UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

A new vaccine for dengue received prequalification from the World Health Organization (WHO) on 10 May 2024. TAK-003 is the second dengue vaccine to be prequalified by WHO. Developed by Takeda, it is a live-attenuated vaccine containing weakened versions of the four serotypes of the virus that cause dengue.   WHO recommends the use of TAK-003 in children aged 6–16 years in settings with high dengue burden and transmission intensity. The vaccine should be administered in a 2-dose schedule with a 3-month interval between doses.  WHO News <<< About Dengue

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has alerted traders’/fruits handlers/Food Business Operators (FBOs) operating ripening chambers to strictly ensure compliance with the prohibition on calcium carbide for artificial ripening of fruits, particularly during the mango season. FSSAI is also advising Food Safety Departments of States /UTs to remain vigilant and take serious action and deal stringently against person(s) indulging in such unlawful practices as per the provisions of FSS Act, 2006 and Rules/Regulations made thereunder. Calcium carbide, commonly used for ripening fruits like mangoes, releases acetylene gas which contains harmful traces of arsenic and phosphorus. These substances, also known as ‘ Masala ’, can cause serious health issues such as dizziness, frequent thirst, irritation, weakness, difficulty in swallowing, vomiting and skin ulcers, etc. Additionally, acetylene gas is equally hazardous to those handling it. There are chances that calcium carbide

  The All India Spices Exporters Forum (AISEF)   body fighting to legalise  ethylene oxide (EtO) treatment for spices within the country. Association urged that prohibition of ethylene oxide could make Indian spies bronds unsafe as per FDA standards.  Recenty indian spies brands are facing rejetion in many countries because of presence of ethylene oxide content beyond maximum treshold level. Inlight of all these developments, FSSAI is also started collecting spies samples accross bronds for testing treshold level of EtO levels. It is to be noted that  ethylene oxide is approved for use on spices in the US under prescribed tolerance limits.   EtO is used as a sterilizer in order to stop reproduction of microorganisms, thus preventing food from getting spoiled. The Hindu Business Line Deccan Herald The Hindu <<< International Agency for Research on Cancer ( IARC ) reports cancer-causing chemicals ( ethylene oxide ) in Indian spices

The Kadar are a tribal community or indigenous community in India, a designated Scheduled Tribe in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. They are an aboriginal tribe whose traditional way of life has been based on hunting and gathering. They specialized in collecting honey, wax, sago, arrowroot, cardamom, ginger, and umbrella sticks for trade with merchants from the plains. The People of Paraiyar Community claims that Kadar is part of Paraiyar who lives and take care of forest and forest lives. In the early twentieth century, the Kadars used to work with forest officials to take care of forest and guide royal hunting parties in the princely state of Cochin. Currently, many of the tribe members have moved to areas closer to the plains and urban areas. Recently, Tamil Nadu reported a death of Kadar tribesman in  elephant attack in  Anamalai Tiger Reserve. It is a cause of concern because this community is known t o-exist with wild elephants for ages.   This man animal conflict

CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) is a new robotic technology designed to demonstrate collaborative, autonomous exploration and formation sensing by navigating, communicating, computing, perceiving and decision-making without human interaction. To demonstrate the CADRE technology, NASA/JPL is developing multiple small rovers, capable of surviving the daytime Lunar environment and carrying a micro-payload. The systems is designed so that agents (Rovers and a Basestation) share data among the team and make cooperative decisions about the execution of tasks in the workspace. The rovers will autonomously travel in formation and cooperatively explore the local Lunar surface, generate a digital elevation map and perform a distributed measurement with the micro-payload. NASA

It is a  $134-million initiative launched to eliminate mercury-containing medical devices. Members:  Governments of Albania, Burkina Faso, India , Montenegro and Uganda. Initiative was led by the  United Nations Environment Programme  (UNEP), with funding from the  Global Environment Facility  (GEF) and executed by the  World Health Organization  (WHO). Aims of Project: Project will  develop and implement nation-wide strategies to stop the import, export and manufacture of thermometers and sphygmomanometers,  Project will  encourage the adoption of accurate, affordable and safe mercury-free alternatives, while improving the management of mercury-containing medical waste. UNEP

The World Health Organization (WHO) is launching a new initiative, SPECS 2030, to assist countries in achieving the global eye care target of a 40% increase in the proportion of people with access to appropriate spectacles. The launch will be held during a 2-day meeting in Geneva, Switzerland with over 100 participants including Member States representatives, UN agencies, academia and nongovernmental organizations. The SPECS 2030 initiative calls for coordinated action across 5 key pillars: improve access to refractive  services build capacity of  personnel  to provide refractive services improve population  education reduce the  cost  of refractive error services strengthen  surveillance  and research. WHO News

XRISM (pronounced “crism”) is led by  JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)  in collaboration with NASA, along with contributions from  ESA (European Space Agency) . It  launched  Sept. 6, 2023. NASA and JAXA developed Resolve, the mission’s  microcalorimeter spectrometer . The objective of the mission is to investigate celestial X-ray objects in the Universe with high-throughput imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy. XRISM was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center at 8:42 a.m on September 7, 2023 JST in Japan  " X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM)" -  NASA " NASA, JAXA XRISM Spots Iron Fingerprints in Nearby Active Galaxy" -  NASA

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is designed to discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest dwarf stars in the sky. In its prime mission, a two-year survey of the solar neighborhood, TESS monitored the brightness of stars for periodic drops caused by planet transits. The prime mission ended on July 4, 2020 and TESS is now in an extended mission.   TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia; NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts; MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts; and the Space Telescope Science Institute in

The observatory, a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency, CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), is measuring the height of  nearly all water surfaces  on Earth. SWOT was designed to measure every major river wider than about 300 feet (100 meters), and preliminary results suggest it may be able to observe much smaller rivers. SWOT was jointly developed by NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the project’s U.S. component. For the flight system payload, NASA provided the KaRIn instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser retroreflector, a two-beam microwave radiometer, and NASA instrument operations. CNES provided the Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) system, dual frequency Poseidon altimeter (developed by Thales Alenia Space), KaRIn radio-frequency subsystem (together with Th

As per the report  In 2022, India, Mexico, China, the Philippines and France were (in descending order) the top five remittance recipient countries. India is the first country to  receiving more than USD 111 billion of remittance.  United States of America is consistently been the top remittance-sending country in the world followed by Saudi Arabia, Switzerland,  and Germany. World Migration Report - 2024

Environmentalists alarmed by Early blooming of rhododendrons is Uttarakhand. It is attributed to shift in  climate patterns, disrupting ecosystems, endangering local  traditions, and threatening medicinal resources. Rhododendrons typically bloom in March and April. These flowers are available in all colours namely white, pink,  red, purple, yellow, and orange. Flowers can be single, semi-double, or double. Rhododendrons are also the source of nector for pollinators. They are also used to make juice for refreshment. Early blooimng could affect quality and availability which will affect economy of state. Times of India

World Thalassemia Day is inagurated by  Thalassemia International Federation (TIF) in 1994 in memory of  son of Panos Englezos, a Thalassemia patient who died from the disease. About Thalassemia: Thalassemia is an inherited (i.e., passed from parents to children through genes) blood disorder caused when the body doesn’t make enough of a protein called hemoglobin, an important part of red blood cells. When there isn’t enough hemoglobin, the body’s red blood cells don’t function properly and they last shorter periods of time, so there are fewer healthy red blood cells traveling in the bloodstream. Red blood cells carry oxygen to all the cells of the body. Oxygen is a sort of food that cells use to function. When there are not enough healthy red blood cells, there is also not enough oxygen delivered to all the other cells of the body, which may cause a person to feel tired, weak or short of breath. This is a condition called anemia. People with thalassemia may have mild or severe anemia.

The Sixteenth Finance Commission (XVIFC) invites suggestions/views from general public, interested organisations and individuals on the terms of reference for the XVIFC as specified below, as well as the general approach that the XVIFC may adopt. Views are also invited on any other issue relevant to the work of the XVIFC. Suggestions may be submitted through the website of the 16 th  Finance Commission  https://fincomindia.nic.in/portal/feedback ) under the section ‘Call for Suggestions’. The Sixteenth Finance Commission (XVIFC) has been constituted in pursuance of the provisions of the Constitution of India by the President with Dr. Arvind Panagariya as Chairman vide a Notification dated 31st December 2023. The XVIFC is required to make recommendations covering a period of five years commencing on 01 st  April 2026 as to the following matters: The distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them under Chapter I, P

PROJECT Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) sounding rocket KEY POINTS This third flight of the FOXSI experiment featured direct-focusing X-ray optics, 3D-printed collimating devices for limiting background, and high-resolution X-ray detectors. This technology will enable high-fidelity X-ray imaging in astronomy and other fields. X-rays from the Sun help us probe the highest-energy phenomena that occur in our solar system, including solar storms and their origins. The Sun presents some unique challenges to researchers attempting to unravel its high-energy behavior. To deal with these challenges, a sounding rocket experiment team has developed an array of new technologies that can reveal how the Sun emits high-energy radiation, plasma, and particles. The Sun gives off abundant X-rays from its fiery, multimillion-degree corona (the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere) and poses particular challenges for X-ray imaging. During solar flares, which temporarily heat up the corona l

After months of preparation and years since its last flight, the upgraded High Resolution Coronal Imager Flare mission – Hi-C Flare, for short – took to the skies for a never-before-seen view of a solar flare. The low-noise cameras – built at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama – are part of a suite of state-of-the-art instruments on board the Black Brant IX sounding rocket that launched April 17 from Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Using the new technology, investigators hoped to study the extreme energies involved with solar flares. The Hi-C Flare experiment mission was led by Marshall. It was the third iteration of the Hi-C instrument to take flight, but its first flight with ride along instruments, including the COOL-AID (Coronal OverLapagram – Ancillary Imaging Diagnostics), CAPRI-SUN (high-CAdence low-energy Passband x-Ray detector with Integrated full-SUN field of view), and SSAXI (Swift Solar Activity X-ray Imager). Following a month of payload integ

DALL·E, DALL·E 2, and DALL·E 3 are text-to-image models developed by OpenAI using deep learning methodologies to generate digital images from natural language descriptions, called "prompts." The first version of DALL-E was announced in January 2021. In the following year, its successor DALL-E 2 was released. DALL·E 3 was released natively into ChatGPT for ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Enterprise customers in October 2023, with availability via OpenAI's API and "Labs" platform provided in early November. Microsoft implemented the model in Bing's Image Creator tool and plans to implement it into their Designer app. DALL·E was revealed by OpenAI in a blog post on 5 January 2021, and uses a version of GPT-3 modified to generate images. On 6 April 2022, OpenAI announced DALL·E 2, a successor designed to generate more realistic images at higher resolutions that "can combine concepts, attributes, and styles". On 20 July 2022, DALL·E 2 entered into a beta phase

ISRO is developing a 2000 kN thrust semi-cryogenic engine working on an LOX Kerosene propellant combination for enhancing the payload capability of LVM3 and for future launch vehicles. Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is the lead centre for the development of semi-cryogenic propulsion systems with the support of other launch vehicle centres of ISRO. The assembly and testing of the propulsion modules were done at the ISRO propulsion complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri. As part of the engine development, a pre-burner ignition test article, which is a full complement of the engine power head system excluding the turbopumps is realized. The first ignition trial was conducted successfully on May 2, 2024, at semi cryo integrated engine test facility (SIET) at IPRC, Mahendragiri, which was dedicated to the nation recently by the honorable Prime Minister of India. Smooth and sustained ignition of the preburner is demonstrated which is vital for the starting of the semi-cryogenic engine. Semi-c

Chloropicrin , also known as  PS  (from  Port Sunlight ) and  nitrochloroform , is a chemical compound currently used as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial, fungicide,  herbicide ,  insecticide , and  nematicide .  It was used as a  poison gas in World War I  and allegedly by Russia in the  Russian invasion of Ukraine . Its chemical structural formula is  Cl 3 C − N O 2 . ( Wikipedia ) Recently  Russia and Ukraine have accused each other  of using banned toxins on the battlefield.  (  USNews  ) OPCW reported that alligations are  insufficiently substantiated. (  USNews  ) Chloropicrin is  less lethal than other chemical weapons. I t was used  as a  poison gas in  World War I before the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibited the use of chemical and biological weapons in war. ( The Kyiv Independent ) The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting th

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) today launched the World Migration Report 2024. Highlights of Report: 1. I nternational migration remains a driver of human development and economic growth. 2.  650 per cent increase in international remittances from 2000 to 2022, rising from USD 128 billion to USD 831 billion. 3.  Of that 831 billion in remittances, 647 billion were sent by migrants to low– and middle-income countries. 4. As per the report,  international migrants worldwide stoods at  281 million.  5. Among these, displaced individuals constitute 117 million. C onflict, violence, disaster, and other are the attributed reasons. About  International Organization for Migration (IOM): Established in 1951,  IOM is part of the United Nations System and stands as the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration . There are  175 member states, and 8 states holding observer status. IOM’s work is focused on the following  three objectives namely  Saving live

"West Nile fever in Kerala: State govt orders all districts to be vigilant" - The Hindu West Nile virus (WNV) is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States.  It is most commonly spread to people by the bite of an infected mosquito. Cases of WNV occur during mosquito season, which starts in the summer and continues through fall. There are no vaccines to prevent or medications to treat WNV in people. Fortunately, most people infected with WNV do not feel sick. About 1 in 5 people who are infected develop a fever and other symptoms. About 1 out of 150 infected people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness. You can reduce your risk of WNV by using insect repellent and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants to prevent mosquito bites. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  ( CDC ) World Health Organization ( WHO )

 Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (/ˌhɒləˌθjʊəˈrɔɪdiə, ˌhoʊ-/ HOL-ə-thure-OY-dee-ə, HOHL-). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. They are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of known holothurian (/ˌhɒləˈθjʊəriən, ˌhoʊ-/ HOL-ə-THURE-ee-ən, HOHL-) species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number being in the Asia-Pacific region. Many of these are gathered for human consumption and some species are cultivated in aquaculture systems. The harvested product is variously referred to as trepang, namako, bêche-de-mer, or balate. Sea cucumbers serve a useful role in the marine ecosystem as they help recycle nutrients, breaking down detritus and other organic matter, after which bacteria can continue the decomposition process. Like all echinoderms, sea cucumbers have an endoskeleton just below the skin, calcified structures that are usually reduced to isolated microscopic ossicles (or s

  Missions to the outer solar system are an important part of NASA’s goals because these scarcely visited worlds, particularly the ice giants Neptune and Uranus, hold secrets about the formation and evolution of our solar system and countless others. However, due to the high cost, long travel time and narrow window for mission implementation, outer solar system exploration has been extremely limited in more than 60 years of space exploration. In this NIAC, we are developing a mission architecture that addresses all of these challenges by using a ScienceCraft and enables science missions at the outer planet system. Sciencraft integrates a science instrument and spacecraft into one monolithic and lightweight structure. By printing an ultra-lightweight quantum dot-based spectrometer, developed by the PI Sultana, directly on the solar sail we create a breakthrough spacecraft architecture allowing an unprecedented parallelism and throughput of data collection, and rapid travel across the so