Current Affairs – 8 May 2024
West Nile Fever
Kerala’s health department recently reported West Nile fever cases in three districts.
- Cause: West Nile Fever is caused by the West Nile Virus (WNV), a member of the flavivirus genus in the family Flaviviridae.
- Natural Hosts: Birds serve as the natural hosts for WNV.
- Distribution: Commonly found in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and West Asia.
- Transmission:
- Primarily spread to humans via the bite of infected mosquitoes.
- Mosquitoes become infected by feeding on infected birds.
- Rare cases of transmission through organ transplants have been documented.
- Human-to-Human Transmission: No evidence supports direct transmission from person to person.
- Symptoms:
- Many infected individuals are asymptomatic.
- Common symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, body aches, nausea, vomiting, occasional skin rash, and swollen lymph glands.
- Severe cases (neuroinvasive disease) exhibit symptoms like high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis.
- Treatment:
- No specific medicine or vaccine available for WNV.
- Supportive care is the primary approach, involving hospitalization, intravenous fluids, respiratory support, and prevention of secondary infections.
Spektr-RG (SRG)
Astronomers report the discovery of a new pulsar using the Spektr-RG space observatory.
- Mission Name: Spektr-Rentgen-Gamma (Spektr-RG, SRG)
- Objective: Study the universe in the X-ray range of electromagnetic radiation.
- Launch Date: July 13, 2019.
- Launch Vehicle: Proton-M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
- Orbit:
- Moves along a halo orbit around the outer Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system.
- Orbiting at a distance of 1.5 million km from Earth.
- Orbital period approximately 6 months.
- Lagrange Point:
- Position in space where the gravitational pull of two large masses equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
- Instruments:
- eROSITA:
- Primary instrument built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), Germany.
- Conducts a seven-year X-ray survey.
- Focuses on medium X-ray band (less than 10 keV energies).
- Aims to map an estimated 100,000 galaxy clusters.
- Expected to detect new clusters of galaxies and active galactic nuclei.
- ART-XC:
- Russian high-energy X-ray telescope.
- Capable of detecting supermassive black holes.
- Intended to replace Spektr-R, also known as the “Russian Hubble,” which was launched in 2011 to observe black holes, neutron stars, and magnetic fields, aiding in the understanding of cosmic expansion.
- eROSITA:
Glyptothorax punyabratai
Recently, the ICAR-NBFGR discovered a new catfish species in the pristine waters of Arunachal Pradesh, India and named it as Glyptothorax punyabratai.
- Species Name: Glyptothorax punyabratai
- Collection Location: Tung Stream, a tributary of the Tissa River, in the Brahmaputra River basin.
- Description: A newly discovered catfish species.
Key Facts about Catfish:
- Diversity: Represent one of the largest groups of freshwater fishes, with over 2000 species.
- Habitat: Primarily found in freshwater, though a few species are marine.
- Behavior: Most species are nocturnal.
- Feeding Habits: Primarily benthic or bottom-dwellers.
Features:
- Body Shape: Typically cylindrical with a flattened ventral region to facilitate benthic feeding.
- Barbels: Long barbels, or feelers, around the mouth resemble cat whiskers, hence the name “catfish”.
- Spines: Most catfish have leading spines in their dorsal and pectoral fins.
- Scalelessness: Catfish are scaleless, a distinguishing characteristic setting them apart from other fish species.
Leber Congenital Amaurosis
Researchers have used a CRISPR-Cas9 tool to restore vision in a group of adults and children with congenital blindness known as Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA).
- Condition: Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) is a rare genetic eye disorder.
- Infants affected by LCA are typically blind at birth due to dysfunctional light-gathering cells (rods and cones) in the retina.
- Caused by a gene mutation affecting the protein CEP290 critical for sight.
- Affects about one in 40,000 people, leading to severe vision loss early in life.
Recent Development:
- Study Name: “BRILLIANCE”
- Treatment: Utilized a human gene editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9.
- Therapy: Participants received a single dose of CRISPR gene therapy named EDIT-101.
- Mechanism:
- EDIT-101 targets the mutation in the CEP290 gene.
- It cuts out the defective portion of the gene and replaces it with a healthy strand of DNA.
- This process restores the normal function of the CEP290 protein, enabling the retina to detect light.
CRISPR-Cas9:
- Definition: A technology enabling geneticists and medical researchers to edit sections of the genome.
- Capabilities: Allows for the removal, addition, or alteration of DNA sequences.
- Usage: Widely used in genetic research and potential therapies for various genetic disorders, including LCA
India Employment Report, 2024
India is likely to have a demographic advantage for at least another decade according to India Employment Report 2024.
- It is the 3rd in the series of publication.
- Published by – The Institute for Human Development on labour and employment issues and International Labour Organization.
- Tagline – Youth employment, education and skills.
- Aim – To examine the challenge of youth employment with respect to emerging economic, labour market, educational & skills scenarios and the changes witnessed over the past 2 decades in India.
- Data source – Largely on the Employment and Unemployment Surveys (EUS) and Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS), conducted by NSSO.
- Analysis – It compares 4 years: 2000, 2012, 2019, and 2022.
- Findings – Unemployment and underemployment rates increased till 2018 but declined thereafter.
- Unemployment rate declined from 6% in 2018 to 3.2% in 2023
- Youth unemployment rate fall from 17.8% to 10% in 2023
- The employment quality, as per Employment Condition Index, has improved in all states, albeit differently.
- Increase in the share of non-farm employment (and decline in agriculture employment) between 2000 and 2019, implies a movement towards the structural transformation of the economy.
- A steady increase in regular employment & decline in unorganised sector employment which was halted during the Covid period.
- In comparison to the wages of regular workers, the wages of casual workers increased even during 2019-22.
- Increase in the female workforce participation (FWFP) rate from 24.5% in 2019 to 37.0 in 2023.
- Challenges – The employment pattern remains skewed towards agriculture (around 46.6% workers higher than in 2019).
- The production process has been increasingly becoming capital and skill-intensive, leading to distortions in the labour market.
- Despite an increase in educational attainments, unskilled and semi-skilled workers abound.
- Women’s participation is still low and they remain largely engaged in somewhat less remunerative jobs.
- Educated youth, who account for nearly two-thirds of total unemployment.
- Unemployment rate rises with a rise in education levels, 28% among graduates and above (the proportion of women being higher).
- The proportion of youth not in employment, education and training (NEET) is quite high at around 28% in 2022, with the share of females being around 5 times more than males.
- Over 90% employment is informal, and 83% are in informal sector.
Manipur Launches “School on Wheels” Initiative for Students in Relief Camps