UN ‘High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land degradation and Drought’

In News: Prime Minister Modi delivered a keynote address at the UN “High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought” via video conference. 

Context:

  • The Prime Minister spoke as the President of the 14th Session of the Conference of Parties of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
  • The Conference called for reduction of the tremendous pressure on land and its resources.
  • Prime Minister listed the following as measures undertaken to deal with land degradation issues:
  • Delhi Declaration of 2019 called for better access and stewardship over land, and emphasised gender-sensitive transformative projects.
  • The Prime Minister gave example of the Banni region in Rann of Kutch in Gujarat to illustrate how restoration of land can start a virtuous cycle of good soil health, increased land productivity, food security and improved livelihoods.
  • A Centre of Excellence is being set up in India to promote a scientific approach towards land degradation issues.

GI certified Jardalu mangoes from Bihar

In News:

  • In a major boost to agri-exports potential of eastern region, the first commercial consignment of Geographical Indications (GI) certified Jardalu mangoes from Bhagalpur, Bihar was exported to United Kingdom.
  • With distinct aroma and taste, Jardalu mangoes from Bhagalpur district of Bihar received GI certification in 2018.

IIT Ropar develops ‘Jivan Vayu’ device

In News: Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed a device ‘Jivan Vayu’ which can be used as a substitute of CPAP machine.

Context:

  • It is Nation’s first such device which functions even without electricity and is adapted to both kinds of oxygen generation units like O2 cylinders and oxygen pipelines in hospitals.
  • Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP):
    • It is a treatment method for patients having breathing problems during sleep called sleep apnea.
    • The machine uses mild air pressure to keep the airways open for easy breathing.
    • It is also used to treat infants whose lungs have not fully developed. The machine blows air into the baby’s nose to help inflate his or her lungs.
    • The treatment is all the more necessary during early stages of the Covid-19 infection.
    • It reduces lung damage and allows patients to recover from the inflammatory effects.
    • It can be customized as per the size of the tube.  Since it can run during power failures, this can be used to safely transport a patient.

Cancer causing Virus affects the Glial cells in Central Nervous System

In News: Indian Scientists have found that the cancer-causing virus Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) affects the glial cells or the non-neural cells in the central nervous system and alters molecules like phospho-inositols (PIP); a type of lipid, glycerol, and cholesterol, when the virus infects the brain cells.

Context:

  • This could pave the path towards understanding the probable role of the virus in neurodegenerative pathologies. Especially given the fact that the virus has been detected in brain tissue of the patients suffering from neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson and multiple Sclerosis.
  • The EBV can cause cancers like nasopharyngeal carcinoma (a type of head and neck cancer), B-cell (a type of white blood cells) cancer, stomach cancer, Burkett’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, post-transplant lymphoid disorders, and so on.
  • More than 95% of the adult population is positive for EBV. However, the infection is mostly asymptomatic, and very little is known about the factors which trigger the development of such disease.
  • It was the detection of the virus in patients with neurodegenerative diseases that triggered the search for the mechanism of propagation of the virus.
  • Researchers have elucidated the infection pattern of EBV in the brain cells showing that the virus is also capable of infecting the glial cells (astrocytes and microglia) in the brain.
  • This study noticed a differential pattern of infection progression in different glial cells.
  • Apart from the timeline of infection progression, their team also tried to reveal the biomolecules involved at each step of the virus infection and relate it to various neurological manifestations.

Glial Cells:

  • Glia, also called glial cells or neuroglia, are non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system that do not produce electrical impulses.
  • They maintain homeostasis, form myelin in the peripheral nervous system, and provide support and protection for neurons.
  • Glial cells can respond to and manipulate neurotransmission in many ways.
  • They can affect both the preservation and consolidation of memories.

Govt. report flags ‘lapses’ in Nagaland bat study

In News:

  • More than a year after a probe into a filo virus study of bats in Nagaland by the Bengaluru-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the government has concluded that there had been “concerning lapses” in the study.
  • Filovirus:
    1. It is the taxonomic home of several related viruses (filoviruses or filovirids) that cause filamentous infectious viral particles (virions).
    2. Two members of the family that are commonly known are Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Both viruses, and some of their lesser known relatives, cause severe disease in humans and nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fevers.
    3. All filoviruses are Select Agents, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogens (requiring Biosafety Level 4-equivalent containment), National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogens, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Category A Bioterrorism Agents, and listed as Biological Agents for Export Control by the Australia Group.

China, India, Pak. expanding Nuclear arsenal says Reports

In News: China, India and Pakistan appear to be expanding their nuclear arsenals, says Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Year Book 2021.

Context:

  • The nine nuclear armed states — the U.S., Russia, the U.K., France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — together possessed an estimated 13,080 nuclear weapons at the start of 2021.
  • Russia and the U.S. together possessed over 90% of global nuclear weapons, SIPRI said.

IISS report:

  • A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London, said that chance played an important ameliorative role in the India-Pakistan crisis of February 2019. 
  • India and Pakistan are seeking new technologies and capabilities that dangerously undermine each other’s defence under the nuclear threshold, said the report.
  • It said China’s evolving profile as a nuclear-weapons state was compounding India’s security challenges.

Indian labs widen net for a mutant form of Delta variant

In News: An emerging form of the Delta variant that allows the coronavirus to “escape” antibodies, in recently approved treatment regimes, is appearing on the radar of Indian scientists.

Context:

  • Called AY1 or B.1.617.2.1, it is a variant of Delta (B.1.617.2), but with a mutation called K417N, which has previously been identified in the Beta variant — first identified in South Africa.
  • This is an international Variant of Concern (VOC), marked by being highly infectious and significantly able to reduce the potency of vaccines.
  • The Delta variant is now regarded as the most prevalent variant in India, comprising nearly 31% of the 21,000 community samples processed until late May.
  • The ICMR-National Institute of Virology and the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, have conducted laboratory tests to determine the potency of Covishield and Covaxin against the new variant.
  • While antibodies continued to be produced against the variant, they were fewer than against the strain used by the vaccine companies to prepare their vaccines. However, antibody levels are not the only markers of immunity.
  • An additional concern with the K417N mutation, according to a database of the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), was that it was associated with resistance to a newly developed monoclonal antibody treatment drug, Casirivimab and Imdevimab, for treating those with moderate and severe disease, but at high risk.

EU resolution to withdraw GSP+ status of Sri Lanka

In News: A recent resolution adopted by the European Parliament, urging the EU Commission to consider temporary withdrawal of the GSP+ status given to Sri Lanka, has put the spotlight back on Sri Lanka’s human rights situation, prompting Colombo to defend its “multifaceted progress” in its response.

Context:

  • Sri Lanka regained the GSP +, or the EU’s ‘Generalised Scheme of Preferences’ in 2017, on Colombo’s commitment to implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labour conditions, protection of the environment and good governance.
  • The status effectively removes import duties on goods from Sri Lanka entering the EU.
  • The recent resolution, expressing deep concern over Sri Lanka’s alarming path towards the recurrence of grave human rights violations, makes specific reference to the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, arrests of lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah and poet Ahnaf Jazeem, who are in “arbitrary” detention for over a year, 20th Amendment – 2020.

GSP+ Status:

  • EU’s GSP removes import duties from products coming into the EU market from vulnerable developing countries; to alleviate poverty and create jobs based on international values and principles, including labour and human rights.
  • The EU offers:
    • Standard GSP: It is for low and lower-middle income countries. This means a partial or full removal of customs duties on two third of tariff lines.
    • GSP+: It slashes tariffs to 0% for vulnerable low and lower-middle income countries that implement 27 international conventions related to human rights, labour rights, protection of the environment and good governance.
    • EBA (Everything But Arms): It is a special arrangement for least developed countries, providing them with duty-free, quota-free access for all products except arms and ammunition.

Gukesh wins Gelfand Challenge

In News: D. Gukesh sensationally won the $15,000 Gelfand Challenge chess title and a ‘wild card’ for the elite Meltwaters Champions Chess Tour.

Meltwaters Champions Chess Tour:

  • The Champions Chess Tour 2021 is known as the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, 2021.
  • It is a 10-month long series of 10 online chess tournaments featuring the world’s top players, playing for a prize money pool of US$1.5 million.
  • The tournament games are held on chess24.com and are broadcast on Twitch, chess24.com itself, and the tour’s official website.
  • The tour is scheduled to start on November 22, 2020 and last until October 3, 2021.