 feet (5,050 metres) above sea level on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
  • Reason: as the millimetre and submillimetre waves observed by it are very susceptible to atmospheric water vapour absorption on Earth. 
  • Moreover, the desert is the driest place in the world, meaning most of the nights here are clear of clouds and free of light-distorting moisture — making it a perfect location for examining the universe.

Findings of Telescope

• In 2013: Starburst galaxies 
• ALMA provided detailed images of the protoplanetary disc surrounding HL Tauri — a very young T Tauri star in the constellation Taurus, approximately 450 light years from Earth.
• In 2015:
  • It helped scientists observe a phenomenon known as the Einstein ring, which occurs when light from a galaxy or star passes by a massive object en route to the Earth.
• It also provided the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. 
  • The image was unveiled by scientists in May 2022.

James Webb Telescope Spots 6 Monster Galaxies

About James Web Telescope:

• This telescope was built in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency and was launched in December 2021.
• It is presently at a point in space known as the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million km beyond Earth’s orbit.
• Lagrange Point 2 is one of the five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system.
• It's the largest, most powerful infrared space telescope ever built.

• Objectives: It will examine every phase of cosmic history; from the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets to the evolution of our Solar System.

Green and Self-Powered Desalination Plant in Lakshadweep

Context

• Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) will set up a Desalination plant in Lakshadweep.

What’s in today’s article?

• About Desalination (Meaning, Types, About RO, Working, Advantages/Disadvantages, LTTD)
• News Summary (Plant by NIOT, About NIOT) 

What is Desalination Technology?

• Desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from water.
• Today there are two main types of desalination technologies –
  • Reverse Osmosis
  • Thermal Desalination

RO Desalination

• Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination uses the principle of osmosis to remove salt and other impurities, by transferring water through a series of semi-permeable membranes.
• Osmosis involves ‘a solvent’ (such as water) naturally moving from an area of low solute concentration, through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration.
• A reverse osmosis system applies an external pressure to reverse the natural flow of solvent and so seawater or brackish water is pressurized against one surface of the membrane.
• This pressure causes salt-depleted water to move across the membrane, releasing clean water from the low-pressure side.
• Seawater has Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)e., a measure of salinity, close to 35,000 parts per million (ppm), or equivalent to 35 g of salt per one litre/kg of water.
• An effective network of RO plants reduces this down to about 200-500 ppm.
• There are about 18,000 desalination plants in the world across 150 countries and nearly half of Israel’s water is sourced through desalination.

Environmental Issues with RO Desalination Plants

• Desalination is an expensive way of generating drinking water as it requires a high amount of energy.
• The other major environmental challenge it poses is the deposition of Brine (highly concentrated salt water) along the shores.
• The brine being deposited along the seashore is triggering changes along the coastline and reducing the availability of prawn, sardine and mackerel.
• Hyper salinity along the shore affects plankton, which is the main food for several of these fish species.
• Moreover, the high-pressure motors needed to draw in the seawater end up sucking in small fish and life forms, thereby crushing and killing them.

Is RO Water Good for Health?

• Earlier, there were concerns that desalinated water was devoid of vital minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, sodium, potassium and carbonates, referred to as TDS.
• Highly desalinated water has a TDS of less than 50 milligrams per litre, which is pure, but does not taste like water.
  • However, anything from 100 mg/l to 600 mg/l is considered as good quality potable water.
• In today’s times, most RO plants put the water through a ‘post-treatment’ process whereby salts are added to make TDS around 300 mg/l.
• Several of the home-RO systems that are common in affluent Indian homes also employ post-treatment and add salts to water.

Alternative to RO Desalination Technology

• Low-temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) –
  • LTTD technique works on the principle that water in the ocean 1,000 or 2,000 feet below is about 4⁰ C to 8⁰ C colder than surface water.
  • Salty surface water is collected in a tank and subject to high pressure (via an external power source).
  • This pressured water vaporizes and this is trapped in tubes or a chamber.
  • Cold water plumbed from the ocean depths is passed over these tubes and the vapor condenses into fresh water and the resulting salt diverted away.
• LTTD Plants in India –
  • In 2005, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), set up a 100,000 litre-a-day plant in Kavaratti, Lakshadweep islands and this has been providing water to about 10,000 residents.
  • There are also 1.5 lakh litres a day plants proposed at Amini, Androth, Chetlat, Kadamat, Kalpeni and Kiltan islands.
  • There are plants of similar capacity proposed at Minicoy and Agatti islands.

News Summary:

• The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is planning to set up a Desalination plant in Lakshadweep. The plant will be emission free.
• Currently the desalination plants, each of which provides at least 100,000 litres of potable water every day, are powered by diesel generator sets.
• The need for diesel power to reduce the water pressure means that the process is not fossil-fuel free.
  • Also, diesel is a precious commodity in the islands as it has to be shipped from the mainland critical for powering the electric grid.
• Currently there are five desalination plants in operation in the Lakshadweep islands. Four more were expected to be functioning in the coming months.
  • The proposed self-sustaining plant — the 10th — is expected to be ready later this year.

About National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT)

• The NIOT was established in 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Objective – To develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve various engineering problems associated with harvesting of non-living and living resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which is about two-thirds of the land area of India.
• Headquarters – Chennai, Tamil Nadu