PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Aarogyapath
- Amoebiasis
- Facts for Prelims : Raja Parba, CIMAP
1 . Aarogyapath
Context : During the present national health emergency arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, where in there is severe disruption in supply chain,the ability to produce and deliver the critical items may be compromised due to a variety of reasons. The information platform named AarogyaPath with a vision of “providing a path which leads one on a journey towards Aarogya (healthy life)” was developed to address these challenges.
About Aarogyapath
- A CSIR National Healthcare Supply Chain Portal that aims to provide real-time availability of critical healthcare supplies has been launched
- AarogyaPath would serve manufacturers, suppliers and customers.
Benefits
- This integrated public platform that provides single-point availability of key healthcare goods can be helpful to customers in tackling a number of routinely experienced issues.
- These issues include dependence on limited suppliers, time-consuming processes to identify good quality products, limited access to suppliers who can supply standardized products at reasonable prices within desired timelines, lack of awareness about the latest product launches, etc.
- It also helps manufacturers and suppliers to reach a wide network of customers efficiently, overcoming gaps in connectivity between them and potential demand centers like nearby pathological laboratories, medical stores, hospitals, etc.
- It will also create opportunities for business expansion due to an expanded slate of buyers and visibility of new requirements for products.
- Over time, analytics from this platform is expected to generate early signals to manufacturers on over capacity as well as on looming shortages. This would help to reduce wastage of resources due to inefficient forecasting and excess manufacturing, generate awareness about the demand for new technologies.
2 . Amoebiasis
Context : New drug for amoebiasis in the offing
About Amoebiasis
- Amoebiasis is a common infection of the gastro-intestinal tract.
- Amoebiasis is caused by the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica.
- Acute amoebiasis can present as diarrhoea or dysentery with frequent, small and often bloody stools. Chronic amoebiasis can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms plus fatigue, weight loss and occasional fever.
- The disease occurs worldwide but is more common in areas or countries with poor sanitation, particularly in the tropics.
- There is no vaccine available for this disease according to the WHO.
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Entamoeba histolytica is the third-leading cause of morbidity and mortality due to parasitic disease in humans.
About the New Drug
- A team of researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has developed new drug molecules against the protozoa that causes amoebiasis.
- This protozoan is anaerobic or micro-aerophilic in nature such that it cannot survive high concentrations of oxygen. However, during infection, it faces a high surge of oxygen inside the human body. The organism synthesizes large amounts of cysteine to counter oxidative stress.
- This pathogen deploys cysteine as one of the essential molecules in its defence mechanism against high oxygen levels. Entamoeba expresses two crucial enzymes for synthesizing cysteine.
- Researchers from JNU has characterized and determined the molecular structures of both these crucial enzymes.
- They have also successfully screened for potent inhibitors for one of the enzymes, O-acetyl L-serine sulfhydrylase (OASS).
- Some of these inhibitors can check the growth of this organism with high efficacy
- “Cysteine biosynthesis is crucial for the survival of E. histolytica and may be similar protozoan parasites. These can be targeted by inhibiting their pathways, which we have been successfully done. The identified molecules can be lead to the development of drug molecules
3 . Facts for Prelims
Raja Parba
- Raja Parba or Mithuna Sankranti is a three-day-long festival celebrated in Odisha, India.
- The second day of the festival signifies beginning of the solar month of Mithuna from, which the season of rains starts
- It is believed that the mother Goddess Earth or the divine wife of Lord Vishnu undergoes menstruation during the first three days. The fourth day is called Vasumati Snana, or ceremonial bath of Bhudevi.
- The term Raja came from the Sanskrit word ‘Rajas‘ which means menstruation and when a woman menstruates, she is called ‘Rajaswala‘ or a menstruating woman, and in medieval times the festival became more popular as an agricultural holiday marking the worship of Bhudevi, who is the wife of lord Jagannath.
CIMAP
- Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, popularly known as CIMAP, is a frontier plant research laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
- Established originally as Central Indian Medicinal Plants Organisation (CIMPO) in 1959, CIMAP is steering multidisciplinary high quality research in biological and chemical sciences and extending technologies and services to the farmers and entrepreneurs of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) with its research headquarter at Lucknow and Research Centres at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pantnagar and Purara.
- CIMAP Research Centres are aptly situated in different agro-climatic zones of the country to facilitate multi-location field trials and research.
- Mint varieties released and agro-packages developed and popularised by CIMAP has made India the global leader in mints and related industrial products.
- CIMAP has released several varieties of the MAPs, their complete agro-technology and post harvest packages which have revolutionised MAPs cultivation and business scenario of the country.