UPSC Daily Current Affairs| Prelim Bits 27-12-2024

Bacteria in Fish Brain

Why in News?

A new study, published in Science Advances, shows that bacteria can not only make their way to the brain, they can thrive there.

• Study species – Salmon and Trout.
• Observation – Using DNA extraction and microscopic imaging, it was identified that bacteria were living in the fishes’ olfactory bulbs and other brain regions.
• Evasion of blood brain barrier – Microbes possessed unique adaptations that helped them breach the blood-brain barrier.
• Some produced molecules called polyamines that can open tight junctions in the barrier fluid.
• Others were able to evade immune responses or outcompete their rivals, ensuring their survival in the brain’s delicate environs.

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a tightly locked layer of cells that defend the brain from harmful substances, germs and other things that could cause damage.

• Adaptability of bacteria - Some bacteria seemed to have colonised the brain much before the blood-brain barrier had evolved to its present form.
• Others likely travelled up from the gut or the bloodstream, continuously infiltrating the brain throughout the fishes’ lives.
• Significance of the study – It opens the door to rethinking the brain’s microbiome in vertebrates, including humans.
• If bacteria can thrive on fish brains, it’s possible they may do so on human brains as well.

Reference

The Hindu| Bacteria’s thriving in Fish Brain

SVAMITVA Scheme

Why in News?

The Prime Minister will grace the e-distribution of 57 lakh SVAMITVA property cards across 46,351 villages in 10 states and 2 Union Territories on 27th December 2024.

• SVAMITVA – Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas.
• Launched in – 2020, on National Panchayati Raj Day, April 24^th
• Launched by – Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
• Aim – To drive the economic transformation of rural India by providing property owners in village Abadi areas with a “Record of Rights.”
• Objectives

• Features – It uses advanced drone and GIS technology for land demarcation to foster property monetization.
• Property cards are seamlessly accessible to beneficiaries through the DigiLocker app, which allowing them to view and download their cards digitally.
• There is a centralized online monitoring and reporting dashboard enables real-time tracking of implementation progress.
• It is coupled with the Continuous Operating Referencing System (CORS) network.

Continuous Operating Referencing System (CORS) network to produce high-resolution maps swiftly and accurately, revolutionizing the process of rural land demarcation.

• Coverage – 31 States/UTs have on-boarded the Scheme.
• It have distributed 57 lakh SVAMITVA property cards across 46,351 villages in 10 States and 2 Union Territories as of 2024.
• Drone survey has been completed in 3.17 lakh villages.
• So far, 2.19 crore property cards have been prepared for nearly 1.49 lakh villages.

Reference

PIB| SVAMITVA Scheme

Impact of Warming Waters on Marine Life

Why in News?

According to a recent analysis by Down To Earth (DTE), nearly 20% of species residing in UNESCO’s World Heritage marine sites have lived in unsuitable warm waters.

• Global sea surface temperature (SST) – At present, it is roughly 1 degrees Celsius higher than 140 years ago, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• The warmest future climate scenario or SSP 8.5 (best estimate projected warming of 4.4°C by the end of the century).
• Impact – Ocean heat content has impacted all the 6 major oceans since 1998.
• But the most significant warming has been in the southern oceans.
• Induce migration – Ocean warming is shifting marine species into cooler and deeper waters from their natural habitats.
  • Warming waters have compelled white-beaked dolphins found in cooler North Atlantic waters to move north-west from the southern areas during 1991-2017.
• Impacts reproduction of mammals – Female sperm whales are unable to conceive at their known rates due to warm waters.
• Affect survival rates of mammals – As species migrate for new suitable waters, they become more vulnerable to new pathogens.
• Affect water movement – It impacts oxygen levels between the surface waters and deeper waters that naturally circulates, providing nutrients to marine species.
• Alter species behaviour – For instance, bacteria which use oxygen as fuel has now switched to nitrate, eventually releasing nitrogen gas and impacting water and atmosphere characteristics.
• Thermal limit breaching – 881 of 4,406 species studied have breached their thermal limits includes.
• UNESCO’s eDNA Expeditions inventoried 21 of 51 marine sites have exceeded their living thermal limits.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an on-invasive sampling method developed by UNESCO, maps ocean life and create an inventory of marine biodiversity in 21 of its 51 World Heritage marine sites.

References

1. Down to Earth| Impact of Warming Waters on Marine Life
2. UNESCO | World Heritage Marine
3. UNESCO| Environmental DNA Expeditions

Vaccine for Cancer & Neoantigens

Why in News?

Recent reports in Russia’s state-run news agency claimed that Russian scientists have developed an mRNA vaccine that has shown the ability to suppress tumour development and metastasis in pre-clinical trials.

• Vaccine – A substance or group of substances meant to cause the immune system to respond to harmful pathogenic microorganisms.
• Vaccination - The process of using a vaccine to stimulate the immune system to provide protection against a disease.
• Cancer vaccine – Unlike vaccines for infections that are given to healthy individuals to protect them from disease, cancer vaccines are given to those who already have certain types of cancers.

Cancer is a disease in which some of the body's cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body.

• Approach — They can be given in combination with other treatments for better outcomes or they can be given for maintenance to prevent relapse.
• The personalised vaccine was developed by collecting the patients’ immune cells, exposing it to a protein found in high levels in prostate cancer cells, and then giving it back to patients.
• However, it extended the patient’s survival by only 4 months.
• Vaccine preventable Cancers – There are at least 2 cancers whose incidence can be reduced by vaccinating against 2 pathogens.
• Preventing chronic hepatitis B infection with vaccination can bring down the incidence
  • Cervical Cancer
  • Liver Cancer

Cervavac is India’s 1^st indigenous quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine, and intended to protect women against cervical cancer.

• Existing vaccines – The only cancer vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration is Sipuleucel-T, for the treatment of prostate cancer.
• Russian mRNA vaccine – It can be “personalised” based on the genetic analysis of each person’s tumour to identify mutations called neoantigens.
• Neoantigens – A new protein that forms on cancer cells when certain mutations occur in tumor DNA.
• Significance – They may play an important role in helping the body make an immune response against cancer cells.

Reference

The Indian Express| Russian vaccine for Cancer