Current Affairs Questions & Answers - May 30, 2016

ANSWER: 6

Explanation:
Going multilingual, the official website of PMO is now available in six major regional languages including Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam
PMO website www.pmindia.gov.in also highlighted numerous initiatives of the government available only in in English and Hindi.

ANSWER: SpyGlass DS

Explanation:
A new device has become a major boon for liver and gastro-pancreas patients and in helping endoscopic procedures.

• SpyGlass from the stable of US based Boston Scientific is offering quality view of bile ducts of liver and duct of pancreas thereby benefiting different sections of society
• VG Mohanprasad of the hospital indicated the machine can be used to diagnose acute and chronic diseases both

ANSWER: ANKRD55

Explanation:
Researchers have discovered a gene involved in the deregulation of certain immune cells in neurological disease MS. Characterised by the onset of chronic, neurodegenerative damage of the CNS, this disabling disease disrupts flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body by attacking the protective sheet (myelin) covering nerve fibres.

• Causes of MS are unknown though various self immune mechanisms are known to be involved
• Researchers know genetic variants lead to changes in code of DNA component and to understand their biological effects, effect of expression of corresponding gene needs to be studied.
• Research shows gene ANKRD55 produces three different transcripts of the messenger RNA and the genetic variant associated with MS greatly increases the production of these transcripts
• It has also been discovered and proven that this occurs specifically in the case of certain category of immune cells called TCD4+ feels
• ANKRD55 exerts significant biological function on these cells and now needs to be deciphered.

ANSWER: Puducherry

Explanation:
Following the exit of Veerendra Kataria, Puducherry LG post was taken over by Kiran Bedi. Bedi succeeds LG (retd) Ajay Kumar Singh of the Andaman and Nicobar islands holding additional charge of Puducherry so far

ANSWER: 3000

Explanation:
A signet made of clay with ornamental design was among the about 3,000 ancient artefacts found at the Keezhadi Pallai Sandhaipudur village in Sivangaga district during an excavation conducted by a team of experts from the Archaeological Survey of India ( ASI ).

• According to ASI officials, the ancient settlement at the village, which was on the highway travelled by traders all over the world once, had an underground drainage system which was on par with the Harappan system.
• The sewage drains had been laid with "baked clay pipe lines”.
• "The drainage system is similar to what was found in Harappan civilisation site" they said.
• They claimed that the settlement was more than 2,500 years old, belonging to the ancient Pandiya era.
• Apart from signets, arrows, iron and copper weapons, rare ornaments and scribbling nail, had been found, Amarnath Ramakrishna said.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
China will launch its first experimental quantum communication satellite in July, whose communications cannot be intercepted, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) indicated.

It will be the first quantum communication through a satellite in the world. Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated.

It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it,

ANSWER: Saudi Arabia

Explanation:
Jordan’s King Abdullah appointed veteran politician Hani Mulqi as caretaker prime minister after dissolving parliament as its four-year term nears its end, and charged him with organising new elections by October.

• The king accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour before appointing Mulqi by royal decree.
• Mulki has held senior government posts in successive administrations. Under the constitutional rules the election must be held within four months.
• Jordan traditionally votes according to tribal and family allegiances but parliament amended the electoral laws in March in a move government sources and political analysts say will lead to more candidates from political parties vying for votes.

ANSWER: Argentina

Explanation:
Argentina's last dictator and 14 other former military officials were sentenced to prison for human rights crimes, marking the first time a court has ruled that Operation Condor was a criminal conspiracy to kidnap and forcibly disappear people across international borders.

• The covert operation was launched in the 1970s by six South American dictatorships that used their secret police networks in a coordinated effort to track down their opponents abroad and eliminate them.
• Many leftist dissidents had sought refuge in neighbouring countries and elsewhere.
• The sentences are seen as a milestone because they mark the first time a court has proved that Operation Condor was an international criminal conspiracy carried out by the US-backed regimes in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

ANSWER: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Explanation:
Using radar data from Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), scientists have found a record of the most recent Martian ice age recorded in the planet's north polar ice cap.

• The new results agree with previous models that indicate a glacial period ended about 400,000 years ago as well as predictions about how much ice would have been accumulated at the poles since then.
• The researchers identified a boundary in the ice that extends across the entire north polar cap. Above the boundary, the layers accumulated very quickly and uniformly, compared with the layers below them.

ANSWER: Vascularised composite allotransplantation

Explanation:
In a first-of-its-kind procedure, doctors in the U.S. have successfully transplanted a “composite” skull and scalp flap, along with kidney and pancreas - all from the same donor - in a 55-year-old patient.

• The patient was suffering from a non-healing scalp defect and declining organ kidney and pancreas function, researchers said.
• The experience may open the way to further procedures combining “vascularised composite allotransplantation” (VCA) with organ transplants, in patients who have already accepted the need for lifelong immunosuppressive therapy.
• VCA refers to transplant procedures combining different types of tissues, such as skin, muscle, blood vessels, nerves, and bone.
• Examples of VCA include face and hand transplantation