Author: gurbaaz singh

India Women Tour England, 2021

It was from June 16 to 14 July that two of the strongest women cricket teams played in all three versions: Test match, ODI, T20.

Test

Held between June 16 to June 19, it was an anticipating match which resulted in a tie. Batting first England had made a gargantuan score of 396 in 121 overs with H Knight at 95, Sophia Dunkley at 74 and Beaumont at 66 runs. On the other side Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma raised the hopes for India by taking 4 and 3 wickets. The openers of India played well, Smriti scoring 78 and Shafali 96. Despite their efforts the team ended up at 231 whereas Eccleston took 4 wickets. In their second innings the team scored a good 344 runs with Sneh’s 80 runs and Eccleston with 4 wickets and this ended up with tie. Shafali Verma was the player of the match.

ODI

3 ODIs took place between the 2 teams with England dominating with 2 win and India with 1. One interesting thing happened that whosoever chose fielding first won the game. In the first match, India batting first ended at 201 score with the courtesy of Mithali’s 72, England won the game easily finishing it in 35 overs with Beaumont’s 87 and Sciver’s 74. The second match was much more entertaining where India ended up at 221 and it took 47 overs for England to win with Dunkley’s 73. India won the third match, fielding first India restricted England to 219 and surpassed this score in 46.3 overs.

T20

Here also England won 2 out of 3 matches. In the first match England scored a staggering 177 runs. It was due to rain that India got restricted to 8.4 overs and lost the match by 18 runs. India won the second match, scoring 148 runs to which England lost by 8 runs. England won the third match by 8 wickets when India scored 153 runs with Smriti’s 70 but D Wyatt’s 89 overshadowed her and led her country to the victory.

Does An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?

Ever since our childhood we have been growing up with the say ‘ An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ But is the say accurate or we have been fallen in the trap?  The phrase was first coined in 1913, it was based on a Pembrokeshire proverb that originated in 1866. The initial adage was “Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.”

A 100 gram of an apple contains 52 calories with 0.3 gram protein, 13.8 grams carbohydrates, 10.4 grams of sugar and 0.2 grams of fats. It is composed of 86% of water. Although their carb and sugar contents are high, their glycemic index (GI which is a measure of how food affects the rise in blood sugar levels after eating) is low, ranging 29–44. The fiber that an apple contains is very beneficial as it has many health benefits such as improved digestion. It is also rich in various antioxidant plant compounds such as Quercetin, Catechin and Chlorogenic acid.

Apples are rich in Vitamin C and Potassium. One of the researches revealed that people who eat more apples have comparatively reduced risks of cancer. There is also a reduced risk of diabetes 2. It also leads to less acid secretion and as a result there will be less calcium loss. There is also reduction of coronary heart disease. There is reduced risks of strokes.

According to one of the study  39.0% of apple-eaters avoided more than one yearly doctor visit, compared with 33.9% of non-apple eaters.

So we can say that though the adage is not entirely true because a person eating apples may catch a disease, it is apt to say that people eating apples have reduced risks of getting diseases as compared to people who do not eat apples.

IDENTIFYING HUMAN REMAIN USING DNA TECHNOLOGYBACKGROUND


DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. Ever since this technology has paved its way it started
revolutionizing each and every possible field from the food medicines research and a lot more.
Every single individual has different genetic sequence and thus different DNA which is the
reason why this technology is used. The advent of DNA technology proved to be very
beneficial in the field of forensic science not only for providing criminal justice , determining
the parent of the child but also finding a missing person or even identifying the dead remains
of a person . Day in and day out we see innumerable catastrophic accidents happening over the
globe but when it happens it is usually not possible to determine the person because their
condition might have so deteriorated that all that would have left of them are ashes.

NEED

When these accidents happen it is the sole right of the family of the victim to get its body for
a proper funeral but without DNA technology it would not have been possible . Not only this
it is very difficult to find a missing person which can be resolved with the help of DNA
technology by with the help of DNA profile of the missing persons family.

Research

We all have heard of 9/11 one of the darkest day so far that ripped off the humanity from the
roots. Just a few days after that National Institute of Justice formed a panel making
recommendations on forensic technologies, policies, and procedures to help identify thousands
of victims who suffered death at the hands of the terrorists in the World Trade Center.
Identification of victims were made by comparing their remains DNA with the samples present
in their personal belongings or by with their biological family. These remains could be
collected over 10 months to get the DNA sequence. More than one fourth of the case were able
to be identified in this manner. US FBI formed CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) in which
they contained DNA profile of missing persons relative to find him. This technology was used
in India in 1992 to find the remains of the victims who suffered death in Rajiv Gandhi
Assassination. NIJ also formed model legislature for proper utilization of this technology in
any catastrophe .

Significance

DNA technology played an important role in the field of forensic mostly in
finding remains of a person . More the decayed remains of an individual more is the role of DNA technology. Although this technology requires a lot of funding and the body parts which
are in good condition can be identified using cheaper sources such as dental examination Xray
etc but when it comes to fragments of body they are no match to DNA technology.

Genetically Modified Rice For more Vitamin A intake

Rice is one of the most consumed food across the globe, mostly because it is one of the cheapest food. Yearly consumption of it is more than 400 million tons. The human body requires all the nutrients in the proper amount to remain healthy. . In an era with more than 700 million people living below the poverty line, it was very difficult for them to get proper nutrients. One of the nutrients is vitamin a Despite containing a lot of carbohydrates rice grain lacks Carotene which is transformed to Vitamin A by our body which is one of the major concerns.

The Need

Vitamin A deficiency approximately affects one-third of children around the world. Its deficiency leads to skin diseases blindness and growth retardation in children. It can also lead to infertility. In underdeveloped and developing countries where rice is the staple food the lack of vitamin A consumption by people is a point of great concern. Other food supplements that contain vitamin A like milk butterfish are usually expensive and for poor people. Thus it was very vital to improve the quality of rice grain for proper nourishment of our body.

Research

Peter Bramley was the first to discover the phytoene desaturase gene could produce lycopene, which then can be converted to b carotene. These details were published in 2000 by Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer The rice formed was termed golden rice. In 2005 Syngenta researchers produced Golden Rice 2 by fusing phytoene synthase gene from maize with crt1 from the previously developed golden rice, which produced over 20 times more carotenoids than previous rice. US Food and Drug Administration approved for use of golden rice for human consumption in 2018.

One of the reasons why rice grain lacks vitamin a is that it does not contain carotene but only contains a precursor molecule for it. Organisms like the bacterium Erwina and plants like daffodil contain enzymes that convert this precursor into carotene. Scientists isolated the 2 types of genes for the pathway of carotene from bacterium and daffodil and then added each gene to rice with the help of Ti plasmid vector. Not only Vitamin A a lot of research is going on and has been done to enrich rice grain with other nutrients like iron

The need for the improvement in the nutritional factors of rice was very crucial for human beings to sustain Improvement especially in rice grain was very important as it is one of the most consumed commodities. Golden Rice 2 contains enough vitamin A to sustain the daily requirement of around 75g. The research found that the b-carotene present in golden rice is equivalent to that in oil and better than that in spinach at providing vitamin A to children.

HUMAN INSULIN FOR TREATING DIABETES

BACKGROUND

Insulin is a type of protein hormone produced by pancreatic cells islets of Langerhans. It controls the glucose level in the blood for the body to function properly. Glucose is absorbed from the blood with help of insulin into the liver, fat and skeletal muscle cells and converted into glycogen Without insulin glucose forms in the blood due to which there is a lack of glucose in the cells. This may result in fatigue numbness increased thirst etc. Therefore insulin is very important for our body. A lot of researchers worked on making insulin as a drug for the treatment of diabetes and to treat high blood potassium levels.

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THE NEED

In 1921, Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best were able to purify insulin from a dog’s pancreas Latter it was extracted from porcine or bovine pancreases, But this insulin had its problems. Although the structure of this insulin was similar to human insulin due to minute differences it leads to coagulation and inflammation in patients. Thus it was very vital to produce human insulin for curing diabetes which was later resolved with the advent of DNA technology.

RESEARCH

In 1955, Sanger determined the pattern of insulin concluding that proteins are made up of specific amino acids which are attached in a peptide chain. The research in the production of human insulin began in the 1980s using genetic engineering. Recombinant DNA (rDNA) is DNA which particularly encodes a protein. Human insulin is developed in the lab in bacteria like Escherichia coli which is the most widely used type of bacterium and yeast can be used too. These bacteria are grown and replicate so that the insulin gene replicates millions of times.

Bacteria produce the protein, and insulin which was named Humulin was similar to that of humans can be produced. This can be used to treat people suffering from diabetes without any inflammation. In the 1990s improvement in insulin began by modifying its amino acid sequence creating insulin which leads to fewer clumps and diffuses rapidly into the blood. Later even faster-acting insulin was developed named Ultrapid insulin which was first approved by FD as first in 2017 which was more than five times faster. A lot of research is still going on to modify it for better results like correcting its gene’s mutation so that diabetics would be able to produce insulin on their own.

The advent of recombinant DNA technology proved to be very beneficial for developing and modifying insulin. Had it not been developed people would have been suffering from diabetes and various other diseases. The application of DNA technology is so vast that every research in it opens new possibilities and new fields.

UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION

The first worldwide organization to maintain peace was formed in 1920 and was names as The League of Nations. However it failed to fulfill its purpose. Later United Nations (UN) was formed in 1945 with the aim of preventing another world war. It is the world’s largest and most powerful international organization. Just when it was founded it had 51 members but now there are over 193 countries in it. UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly; the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. Furthermore it has various agencies:

UNICEF:

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United Nations Children’s Fund is responsible for the welfare of the children worldwide which include various activities like immunization, disease preventing, providing nutrition etc. Earlier it was known as United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund because it was used to provide funds only during an emergence but now it is functional throughout.

UNESCO: Image result for unesco symbol

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization aims at providing education for all, preserve regional and cultural history, and promote cultural diversity. Its headquarter is at the World Heritage Centre in Paris, France.

WHO:

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The World Health Organization  is  responsible for international public health. The WHO was established on 7 April 1948, which is commemorated as World Health Day. It is actively providing support against various diseases like Corona Virus. Its headquarter is at Geneva, Switzerland.

ILO:

Image result for ILO symbol. Size: 145 x 107. Source: informazionecontro.blogspot.com

The International Labour Organization was initially an agency of Leagues Of Nations and was formed in 1919 and became a part of UN after the LON got disintegrated. It aims at providing support to the people who are indulged in labour. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

WBG:

Image result for wbg Symbol. Size: 183 x 103. Source: www.worldbank.org

World Bank Group is the the largest and most well-known development bank in the world. It consists of 5 international organizations. It aims at ending poverty and building shared prosperity. Its five organizations are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Parliament Of India

The Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the country. It comprises the President and 2 houses: the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

The Lok Sabha

It is the lower house consisting of 545 members in which 530 represent States, 13 represent Union Territories and 2 are nominated by the President from Anglo-Indian Community. The other 543 members are directly elected by the people from the constituencies of the states and their term is of 5 years. A speaker is elected among 543 members. Any Indian citizen above 18 years of age can vote for them. The maximum strength limit is 552 members. Smt. Sumitra Mahajan is the present speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The Rajya Sabha

Also, know as the upper house, it consists of 245 members with a maximum limit of 250. 232 members are indirectly elected by members of legislative bodies of the states. The other 12 members are nominated by the President. These 12 members can be from different stratum of the society in the fields of arts, social science, literature, etc. They are elected for 6 years and the new members are appointed in the place of one-third members after every 2 years. For a bill to be passed it has to be approved by both houses. The present Chairperson of Rajya Sabha is Mr. Venkaiah Naidu and The Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha is Harivansh Narayan Singh 

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The President

He is elected by the elected members of Parliament of India and the state legislatures and serves for a tenure of 5 years. The present president of India is Mr. Ram Nath Govind. By the constitution, he is bound to act on the advice of the Prime minister and cabinet as long as the advice is not violating the constitution. A bill can be formed into law only when the president signs it. The main duty of the president is to protect and preserve the constitution. The Chief Justice of India and other judges are also appointed by him. He is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces.  

So Many Vaccines! But Which One Is The Best?

Since the pandemic unleashed each country from every nook and corner of the world started the research on the virus to make a vaccines. Till date a lot of countries have produced innumerous vaccines. Following are some of the most widely used vaccines.

1.Covaxin

Released by Bharat Biotech, it has an efficacy of 78% against symptomatic cases. The phase 4 trials were started in June 2021. It constitutes an inactive form of the covid virus. This invokes the immune system which kills any such virus that enters the future. It is given in the form of 2 doses each 4 to 6 weeks apart. There may be side effects like pain, swelling, stiffness in the upper arm, etc. It has not been tested on infants, pregnant, and breastfeeding women.

2.Covishield

 Developed by the Oxford-AstraZeneca, it is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII). It is also given in 2 doses but both are 12 to 16 weeks apart. When both doses are given 30 days apart it is 70% effective but when the doses are 2 to 3 months apart, the efficacy rises to 90%. It has the same side effects as covaxin and is also not tested on infants, pregnant, and breastfeeding mothers.

3.Pfizer

Developed by the German company BioNTech it is an mRNA bases vaccine that encodes the mutated form of the spike protein. Its efficacy is around 91% after the second dose. A gap of 3-4 weeks is recommended between the 2 doses. Side effects remain the same. It can be administered to children above 16 years of age.

4.Sputnik V

Produced by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia, it is an adenovirus viral vector vaccine. Its efficacy is 91%. The second dose is different from the first and is given after 21 days gap. The export from one country to another is easy as it requires a storage temperature of +2-8 degrees Celsius. With the same side effects, it is not recommended to pregnant women.

5.Moderna

Produced by ModernaTX, Inc., an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company in Cambridge, it is an mRNA-based vaccine. It is given in the form of 2 doses 28 days apart. It is recommended for people above 18 years of age with the same side effects. After 2 weeks of the second dose, the efficacy rises from 91% to 94%.

The side effects that these vaccines have are normal and only means that our body’s defense mechanism is working. Therefore each individual should get a vaccine as soon as possible.

Best fantasy TV/Web Series to Watch

There have been innumerous fantasy web series being launched since the 21st century dawned mainly because of the advancement of technology. With each year visual effects improved. Following are some of the most popular web series arranged according to the IMBD rating and are mainly released after 2010.

10. Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina (7.5)

Released in 2018 with 2 seasons and 36 episodes, it is a fantasy, horror, drama Netflix series. It is produced by Warner Bros Television. The leading role is played by a character named Sabrina Spellman Sabrina who is a half-human and half-witch who struggles to keep the balance between both sides.

9. The Vampire Diaries (7.7)

It was released in 2009 with 8 seasons and the 171st episode ended in 2017. With the genre of drama, supernatural, fantasy, horror it further has 2 more series interlined to some extent namely The Originals (8.2) and Legacies(7.4). It mainly consists of vampires werewolves and witches.

8. The Umbrella Academy (8)

With a perfect blend of action-adventure comedy and fantasy, it was released in 2019 has 2 seasons and 20 episodes. One peculiar 43 women gave birth at the same time and each child had a unique ability. Sir Reginald Hargreeves adopted 7 of them and formed a superhero squad named ‘The Umbrella Academy

7. Wanda Vision (8.1)

It is a recent web series launched in 2021 starred by 2 Marvel characters Wanda Maximoff and Vision. With the genre of action fantasy drama-comedy, the first few episodes are more towards comedy and with each episode, the series has more action.

6. Lucifer (8.1)

Released in 2016 with currently 5 seasons and 83 episodes, the story revolves around Lucifer Morningstar, lord of the hell who was cast out of heaven. With fantasy comedy, drama as its genre the series is set for another season.

5. The Witcher (8.2)

It is action, drama, fantasy series released in 2019 with 1 season and 8 episodes. It revolves around Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter, who struggles to find his place in a world where humans are more wicked than beasts.

4.Supernaturals(8.4)

Released in 2005 with 15 seasons and 327 episodes the story is based on 2 brothers who hunt supernatural creatures. It is an action-adventure, drama, fantasy, horror series which finished in 2020.

3.Stranger Things (8.7)

The series premiered on Netflix on July 15, 2016, with 3 seasons and 25 episodes. It is a science fiction, horror, and drama web series. The story starts with the disappearance of a boy and the appearance of a strange girl Eleven with supernatural powers

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2. Loki (8.9)

Recently premiered based on a Marvel character Loki, it has 1 season and 5 episodes so far. It is an action-adventure fantasy drama series. There are supposed to be a total of 6 episodes in the first season and the second season is in development.

1. Game of Thrones (9.3)

Released in 2011 with 8 seasons and 73 episodes, it is based on 9 families who try to control the land of Westeros. With fantasy, tragedy, drama as its genre, it is one of the most popular series up to date

Done Class 12th , What Next?

After the class 10th and 12th people usually have a dilemma of what to do next. Most of the children opt for medical and non-medical lines eying to become a computer science engineer or a doctor. In most cases people chose these streams purely based on pay, some due to parental pressure – Well Sharma Ji’s son and daughter are engineer and doctor so how can their relative’s children chose arts or commerce. This is a common notion throughout the country. Other professions are not considered at par. But what exactly are other professions?

After class 10th streams are broadly divided into Medical, Non-medical, Commerce, and Arts. The detailed professions after class 12th are below:

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Non-Medical

It mainly comprises physics chemistry and math. Most of the people do BTech which is further branched into a plethora of fields like Computer science, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical and so on. People also do Bachelor of Architecture which comprises building construction. Besides this people can also opt for 3 year long BSc courses in the field of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Application.

Medical

After completing physics chemistry and biology students have options like MBBS, BDS which comprises of Dental Science, B Pharma. ( a 4 year long for becoming a chemist) , BSc Nursing, BHMS (Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery), BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery). Just like Non, medical students can also opt for B.Sc. in Chemistry, Biology, Physics.

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Commerce

They have math, economics, accounts, business studies as their subjects. The most popular stream followed after class 12th is B.COM, a 3-year long course consisting of subjects related to finance and commerce. People who further want to do MBA usually opt for B.COM. There also other courses like BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration), CA, etc.

Arts

There are innumerous subjects like political science, history, English, economics, etc. Usually, people opt for BA after class 12th which can be done for various subjects like philosophy, political science, English, etc. People whose interest lies in drawing and painting chose BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts). After that, they can take various professions like interior designing, etc.

Common courses

There are various courses which a student can opt after class 12th irrespective of their branch. People interested in law can opt for LLB (Bachelor of Law). People belonging to the agriculture domain opt for B.Sc. Agriculture. To become a fashion designer students do B.Sc. in Fashion Design. Students having a passion for teaching opt for B.Ed. in their particular domain. People who are intrigued by mass communication and journalism opt for BJMS(Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication. Likewise, there are various other fields.

Although there are various fields to explore students usually are restricted to particular fields like medical and non-medical. However, if someone has a passion in a particular domain, he/she will find success one day or another …

Hill Stations Getting Overcrowded

Visuals from Manali

Amidst the heat waves in various places across the country people are setting off to the hill stations . Manali, Shimla, Mussoorie and many more hill stations are now packed up by people. Hotels are running out of beds .

The pandemic has tested the patience and strength of all of us since it has been over a year now Covid has infiltrated our lives. With lockdown imposed regularly the number of tourists declined in the previous year. It was now when the lockdown has just been lifted and the second wave has started to ease out that people decided to visit the hill stations . Moreover most of the people have summer vacations at this point of time.

Nainital administration has announced that once the parking reaches the limit ,tourists will be allowed to enter according to the availability of the space. Although the hoteliers are enthralled since the occupancies of the rooms has peaked, but it is adding a lot of problems to the tourists especially when the rainy season has set off. As a result a lot tourists are returning midway.

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Last year Shimla faced utter water crisis and the tourists were urged not to visit. Therefore with this overcrowding water pollution , air pollution aggravates and the whole purpose of setting off to hill stations in the lap of nature demolishes. There are even some cities where even RT PCR is not compulsory .

Although the second wave is at its departure , the third wave is at large which is speculated to arrive in end August and is supposed to peak in September. Therefore it is advised to be careful and not to assume that Covid is over and avoid visiting to the hill stations especially when it is overcrowded . Although vaccinations shields from the virus but since its efficacy is not 100% the protocol of wearing mask, using sanitizer and keeping distance should be followed.