Test: Current Affairs November- 2020 - UPSC MCQ

Genomics for Public Health in India (IndiGen) programme:

• CSIR initiated the Program in April 2019.

• It aims to undertake the whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India.

• The objective is to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.

• The human genome data sets would also be utilised for prioritising Pharmacogenomics variants specific for Indian population for optimising therapy and minimising adverse events.

What are earth-observation satellites used for?

• Land and forest mapping and monitoring, mapping resources like water or minerals or fishes, weather and climate observations, soil assessment, and geospatial contour mapping are all done through the earth- observation satellites.

• They are intended for non-military uses such.

As environmental monitoring, meteorology, cartography and others.

• RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellite) is a series of Indian radar imaging reconnaissance satellites built by ISRO. They provide all-weather surveillance using synthetic aperture radars (SAR).

• The RISAT series are the first all-weather Earth observation satellites from ISRO. Previous Indian observation satellites relied primarily on optical and spectral sensors which were hampered by cloud cover.

• Advantages of radar imaging over optical instruments: Radar imaging is unaffected by weather, cloud or fog, or the lack of sunlight. It can produce high-quality images in all conditions and at all times.

• The government has brought video streaming over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Amazon's Prime Video, Hotstar, and others under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

• OTT, or over-the-top platforms, are audio and video hosting and streaming services that started as content hosting platforms, but soon branched out into the production and release of short movies, feature films, documentaries, etc. web-series themselves. 

• These platforms offer a range of content and use artificial intelligence to suggest users the content they are likely to view based on their past viewership on the platform.

• So far in India, no laws or rules regulate OTT platforms as it is a relatively new medium of entertainment. Unlike television, print or radio, which follow guidelines released by governments, OTT platforms, classified as digital media or social media, had little to no regulation on the choice of content they offered, the subscription rates, certification for adult movies and others.

• Starlink is a satellite internet constellation being constructed by SpaceX providing satellite Internet access.

• The aim is to provide low-cost and reliable space-based Internet services to the world.

• Why use low earth orbit instead of geostationary?

• Geostationary orbit is located at the height of 35,786 km over the Earth's surface, directly above the Equator. Satellites in this orbit move at speeds of about 11,000 km per hour and complete one revolution of the Earth while the earth rotates once on its axis. To the observer on the ground, therefore, a satellite in a geostationary orbit appears stationary.

• Advantages: Signals from geostationary orbit can cover a huge part of the Earth. Signals from one satellite can cover roughly a third of the planet — and three to four satellites would be enough to cover the entire Earth. Also, because they appear to be stationary, it is easier to link to them.

• Then what's the issue?

• There is a time lag — called latency — between a user seeking data, and the server sending that data.

• And because data transfers cannot happen faster than the speed of light (in reality, they take place at significantly lower speeds), the longer the distance that needs to be covered the greater is the time lag, or latency.

• A transmission from a satellite in geostationary orbit has a latency of about 600 milliseconds.

• A satellite in the lower orbit, 200-2,000 km from the Earth's surface, can bring the lag down to 20-30 milliseconds, roughly the time it takes for terrestrial systems to transfer data. But lower orbits have their own problem.

• Owing to their lower height, their signals cover a relatively small area. As a result, many more satellites are needed to reach signals to every part of the planet.

• What are genetically modified seeds?

• Conventional plant breeding involves crossing species of the same genus to provide the offspring with both parents' desired traits. Genetic engineering aims to transcend the genus barrier by introducing an alien gene in the seeds to get the desired effects. The alien gene could be from a plant, an animal or even a soil bacterium.

• Bt cotton, the only GM crop in India, has two alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest pink bollworm.

• In India, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that allows for GM crops' commercial release. In 2002, the GEAC had allowed the commercial release of Bt cotton. More than 95 per cent of the country's cotton area has since then come under Bt cotton. Use of the unapproved GM variant can attract a jail term of 5 years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986.

• Measles is a highly contagious, serious disease caused by a virus.

• Measles is an airborne disease which spreads easily from one person to the next through the coughs and sneezes of infected people.

• India was among six countries with the highest number of infants who had not received the vaccine against measles — while the contagious viral disease surged worldwide in 2019 reaching the highest number of

• reported cases in 23 years — last year, according to a new report of the World Health Organisation and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• It is sometimes thought that everyone infected with a disease-causing virus, and recovers, becomes immune to the disease because they build antibodies against it. But that is not the case. While the creation of antibodies is necessary for the recovery process, it does not guarantee immunity against a future attack from the same virus. Immunity comes from what are known as "neutralising" or "protective" antibodies.

• The neutralising antibodies become special because they have the ability to thwart the entry of the same virus inside human bodies in the future.

• Serosurveys only look for the presence of antibodies in people. Their purpose is to determine whether a person has been infected with the virus or not, and through random testing of people, estimate the extent of spread of the disease, or prevalence, in a population group.

Reverse Osmosis Systems will remove common chemical contaminants (metal ions, aqueous salts), including sodium, chloride, copper, chromium, and lead; may reduce arsenic, fluoride, radium, sulfate, calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrate, and phosphorous.

Polio vaccines used in India’s immunisation programme are stored at -20°C

In a rare complication, some patients infected with Covid-19 have been found suffering from Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS). In India, such cases have been reported since August.

What is Guillain Barre Syndrome?

It is a very rare autoimmune disorder. In an attempt to kill the coronavirus, the immune system accidentally starts attacking the peripheral nervous system. GBS is caused by bacteria or viral infection. In the past, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome patients showed GBS symptoms, as did those infected with Zika, HIV, Herpes virus and Campylobacter jejuni.

• Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling (BEOSP), also known as brain fingerprinting, is a neuropsychological interrogation method. The accused's participation in the crime is investigated by studying their brain's response. The BEOSP test is carried out via a process known as an electroencephalogram, conducted to study the human brain's electrical behaviour.

• The BEOSP procedure does not involve a question-answer session with the accused and is a neuropsychological study of their brain.

• In 2010, the Supreme Court passed a judgment in the Selvi versus State of Karnataka case where the bench observed that narco analysis, polygraph and brain mapping tests could not be forced upon any individual without their consent test results cannot be admitted solely as evidence. However, any information or material discovered during the tests can be made part of the evidence, observed the bench.