Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- RCEP e commerce chapter
- Cynaide
- Elatocaloric effect
- How Oxygen levels affect cell metabolism
- Plogging
- Sister State Relations, Nobel Peace Award, Quilombola, Organic Farming and Butterfly diversity, Milansen, HongQI, Alexei Leonov
1 . RCEP e commerce chapter
Context : India’s hopes for retaining the right to implement data localisation laws remain alive as Indian negotiators on Thursday declined to agree to the e-commerce chapter of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
About the Issue
- The e-commerce chapter contains clauses that, if India had agreed to them, would have prevented it from implementing data localisation rules on companies doing business in India.
- The section on transfers of information and processing of information says that “a party shall not take measures that prevent transfers of information, including transfers of data by electronic or other means, necessary for the conduct of the ordinary business of a financial service supplier.”
- However, the same section also says that “nothing in paragraph 2 [the paragraph containing the previous clause] prevents a regulator of a party for regulatory or prudential reasons from requiring a financial service supplier to comply with domestic regulation in relation to data management and storage and system maintenance, as well as to retain within its territory copies of records.”
- This basically means that India cannot be prevented from asking financial companies to maintain a copy of their data within India, but it is unclear still whether India can mandate that such data must only reside within the country.
Details and importance of Data localisation covered under June Current Affairs
2 . Cynaide
Context : Police in Kerala have arrested a woman for allegedly killing her husband, parents-in-law and three other members of the extended family over a period of 14 years using cyanide
About Cynaide
- Cyanide is a rapidly acting, potentially deadly chemical that can exist in various forms.
- Cyanide can be a colorless gas, such as hydrogen cyanide (HCN) or cyanogen chloride (CNCl), or a crystal form such as sodium cyanide (NaCN) or potassium cyanide (KCN).
- Cyanide sometimes is described as having a “bitter almond” smell, but it does not always give off an odor, and not everyone can detect this odor.
- Cyanide is also known by the military designations AC (for hydrogen cyanide) and CK (for cyanogen chloride).
Where cyanide is found and how it is used
- Cyanide is released from natural substances in some foods and in certain plants such as cassava, lima beans and almonds. Pits and seeds of common fruits, such as apricots, apples, and peaches, may have substantial amounts of chemicals which are metabolized to cyanide. The edible parts of these plants contain much lower amounts of these chemicals.
- Cyanide is contained in cigarette smoke and the combustion products of synthetic materials such as plastics. Combustion products are substances given off when things burn.
- In manufacturing, cyanide is used to make paper, textiles, and plastics. It is present in the chemicals used to develop photographs. Cyanide salts are used in metallurgy for electroplating, metal cleaning, and removing gold from its ore. Cyanide gas is used to exterminate pests and vermin in ships and buildings.
- If accidentally swallowed, chemicals found in acetonitrile-based products that are used to remove artificial nails can produce cyanide when metabolized by the body.
- Hydrogen cyanide, under the name Zyklon B, was used as a genocidal agent by the Germans in World War II.
- Reports have indicated that during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, hydrogen cyanide gas may have been used along with other chemical agents against the inhabitants of the Kurdish city of Halabja in northern Iraq.
Gold Work
- Cyanide is used in the extraction and polishing of gold, and for gold-plating. The ornament industry uses the chemical to give gold its reddish yellow colour, believed to be the “original” colour of the metal, and for ridding it of impurities.
Legal source of the chemical
- Cyanide is legally sourced from a Mumbai-based agency, which sells the chemical under strict restrictions to institutions or individuals who are able to furnish the relevant certificate issued by the Drugs Control Department. The permit-holder has to appear in person before the agency to procure the allotted quantity of chemical.
3 . Elastocaloric effect
Context : Researchers from multiple universities, including Nankai University in China, have found that the elastocaloric effect, if harnessed, may be able to do away with the need of fluid refrigerants used in fridges and air-conditioners.
About elastocaloric effect
- When rubbers bands are twisted and untwisted, it produces a cooling effect. This is called the “elastocaloric” effect
About the Research
- In the elastocaloric effect, the transfer of heat works much the same way as when fluid refrigerants are compressed and expanded.
- When a rubber band is stretched, it absorbs heat from its environment, and when it is released, it gradually cools down.
- In order to figure out how the twisting mechanism might be able to enable a fridge, the researchers compared the cooling power of rubber fibres, nylon and polyethylene fishing lines and nickel-titanium wires.
- They observed high cooling from twist changes in twisted, coiled and supercoiled fibres.
- The level of efficiency of the heat exchange in rubber bands “is comparable to that of standard refrigerants and twice as high as stretching the same materials without twisting”.
- To demonstrate this setup, the researchers developed a fridge the size of a ballpoint pen cartridge that was able to bring down the temperature of a small volume of water by 8°C in a few seconds. They suggested that their findings may lead to the development of greener, higher-efficiency and low-cost cooling technology.
4 . How Oxygen levels affect cell metabolism
Context : Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists, William G. Kaelin Jr. from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Maryland, U.S., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe from Francis Crick Institute, London, and Gregg L. Semenza from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering for their discovery of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.
Why is it important?
- Oxygen is used by all cells to convert food to useful energy. Oxygen is essential for the survival of cells, excess or too little oxygen can lead to adverse health consequences.
- Oxygen supply temporarily reduces in muscles during intense exercise and under such conditions the cells adapt their metabolism to low oxygen levels.
- Proper growth of the foetus and placenta depends on the ability of the cells to sense oxygen.
- Drugs have already been developed to treat anaemia by making the body produce increased number of red blood cells. Similarly, drugs to increase oxygen availability in people with heart disease and lung cancer are being tested.
- Many diseases can be treated by increasing the function of a particular pathway of the oxygen-sensing machinery. At the same time, inhibiting or blocking the pathway will have implications in treating cancer, heart attack, stroke and pulmonary hypertension.
- Cancers are known to hijack the oxygen-regulation machinery to stimulate blood vessel formation and also re-programme the metabolism in order to adapt to low oxygen conditions.
- The reprogramming of metabolism gives cancer cells the plasticity to shift from a state where they have limited potential to cause cancer to a state when they have greater potential for long-term growth. Efforts are under way to develop drugs that can block the oxygen-sensing machinery of cancer cells to kill them.
What do we already know?
- The rate at which we respire depends on the amount of oxygen being carried in the blood.
- Specialised cells present next to large blood vessels in the neck sense the blood oxygen level and alert the brain to increase the rate of respiration when the oxygen level in the blood goes down. This discovery won a Nobel Prize in 1938.
- At the beginning of the last century, scientists knew that specialised cells present in the kidneys make and release a hormone called erythropoietin.
- When oxygen level is low, as in high altitudes, more of this hormone is produced and released, leading to increased production of red blood cells in the bone marrow — helping the body adapt to high altitudes.
- Besides increasing red blood cells, the body also grows new blood vessels to increase blood supply.
What are the main contributions of 2019’s winners?
- Both Prof. Semenza and Sir Ratcliffe independently studied how the erythropoietin gene is regulated by varying oxygen levels. Both researchers found that the oxygen-sensing mechanism is not restricted to kidneys where the erythropoietin is produced but by diverse cells in tissues other than the kidney. Prof. Semenza identified a pair of genes that express two proteins. When the oxygen level is low, one of the proteins (HIF-1alpha) turns on certain genes, including the erythropoietin gene, to increase the production of erythropoietin. The hormone, in turn, increases the oxygen availability by boosting the production of red blood cells.
- Prof. Kaelin Jr., who was studying an inherited syndrome called von Hippel-Lindau’s disease (VHL disease) found that people had increased risk of cancer when they inherited VHL mutations. He found the VHL gene seemed to be involved in how cells respond to oxygen.
- The function of the HIF-1alpha protein, which turns on the genes to produce more erythropoietin, is blocked and is rapidly degraded when the oxygen level is normal but remains intact when oxygen level is low. Sir Ratcliffe found that VHL interacts with the HIF-1alpha protein and degrades it when the oxygen level is normal. This ensures that excess red blood cells are not produced when the oxygen level is normal. In 2001, Prof. Kaelin Jr. and Sir Ratcliffe both elucidated more details on the mechanism of degradation of HIF-1alpha protein by VHL when the oxygen level is normal but not when the oxygen level is low.
Why do athletes use erythropoietin? What are the risks?
- Athletes have been found to use erythropoietin, synthetic oxygen carriers and blood transfusions for blood doping. Each of the three substances or methods is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
- While the use of erythropoietin in people who are anaemic due to chronic kidney disease helps in increasing the oxygen level in the blood, the use of the hormone by normal, healthy people can lead to serious health risks.
- In the case of healthy people who have a normal red blood cell count, the use of external erythropoietin is highly likely to make the blood thick (increase viscosity) leading to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and cerebral or pulmonary embolism (clot that blocks the flow of blood)
5 . Plogging
Context : During his morning walk on a beach in Mamallapuram on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen picking up plastic litter, bottles and other items. In a tweet shortly after, Modi announced: “Plogging at a beach in Mamallapuram.
About Plogging
- ‘Plogging’ is a combination word formed from ‘jogging’ and ‘plocka upp’, which is Swedish for ‘pick up’.
- It refers to an emerging international trend, in which someone picks up trash while jogging or brisk walking as a way of cleaning up litter while also taking care of fitness.
- The trend was started in Sweden by Erik Ahlström in 2016. During his commute to work, Ahlström would frequently come across litter that would remain on the streets for weeks without anyone picking it up. This prompted him to pick up the trash during his commute and dispose of it. Eventually, he included the clean-up in his daily running and exercise routine.
6 . Facts for Prelims
Nobel Peace Prize
- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wins 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Ethiopia and Eritrea, longtime foes who fought a border war from 1998 to 2000, restored relations in July 2018 after years of hostility.
Quilombola
- Quilombola is an Afro-Brazilian resident of quilombo settlements first established by escaped slaves in Brazil. They are the descendants of Afro-Brazilian slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888
Organic Farming and Butterfly diversity
- A new study has found that the indigenous farming systems in this area are not affecting butterfly diversity. In fact, the team from Sikkim University found that organic farming has increased the species diversity. This was even higher than the diversity in the nearby forest ecosystem.
Alexei Leonov
- Alexei Leonov is a Soviet cosmonaut who was the first man to perform a spacewalk in 1965
Milasen
- Milasen is a custom” drug that researchers developed specifically for Eight-year-old Mila Makovec who was diagnosed with a rare, usually fatal neurological disorder in 2016
HongQI
- The Hongqi, or the Red Flag, is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s preferred mode of transport during official visits
- A symbol of “Made in China”, Hongqi’s history dates back to 1958, when the state-owned First Automotive Works (FAW) launched it for the Communist Party of China (CPC) elite.
- “The first Hongqi car, or Red Flag, was manufactured in 1958. It is one of China’s iconic sedan brands and its vehicles have been used for parades during national celebrations,”
- In 2012, Xi directed CPC leaders to use locally-manufactured cars, rather than foreign ones.
Sister States
- India and China on Saturday agreed to establish sister-state relations between Tamil Nadu and Fujian province to explore the ancient cultural and trade ties enjoyed by the two states that date back to at least 800 years.