1. Trans Fat

1.1. About Trans-Fat

Also known as Trans Fatty Acids (TFA), they are of 2 types- o Natural Trans-Fat- Occur naturally in the dairy and some meat products.
Artificial Trans-Fat- They are created when the oil goes through hydrogenation, which involves adding hydrogen to the liquid oil to make it more solid.
They help to increase the shelf life of oils and foods and stabilise their flavours.
In India, Vanaspati, desi ghee, butter and margarine are the main sources of trans fat. Vanaspati is favoured by the industry as it prolongs a food product’s shelf life and is cheap.

Health Hazards due to Trans-Fat

According to various studies, a 2% increase in energy intake from trans-fat has been associated with a 23 % increase in the risk of heart disease and according to another estimate by WHO.
Its consumption increases the risk of heart disease by raising the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as the “bad” cholesterol and at the same time it reduces the level of high-density.

Perceptible Progress in Developed Countries

Many developed countries have already eliminated Trans-fat.
Denmark was the first country to restrict industrially-produced trans fats in food and it has witnessed a sharp decline in deaths due to cardiovascular diseases.
Lipoprotein (HDL) which is the “good” cholesterol.
They are supposed to be the main cause of Type-2 Diabetes and linked to insulin resistance, that is why WHO recommends that no more than one per cent of a person's calories come from trans fats.

1.2. FSSAI Recommendation

The current permitted level of trans fat is 5 per cent (by weight) in India. FSSAI has further proposed to limit the maximum amount of trans fat in vegetable oils, vegetable fat and hydrogenated vegetable oil to 2 per cent to make India trans-fat free by 2022.
It had also notified standards on re-use or reheating of cooking oil last year, according to which, vegetable oils that have accumulated the total polar compounds (Polar compounds are formed due to oxidation, hydrolysis and some other chemical reactions of oils during frying) of more than 25 per cent cannot be used.

2. New Norms For Labelling Packaged Gm Foods

Background

Genetically modified crops are cultivated from seeds that are genetically engineered to increase yields or tolerance to pests. The first GM labelling requirements for food products were introduced by the European Union (EU) in 1997.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

FSSAI, under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
It has responsibility of laying down scientific standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee,

It functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)
It is responsible for appraisal of activities involving large scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinants in research and industrial production from the environmental angle.
It is also responsible for appraisal of proposals relating to release of genetically engineered (GE) organisms and products into the environment including experimental field trials.
In case of India, a Supreme Court moratorium has been in place concerning the cultivation of GM food crops.
Furthermore, GM food imports require approvals under two laws- the Environment Protection Act of 1986 and the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006.
While the EPA, 1986 covers environmental impacts of the food products, the FSSA, 2006 assesses the food’s impact on human health.
There are no regulations in India for GM products till now.

Draft food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2018

It makes it mandatory to label such food stuffs as “Contains GMO/Ingredients derived from GMO” if such items contain 5% or more GE ingredients.
It also suggests mandatory declaration by packaged food manufacturers about nutritional information such as calories, total fat, trans fat, sugar and salt per serve on the front of the pack.
It has also proposed a colour code scheme where food with the high fat, sugar and salt will be coloured ‘red’ in case the value of energy from total sugar is more than 10% of the total energy provided by the 100 grams or 100 ml of the product. It has similar provisions for trans-fat and sodium content as well.

Way Forward

India needs to establish a regulatory mechanism for GM foods. The regulation of GM products may be integrated with other major initiatives undertaken by FSSAI for food safety such as:
Food Safety on Wheels initiative under which 62 mobile food lab units will be deployed across the country for food testing, public education and awareness and for conducting training and certification programmes.
A centralised lab management system called InFolNet (Indian Food Laboratory Network) to connect all the government and private food labs.
Food safety index which will be launched by FSSAI, considering the need for States to have a robust food safety ecosystem, to measure their performance on various parameters.
Along with mandatory labelling of GMOs labels such as Organic label and Non-GMO label should also be promoted.

3. Zoonotic Diseases

3.1. Nipah virus

Nipah virus was first identified in Kampung Sungai Nipah, Malaysia in 1998 from where it derives its name.
The first outbreak in India was reported from Siliguri, West Bengal in 2001.
The natural host of the virus is the fruit bat but it can also infect pigs or any domesticated animals.
The virus is present in bat urine, faeces, saliva, and birthing fluids which then transmits it to Humans climbing trees or drinking raw palm sap covered in it.
Transmission of Nipah virus also takes place through direct contact with other NiV-infected people.

What are Zoonotic diseases?

A zoonotic disease is a disease that spreads between animals and people.
They can be caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi.
Important Zoonotic diseases in India are: Nipah virus, avian influenza, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, leptospirosis, Hanta virus, SARS, cysticercosis, anthrax, plague, echinococcosis and schistosomosis, Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) etc.

Why are zoonotic diseases a concern?

Over the past 70 years, more than 300 zoonotic diseases have been reported, they result in 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) among humans.
In a globalized world, the mobility of diseases has greatly increased, for example the SARS virus originated in wild animals in China quickly spreading globally.
Some EIDs have adapted to a human-sustained cycle independent of animals for example, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) virus.
Some carriers of diseases like birds can help in transmitting the diseases across vast distances.
More than 220 million people in India depend on forestry and are vulnerable due to contact with wild animals but have less economic capacity to fight disease outbreaks like Kyasanur forest disease (KFD).

Why is there an increase in Zoonotic diseases?

The recent upsurge has often been attributed to the dramatic increase in population, mobility and the
The One Health Initiative defines One Health as ‘the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, plants and our environment’.

Associated social and environmental changes in the past 70 years.

Habitat destruction forces many species to move towards human settlements for example, In the first outbreak of encephalitis in Malaysia in 1998, fruit bats were displaced from their natural forested habitat due to severe deforestation and fires.
Extinction of one species leads to a cascading effect that may increase the population of reservoir species.
Forest clearing for agriculture leads to expansion of ecotones (transition zones between adjacent ecological systems) and overlapping environment for wild and domesticated animals increasing chances of transmission of diseases.
The geographic range of many diseases like chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and dengue virus are increasing due to effects of climate change.

Way forward

Since, there are no vaccine available for many zoonotic diseases, there needs to be adoption and awareness generation of preventive measures.
Habitat conservation should be given priority to prevent deforestation and fragmentation of forests.
Intensification of agriculture and livestock farming near wild animals should be regulated.
We need to adopt “one health” approach particularly to fight zoonotic diseases.

4. Animal-Free Testing For Drugs

Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC)

It is an autonomous institution of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
It is created to set standards of drugs in the country.
It publishes official documents for improving Quality of Medicines by way of adding new and updating existing articles in the form of Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP).
It also promotes rational use of generic medicines by publishing National Formulary of India.

Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP)

It contains a collection of authoritative procedures of analysis and specifications for Drugs.
It has got legal status under the Second Schedule of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules 1945 there under.

4.1. Pyrogen Test

A pyrogen is a foreign substance that causes a fever (temperature elevation) in an animal’s body. Vaccines and other injectable drugs must be confirmed to be pyrogen free according to regulatory requirements.
For the test, the drug is injected into a rabbit (Food and water is withheld to rabbit overnight) and the animal is closely observed for feverish symptoms.

Abnormal Toxicity Test

This test is carried out to check potential hazardous biological contamination in vaccine formulations i.e. the degree to which a substance can damage living or non-living entity.
The scientists observe if there is death of any animal during the tests.

5. Third Mission Innovation (Mi-3) Ministerial Meeting

5.1. Initiatives taken

Mission Innovation Champions Programme was launched by Mission innovation countries to felicitate clean energy innovators.
Hydrogen Innovation Challenge was announced to reduce costs along the value chain and further expand the deployment of hydrogen.
India announced setting up of First International Incubator for clean energy in public-private partnership at a total investment of around US $ 5 million in Delhi.
India announced participation in Global cooling innovation challenge.

Mission Innovation

It was launched at COP21 of UNFCCC in Paris in November 2015. It is a global platform of 23 countries and
The seven Innovation Challenges under Mission Innovation are the following:
Smart Grids Innovation Challenge
Off-Grid Access to Electricity Innovation Challenge
Carbon Capture Innovation Challenge.
Sustainable Biofuels Innovation Challenge
Converting Sunlight Innovation Challenge
Clean Energy Materials Innovation Challenge
Affordable Heating and Cooling of Buildings Innovation Challenge

European Union aimed at accelerating clean energy innovations through-

Enhanced Government funding,
Greater public-private sector partnership and
Enhanced global cooperation.
It seeks to double investments in clean energy innovation over five years.
India is founding member of Mission Innovation and part of the Steering Committee besides co-lead of innovation challenges on smart grids, off grids and sustainable bio-fuels.
Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is nodal agency of this mission in India
The first Ministerial meeting was held in June 2016 in San Francisco.
4th MI Ministerial will be hosted by Canada, Vancouver in May 2019.

6. Atal Tinekring Marathon

6.1. Atl Student Innovator Program

It is an effort to institutionalize a mechanism, where high school students can work with university incubators to pursue their innovative and entrepreneurial ideas along with their education.
Students will be trained on business and entrepreneurship skills, including intellectual property, effective communication, making an elevator pitch and so on.
ATL schools will also be offered a participation voucher to World Robotics Olympiad (WRO), which is a global innovation challenge.

Details of the Atal Tinkering Marathon:

Its aim is to find out the best student innovators of India.
The marathon puts nation-wide challenge in 6 thematic areas namely Clean Energy, Water resources, Waste management, Healthcare, Smart mobility, and Agri-tech.
Out of all innovations received, top 100 are shortlisted on the basis of novelty and prototype functionality. These 100 teams are given a month to refine their prototypes. Out of 100, Top 30 innovations are selected by an esteemed panel of judges including industry and academia experts.
The Top 30 Innovations are showcased through a booklet compiling the work done by the children, the mentors, teachers and schools.
The Top 30 teams are being awarded with several prizes including a three month-long ATL Student Innovator Program (ATL SIP) in partnership with industry and start-up incubator.

Atal Innovation Mission

It is a flagship initiative set up by the NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country, based on a detailed study and deliberations on innovation and entrepreneurial needs of India in the years ahead.
It shall have two core functions:
Entrepreneurship promotion through Self-Employment and Talent Utilization, wherein innovators would be supported and mentored to become successful entrepreneurs
Innovation promotion: to provide a platform where innovative ideas are generated through-
Scale-up support to Established Incubators.

7. Digital Village Programme

7.1. More on news

The CSC model has adopted six villages in the country in the pilot phase to be developed as Digital Villages.
DigiGaon or Digital Village is conceptualized as a connected place in a rural and remote part of the country where citizens can avail various e-Services of the Central Government, state Governments and private

Common Service Centres

Common Service Centres (CSC) scheme is one of the mission mode projects under the Digital India Programme.
CSCs are the access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education and agriculture services, apart from host of B2C services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country players.
The idea behind this project is to turn these villages into self-sustaining units. It aims at promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods through community participation and collective action.
The digital villages have been equipped with solar lighting facility in their community center, LED assembly unit, sanitary napkin unit (with active participation on Asha and Anganwadi workers) and Wi-fi choupal.

Challenges in digitizing rural India

High level of digital illiteracy: As per the 71st NSSO Survey on Education 2014, only 6% of rural households have a computer. This makes adoption of technology driven services delivery very slow.
Slow and delayed digital infrastructure development along with the need of high upfront investment in creating infrastructure.
Change in behavioral pattern: Village community is generally perceived to possess conservative mindset.

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA)

It was launched in 2017 to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate by March 2019.
It is expected to be one of the largest Digital Literacy Programmes in the world.
Under the scheme, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in the FY 2016-17; 275 lakh in the FY 2017-18; and 300 lakh in the FY 2018-19.
To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the 250,000 Gram Panchayats would be expected to register an average of 200-300 candidates.
They are accustomed with years of same of practice and resist changes. The biggest challenge is ensuring that each panchayat point of broadband is functional and in use.
Connectivity to remote areas: The challenge of connectivity is a complex issue because every state has different laws pertaining to its execution. Due to this, often the remote areas are neglected under implementation of the several programmes like Bharat net.
Promoting Entrepreneurship abilities as rural youth are needed to be educated about the potential benefits and progress that digitization entails for the village.

Way Forward

PPP models must be explored for sustainable development of digital infrastructure, as has been the case for civic infrastructure projects like roads and metro.
PMGDISHA (Prime Minister Gramin Digital Saksharata Abhiyaan) must be implemented swiftly and coverage should be expanded to all rural households.
Along with that, a regular awareness campaign must be organized in collaboration with civil societies about the benefits of adoption of technology.
Local authorities should be empowered to fill in the digital gaps in terms of advanced infrastructure, digital skills as well as digital public services and create an environment to facilitate digital innovation in rural areas.

8. Gravityrat Malware

8.1. CERT-In

It is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur, operational since January 2004.
In the IT Amendment Act 2008, it has been designated to serve following functions-
o Collection, analysis and dissemination of information on cyber incidents.
o Forecast and alerts of cyber security incidents.
o Emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents.
o Coordination of cyber incident response activities.
o Issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes and whitepapers relating to information security practices, procedures, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents.
o Such other functions relating to cyber security as may be prescribed.

Background

The ‘RAT’ in the name stands for Remote Access Trojan, which is a program capable of being controlled remotely and thus difficult to trace.
It was first detected by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, CERT-In in 2017.
Malware, or malicious software, is any program or file that is harmful to a computer user. It includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses and spyware.
These malicious programs can perform a variety of functions, including stealing, encrypting or deleting sensitive data, altering or hijacking core computing functions and monitoring users' computer activity without their permission.

8.2. More about Gravity RAT

It infiltrates a system in the form of an innocuous looking email attachment, which can be in any format, including MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, Adobe Acrobat or even audio and video files.
Unlike most malware, which inflict short term damage, it is an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) i.e. it silently evolves and does long-term damage.
It is self-aware and is capable of evading several commonly used malware detection techniques such as ‘sandboxing’ (used to isolate malware from critical programs on infected devices and provide an extra layer of security).
Typically, malware activity is detected by the ‘noise’ it causes inside the Central Processing Unit, but GravityRAT is able to work silently.
It can also gauge the temperature of the CPU and ascertain if the device is carrying out high intensity activity, like a malware search, and act to evade detection.

9. Epal Eliminates Trachoma

Criteria used by WHO for assessing a country’s claim for having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem.

less than 5% of children aged 1–9 years have signs of active trachoma which can be treated with antibiotics, in each previously-endemic district;
less than 0.2% of people aged 15 years and older have trachomatous trichiasis, which requires eyelid surgery, in each previously-endemic district; and
A health system which can identify and manage new cases of trachomatous trichiasis.

What is Trachoma?

It is a chronic infective eye disease caused by infection with the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis which is transmitted through contact with eye and nose discharge of infected people, particularly young children who are most vulnerable to the infection.
It is also spread by flies which come in contact with the infected person and is most common under poor environment, low personal hygiene and inadequate access to water.
It is one of the causes of the avoidable blindness and one of the 18 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD).
During 1950s, India was a hyperendemic to Trachoma. About 50%-80% children from North-west India were affected by it.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India had recently released National Trachoma Survey Report and also declared India Trachoma free under WHO GET2020 program, however it has not been yet announced by WHO.

9.1. Global Initiatives for Trachoma

WHO’s SAFE (Surgery, Antibodies, Facial cleanliness, Environmental modification) strategy (1997) and Global Elimination of Blinding Trachoma by 2020 to eliminate Trachoma.
GET2020- a WHO International Alliance of interested parties who work for elimination of Trachoma also known as Alliance for Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020.
Vision 2020 of WHO and IAPB (International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness) - includes Trachoma as a priority under its disease control component.

10. Who Publishes Essential Diagnostics List

Details

EDL consists of 113 products – 58 tests for a range of common conditions and the rest 55 test for “priority” diseases such as HIV, TB, HPV, syphilis, malaria and hepatitis B and C.
It focuses on in-vitro tests i.e. test of human specimen such as blood and urine.
Some tests are particularly suitable for primary healthcare centres, where there is a lack of laboratories and highly trained personnel.
It is intended to serve as a template for countries to develop their own list. WHO will support the countries for its local adaptation.

10.1 Need and use for EDL

It will help improve patient care and clinical outcomes, by encouraging the countries to build laboratories, accessible across habitations
Diagnostics infrastructure so created may help detect emerging infectious diseases, facilitate epidemiological surveys, program evaluation and disease elimination
Awareness and public demand, large-scale purchases and volume discounts will lower costs and make these services affordable e.g. Xpert MTB/RIF test which is a good test but not affordable on small scale
Laboratory accreditation and training will also improve regulation and quality of diagnostics.
It may help reduce Anti-Microbial Resistance and also provides leads for new product development, based on local public health profiles.

11. Biosensor Technique To Detect Chikungunya Virus

11.1. About Chikungunya

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes (They transmit dengue and zika as well).
There is no cure for the disease. Treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms.

Need

There has been rapid increase (around 300-400 per cent) of Chikungunya cases in India during the period of 2014 to 2016.
Chikungunya is detected through RT-PCR (Real-time polymerase chain reaction) from serum samples and by determination of serum anti-bodies which are time consuming and cumbersome.

11.2. About the Biosensor technology

Scientist made a Molybdenum disulphide nanosheet which is absorbed onto the screen-printed gold electrodes and then used in the detection of chikungunya virus DNA using electrochemical voltammetric techniques.
Advantages: Used to develop a point of care device for rapid identification of disease. It is suitable for mass production, has low cost, higher disposability and design flexibility as compared to traditional electrode.

12. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)

More about news

The experiment by RRI can profoundly change our understanding of the early universe, specifically of events leading up to the formation of the first stars.
Similar experiment conducted by Arizona State University (ASU) at a similarly quiet place in Australia in February this year has observed unusual and unexplained shapes in the spectrum of CMBR.
Quiet — an area where there is virtually no interference from signals produced by modern technology like mobile, TV etc. which makes it most suitable place to detect even faint electromagnetic signals from the sky.

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)

It was first discovered in 1964.
It is an all-pervasive, but weak, electromagnetic
radiation from the early universe, about 3,80,000 years after the Big Bang when matter was still to be formed.
This radiation does not come from any of the objects that we see in the universe, like stars or galaxies but from a time when matter and radiation were in thermodynamic equilibrium.
The spectrum produced by CMBR is very smooth. It does, however, contain small wiggles, or deformities, in its shape.
Each of these wiggles has valuable encoded information about specific events that took place as the first stars were born.
CMB signals are so faint, and so pervasive is the interference from modern technology that there is a proposal to set up CMB observation experiments on the other side of the moon.

13. Interstellar Asteroid 2015 Bz509

13.1 More about news

2015 BZ509 was discovered in 2014, by Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) in Hawaii but at that time it was thought of as part of our solar system and not regarded as interstellar object.
Now Researchers argue that It is supposed to be captured from other star system in the early phase of formation of our solar system approximately 4.5 billion years ago.
Its orbit is "retrograde," i.e. 2015 BZ509 moves around the sun in the opposite direction (clockwise if seen from Sun’s imaginary North Pole) of Jupiter, Earth and most other bodies in the solar system.
The orbit of the asteroid almost coincides with the Jupiter.

14. QUEQIAO RELAY SATELLITE TO EXPLORE FAR SIDE OF MOON

How much moon do we see from earth?

From Earth, 59% of the moon is visible over a period of time. This is explained by two phenomena:
Tidal locking: Moon takes nearly same time i.e. 27 days, to come one orbit around the Earth and also to rotate once on its own axis. Thus, same side of the moon is visible from Earth while the farther remains dark
Lunar vibrations: due to tidal locking, ideally 50% of the moon should be visible but we see 59% because of north-south rocking and east-west wobbling of moon – rightly called as lunar vibrations

14.1. Lagrange point or L-point:

It a point where combined gravitational forces of two bodies, say Earth and sun or Earth and moon, equal the centrifugal force felt by much smaller body. Such interaction of forces creates equilibrium where spacecraft can be positioned to make observations.

Details

As a part of Mission Chang’e 4 under Phase II of Chinese Lunar Exploration Programme (CLEP), China launched Queqiao (or “Magpie Bridge,”).
It is now on its way to the Lagrange point-2 (L2) of Earth-Moon system and will function as a communication relay satellite between the Earth and Chang’e 4 lander-rover spacecraft.
Chang’e 4 spacecraft is scheduled to be launched in December 2018.

15. New Element With Magnetic Properties Discovered

Ferromagnetism

It is the property of material by which certain materials (such as iron) form permanent magnets or are attracted to magnets.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota (US) have discovered magnetic properties in chemical element ruthenium (Ru).

15.1. About Ruthenium (Ru)

It belongs to the platinum group, has atomic number 44 and is mostly used in the electronics industry for chip resistors and electrical contacts.
It is the fourth element to have unique magnetic properties at room temperature.
Other than this only three elements have been found to be ferromagnetic at room temperature - iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni).
It is one of the rarest metals on the earth, resistant to oxidation, and additional theoretical predictions claim it has a high thermal stability.
Magnetic materials are of great importance to modern industry and are used in many everyday applications such as sensors, electric motors, generators, hard drives and Spintronic storage.

15.2. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)

It is a specialised self-funding United Nations agency which acts as global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation.
It was established under the WIPO Convention in 1967 and currently has 191 member states.
India joined WIPO in 1975 and has established various IP laws and regulations.
Mission - to lead the development of a balanced and effective international intellectual property (IP) system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all.

World IP Day

It is celebrated every year on 26th April to celebrate the brilliance, ingenuity, curiosity and courage of women and indeed everyone in their quest to bring their amazing ideas to market.

16. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS MASCOT

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A Smart Way to Indian Administrative Service

1. Trans Fat

1.1. About Trans-Fat

7.1. More on news

May Science and Technology