10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: June 29, 2020

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Not all members (Nepal, Bhutan) share their border with the Indian Ocean.

Statement 2 is correct. It constitutes seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

Statement 3 is correct. BIMSTEC is a sector-driven cooperative organization. Starting with six sectors—including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries—for sectoral cooperation in the late 1997, it expanded to embrace nine more sectors—including agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people to people contact and climate change—in 2008.

India has 15,106.7 Km of land border and a coastline of 7,516.6 Km including island territories.

India’s border (in Km): Bangladesh (4,096.7), China (3,488), Pakistan (3,323), Nepal (1,751), Myanmar (1,643), Bhutan (699), Afghanistan (106).

Shaksgam Valley (Ladakh) lies to the north-west of Siachen glacier; it is administered by China as part of its Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

Susta on eastern side of Gandak River is in West Champaran district of Bihar. It is claimed by Nepal.

The Tawang Monastery, Arunchal pradesh is the second biggest and oldest in Asia and is known as the Tawang Ganden Namgyal Lhatse i.e., the celestial paradise of divine site chosen by the horse was founded by Merag Lodroe Gyamtso in the year 1680-81.

Statement 1 is correct. The Congress approved a non-cooperation programmed till the Punjab and Khilafat wrongs were removed and swaraj was established at special session in Calcutta, September 1920.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Tilak did not take part in the noncooperation movement. He died on August 1, 1920, before the movement started.

Statement 3 is correct. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, G.S. Kharpade and B.C. Pal were among the leaders that left the Congress during NCM as they believed in a constitutional and lawful struggle.

A gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics. Bilateral gynandromorph, an animal that’s half him and half her, split at the midline. The phenomenon has been documented in birds, crustaceans—and butterflies.

Polyploid organisms contain more than two sets of chromosomes.

Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food.

Parthenogenesis is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization by sperm.

Statement 1 is correct. CITES is an international agreement between governments, aimed to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. India ratified the convention in 1976.

CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN, in 1975 CITES entered in force.

Statement 2 is correct. The CITES Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) Program is a site-based system designed to monitor trends in the illegal killing of elephants, build management capacity and provide information to help range States make appropriate management and enforcement decisions.

All of the above are transmitted by mosquitos.

Yellow fever is caused by a virus (Flavivirus) which is transmitted to humans by the bites of infected mosquitoes. It is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease.

West Nile Virus (WNV) is a member of the flavivirus genus. Human infection is most often the result of bites from infected mosquitoes. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds.

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in monkeys. It was later identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

Chikungunya is an infection caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The S-400 Triumph is an air defense missile system developed by Almaz Central Design Bureau of Russia. The system can engage all types of aerial targets, including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and ballistic and cruise missiles, within the range of 400km at an altitude of up to 30km. The system can simultaneously engage many targets.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The missiles are launched by a 6×6 tractor truck Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL) vehicle. The TEL vehicle can carry up to four launch tubes holding a mix of missiles.

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a similar air defense system developed by USA.

In October 2018, India signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defense missile systems.

Statement 1 is correct. White blood cells (WBCs), also called leukocytes are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders.

Statement 2 is incorrect. All white blood cells have nuclei, which distinguishes them from the other blood cells, the non-nucleated red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Hemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying protein that is found within all RBCs (erythrocytes). It picks up oxygen where it is abundant (the lungs) and drops off oxygen where it is needed around the body. Hemoglobin is also the pigment that gives RBCs their red color.

All are applications of Gold nanoparticles (GNP).

Nanoparticles (NPs) have wide variety of potential applications in the fields of biomedical, optical and electronics research.

GNPs are also found to be useful in the electronics industry. Scientists have constructed a transistor known as NOMFET (Nanoparticle Organic Memory Field-Effect Transistor) by embedding GNPs in a porous manganese oxide as a room temperature catalyst to break down volatile organic compound in air and combining GNPs with organic molecules.

GNP-based biosensors are used for the detection and measurement of enzyme activity, colorimetric sensor with gold nanoparticles can identify if foods are suitable for consumption.

Their biocompatibility, high surface area, stability, and nontoxicity make them suitable for various applications in therapeutic use including detection and diagnosis of diseases, bio-labeling, and targeted drug delivery.  

As nano-carriers, GNPs are capable of transferring various drugs made out of peptides, proteins, plasmid DNAs, small interfering RNAs, and chemotherapeutic agents to target diseased cells of the human body.