Maternal Mortality Ratio

Paper-3 Health/Women (Mains-Optional)

Recently, the Office of the Registrar General’s Sample Registration System (SRS) released a special bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2016-18. As per the World Health Organization, maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management.

Maternal Mortality Ratio of the Country:

• MMR has declined to 113 in 2016-18 from 122 in 2015-17 and 130 in 2014-2016.
• MMR is defined as the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 1,00,000 live births during the same time period.
• Target 3.1 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations aims at reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 1,00,000 live births.

MMR of Various States:

• Assam (215), Uttar Pradesh (197), Madhya Pradesh (173), Rajasthan (164), Chhattisgarh (159), Odisha (150), Bihar (149), and Uttarakhand (99).
• The southern States registered a lower MMR — Karnataka (92), Andhra Pradesh (65), Tamil Nadu (60), Telangana (63) and Kerala (43).

Government Initiatives:

• Janani Suraksha Yojana under the National Health Mission to link cash assistance to institutional deliveries.
• The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) provides a fixed day for assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care free of cost to pregnant women on 9^th of every month.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana and LaQshya Guidelines.

Way Forward

Maternal mortality in a region is a measure of the reproductive health of women in the area. The WHO has already appreciated India’s efforts in reducing the maternal mortality rate. India needs to give a special focus to states with higher maternal mortality ratios.

Study finds evidence of vertical transmission of coronavirus across the placenta

Modes of COVID-19 transmission

• Transmission through droplets and contact with contaminated surfaces seem to be the major routes of novel coronavirus spread.
• The World Health Organization recently acknowledged that “short-range aerosol transmission” of the virus “cannot be ruled out” in specific indoor locations which are crowded, inadequately ventilated and where exposure to the infected person is over a prolonged period of time.
• Now, a study has found evidence that confirms vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus from the mother to the foetus.
• The route of infection is through the womb (in utero) well before the onset of labour and delivery of the baby.

Transplacental transmission (a probable route):

• These studies could not confirm the transmission route because samples of placenta, amniotic fluid and blood of the mother and the newborn were not collected and tested in every mother–infant pair.
• For instance, in a study published recently in the journal CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), only the placenta and nasopharyngeal swab samples of the mother were tested for the virus.
• Though nasopharyngeal swab samples of the newborn collected on the day of birth and on two other days, plasma and stool samples tested positive for the virus, the researchers did not collect and test the cord blood.
• Hence the researchers classified it a “probable” case of congenital route of vertical transmission.

Strong evidence

• In contrast, the results published recently in Nature Communications involving one mother–newborn pair provide strong evidence of “confirmed” vertical transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through the “transplacental” route.

About transpacental transmission:

• The virus first occurs in the mother’s blood and later causes placental infection and inflammation.
• The virus then gets into the blood of the neonate following placental infection.
• The neonate also showed clinical manifestation of COVID-19 in terms of neurological signs and symptoms.
• To check for vertical transmission, the researchers first collected clear amniotic fluid prior to rupture of membranes. The amniotic fluid tested positive for two genes of the virus.
• The baby was delivered through caesarean section to avoid infection during normal childbirth; caesarean delivery is routinely done in the case of HIV positive mothers to cut the risk of vertical transmission.

NTPC and Renewable energy & NIIF

GS-paper-3 Energy security (PT-MAINS)

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited

It is a collaborative investment platform for international and Indian investors, anchored by the Government of India. It was set up in December 2015 to catalyse funding into the country’s core sector.

It invests across asset classes such as infrastructure, private equity and other diversified sectors in India, with the objective to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors.

• It has a targeted corpus of Rs. 40,000 crore to be raised over the years.
  49% of which will be funded by the government at any given point of time.
• Remaining 51% is to be raised from domestic and global investors, including international pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and multilateral/bilateral investors.
• It was registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Category II Alternate Investment Fund on 28^th December 2015.
• NIIF manages over USD 4.3 billion of equity capital commitments across its three funds which are Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Opportunities Fund, each with its distinct investment strategy.
  The NIIF Master Fund is the largest infrastructure fund in the country and invests in core infrastructure sectors such as transportation and energy.
• A Governing Council chaired by the Finance Minister has been set up to act as an advisory council to the NIIF.

In News:

Recently, the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC Ltd.) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), acting through the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL). It will explore opportunities for investments in areas like renewable energy (RE), power distribution among other areas of mutual interest in India.

• NTPC Ltd. is a central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Power.
• It is India’s largest energy conglomerate with roots planted way back in 1975 to accelerate power development in India.
• Aim: To provide reliable power and related solutions in an economical, efficient and environment-friendly manner, driven by innovation and agility.
• It became a Maharatna company in May 2010.
• It is located in New Delhi.

Few Recent Initiatives:

• Creation of public charging infrastructure in various cities and battery charging and swapping stations for electric 3-wheelers have been commissioned.
• Providing electric buses to state/city transport undertakings. For example, e-bus solutions for Andaman and Nicobar Administration are under implementation.
• Launch of its new project involving hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) to run in Delhi and Leh.

Please refer WWW.ASPIREIAS.COM search for HYDROGEN FUEL CELL

Covid-19 Vaccine: ZyCoV-D

GS-PAPER-3 S&T

Recently, India has started phase I/II clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine - ZyCoV-D, designed and developed by Zydus (a pharmaceutical company) with support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

The adaptive phase I/II clinical trials will assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine. The other indigenously developed vaccine - Covaxin - produced by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech is also underway to start clinical trials.

Imp Points

• Description: ZyCoV-D, a plasmid DNA vaccine, comes under the Vaccine Discovery Programme supported by the Department of Biotechnology under the National Biopharma Mission.

Plasmids are circular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vectors that can be used as vaccines to prevent various types of diseases.

• Pre-Clinical Phase: It was found to initiate a strong immune response in multiple animal species like mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits.
  • The antibodies produced by the vaccine were able to neutralize the wild type virus indicating the protective potential of the vaccine candidate.
  • No safety concerns were observed in repeat dose by both intramuscular (directly into muscles)
  • intradermal (superficial injection into skin) routes of administration.
• DNA Vaccine Platform: The development of ZyCov-D has established the DNA vaccine platform in the country which is simple to deploy, temperature stable, and consistently manufacturable- thus lowering costs and enhancing the effectiveness of a vaccine.

It provides ease of manufacturing the vaccine with minimal biosafety requirements. It has shown much improved vaccine stability and lower cold chain requirements making it easy for transportation to remote regions of the country. Furthermore, the platform can be rapidly used to modify the vaccine in a couple of weeks in case the virus mutates.

Moral injury

• Moral injury is the damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one’s own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct.
• Within the context of military service, particularly regarding the experience of war, “moral injury” refers to the lasting emotional, psychological, social, behavioural, and spiritual impacts of actions that violate a service member’s core moral values and behavioural expectations of self or others
• This type of psychological distress is occurring among the healthcare workers handling the COVID-19 cases.

Why is a psoriasis drug being used to treat COVID-19 patients?

Context

• Biocon announced that it had received the approval of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to market Itolizumab for treatment of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome patients due to COVID-19.
• Itolizumab is a monoclonal antibody which is used to treat acute psoriasis.

What are monoclonal antibodies?

• Monoclonal antibodies are proteins cloned in the lab to mimic antibodies produced by the immune system to counter infection.
• They have their genesis in serum, the colourless constituent of blood that contains antibodies.
• These proteins bind to an antigen, the fragment of an infectious virus in the case of SARS-CoV-2, and either destroy it or block its action.
• In the case of COVID-19, there are yet no proven drugs to treat moderate or severe manifestations of the disease.
• Among the therapies being tested is convalescent plasma, which is a constituent of blood and recovered from those who have successfully fought the disease.
• This blood contains antibodies produced within a week or two of being infected.
• While plasma therapy involves injecting this entire antibody soup into another sick patient, a monoclonal antibody can be made by isolating specific antibodies and multiplying them via various techniques.
• Isolating plasma and serum is laborious and time-consuming when it must be administered to every patient.
• However, since 1975, several techniques have been perfected that allow antibodies once isolated to be easily replicated. These are stored in vials and can be injected into patients.

How useful are they in treating COVID-19 patients?

• While eight in 10 of those infected by the disease recover with little more than a few days of cough and fever, about one in 10 can manifest severe systems of the disease irrespective of their age and medical history.
• Experts are not sure why but have observed that many who died were victims of a cytokine storm — when the immune system goes into overdrive to flush out the virus.
• Pro-inflammatory cytokines recruit a host of specialised immune system cells to neutralise antigens.
• However, these cytokines can aggravate inflammation and injury in lung cells as well as in several other organs.
• A challenge in treatment is how to prevent this over-reaction. One method is to use antibodies that can block a particular protein, called CD6. They are found on the surface of T-cells, a class of cells that are a central prong in the body’s defence system.
• Experts say if this CD-6 is suppressed, it will prevent the T-cells from releasing a cytokine cascade and thus better regulate the immune system.

Is there a downside?

• Itolizumab is an approved drug for acute psoriasis since 2013 and has passed safety and efficacy trials for that disease in over 500 patients.
• However, independent experts have pointed out that the efficacy of the drug in treating COVID-caused Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome has not been conclusively demonstrated because it has, as part of a clinical trial, only been tested on 30 patients.
• However, the drug has been approved by the DCGI for emergency use in the treatment of moderate to severely ill patients as per the discretion of physicians.
• The DCGI also directed Biocon to conduct a phase-4 study — it must monitor it for adverse reactions or side-effects after it has been administered in large groups of patients and report back to the authorities.
• Experts pointed out that the normal process for approving a drug includes a phase-3 trial, where the drug’s safety and efficacy are first evaluated in the wider population.

Previously unknown faults at the foot of the Himalayas discovered

Context

• Data from an oil and gas exploration company has now helped geologists discover a series of faults at the foot of the Himalaya.

Sesimic exploration data

• The team looked at seismic reflection data, which are routinely collected by exploration companies looking for oil and gas.
• In this method, seismic waves are produced by small explosions at multiple sources, and many recorders called geophones to record the sound echoing off layers beneath the surface.

Composite image

• The signals are combined to make an image that looks like a slice showing layers through the top few kilometres of the Earth’s crust.
• The researchers were able to identify the faults because the pattern of layers showed bends.
• This network of faults shows that the Himalayan deformation reaches further [about 40 kilometres further south] than we previously thought.

Autotomy

How does a lizard lose its tail?

• Certain animals voluntarily shed a body part in response to attempted predation.
• Lizards losing their tails when they are pulled by a predator is well known. This self-amputation is called autotomy.
• The severed tail continues to wiggle for about 30 minutes.
• Studies have shown that the severed tail follows an elaborate repetitive and diverse motion, which includes flips up to 3 cm in height. The wiggly motion very often distracts the attention of the predator, thus enabling the lizard to escape.

How does a lizard lose its tail?

• The tail autotomy occurs at performed horizontal fracture planes.
• In the case of tail autotomy within the vertebra, the tail gets fractured or split at a distinct preformed area of weakness.
• Studies have shown that lizards aid the process of autotomy by “contracting muscles around the fracture planes”.
• The muscle contractions are supposed to “facilitate splitting of the skin and muscles to complete the release of the tail”.
• According to their findings published in December 2012 in the journal PLOS ONE, the mechanism of tail autotomy in Tokay gecko is determined by pre-formed ‘dotted lines in the fracture planes, which are maintained by adhesion and microstructures seen at the terminal end of the muscle fibres also likely play a role in releasing the tail.

Solar Orbiter Mission

• NASA launched the Solar Orbiter to space on an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida on February 10.
• The mission is a cooperative mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) which will help researchers to know how the star's energy affects Earth and humans in space.

Key Points

• The Solar Orbiter Mission is a cooperative mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
• It a seven-year mission.

Significance:

• It will observe the Sun with high spatial resolution telescopes and capture observations in the environment directly surrounding the spacecraft to know how the Sun can affect the space environment throughout the solar system.
• It also intends to give a better understanding of how stars can affect the space environment throughout the solar system.
• The spacecraft also will be the first to provide images of the Sun’s poles.
• The mapping of the Sun’s pole could allow for the first time to observe the concentrated source of solar wind that permeates our solar system.
• The solar wind is the mixture of charged particles that are highly concentrated at the poles and beam through our solar system, affecting satellites and electronic devices on Earth.
• The mission will also study the magnetic environment around the Sun, which in turn will provide information about the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle and its periodic outpouring of solar storms.
• Solar Orbiter carries ten instruments, three of which will help to survey how Sun’s surface changes over time.

Arming India’s poor against the pandemic

• Vitamin D deficiency can affect COVID-19 high-risk patients, particularly those who are diabetic, have heart conditions, pneumonia, obesity and smoke.
• It is also associated with infections in the respiratory tract and lung injury.

Importance of Vitamin-D

• Besides, vitamin D is known to help in having the right amount of calcium in the bones, catalyse the process of protecting cell membranes from damage, preventing the inflammation of tissues and help stop tissues from forming fibres and weakening bones from becoming brittle, leading to osteoporosis.

Vitamin D and its prevalence

• It is produced when sunlight (or artificial light, particularly in the ultraviolet region of 190-400 nm wavelength) falls on the skin and triggers a chemical reaction to a cholesterol-based molecule, and converts it into calcidiol (adding one hydroxyl group, also called 25(OH)D technically) in the liver and into calcitriol (or 1, 25(OH)2D) in the kidney.
• It is these two molecules that are physiologically active. It is suggested that the level of 25-OHD in the range 30-100 ng/ml is thought to be sufficient for a healthy body; levels between 21-29 ng/ml are considered insufficient, and levels below 20 ng/ml mean the individual is deficient in the vitamin.
• Since sunlight in important for the generation of vitamin D, tropical countries have an advantage over the northern countries. India, being a tropical country, one would expect naturally derived vitamin D levels to be good. Yet, it is not so!
• A study in India reveals that the level of vitamin D ranged between 3.15 ng/ml to 52.9 ng/ml. Vitamin D level among south Indians is (15.74–19.16) ng/ml, yet below 20. Also, females showed consistently lower levels than males.
• The authors conclude that India, a nation of abundant sunshine, is surprisingly found to have a massive burden of vitamin D deficiency among the public irrespective of their location (urban or rural), age or gender, or whether they are poor or even rich.
• Hence, it is clear that vitamin D supplementation is necessary for most Indians to treat its deficiency.

Way forward

• Given the deficit in vitamin D (indeed in many other vitamins, and calcium), it is highly desirable for the governments to

(a) consult nutrition experts and institutions to advise and suggest the type of nutritive items that can be added to the current ‘ration’ food given to the poor, and the meals given to school children,

(b) in any case, supply free of charge, vitamin D, other vitamins and calcium, in consultation with medical and public health experts regarding the dosage, frequency and other details.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) celebrated its 92^nd foundation day on 16^th July 2020.

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi. With 102 ICAR institutes and 71 agricultural universities spread across the country, this is one of the largest national agricultural systems in the world.
• It is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.
• The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering Green Revolution and subsequent developments in agriculture in India through its research and technology development that has enabled the country to increase the production of foodgrains by 5.6 times, horticultural crops by 10.5 times, fish by 16.8 times, milk by 10.4 times and eggs by 52.9 times since 1950-51 to 2017-18.

PT SHOT:

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will start a Farmers Innovation Fund.
• The 'Kisan Diwas' or National Farmers Day is observed across the country on 23^rd December to celebrate the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India.
• Dr. Norman E. Borlaug was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work in global agriculture. He is also known as the Father of the Green Revolution.

The World Food Prize is also known as the "Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture". Dr. Rattan Lal has been declared the winner of the World Food Prize 2020

• Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the father of India’s green revolution, was the first recipient of this award in 1987.
• World Food Day is observed annually on 16^th of October to address the problem of global hunger (SDG 2-Zero hunger).

NISHTHA Programme

GS-Paper-3 Education

Recently, the National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) programme has been launched for the first time in online mode in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Imp Points

Initially, the NISHTHA programme was launched in 2019 in face-to-face mode to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level in the country.

• The covid-19 pandemic situation and lockdown have affected the conduct of this programme in face-to-face mode. Therefore, NISHTHA has been customized for the online mode to be conducted through Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) and NISHTHA portals.

Aim:

• National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) is a capacity building programme for improving the quality of school education through integrated teacher training.
• It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.

Implementation:

• The functionaries (at the state, district, and block level) will be trained in an integrated manner on learning outcomes, school based assessment, learner – centred pedagogy, new initiatives in education, addressing diverse needs of children through multiple pedagogies, etc.

• It is being organized by constituting National Resource Groups (NRGs) and State Resource Groups (SRGs) at the National and the State level who will be training 42 lakhs teachers subsequently.