10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: July 26, 2020

Both statements are correct.

National Institute of Virology, Pune successfully developed an indigenous IgG ELISA test COVID KAVACH ELISA for antibody detection for COVID-19. The kit was approved by ICMR and technology has been commercialized by Zydus Cadila for mass scale production.

Since the antibody-based testing is capable of detecting past infections, the COVID KAVACH ELISA is being used in the seroprevalence surveys being conducted by ICMR to observe the spread of pandemic in India.

Statement 1 is correct. The offshore production of Natural gas is considerably higher than onshore production in India. Presence of Private and JVs has increased in onshore natural gas production over time while offshore natural gas production has been rising with the share of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) rising steadily.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Natural Gas production in India is dominated by PSUs.

The State of Assam comprised of two valleys namely the Brahmaputra and Barak Valley. The flood prone area of the state as assessed by the Rastriya Barh Ayog is about 39.58 % of the total land area of Assam. This is about 9.40% of total flood prone area of the whole country.

The Barak sub-basin drains areas in India, Bangladesh and Burma. The sub-basin lies in the States of Meghalaya. Manipur, Mizoram, Assam, Tripura and Nagaland. The Katakhal, Jiri, Chiri, Modhura, Longai, Sonai, Rukni and Singla are the main tributaries of the valley.

The Brahmaputra Valley has an average width of about 80 Km. The river slope is very steep till it enters India. Due to this sudden flattening of river slope, the river becomes braided in nature in the Assam valley. During its course in Assam valley from Kobo to Dhubri the river is joined by about 20 (twenty) important tributaries on its North bank and 13 (thirteen) on its South bank. The Manas River is a transboundary river between southern Bhutan and India, a tributary that meets Brahmaputra in Assam.

Teesta River rises in the eastern Himalayas and flows through the Sikkim and West Bengal state before entering Bangladesh.

Both statements are correct.

During ageing a chronic, sterile, low-grade inflammation called Inflammaging develops and contributes to the pathogenesis of age-related diseases.

A possible cause of inflammaging is the long-term result of the chronic physiological stimulation of the innate immune system, which can become damaging during ageing, a period of life largely unpredicted by evolution.

It is the by-product of the degeneracy of a few receptors that can sense a variety of non-self, self and quasi-self-damage signals and activate the innate immune system.

All of the above are correct regarding the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 that came into force recently.

Act includes establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers. It will regulate matters related to violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and misleading advertisements.

Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism of Mediation has been provided in the new Act. There will be no appeal against settlement through mediation.

Act also introduces the concept of product liability and brings within its scope, the product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller, for any claim for compensation.

Statement 1 is correct. India is the only country still manufacturing the pesticide dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT). China ceased production of the chemical in 2007. Public sector firm Hindustan Insecticide Limited (HIL) is the only producer of DDT in India.

Statement 2 is correct. DDT is:

-known to be very persistent in the environment,

-will accumulate in fatty tissues, and

-can travel long distances in the upper atmosphere.

Statement 3 is correct. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared its support for the indoor use of DDT where malaria remains a major health problem as indoor residual spray, citing that benefits of the pesticide outweigh the health and environmental risks.

The Stockholm Convention on POPs bans DDT for all uses except for malaria control.

Statement 1 is incorrect. ‘Alliance for Poverty Eradication’ was launched recently at the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly by UNGA President.

UNGA President stated that the Alliance can pull together all the factors and interests in poverty eradication and serve as a one-stop networking, information sharing and bridge-building centre. It should provide a mechanism for interrogating the poverty challenge from all possible angles.

Statement 2 is correct. India has become a founding member of an Alliance for Poverty Eradication at the United Nations.

The Bathynomus raksasa is a giant isopod in the genus Bathynomus. It was recently discovered by a team of researchers from Singapore in Bantan, off the southern coast of West Java in Indonesia.

It is being described as ‘cockroach of the sea’ for its appearance and 14-legged body. Bathynomus raksasa is the sixth ‘supergiant’ species from the Indo-West Pacific. The only member of the isopod species larger than B. raksasa is the B. giganteus, which is commonly found in the western Atlantic Ocean.

Both statements are correct.

Antibody is a part of the host cell’s defense. It is a Y shaped protein, a component of the immune system that circulates in the blood, recognizes foreign substances like bacteria and viruses, and neutralizes them.

These are Y-shaped proteins latch onto antigens of viruses/bacteria that may to cause harm or infection to the body.

Along with water, salt, and enzymes, plasma also contains antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies are immune system proteins that are created in the lab. They are antibodies that are made by identical immune cells that are all clones of a unique parent cell. These antibodies recognize unique epitopes or binding sites, on a single antigen.

Both statements are correct.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-CMERI, Durgapur recently unveiled the COVID Protection System (COPS) for Workplace. It includes contactless Solar Based Intelligent Mask Automated Dispensing Unit cum Thermal Scanner (IntelliMAST), Touchless Faucet (TouF) and 360° Car Flusher.

The Solar Based IntelliMAST is an Intelligent surveillance kiosk which identifies the body temperature and whether an individual is wearing Face Mask or not through customized Software solutions.

The Touchless Faucet (TouF) dispenses Liquid Soap and Water from the same Faucet with a time-gap of 30 seconds.

The 360° Car Flusher is a Sodium Hypochlorite Water Screen which uses specialized Nozzle Design to ensure that the Sanitizer Diffused Water is evenly spread over and under the Car