Today's Headlines

Today's Headlines - 27 May 2023

Vaccine for pancreatic cancer on the horizon

GS Paper - 3 (Health and Diseases)

Researchers in the US treated 16 pancreatic cancer patients with a personalized mRNA vaccine after they had their tumors surgically removed. By the end of the 18-month trial period, half of the patients had not relapsed. For a cancer that usually returns within a few months of surgery, that’s a huge success.

What was done during the study?

  1. At the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, tumors were removed from patients and sent to Germany.
  2. The tumor tissue’s genome was then sequenced by the biotechnology company BioNTech and examined for the presence of mutations, so-called neoantigens.
  3. selection of neoantigens to be targeted was then compiled individually for each patient — itself a highly complex process based on years of research — and an mRNA-based vaccine was produced. Like the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, the goal was to induce an immune reaction against these neoantigen structures.
  4. This vaccine was administered for the first time nine weeks after the patients went through surgery to remove the primary tumor in the pancreas. In addition, the patients also received chemotherapy and so-called checkpoint inhibitors (these are molecules that prevent cancer from shutting down the immune system).
  5. In the eight patients who showed an immune response, the tumor had not returned by the end of the study. The other eight patients did not show an immune response – they relapsed.

Why is pancreatic cancer so deadly?

  1. The pancreas is a small organ located deep in the abdominal cavity. Carcinoma there is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide.
  2. The main problem is that pancreatic cancer is usually detected at a very late stage. There is no early detection method, and patients don’t usually have any symptoms until the cancer becomes unusually large or has spread to other organs. Even if it is possible to surgically remove the tumor, it often returns.
  3. Another factor that complicates therapy is that the cancer is constantly changing. It modifies its environment and is itself modified by its environment. So as a result, no two pancreatic cancers are alike. This makes it particularly difficult to treat.

 

Working of narco test

GS Paper - 3 ( Science and Technology)

 Protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar said they were willing to undergo a narco analysis test, provided it was monitored by the Supreme Court. The remark was made in response to Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s earlier comment that he was ready to undergo the narco test on the condition that Protesters take one too

What is a narco test?

  1. In a ‘narco’ or narco analysis test, a drug called sodium pentothal is injected into the body of the accused, which transports them to a hypnotic or sedated state in which their imagination is neutralised.
  2. In this hypnotic state, the accused is understood as being incapable of lying and is expected to divulge information that is true.
  3. Sodium pentothal, or sodium thiopental, is a fast-actingshort-duration anaesthetic used in larger doses to sedate patients during surgery. It belongs to the barbiturate class of drugs that act on the central nervous system as depressants.
  4. Because the drug is believed to weaken the subject’s resolve to lie, it is sometimes referred to as a “truth serum”, and is said to have been used by intelligence operatives during World War II.
  5. However, narco tests must not be confused with polygraph tests, which, although having the same truth-decoding motive, work differently.
  6. A polygraph test is carried out on the assumption that physiological responses triggered when one is lying are different from what they otherwise would be.
  7. Rather than injecting drugs into the body, polygraph tests attach instruments like cardio-cuffs or sensitive electrodes to the suspect and measure variables such as blood pressurepulse raterespirationchange in sweat gland activityblood flow, etc., while the suspect is being questioned.
  8. It was in 2010 that the Supreme Court ruled on the legality and admissibility of narco tests.

What did the Supreme Court say?

  1. In the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in “Selvi & Ors vs State of Karnataka & Anr” (2010), a Bench of the then Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, and Justices RV Raveendran and JM Panchal held that no lie detector tests should be administered except on the basis of consent of the accused”.
  2. Those who volunteer must have access to a lawyer and have the physical, emotional, and legal implications of the test explained to them by the police and the lawyer, the Bench added.
  3. The court emphasised that the ‘Guidelines for the Administration of Polygraph Test on an Accused’, published by the National Human Rights Commission in 2000, must be strictly followed. Broadly, the guidelines say that such tests cannot be administered without the subject’s consent, which must be obtained before a Magistrate, and that the police cannot conduct them by themselves whenever they find it appropriate.
  4. Taking into consideration the international norms on human rights, the right to a fair trial, and the right against self-incrimination under Article 20(3) of the Constitution, the court said.

 

Malnutrition in India

GS Paper - 2 (Health and related Issues)

In 2020, some 18.7 per cent of Indian children were affected by wasting caused by poor nutrient intake and / or recurrent illnesses, as per the latest UN inter-agency estimates.

More about the news:

  1. India is the largest country in Southern Asia, which is where half of all children with wasting in the world live.
  2. In 2022, an estimated 45 million children under 5 (6.8 per cent) were affected by wasting, of which 13.6 million (2.1 per cent) were suffering from severe wasting.
  3. More than three quarters of all children with severe wasting live in Asia and another 22 per cent live in Africa.
  4. The Key findings of the 2023 edition also shows that India had a stunting rate of 31.7 per cent in 2022, down from 41.6 percent in 2012, a decade ago.
  5. Some 148.1 million, or 22.3 per cent of children under age 5 worldwide were affected by stunting in 2022. Nearly all children affected lived in Asia (52 per cent of the global share) and Africa (43 per cent of the global share).
  6. Meanwhile, there are now 37 million children under 5 living with overweight globally, an increase of nearly 4 million since 2000, according to a report.
  7. Childhood overweight occurs when children’s caloric intake from food and beverages exceeds their energy requirements.
  8. India had an overweight percentage of 2.8 per cent in 2022, compared to 2.2 per cent in 2012.
  9. Only about one third of all countries are ‘on track’ to halve the number of children affected by stunting by 2030, and assessment of progress to date not being possible for about one quarter of countries.

About the report:

  1. The report is titled – “Levels and trends in child malnutrition: Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates”.
  2. It is a joint collaboration of UNICEF, World Health Organisation and World Bank Group.
  3. The UNICEF-WHO-WB Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) inter-agency group updates the global and regional estimates in prevalence and numbers for each indicator every other year.
  4. The key findings 2023 Edition includes global, regional, and country trends from 2000-2022 for stunting and overweight.

Flashback:

Various forms of malnutrition

  1. Low weight-for-height is known as wasting. It usually indicates recent and severe weight loss, because a person has not had enough food to eat and/or they have had an infectious disease, such as diarrhoea, which has caused them to lose weight.
  2. Low height-for-age is known as stunting. It is the result of chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poor socioeconomic conditions, poor maternal health and nutrition, frequent illness, and/or inappropriate infant and young child feeding and care in early life.
  3. Children with low weight-for-age are known as underweight. A child who is underweight may be stunted, wasted, or both.

The United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition

  1. On 1 April 2016, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed 2016–2025 the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition.
  2. The Decade is an unprecedented opportunity for addressing all forms of malnutrition.
  3. It sets a concrete timeline for implementation of the commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) to meet a set of global nutrition targets and diet-related NCD targets by 2025, as well as relevant targets in the Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030—in particular, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 (end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture) and SDG 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages).