THE HEALTH ISSUES

RAMSAY HUNT SYNDROME

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the famous Canadian singer has been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which is causing him partial facial paralysis. 

THE EXPLANATION:

• Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, or herpes zoster oticus, is a rare neurological disorder which usually leads to paralysis of the facial nerve and a rash that generally affects the ear or mouth. It sometimes causes ear ringing, tinnitus, and hearing loss.
• The condition is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox in children and shingles in adults — the varicella-zoster virus. It generally occurs when a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near your ear. Most commonly known to leave a painful shingles rash, the syndrome can also cause facial paralysis and hearing loss in more serious cases.

SYMPTOMS:

• The most common symptoms are a red, rainfall rash around the ear, facial weakness and paralysis.
• Ear pain, hearing loss, tinnitus, dry mouth and eyes, and difficulty closing one eye are also common symptoms of the condition. And it is not contagious.

 

THIS WORD MEANS: AMYLOIDOSIS

THE CONTEXT: Recently, Pakistan’s former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf is hospitalised in the UAE after his health deteriorated due to a complication of his ailment (Amyloidosis).

THE EXPLANATION:

What is Amyloidosis?

• Amyloidosis is a rare disease that occurs when an abnormal protein, called amyloid, builds up in one’s organs, affecting their shape and functioning. Amyloid deposits can build up in the heart, brain, kidneys, spleen and other parts of the body, leading to life-threatening conditions like organ failure.
• Amyloid isn’t normally found in the body but can be formed from several different types of proteins. Some varieties of amyloidosis occur in association with other diseases. These types may improve with the treatment of the underlying disease. Some varieties of amyloidosis may lead to life-threatening organ failure.
• Amyloidosis may be secondary to a different health condition or can develop as a primary condition as well. Sometimes, it is due to a mutation in a gene, but usually, the cause of amyloidosis remains unknown.

What is the cause of the disease?

• Many different proteins can lead to amyloid deposits, but only a few lead to major health problems. The type of protein and where it collects tell the type of amyloidosis one has. Amyloid deposits may collect throughout one’s body or in just one area.
• Moreover, while some varieties are hereditary, others are caused by outside factors, such as inflammatory diseases or long-term dialysis.

There are also different amyloidosis that is prevalent:

• Light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is the most common type in developed countries which can affect the kidneys, spleen, heart, and other organs. People with conditions such as multiple myeloma or bone marrow illness are more likely to have AL amyloidosis.

THE ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

THIS WORD MEANS: CHELONOIDIS PHANTASTICUS

THE CONTEXT: A giant tortoise, found alive in 2019, has been confirmed to belong a Galápagos species long believed extinct.

THE EXPLANATION:

·         Named Fernanda after her Fernandina Island home, the tortoise is the first of her species, Chelonoidis phantasticus, to be identified in more than a century. Researchers have reported the confirmation in a paper in Nature Communications Biology.

·         Chelonoidis phantasticus means “fantastic giant tortoise”. Commonly called the Fernandina Island Galápagos giant tortoise, the species was so far known only from a single individual, collected in 1906.

·         To determine Fernanda’s species definitively, scientists sequenced her complete genome and compared it to the genome scientist were able to recover from the specimen collected in 1906. They also compared those two genomes to samples from the other 13 species of Galápagos tortoises — 12 living, one extinct.

 

CLASH OVER ‘GREEN GOLD’

THE CONTEXT: Tribal residents of 50 villages in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon and Kanker districts have decided to file an FIR against an official of the state forest department after he confiscated the tendu leaves that they had collected.

THE EXPLANATION:

ABOUT TENDU:

The tendu tree (Diospyros melanoxylon) is found widely across central India. Leaves plucked from its shrubs are used to wrap bidi, the poor man’s cigarette. About 550 billion pieces of bidi (rolled by 10 million people) are sold every year in India, according to the All India Bidi Industry Federation. Moreover, gathering tendu is labour-intensive and employs millions of tribals during the lean month of May, when they have very little else to earn from.

Why is there a dispute?

• Tendu is also called ‘green gold’ and is a prominent non-timber minor forest produced in In 1964, the trade-in tendu leaves were nationalised in then-undivided Madhya Pradesh. Until then, people were free to sell tendu leaves in markets across the country.
• Under this arrangement, the state forest department collects tendu leaves, allows their transportation and sells them to traders.
• In Chhattisgarh, tendu leaf is collected through the state minor forest produce federation. There are more than 10,300 collection centres or phads where tendu leaves are collected from collectors. About 1.37 million families collect tendu leaves every year in Chhattisgarh.

Madhya Pradesh is the largest producer of tendu leaves in the country, accounting for 33.1% of the country’s total production.

 

THE COVID CORNER

INDIA’S FIRST COVID-19 VACCINE FOR ANIMALS

THE CONTEXT: The Agriculture Ministry unveiled India’s first Covid-19 vaccine for animals. Developed by the Hisar-based National Research Centre on Equines, the vaccine, called Ancovax, can protect animals against the Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2.

THE EXPLANATION:

HOW IT WORKS:

• Ancovax can be used in dogs, lions, leopards, mice, and rabbits. It is an inactivated vaccine developed using an infectious part of the Delta variant. In addition, it uses Alhydrogel as an adjuvant to boost the immune response.
• This is the first Covid-19 vaccine for animals developed in India. There were reports from Russia in 2021 that that country, too, had developed a vaccine against animals such as dogs, cats, minks, and foxes.

THE NEED:

• There have been reports of Covid-19 infection in several animals, including dogs and cats. “The vaccine can protect animals in the zoo. It can also prevent transmission from companion animals to the humans”.
• The risk of animals spreading the infection to humans is considered low, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• The aim of the vaccine is to protect endangered animals such as lions and tigers. India reported at least nine Covid infections in Asiatic lions in Chennai zoo in 2021, with one of the lionesses likely to have died of it. This prompted the closure of tiger reserves for tourism. Other than that, a study by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute found at least three natural Covid infections in wild Asiatic lions, and a dead leopard cub was found dead and then tested positive for Covid-19.

THE PLACES IN THE NEWS

VALE DO JAVARI (BRAZIL-PERU BORDER)

THE CONTEXT: British journalist Dom Phillips and a Brazilian indigenous affairs expert, Bruno Araujo Pereira, recently

 went missing in a remote corner of the Amazon rainforest. The duo were last seen in Vale do Javari — the western section of the Brazilian Amazon named after the Javari River, which forms the country’s border with Peru.

THE EXPLANATION:

•  It is the western section of the Brazilian Amazon named after the Javari River.
•  It is home to the greatest concentration of isolated groups in the world with 14 indigenous tribes having nearly 6,000 inhabitants.
• Hotspot for violent crimes: Illegal gold prospecting & poaching, forms part of an international cocaine trafficking route.
• Subjected to environmental degradation which affects the inhabitants who depend on nature. Outside contact also puts these tribes at a grave health risk.

THE UPSC ESSENTIALS

ONE WORD A DAY- GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL

What is Gulf Cooperation Council?

• The GCC was formed in 1981 by an agreement among Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), that was concluded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• It is an economic and political union comprising all the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf except Iraq.
  • Although its current official name is the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, it is still popularly and unofficially known as the Gulf Cooperation Council.
  • The grouping was formed in view of the similar political establishments in the countries based on Islamic principles, their geographical proximity, joint destiny and common objectives.

Which countries are the GCC Members? (QUBOKS) 

The six members of the GCC are Saudi Arabia (absolute monarchy), Qatar (constitutional monarchy), Oman (absolute monarchy), UAE (federal monarchy), Bahrain, and Kuwait (constitutional monarchies).

Which are the possible future members of GCC?

The possible future members of GCC maybe Yemen, Jordan, and Morocco.

What is one of the ambitious projects of GCC?

The GCC aims of having a common market and economic nationality. There are also plans to have a single currency. Such a currency may be known as Khaleeji.

 

                    THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION FOR 11TH JUNE 2022

 

Q1. Which of the following is/are possible impacts of rupee depreciation?

1. Costly imports
2. Cheap foreign travel
3. Costly exports
4. Costly loans

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a) 1 and 2 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 3 and 4 only

d) 1 and 4 only

 

ANSWER FOR 10^TH JUNE 2022

 

Answer: B

Explanation:

Five species of Rhino in the world:

1. Sumatran Rhino: The Sumatran rhino has been on earth longer than any other living mammal. IUCN status- Critically endangered.
2. Javan Rhino: The Javan rhino is possibly the rarest large mammal on earth. IUCN status- Critically endangered.
3. Black Rhino: Black rhinos are the smaller of the two African species.
4. Greater one-horned Rhino: Greater one-horned rhinos are semi-aquatic and often take up residence in swamps, forests and riversides. IUCN status- Vulnerable
5. White Rhino: The White rhino is also known as the Square-lipped rhino. There are two subspecies of White rhino:

• Southern: Ceratotherium simum simum approximately between 19,666 and 21,085 individuals exist. The Southern white rhino can be found mostly in South Africa, with smaller translocated populations found in Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
• Northern: Ceratotherium simum cottoni (only two animals remain). The Northern White Rhino is critically endangered. The sub-species was declared extinct in the wild in 2008, and there are only two individuals remaining in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

 

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