AYUSH, CSIR - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Mauritius

Explanation:
India has signed an MoU with Mauritius on cooperation in the field of traditional system of medicine and Homoeopathy. The MoU was signed during the visit of Minister of State for AYUSH(Independent Charge) and Health & Family Welfare, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik to Mauritius.

• This MoU will promote cooperation in the field of traditional system of health and medicine between the two countries which already share these traditions due to unique historical and cultural ties.
• It envisages exchange of experts, supply of traditional medicinal substances, joint research and development and recognition of the traditional systems of health and medicine in both countries.
• It also aims at popularising AYUSH.

ANSWER: Only a and c

Explanation:
The first International Exhibition and Conference on AYUSH and Wellness sector- AROGYA 2017 was held in New Delhi. It was inaugurated by AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik.

It was organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in collaboration with Union Ministry of AYUSH and Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil).

Its theme was 'Enhancing the global potential of AYUSH'.

AROGYA 2017 witnessed participation of thousands of delegates from India as well as abroad including delegates from over 60 countries across the world.

More than 250 manufacturers of alternative medicine also showcased their products and services at the exhibition.

India has long history and culture running over 5000 years of using traditional medicines for health care and developing them with modern scientific outlook.

AYUSH is the acronym of tradition medical systems that are being practiced in India such as Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.

AROGYA, 2017: Objectives

• Showcase strengths and scientific validation of Indian System of Medicine in global context. Promote and strengthen awareness and interest about AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy).
• Facilitate international promotion, development and recognition of AYUSH. Foster interaction of stakeholders and market development of AYUSH at international level.
• Give boost to AYUSH Products in International Market. Exhibit research and latest developments in AYUSH sector and harness its potential.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
In a completely different approach to drug discovery, Delhi’s CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) has used a combination of approaches to predict potential drug targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

This is a TB-causing bacteria.

The novel method not only helps in speeding up drug discovery by finding potential, non-toxic drug targets but will also cost far less by reducing the chances of failure.

The results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Conventionally, drug discovery was never looked at from a systems biology point of view.

The approach the scientists used was rather unconventional, aimed at finding targets first based on evolutionary conservation principle in an organism,

Based on a previous study that used the Systems Biology Spindle Map (SBSM) approach, the team was able to identify 890 novel, non-toxic gene drug targets.

Using computational approaches, the potential drug targets were reduced to 116 essential genes; these 116 genes are so vital that any inhibition would kill the bacteria.

In order to identify drug targets with the least likelihood of side effects, the 116 essential genes were compared with the human genome and human microbiome at the sequence level to identify genes that did not have any similarity (homology) with human genome sequences.

Of the 116 genes, 104 were found to have no similarity with the human genome sequences, meaning any drug developed targeting these 104 genes will only target the TB bacteria and not cause any harm to human cells.

The potential drug targets were further shortlisted to 33 genes.

The presence or absence of mutations in any of the 33 genes was evaluated using the Genome-wide Mycobacterium tuberculosis Variation (GMTV) database.

The genes which are essential for bacteria never undergo any mutations as that would be lethal for their survival.

The crystal structure, which is essential for carrying out drug discovery process, was available for 15 of the 33 targets.

Once scientists have the targets and have structures of these targets then can tailor-make molecules to inhibit even MDR-TB and XDR-TB,.

The team has already carried out druggability assessment (to find out if the targets have certain properties for a drug to bind to receptors) for all the 33 gene targets.

Most of the 33 genes were found to be highly druggable validating the study.

There is a need for drug discovery to move from Wright brothers’ era of trial and error method. The trial and error approach is slow and too expensive.

All the genes, targets and even ligands will be in open source so anyone can develop new drug molecules.

ANSWER: Seabed Resident Event Profiler

Explanation:
Scientists at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) have developed a robotic platform, Seabed Resident Event Profiler (SREP).

This is a platform that is capable of being stationed at any water depth from 0-200 metres to track the oceanic processes.

The robot has been designed to regularly record the water column information at every 10 to 25 cm during every profile four times a day.

The robot was tested during the recent voyage of RV Sindhu Sadhana, the latest state of the art research vessel of NIO.

The SREP robot has been designed particularly to carry out studies related to the monsoon, global climate and upwelling.

Upwelling is a phenomenon associated with the monsoon that sees the migration of deep sea oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) towards the coast.

It also brings the nutrient-rich water to the surface and enhances the biological productivity of the region.

Several sensors attached to SREP is capable of detecting the conditions associated with upwelling such as low temperature, low oxygen, high nutrients, and changes in density patterns etc.

This enables SREP to effectively track upwelling during June to September.

Upwelling is an important phenomenon for the ecosystem sustenance and fishery. Similarly, since south-west monsoon forms the backbone of the country’s economy, knowing the conditions for its onset forms one of the major goals of Seabed Resident Event Profiler.

The robot in its final configuration will be capable of sitting on the seabed for 100 days continuously to track the oceanic processes in the upcoming monsoon season.

CSIR-NIO: Know More

• CSIR-NIO CSIR-NIO was established on 1 January 1966.
• Its headquarters are at Dona Paula, Goa.
• It has regional centres at Kochi, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam.
• CSIR-NIO was established following the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) in the 1960s. CSIR-NIO primarily focuses on research over traditional branches of oceanography such as biological, chemical, geological/geophysical.
• It also involves physical as well as over ocean engineering, marine instrumentation and marine archaeology.

ANSWER: AYUSH

Explanation:
The Minister of State for AYUSH Shri Shripad Yesso Naik formally inaugurated the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy (NEIAH), an autonomous Institute under Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, in Shillong, Meghalaya on 22nd Dec 2016.

With this, it became the second Ayurvedic College in the North East Region with a Homeopathy college and the only Central Academic Institute of Ayush.

The NEIAH will also work with priority to popularize Panchakarma and Yoga along with production of para-medical staff for development of skill for youth of this region, the minister said.

The NEIAH has started functioning with one College of Ayurveda and one College of Homoeopathy from the academic session 2016-17.

The objective of the NEIAH is to provide good quality medical graduates in traditional medicine generate employment and promote tourism in the North East.

It is an autonomous Institute under Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).

With this inauguration, the institute has become the second Ayurvedic College in the North East Region with a Homeopathy college.

The establishment of this Institute will solve the problem of scarcity of doctors in remote areas of

the North Eastern regions to a great extent.

The NEIAH helps in preserving folk and traditional health practices of the region which is home to rich flora.

It helps in scientific validation of these health practices based on ethnobotanical and scientific research with practical suitability for clinical practices.

The research and development activities of the institute will help in the development of herbal-agro based industry which ultimately promotes the cultivation of medicinal plants in this region.

NEIAH

• It is the only Central Academic Institute of AYUSH in the North East Region.
• Its primary aim is to produce quality human resource in the area of AYUSH in general and the Ayurveda and Homeopathy in particular.
• The institute will suitably help in implementing and improving the execution of national health policies.

ANSWER: Leather

Explanation:

• CSIR has come out with a “Game changing technology” for enabling the Indian leather sector achieve the set target of USD 27 billion by 2020 by making leather processing environmentally sustainable.
• This “Waterless chrome tanning technology” is a first of its kind technology to reduce chromium pollution load.
• Significance of this technology is that a) it completely eliminates two processes before and after tanning, b) eliminates the use of water in tanning, c) reduces the total dissolved solids in wastewater from this process by 20% and also d) brings down the usage of chromium by 15-20%, resulting in material saving.

ANSWER: BGR-34

Explanation:
Scientists at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research were awarded for developing BGR-34, an Ayurvedic anti-diabetic drug

Senior principal scientists at CSIR said the drug has been found successful in controlling blood pressure.

• Developed around after 4 years of research at CSIR labs in Lucknow, drug was found to reduce a type of haemoglobin reflecting how well the body controls diabetes; this is called HbA1c
• Its levels reflect how well the body is controlling diabetes
• Studies on levels from 7.8 to 7.3 percent in diabetic patients given a daily dose of BGR-34 for 3 months showed that complications related to diabetes can be delayed by keeping this level below 7 percent
• Post prandial blood sugar levels reduced from 204 to 194 mg/dl
• In healthy adults, there should be less than 180 mg/dl of blood
• The drug not only controls diabetes, but also reduces the risk of co-morbidities such as hypertension and load on liver and kidney
• CSIR launched the drug late last year and it is available in pharmacies and online vendors like Amazon at the nominal cost of INR 5 per tablet
• The drug can be taken as a supplement along with allopathic medication

ANSWER: 12

Explanation:
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research has been ranked 12th in the world among government institutions in the world improving the position after rank 14 for 3 consecutive years, according to Scimago Institutions Rankings 2016.

• Overall rank of CSIR also improved from 110 to 99th position.
• CSIR leads the country and is the only Indian organisation to be among the top 100 international institutions.
• Scimago ranking is a classification of academic and research related institutions ranked by composite indicator combining three different sets of indicators based on research performance, innovation outputs and societal impact measured by web visibility.

ANSWER: Tanzania

Explanation:
Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved an MoU between India and Tanzania in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy.

• MoU will provide structured framework for cooperating between two countries for propagating indian traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy in Tanzania.
• There were no additional financial implications associated with this and financial resources needed to conduct research, training courses, conferences and meetings from allocated budget and plan schemes of AYUSH ministry.

ANSWER: Translational Research Unit of Excellence

Explanation:

• CSIR – Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata is engaged in research on diseases and certain biological problems of global interest. To spin out these R&D outcomes and with a view to contribute country’s startup movement, CSIR-IICB established a Translational Research Unit of Excellence (TRUE).
• This ‘TRUE’ is conceived as a productive platform for successful industry-institute liaison for translating previously achieved and ongoing biomedical discoveries by IICB scientists into biomedical deliverables.
• The major dimensions and the roadmap set for the new unit are:1) Research facilitation by establishing advanced technological platforms, 2) establishing a Biomedical Incubation Center for MSME start-up companies and 3) translating discoveries made by IICB scientists into deliverable biomedical technologies.