1) Lecanemab: it is an antibody that cleans protein deposits on brain cells and is used to treat Alzheimer’s
- Known as the “amyloid hypothesis,” a thesis holds that clumps of the protein beta-amyloid accumulate in toxic proportions as the disease progresses.
- Not only did lecanemab clear the amyloid build-up in the brain cells of participants in the 18-month long trial, it also demonstrated a significant effect on their cognitive functions.
- More than 50 million people have Alzheimer’s worldwide. In the past 20 years, mortality caused by the disease has shot up by more than 120 per cent.
2) Black Cocaine: It is a rare drug, which is a mixture of regular cocaine and other chemicals. This turns it in to turn black in colour.
- It is used by drug peddlers coming to India from South American countries.
- Mixture of cocaine hydrochloride with pigments can make drug sniffing dogs undetectable.
- It neutralises the smell of cocaine so that it can pass through checkpoints easily.
- Pure cocaine base can be recovered from the mixture by extraction of methylene chloride or acetone.
3) Enceladus Ocean: Enceladus is one of the moons of Saturn.
- It is discovered that beneath its icy surface are oceans.
- It is rich in dissolved phosphorus, an essential ingredient for life.
- The space craft Cassini, which orbited Saturn for nearly 13 years, discovered Enceladus’s subsurface liquid water.
- From the cracks of moon’s icy surface, plumes of ice grains and water vapour erupted into space. The plume contains almost all the basic requirements of life.
4) International Day of Older Persons: This year, the theme for the International Day of Older Persons is “Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World”
- The day was introduced by the United Nations General Assembly with an aim of honouring the contribution of older persons and looking into the problems that they face.
- The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on December 14, 1990, to establish October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons.
- Later in 2002, the Second World Assembly on Ageing embraced the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing.
5) Swachh Survekshan 2022: Indore has been adjudged the cleanest city of India for the sixth year in a row, while Madhya Pradesh is the cleanest state in the country.
- Surat is the second cleanest city and Navi Mumbai comes a close third in the category of cities with a population more than a lakh.
- Swachh Survekshan was introduced by MoHUA in 2016 as a competitive framework to encourage cities to improve the status of urban sanitation while encouraging large scale citizen participation.
- Over the years, Swachh Survekshan has emerged as the largest Urban sanitation survey in the world.
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