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4/10/13

[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013)
Gardasil and Cervarix Vomiting Larry Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) Virtopsy Health communication COPSS Award Mauritia DNA as a storage device Hydrogel Saliva functions Banana peel Bio-inspired technology Lizard : Adhesives Velcro: Maroolimatthai Porcupin: Surgical Patches

Gardasil and Cervarix


names of the new HPV vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline. The Health activists say it is not properly tested, theyve filled PIL in supreme court. their arguments 1. Though both vaccines are claimed to prevent cervical cancer, the truth is cervical cancer takes twenty or more years to develop. The vaccines have just not been around that long to prove their efficacy! 2. neither of these vaccines had been studied to determine their potential to cause cancer

Vomiting Larry

Vomiting Larry Larry is a humanoid simulated vomiting system designed by British scientists. It is being use to how norovirus spreads.

Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)


Polio is a disease caused by a virus. But AFP can also arise for other reasons, including infection by non-polio pathogens. No child in India has been diagnosed with polio for nearly two years now and all the indications are that the virus responsible for it is no longer circulating here. However, the countrys polio surveillance system has indicated a sharp increase during recent years in the number of non-polio

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[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

However, the countrys polio surveillance system has indicated a sharp increase during recent years in the number of non-polio AFP cases. most of the countrys non-polio AFP cases occur in just two States Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. cases of children with non-polio AFP were not being monitored by either the polio eradication programme or the larger state health care system. As a result, there is no clear picture of what was causing the AFP, the kind of diseases these children displayed, or how many of them were seriously affected

Virtopsy
Autopsy=examination and dissection of a dead body to determine cause of death. Previously, doctors would use scalpel, cut the chest open and examine tissues. Often, relatives of the dead donot agree for autopsies because of the disfigurement caused by such cutting and incisions. Now scientists have come up with a non-invasive technique for conducting autopsy. This is called Virtopsy(=virtual autopsy). Here, doctor examines the corpse in 3-D via computer screens.

Virtopsy Virtopsy combine the images from high-powered magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and surface scans of dead bodies. Combined, the devices are referred to as a virtobot. The technique allows the detection of injuries such as lesions and blows often undetectable during a traditional autopsy, as well as air pockets, heart attacks and even cancer. The method has already allowed the discovery of haemorrhages and fractures that were not picked up during conventional autopsies.

Health communication
It means generating awareness among population regarding a particular disease. In India, two most successful examples of Health communication =polio + HIV #1: Polio Polio messaging for example was built on simple idea two drops that could save your childs life. This message was everywhere from print, TV and radio from the more urban and semi-urban audiences and on roadsides, on the back of buses and lorries and in small village fairs. A host of agencies worked together to develop this multi-pronged strategy It was led by communication professionals. (and not doctors) This helped in creating multiple strategies to engage diverse audiences. #2: HIV HIV was perhaps Indias most complex disease communication exercise Because our Indian society has deep-rooted double standards, limited womens rights and a complete lack of conversation on sexuality and sexual diversity. So talking about HIV may have been impossible. But Government took help of external agencies, communication professionals. thus HIV campaign used every possible medium and celebrities to transmit messages on prevention, on treatment and on stigma. Conclusion Finally, public health authorities need to take up public health communications as a priority. (because prevention better than cure.) Health communication needs to be managed by communication professionals and not doctors. Public health communication must be multi-pronged, regionally suitable and easy to absorb. mrunal.org/2013/03/hindu-sci-tech-public-health-enb-related-virtopsy-vomitting-larry-hydrogel-mauritia-jan-feb-2013.html

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4/10/13

[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

Public health communication must be multi-pronged, regionally suitable and easy to absorb.

COPSS Award
In USA, this award is given to young statisticians below 40 years. Dr. Nilanjan Chatterjee won the COPSS for his overall contribution to the field of genetics and biostatistics. He found that Smoking causes lung cancer, but smoking alone does not determine who will develop lung cancer. A person may have some good genes that reduce the risk of lung cancer. So what might be important to know is what kind of genetic background a person may have to know if he is prone to lung cancer.

Mauritia
It is a submerged continent in the Indian Ocean, recently found. lies under Mauritius and extends more than 1,000 km northwards till Seychelles. First scientists found crystals called zircons on Mauritian beaches. Zircons are resistant to erosion or chemical change and some of the ones they found were almost two billion years old, much older than any of the regular soil or sand samples found on nearby islands. Scientists thought such old crystals could only belong to a submerged continent. they consulted satellite data which can help detect submerged land masses. this continent Mauritia may have existed as an archipelago, a cluster of islands squeezed in between Madagascar and the Indian subcontinent. Study of this continent can help us in better exploration of oil and gas in the oceans.

DNA as a storage device


Scientists are working to use DNA as a storage device. (like how computer can store information in form of 0 and 1). Similarly DNA could also save information using its 4 bases ACTG Advantages Problems

DNA is a long-lived, stable and easily synthesized storage hard drive. While the current electronic storage devices require active and continued Data reading, writing speed is slow and aintenance and regular transferring expensive at the moment. between storage media DNA based storage needs no active maintenance. Just store in a cool, dark and dry place!

Hydrogel
myocardial infarction= when heart tissue is destroyed, it blocks the oxygen supply to heart muscles. When cells of heart do not receive oxygen= they get permanently damaged. Such damaged heart cells cannot regenerate, thus a thick scar develops in heart. This is where Hydrogel can help. Hydrogel is derived from a pigs heart. The basic function of the gel is to provide a scaffold (platform) for new heart cells to form. Thus hydrogel can the damaged heart recover and function like a healthy one.

Saliva functions
The function of saliva (watering in mouth) is to 1. destroy pathogenic bacteria, 2. help in swallowing the food 3. serve as a solvent for the molecules that stimulate taste buds aid speech by facilitating movements of lips and tongue. It also helps to neutralize gastric acid when there is regurgitation (reflex act of ejecting the contents of the stomach through the mouth) reduces heart burn In humans, the sight, smell and even thought of food causes salivationThis is because the salivary secretion is conditioned. Ivan Pavlovs classical experiments of conditioned reflex: A bell was rung just before the meat was placed in the dogs mouth, and this was repeated a number of times until the animal would salivate when the bell was rung even though no meat was placed in its mouth. Salivation by humans on the sight, smell or thought of the tasty food is, therefore, a conditioned reflex.

Banana peel
Banana peel stays yellow for a much longer time when it is covering the fruit, but when we remove it, peel turns black in a few minutes. Why? Blackening of the banana peel is due to the presence of an enzyme, which is oxygen dependent.
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[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

As soon as we peel the banana the inner portion, the inner skin, gets exposed to atmospheric oxygen much more than when it is still covering the fruit. Inner skin is thin compared to outer layer. While peeling, inner-skin cells get damaged and liberate chemicals known as amines. This leaked out amines come into contact with enzymes present closely in the inner skin. This results in immediate oxidation in the presence of atmospheric oxygen = peel turns black. But this enzymatic reaction needs a little warmer conditions. That is why in summer and hot conditions even the outer skin turns brown, black faster compared to that in cooler environment. Not only banana, fruits like apples, grapes and vegetables like potato, raw banana also turn brown, black on peeling due to the presence of that enzyme Since bananas are tropical fruits the cells get damaged due to chill injury when we refrigerate them unlike apples which are temperate fruits which can be stored in the fridge safely.

Bio-inspired technology
It is new branch of science and technology. It learns from the properties and behaviour of plants and animals, particularly their modes of defence and offence Then it attempts to produce new technological products, inspired by these properties. For example

Lizard : Adhesives
A household lizard can run effortlessly on the ceiling, defying gravity and without dropping off to the floor. Because the palms of lizard, contains millions of tiny hairs. These hairs attach to the surface through very weak attractive forces called the van der Waals interaction. The force of each hair is negligible, but put together thousand and millions of them, and that adds up to considerable strength. If you shave of these hairlets, lizard will become not be able to climb walls. After understanding this phenomenon, scientists have been able to make tape-based adhesives (like Post It).

Velcro: Maroolimatthai
Cocklebur flowers plant is found in Madurai region of Tamilnadu. Locally known as Maroolimatthai. This plant has a number of small ball-like flowers Each of them has lots of short pin-like hairs all around, which stick to your socks and clothes. A swiss scientist studied this structure designed Velcro, the hook-and-loop fastener.

Porcupin: Surgical Patches


Porcupin is a large rodent. It carries as many as over 30,000 quills on the back surface of its body. The quill has an unique structure, it allows for easy penetration into the skin and beneath, but extremely painful during its removal or extraction. The tip of quill is very sharp hence enables easy penetration. But when it has to be removed by pulling it out, each of the barbs resists by opening up (a bit like an umbrella), adhering to the skin, damaging it. Now scientists are creating synthetic quills using polymers. Such a biomimetic or bio-inspired polymer patch would be useful for the development of mechanically interlocking tissue adhesives or needles, trocars and surgical staples. For more articles on science-tech, visit Mrunal.org/snt Previous Posts
[Defense] Current Affairs compilation 2012-13: missiles, joint exercises, operations, organizations [Hindu Sci-Tech] Space, IT related: KSLV, Luna Glob, Black Beauty, COMET, SKA, SAGA-220 (Jan, Feb 2013) [Science] TheHindu Dec12: Asteroid Mining, GRAIL, MoonKAMs, Liquiglide, Oraquick and more Science-Tech for UPSC CSAT [Science] No Touch Breastscan, Chemin, TLS, CFL vs Tubelight choke etc from The Hindu S&T, Nov 2012 [Public Health] GeneXpert, Project Axshya, MALDI, Dermoscope, Bariatric Surgery, Neurostimulator [Public Health] ENCODE, GPCR, LNT, Disease in Dish, RNTCP & other 2/5 markers from The Hindu S&T (Sept-Oct 2012) [Science] SCOAP3, Electronic Nose, Baxter, Lytro [Science] PREDICCS, LCROSS, HXMT, Life on Mars (Space related S&T from Hindu Sept-Oct-2012) [Science] Stem Cell Research, Controversy, Noble Prize 2012 [Public Health] Japanese Encephalitis Menace in India: Reasons, Prevention and control

45 comments to [Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013)

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Rakesh
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4/10/13

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[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

What can I say for your excellent workmy dictionary seems shortened.

vivek kapila
Reply to this comment For some one going through Hindu-Quick revision For some short on time-absolute knowledge gift

Abhishek
Reply to this comment Thanks much.

naresh
Reply to this comment Thanks marunal sir

aparajita
Reply to this comment thank u

rock
Reply to this comment kudos..a sense of completion comes after going through ur articles..

Dusky
Reply to this comment No words to express my gratitude.. It had been an uphill task for me to keep an update on S&T along with other notes. These articles have relieved me of half the burden..

CARM
Reply to this comment thnksits just super awesome for commerce grads.who cant take in sc. nd need to gulp it

Sumeet
Reply to this comment Thank you so much Sirji .. Aap tho bus har kaam itna aasan kardetae ho.. Thank you once again :-)

manoj
Reply to this comment this is very helpful and also it will be very useful for last hour revision in may

Abhishek Dwivedi
Reply to this comment Thank u so mch sir

deepti
Reply to this comment hello sir,on the coming 7th april my state civil service exam will be held n recently Budget has been declared so what am I supposed to read in budget n how?

Mrunals Fan
Reply to this comment Paper must have already been printed. So dont worry about budget. Prepare it for the next level of exam afr 7th. Meanwhile revise hard what you have studied till date.

Vibin
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4/10/13

[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

Mrunal , you have been quoted in newspaper .. Seems UPSC may call you for next pattern change :-) http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/6-of-100-IAS-aspirants-flunk-in-language-tests/Article1-1020342.aspx

Mrunals Fan
Reply to this comment Kya baat hai MRUNAL sir..HATS OFFyour site is becoming a major landmark on net for civil service aspirants.

Noushad Wahab
Reply to this comment Sir, Thanks a million for your support. i have a suggestion, please include an article showing `Common avoidable mistakes of an aspirant during preparation~

Aiman Reyaz
Reply to this comment arey Mrunal bhai, kabhi kabhi padhte padhte sir dukhne lagta hai, uska kuch ilaj batao. i saw ur name in HT. Hurray!

ajit kumar
Reply to this comment namaste Mrunal sir, sir,i am central govt-employee with good salary, but i am not happy with frequent transfer nature of the job which is a disturbing factor to my family. sir i am around 31, but there is something inside that makes me concentrate on my own state (MP)service where maximum age limit is upto 35 yrs for some good posts also, but i feel , i am lacking confidence and proper guidance. now please guide me sir what to do.please help me.

Rahul
Reply to this comment Ajit, confidence comes from effort. You start small, slowly build up your knowledge and in a month or two you will get confident and you dont even have to try. Confidence isnt some magic thing inside which makes toppers get their ranks. It is their effort which gives them confidence.

Nik
Reply to this comment Well said Mr. Rahul and with this confidence comes the ability to deliver. :)

tarunendu singh
Reply to this comment thank you very much mrunal sir

fanish bhandari
Reply to this comment mrunal, i have failed prelims twice..although i am studying hard this year but somehow i am lacking confidence.is there any example of any guy who have not cleared prelims in 1st two attempts and then going on to clear upsc??

PARTHO
Reply to this comment Thank you!

poonam yadav
Reply to this comment thanks a lot sir.

Rahul
Reply to this comment Hi Mrunal,
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4/10/13

Hi Mrunal,

[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

I think its a waste of time you do this. Notes making = each one should develop on their own, you dumb it down for people and it WILL NOT HELP them. It will appear to be helpful but the process of notes-making ( esp. of current affairs) is a learning process and it shows how determined someone is towards the exam ( the concept of active learning). The toppers will not use your web-site as they make their own notes. The rest of the people who use your web-site are comfortable with not making any notes, which isnt the right way of preparing. On the other hand, you do write really well in the couple of articles ive read.

prabhat
Reply to this comment @Rahul Dude its not waste of time. True note making is something that one should develop on their own but that does not mean one cannot use others articles to supplement ones note. mrunals website is of great help.Your assertion that rest of people who use his website are comfortable with not making any notes is absolutely wrong.I myself use his article to augment my notes.

Rahul
Reply to this comment Good you make your own notes :-). All the best. My intent was never to diss Mrunal. I wanted to inform people (before they realize it later after writing their exams) that notes making should be a personal process and it makes all the difference in the result. Prabhat, people actually are heavily dependent on his web-site for current affairs and roll their hands off that they have prepared everything :-) .

prabhat
Reply to this comment you are perfectly right but I guess exception are there :) :)

Rahul
As with everything else :D

kunal
Reply to this comment Hey Rahul, It is easy to write things which u have written in these 4 or 5 lines but very had to write and explan things which are complex to understand in a very lucid manner ,which Mrunal sir is doing for us from his precious time.. u have lots to make notes ,this is the site only for crucial and important topics being covered in current affair not exhaustive one.. So i have one suggestion dont waste your time writing these lines just start making notes. all the best

Rahul
Reply to this comment Yes, yes. You will realize it later Kunal :-) . I never doubted the authenticity of Mrunals articles they are good.

Anil
Reply to this comment Gardasil also known as Silgard is a product of Merck & Co. (not GSK company) plz rectify this. Link- http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/g/gardasil/gardasil_pi.pdf

poonam yadav
Reply to this comment Thanks sir

sinod kumar singh


Reply to this comment Sir,i read first time.all matter is useful in csp .thanks

ABDUL VAHID
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4/10/13

[Hindu Sci-Tech] Public Health, EnB related: Virtopsy, Vomitting Larry, Hydrogel, Mauritia (Jan Feb 2013) Mrunal

mrunal sir please explain the concept of under recovery of petro products

Apourv pant
Reply to this comment Nice article sir.

arti mishra
Reply to this comment thanks a lot sir i find your notes very helpful so please continue helping us thanks once again

arti mishra
Reply to this comment rahul et al its ur wish whether you want to visit this site or not so plz dont worry abt others and plz continue making notes i wish if you can also share ur notes to others

Rahul
Reply to this comment Mishra..making notes..keeping effort on it plays a very major role in preparation. That was my point. Not dissing Mrunal or anyone else. I realized it after a long time, dont want others to do the same :-).

arti mishra
Reply to this comment thanks rahul for your positive thoughtfulness thanks once again

Poonam Singh
Reply to this comment Mrunal ji thanks a lot for ur precious support n valuable time . ur arc are really wonderful, updated, lucid.. thanks again.. can u plz write something about stem cell.?

Raghu meenigi
Reply to this comment Sir PDF format is not to be seen here

kumar ranjan
Reply to this comment thanking you very much mrunal sir. u have made great work for aspirants. we r highly benefited from your glorious works..again thanking u sir..

Satish Kumar Gupta


Reply to this comment Dear Sir, A lot of Thanks to you, for giving valuable websites to civil aspirants. I think more topics are covered to UPSC point of view. Thank you very much.

BHAVESH PATEL
Reply to this comment DEAR SIR I AM THANKFUL TO U SIR I BELIEVE THIS ARTICLE IS HELPFUL IN CSP-2013 BUT WE NEED HELP FROM U SIR AS WELL AS LAST YEAR U POST MORE ARTICLES 4 CSP-2013 FROM HINDU & OTHER DETA BECAUSE NO MORE TIME FOR US I WRITE MAINS ONE TIME & THIS IS MY LAST CHANCE

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