World Hepatitis Day takes place every year on 28 July, with the aim of bringing the world together in order to raise awareness of viral hepatitis.
The theme for World Hepatitis Day 2018 is “Eliminate Hepatitis”.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by blood borne Hepatitis Virus.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
The most common modes of infection are through exposure to contaminated blood or blood products and invasive medical procedures using contaminated equipments.
It can also be transmitted sexually and be passed from an infected mother to her baby.
Viral hepatitis B and C are root causes of liver cancer, leading to 1.34 million deaths every year.
Currently, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C; except Hepatitis C, all other hepatitis viruses have safe and effective vaccination to prevent them.
Hepatitis B is included in India‘s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
According to the WHO's Global Strategy of Viral Hepatitis, the goal to eliminate Hepatitis B and C should be achieved by 2030.
Mission Satyanishtha
Indian Railways has launched the mission Satyanishtha.
It aims at sensitizing all railway employees about the need to adhere to good ethics and to maintain high standards of integrity at work.
It is the first ever such mission by any government organisation.
The objectives of the Mission are
To train every employee to understand the need and value of ethics in Personal and Public life.
To deal with ethical dilemmas in life and Public Governance.
To help understand the policies of Indian Railways on ethics and integrity and the employee’s role in upholding the same.
To develop inner governance through tapping inner resources.
Sagittarius A*
It is believed to be a super massive black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy.
It is 4 million times heavier than sun.
The gravity produced by it is so intense that stars many times more massive than our sun orbit around it at incredible speeds.
One of the stars, called S2, recently passed by the black hole at a speed of nearly 3% of the speed of light.
The passerby of the S2 was observed by Very Large Telescope of European Space Agency.
It proved Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity is correct.
Einstein predicted that when light (such as the light emitted from S2) passed so close to such a powerful source of gravity, it would lose some of its energy.
In a way, the light has to struggle to move through the field of intense gravity.
The light form S2 star has shown that it does lose some of its energy during its passage around the Black Hole.
Very Large Telescope
It is the world's most advanced ground based visible-light astronomical observatory.
It is operated by European Southern Observatory.
It is located on the mountain Cerro Paranal in Chile and consisting of four telescopes with mirrors.
These telescopes can operate individually or together as an interferometer.
The large telescopes are named Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun, which are the names for the Sun, the Moon, the Southern Cross, and Venus in the language of the Mapuche people.
Modern Fishing Harbour
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to construct a modern fishing harbour at Pudimadaka, about 50 km from Vishakapatnam.
The Central Institute of Coastal Engineering for Fishery (CICEF), Bengaluru, is preparing a detailed project report.
It is the State government’s initiative to encourage organised fishery and improve the livelihood of traditional fishermen.
Turnitin
It is the software to detect plagiarism (Stealing and publication of another author's ideas or expressions) in research.
Union Human Resource Development Minister has recently asserted that this software will be provided to all universities free of cost.
India and WMO
India has been designated as a nodal centre for preparing flash-flood forecasts by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
India will develop a customised model that can issue advance warning of floods in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.
The system is called the Flash Flood Guidance System which aims to provide forecasts six hours in advance.
The WMO says flash floods account for 85% of flooding incidents across the world, causing some 5,000 deaths each year.
World Meteorological Organisation
WMO was created in 1950 as an intergovernmental organization.
It became a specialized agency of the United Nations, in 1951, for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.
It is the UN system‘s authoritative voice on weather, climate and water.
Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland and is headed by the Secretary-General.
Through its members, WMO provides forecasts and early warnings to nations, which help prevent and mitigate disasters.
It WMO monitors and forecast the transport of chemical and oil spills, forest fires, volcanic ash, haze and nuclear isotopes.
It also draws world attention to the depletion of the ozone layer.
