Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV)

Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was developed in 1955 by Dr Jonas Salk. Also called the “Salk vaccine”, IPV consists of inactivated (killed) poliovirus strains of all three poliovirus types. IPV is given by intramuscular injection and needs to be administered by a trained health worker.

A baby receives the inactivated polio vaccine from a qualified nurse

CDC/Judy Schmidt

The inactivated polio vaccine produces antibodies in the blood to all three types of poliovirus. In the event of infection, these antibodies prevent the spread of the virus to the central nervous system and protect against paralysis.

Advantages

• As IPV is not a 'live' vaccine, it carries no risk of vaccine-associated polio paralysis.
• IPV triggers an excellent protective immune response in most people.

Disadvantages

• IPV induces very low levels of immunity in the intestine. As a result, when a person immunized with IPV is infected with wild poliovirus, the virus can still multiply inside the intestines and be shed in the faeces, risking continued circulation.
• IPV is over five times more expensive than oral polio vaccine.
• Administering the vaccine requires trained health workers and sterile injection equipment and procedures.

Safety

IPV is one of the safest vaccines in use. No serious systemic adverse reactions have been shown to follow vaccination.

Efficacy

IPV is highly effective in preventing paralytic disease caused by all three types of poliovirus.

Recommended use

An increasing number of industrialized, polio-free countries are using IPV as the vaccine of choice. This is because the risk of paralytic polio associated with continued routine use of oral polio vaccine (OPV) is deemed greater than the risk of imported wild virus. 

However, as IPV does not stop transmission of the virus, oral polio vaccine is used wherever a polio outbreak needs to be contained, even in countries which rely exclusively on IPV for their routine immunization programme (e.g. the polio outbreak in the Netherlands in 1992). 

IPV is not recommended for routine use in polio-endemic countries or in developing countries at risk of poliovirus importations. In these countries, oral polio vaccines – either trivalent, bivalent or monovalent, depending on local epidemiology – are used.

Once polio has been eradicated, use of the oral polio vaccine will need to be stopped to prevent re-establishment of transmission due to vaccine-derived polioviruses. Switching to IPV is one option for this post-OPV era.

courtesy:http://www.polioeradication.org/Polioandprevention/Thevaccines/Inactivatedpoliovaccine(IPV).aspx

I didnot Study Much,I Just Read the Newpaper:Munish Sharma 2013 IAS Ranker

NEW DELHI: Munish Sharma began
“subconsciously” preparing
to become an IAS officer
ever since he was in Class VI.
He became financially
independent by the
time he reached Class
IX and several years
-- a Biochemistry degree
and an MBA --
later, on a windy
Thursday afternoon
he aced the Civil Services
examinations,
coming second.
“I did not study too
much, just read The
Hindu newspaper
word to word. I loved it. I also
loved taking the Civil Services
examination. I was never
bogged down by the sheer
work that everyone talks
about. I read the newspaper, I
wrote the exam,” he said, adding
that he had not found time
to celebrate yet as he was busy
accepting all the congratulatory
messages streaming in all
day.
“I worked in the corporate
world for five years and then
decided it was time to become
the IAS officer I always wanted
to be. I did not shut myself
in to study for hours. I continued
reading the papers,” he
said, adding that his mother,
who also loves newspapers
and reading and who brought
him up single-handedly, was
his main inspiration.
“She is a teacher,
I also took
classes by the time I
was in Class XI and
supported myself
financially.”
His advice to all
those with IAS
dreams in their
hearts: “Enjoy
what you do.
Shutting yourself
away from
everything enjoyable is not
the way to go about it. Focus is
important, but enjoying the
process is more important.”
The Delhi boy had very
proud teachers from his alma
mater Sri Venkateshwara College:
“We are happy, I do not
know him personally but I am
proud,” said Arti Saxena, a
Botany teacher.
“I know him very well and I
am not surprised, he was always
a clever one,” said Nanditha
Narayan, a teacher who
taught him many years ago.

Fulfilling the cherished IAS dream

“I always dreamed
of becoming a doctor or an
IAS officer, and now I am
both,” said an ecstatic Bharti
Dixit, speaking from the
outskirts of the city in the
middle of a “big party” with
friends. She is the only
woman who made it to the
top five slots of the Union
Public Service Commission
examinations this year. The
news is yet to sink in fully,
said Ms. Dixit.
“It seems like only minutes
ago we were driving down to
the UPSC office to find out
my marks. It was at 3 p.m.
that we got to know that the
results were declared and
now this!” she said, adding
that she also aced the exams
on her first attempt and gave
up on coaching institutes
after the first few months,
deciding to study by herself.
“Of course, everyone
frightened me that taking the
exams meant giving up your
life as you knew it and
studying all day long,” said
Ms. Dixit, while explaining
how many of her

acquaintances had lost
several crucial years, all in
the pursuit of the IAS dream.
“I did not let that happen
to me. My job was equally
important. I work as a
medical officer with the
NDMC and examine patients
on a daily basis so I could not
let my studies and job overlap
in any way. I focussed instead
on quality. Five hours of
studying everyday, with
complete concentration —
NCERT books, magazines,
watching the news on
television and, of course,
religiously reading The
Hindu newspaper word for
word,” she said.
Another girl who has made
the Capital proud is Medha
Roopam, who studied
Economics at St. Stephen’s
College. She never wanted to
become anything other than
an IAS officer, with the sole
intention of serving her
country, she said. “My father
is a civil servant. I think he
was my first inspiration. I
never wanted to be anything
other than an IAS officer and
ever since I graduated from
college, I have been working
towards this goal,” said Ms.
Roopam.
She said she did not lost
hope after a setback in her
first attempt and steadily
increased her preparation.“I
did not get through in my
first attempt. The syllabus
changed, the coaching
centres, too, were as new to
this as those of us preparing.
Things were getting difficult.
But I increased the amount of
effort I put in. I read a lot of
newspapers, scrutinising The
Hindu the most carefully. I
never missed a word in the
paper,” she said. She added
that the new syllabus has
created a level-playing field.
Ms. Roopam studied in
Naval Public School,
Ernakulam, Kerala till Class
VIII, while her father was
posted there as District
Collector. She finished Class
XII from St. Thomas School
in Thiruvananthapuram and
then moved to Delhi with her
family for her undergraduate
studies.
“I am happy and feel proud
that she is entering a service
which will allow her to serve
the country,” said her father
Gyanesh Kumar speaking to
The Hindu.
Akshay Tripathi, number
four on the list,was already
working with the Indian
Railways when he decided to
take on the “toughest exam
on earth”.
He, too, owes allegiance to
The Hindu and said he
studied seven hours a day.

Synthetic biology

Synthetic biology is the design and construction of biological devices and systems for useful purposes.^[1] It is an area of biological research and technology that combinesbiology and engineering, thus often overlapping with bioengineering and biomedical engineering. It encompasses a variety of different approaches, methodologies, and disciplines with a focus on engineering biology and biotechnology.^[2]

Synthetic biologists approach the creation of new biological systems from different perspectives, focusing on finding how life works (the origin of life) or how to use it to benefit society. The former focus includes the approach of biology, inserting man-made DNA into a living cell; and chemistry, working on gene synthesis as an extension of synthetic chemistry. The latter focus includes engineering, building the new biological system as a platform for various technologies; and rewriting, rebuilding the natural systems to provide the engineered surrogates.

The advance of synthetic biology relies on several key enabling technologies provided at ever increasing speed and lower cost. DNA sequencing, fabrication of genes, modeling how synthetic genes behave, and precisely measuring gene behavior are essential tools in synthetic biology. Its popularity has grown as a result of increasing developments within DNA synthesis technologies; now it is more affordable to synthesize a gene as opposed to cloning it. Also, genome databases can be used as a template for creating viruses at minimal cost.

Geneticists have found a number of gene sequences which correspond to differing traits in organisms; these individual gene sequences have been developed and incorporated into DNA similar to genetic "lego" blocks. This is essentially how genetic engineers alter the DNA of living organisms. What separates synthetic biology from genetic engineering is that rather than altering an already existent DNA strand, synthetic biology puts these "blocks" together from scratch to build an entirely new strand of DNA which is then placed into an empty living cell. These new cells can be "built" to perform a number of functions that could greatly benefit humanity. These operations do not exist in nature. Furthermore, projects involving the integration of standardized parts are the only ones that should be deemed true synthetic biology projects.^[3] Synthetic biology introduces three new foundational technologies to genetic engineering: the ability to synthesize new genes in a de novo fashion; the ability to obscure complexity through abstraction; and the introduction of engineering standards.

Biosafety and biosecurity concerns are the understandable response to this new science and technology that have the potential to profoundly change the nature of life forms as we know it. Numbers of civic society groups and online forums called for study of societal and ethical impact of this new technology, licensing and monitoring. The community of synthetic biology has discussed policy options and started initiatives of self-regulation. Symposia and meetings by the broader science community have brought the efforts at developing guidelines and regulations; addressing the issues of intellectual property and governance, and the ethical, societal and legal implications. Several bioethics research institutes published reports on ethical concerns and the public perception of synthetic biology. A 2010 report from the U.S. Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues called for enhanced federal oversight in the United States on this emerging technology.

courtesy:wikipedia

Paradip Port plans to augment capacity(THindu)

MUMBAI: Government-owned
Paradip Port is planning to
set up six new captive berths
of more than 10 million
tonnes per annum (tpa) capacity
each as part of the development
of a Western Dock
complex.
The Paradip Port Trust
(PPT) estimated that a total
investment of Rs.6,500 crore
would be required for the development
of the Western
Dock. It will also consider a
public-private partnership
(PPP) model. Besides, it is
setting up a southern oil jetty
of 10 million tpa, and will be
commissioned this year. It
has planned mechanisation
to hike capacity by 50 million
tpa, a new iron ore berth of 10
milllion tpa, a coal berth of 10
million tpa, a multipurpose
clean cargo berth of 5 million
tpa, an LNG terminal of 10
million tpa and an Inland
Container Depot (ICD).
Speaking to this correspondent
on the eve of the
company’s investor conference
on Western Dock, S. S.
Mishra, Chairman, Paradip
Port Trust, said the port
planned to increase the total
capacity from 108.50 million
tonnes to 270.50 million
tonnes by 2023, entailing an
investment of Rs.16,500
crore, for which it would go in
for a PPP for Rs.15,600 crore
and Rs.900 crore would be
from internal accruals.
“Any good port must have
good connectivity or good
draught. We have both and
aspire to be the mother port
for Eastern India,’’ Mr. Mishra
said.
On competition, Mr. Mishra
said the Adani group taking
over Dhamra port was
competition. “Among other
ports on the east coast, Gopalpur
has yet to materialise.
We may be hit by competition
in the short run but being a
government port, the advantage
offered is guaranteed
tariff for three years and no
hidden costs.’’
The port has a target of 69
million tonnes traffic
throughput in the current
year against 68 million
tonnes in 2013-14 set by the
Shipping Ministry, which,
Mr. Mishra said, would be
“easily surpassed. We will be
the number one port in the
country in terms of throughput
in 2015-16. We are currently
only behind Kandla
Port.’’
In 2013-14, the port’s total
revenue rose by 34 per cent to
Rs.1,068 crore, while the operating
surplus was up 50 per
cent at Rs.365 crore and surplus
after tax was up 24 per
cent at Rs.233 crore.

El Niño will be disastrous for the world’s coral reefs:The hindu 07 june 2014

Agrowing number of scientists are
predicting a major El Niño
weather event this year, which could
wreak havoc across South America
and Asia as droughts, floods and other
extreme weather events hit industry
and farming. But the impacts on the
world’s coral reefs could be even more
disastrous.
Coral bleaching
The last big El Niño in 1997-98
caused the worst coral bleaching in
recorded history. In total, 16 per cent
of the world’s coral was lost and some
countries like the Maldives lost up to
90 per cent of their reef coverage. The
Australian Bureau of Meteorology
suggests there’s a 70 per cent chance
of an El Niño occurring this year —
and all the signs are that it will rival
the ‘98 event.
El Niño arises out of a confluence of
factors that are still not fully understood,
but its outcome is clear — parts
of the ocean get hotter. A band of
warm water develops in the western
Pacific, while the Indo-Pacific Warm
Pool — a blob of heat that spans much
of Indonesia — starts oscillating wildly.
This could spell disaster for the
Coral Triangle, a southeast Asian bioregion
that’s the underwater equivalent
of the Amazon, home to more
marine species than anywhere else on
Earth.
“In 1998, the Coral Triangle started
to bleach in May and continued till
September,” says Professor Ove Hoeg
Guldberg, a marine biologist and head
of the Global Change Institute at the
University of Queensland. “The Coral
Triangle sees prolonged periods of
temperature anomaly during an El
Niño because the equator passes
through the middle of it, so it experiences
both northern and southern
hemisphere summers.” Professor
Guldberg, who led the Oceans chapter
of the IPCC report on climate change,
is less than sanguine about the prospects
for the region’s coral reefs. “It
only takes about half a degree on top
of background sea temperatures to
cause bleaching,” he explains. “Atmospheric
scientists are telling us we’re
headed for temperatures that will
trump those of 1998.”
Coral bleaching is actually quite a
common occurrence and bleached
reefs can make comebacks — many of
the reefs affected by the 1998 El Niño
have made at least partial recoveries.
“The thing is, under mild conditions,
corals can recover their symbiotes,”
says Professor Guldberg. “But because
background temperatures are
warmer, the corals can’t recover as
before.” Even when reefs do recover,
old growth corals that may have taken
centuries to mature are often replaced
with faster growing species
that quickly colonise large areas, homogenising
the ecosystem.
Vulnerable area
The Coral Triangle is particularly
vulnerable because it’s more prone to
non-climate related pressures than
other reefs. According to the World
Resources Institute, more than 85 per
cent of reefs within the bioregion are
threatened by local stressors (overfishing,
destructive fishing and pollution),
which is substantially higher
than the global average of 60 per cent.
About 120 million people depend directly
on these reefs for their livelihood.
As the coral dies, more and
more of them will be forced to migrate
to live, says Professor Guldberg.
The broad scientific consensus is
that corals worldwide could be on the
verge of extinction by as early as
2050.
The only meaningful solution in
the long term is to drastically reduce
carbon emissions worldwide. Not
much can be done to mitigate the impact
of an impending El Niño, but
some of the other non-climate related
stresses can be removed. This means
establishing areas of undisturbed marine
habitat — lots of them — and
reducing pressure on fisheries. As for
the radical treatment, it needs to happen
very soon. If not, corals could
soon become mere aquarium artefacts.
— © Guardian Newspapers
Limited, 2014

Electronic Voting Machines ("EVM")

Salient Features of EVMs:

v  It is tamper proof & simple to operate

v  Program which controls the functioning of the control unit is burnt into a micro chip on a “one time programmable basis”. Once burnt it cannot be read, copied out or altered.

v  Eliminates the possibility of invalid votes, makes the counting process faster and reduces the cost of printing.

v  An EVM can be used in areas without electricity as it runs on alkaline batteries.

v  Elections can be conducted through EVMs if the number of candidates does not exceed 64.

v  An EVM can record a maximum number of 3840 votes.

Free and fair elections are central to the democratic ethos of any country. This includes fair, accurate, and transparent electoral process with outcomes that can be independently verified. Conventional voting accomplishes many of these goals. However, electoral malpractices like bogus voting and booth capturing pose a serious threat to spirit of electoral democracy. It has, thus, been the endeavour of the Election Commission of India to make reforms in the electoral process to ensure free and fair elections. EVMs, devised and designed by Election Commission of India in collaboration with two Public Sector undertakings viz., Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore and Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad, is a major step in this direction.

Electronic Voting Machines ("EVM") are being used in Indian General and State Elections to implement electronic voting in part from 1999 elections and in total since 2004 elections. The EVMs reduce the time in both casting a vote and declaring the results compared to the old paper ballot system. Bogus voting and booth capturing can be greatly reduced by the use of EVMs. Illiterate people find EVMs easier than ballot paper system. They are easier to transport the EVMs compared to ballot boxes.

EVM has become the leitmotif of the world's largest democratic exercise and gets smarter with each avatar. Here is an attempt to briefly trace the evolution of the EVM and its use in the world’s largest democracy.

Chronological development of EVM

v  EVMs were first used in 50 polling stations of Parur Assembly Constituency of Kerala in May 1982.

v  These machines could not be used after 1983 after a Supreme Court ruling that necessitated legal backing for the use of Voting machines in elections. The law was amended by Parliament in December, 1988 and a new section 61A was inserted in the Representation of the People Act, 1951 empowering the Commission to use voting machines.  The amended provision comes into force w.e.f. 15th March, 1989.

v  The matter regarding use of EVMs was referred by the Government of India to Electoral Reforms Committee, appointed by the Central Government in February, 1990 consisting of representatives of several recognized National and State parties.

v  An Expert Committee was constituted by the Govt. of India, consisting of Prof. S. Sampath, then Chairman RAC, Defence Research and Development Organization, with Prof. P.V. Indiresan, then with IIT, Delhi and Dr C. Rao Kasarabada, the Director Electronics Research and Development Centre, Trivandrum. In its report, the committee concluded that these machines are tamper-proof.

v  On 24th March, 1992, necessary amendment to the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 was notified by the Government in the Ministry of Law and Justice.

v  The Commission again constituted Technical Expert Committee in December, 2005 comprising Prof. P.V. Indiresan, Prof. D.T. Shahani of IIT Delhi and Prof. A.K. Agarwala of IIT Delhi to get the new version EVMs evaluated before finally accepting these machines for actual use in elections.

v  Subsequently, the Commission has been consulting a group of technical experts comprising Prof. (Late) P.V. Indiresan (member of the earlier committee), Prof. D.T. Shahani and Prof. A.K. Agarwala of IIT Delhi, on all EVM related technical issues. In November, 2010, the Commission has expanded its Technical Expert Committee by including two more experts, namely, Prof D.K. Sharma from Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT of Mumbai and Prof. Rajat Moona from Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT of Kanpur (now Director General, C-DAC).

v  Since, November 1998, EVMs have been using in each and every general/bye elections to Parliamentary and Assembly Constituency. India turned into an e-democracy in General Elections 2004 when 10.75 lakh EVMs were used across all polling Stations in the country. Since then, all elections were conducted by  EVMs .

Courtesy:http://pib.nic.in/newsite/efeatures.aspx?relid=104463