Tuberculosis (TB)

• Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect the lungs. Tuberculosis is curable and preventable.
• TB is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected.
• About one-quarter of the world's population has a TB infection, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and cannot transmit it.
• When a person develops active TB disease, the symptoms (such as cough, fever, night sweats, or weight loss) may be mild for many months.
• The current TB vaccine, bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is a live vaccine that protects against severe childhood forms of disease, including milliary and extra pulmonary TB and the often fatal TB meningitis. It also confers protection against leprosy.
• SDG Target 3.3 includes ending the TB epidemic by 2030.
• The National TB Programme (NTP) was launched by the Government of India in 1962 in the form of District TB Centre model involved with BCG vaccination and TB treatment.

Kuno-Palpur National Park in Madhya Pradesh was identified as the site to relocate African cheetahs.

IUCN Guidelines on species reintroduction or conservation translocation

• There should generally be strong evidence that the threat that caused previous extinction have been correctly identified and removed or sufficiently reduced.
• Assessment of any translocation proposal should include identification of potential benefits and potential negative impacts, covering ecological social and economic aspects.
• Global evidence shows that introduction a species outside their indigenous range can frequently cause extreme, negative impacts that can be ecological, social or economic, are often difficult to foresee, and can become evident only long after the introduction.
• Conservation translocations outside indigenous range may, therefore, bring potentially high risks that are often difficult or impossible to predict with accuracy.
• In any decision on whether to translocate or not, the absolute level of risk must be balanced against the scale of expected benefits.
• In India the African Cheetahs will be reintroduced from Africa since they have the same DNA as that of the Asiatic Cheetah which is now extinct.

DRDO successfully conducts Flight-Test of Indigenous Aerial Target ‘Abhyas’

High-Speed Expendable Aerial Target ABHYAS

• Designed and developed by: Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO.
• It is a drone used as target for various missile systems.
• It is powered by two boosters which provided the initial acceleration during the launch and a small turbo jet engine is used to sustain high subsonic speed with long endurance.
• The aircraft is controlled from a ground based controller and an indigenously developed MEMS based Inertial Navigation System along with the Flight Control Computer which helps it to follow the pre-designated path in a fully autonomous mode.
• It is lightweight and reliable, consumes less power and is cost-effective.

Rare Steller’s sea eagle spotted a long way from home in USA.

Steller’s Sea Eagle

• They are dark but dramatically colored with white tail, shoulders, rump, thighs and forehead.
• Steller’s sea eagles, native to Russia, China, Korea and Japan, have wingspans of up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) and weigh between 6 to 9 kilograms.
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the eagles as vulnerable species, estimating a total population of about 4,000.

Habitat

• These eagles are believed to breed only in far eastern Russia, along the coasts and surrounding islands of the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea.
• They are most common on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• Each winter, many Steller's sea eagles migrate from their breeding grounds to Japan, and a few reach Korea or even farther afield.
• Other individuals do not migrate, but simply move to open water as winter approaches.

Hunting and Diet

• Open water provides these eagles with their main food sources along coastlines and lakes.
• In their breeding grounds, Steller's sea eagles subsist largely on salmon, and they both hunt and scavenge for this resource.
• These birds of prey hunt from a perch or from flight by diving and clutching prey in their talons.
• They also stand in shallow water or on the ice and grab passing fish when the opportunity arises.
• Like other eagles, Steller's also steal food from other birds.
• In Japan, Steller's sea eagles feast on cod. In addition to fish, they eat crabs, shellfish, squid, small animals, ducks, gulls, and carrion.
• In Japan they are called as O-washi.

UV Index

• The UV index tells how much ultraviolet radiation is around at ground level on a given day, and its potential to harm the human skin.
• UV radiation is a component of sunlight that can cause tanning and sunburn in the short term.
• In the longer term, too much exposure to UV can cause cataracts and skin cancer.
• In 2002, the World Health Organization devised the UV index in an effort to make people around the world more aware of the risks.
• The index boils down several factors into a single number that gives you an idea of how careful you need to be in the sun.
• A score of 1 or 2 is low, 3 to 5 is moderate, 6 or 7 is high, 8 to 10 is very high, and 11 and above is extreme.

UV Radiation

• The Sun showers Earth with light at a huge spectrum of different wavelengths, and each wavelength can have a slightly different effect on human skin.
• An important part of the spectrum is ultraviolet or UV radiation: light with wavelengths too short for our eyes to see, from around 400 nanometres to 10 nanometres.
• There are two important kinds of UV radiation: UV-A, with wavelengths from 400 to 315 nanometres, and UV-B with wavelengths from 315 to 280 nanometres.
• UV-A and UV-B both contribute to skin damage, ageing and skin cancer. But UV-B is the more dangerous: it is the major cause of sunburn, cataracts and skin cancer.