Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 30 January 2022

::NATIONAL::

The health woes of the patients infected with Covid-19 in the second wave still continues as many are being diagnosed with the long post-Covid complications of Avascular Necrosis (AVN), referred to as bone death.
To find a clinical explanation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has submitted a proposal to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) seeking approval for a multicentric study to probe cases of AVN among Covid-19 recovered patients.

What is AVN or bone death?

The AVN is not a new ailment. Before Covid, this case was found due to smoking, alcoholism, and steroid use linked to other conditions.
AVN, or Osteonecrosis, is a common cause of painful hips in youngsters. It occurs due to the restricted blood supply to the bone, resulting in loss of its density and weight-bearing capacity.
As the bone breaks into small pieces, the patient suffers unbearable pain and loses mobility completely. Hip bones are more prone to this.
Not all patients with AVN need to undergo hip replacement surgeries. When the disease progresses in the first or second stage, core decompression surgeries are conducted. When it reaches the third and fourth stages, then joint replacement surgeries are done.

The biotech firm Moderna has started trials on an mRNA vaccine, which uses a novel approach to elicit broadly neutralising HIV-1 antibodies (bNAbs) and eventually target multiple HIV strains.
First doses of the experimental HIV vaccine antigens were administered at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington DC this week.

The technology

The vaccine uses the same technology as Moderna’s Covid 19 vaccine.It uses mRNA, or messenger RNA, which teaches the body’s cells how to make proteins that trigger immune response.
BNAbs are produced by certain types of B cells, which are rare: one in 300,000 B cells have this capability. The vaccine aims to stimulate production of bnAbs that can act against many variants of HIV.

The trial

The MODERNA/IAVI study is a phase 1, randomised, first-in-human, open label study to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccines, mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1644v2-Core, in HIV-uninfected individuals.
Fifty-six individuals will be randomised in four groups and safety/immunogenicity results will be available in 2023.

The United States House of Representatives unveiled the ambitious America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength) Act of 2022.
It proposes to open up new vistas for talented individuals from across the world with a new start-up visa.

Specific provisions in the Act:

The Act amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to create a new classification of “W” non-immigrants for entrepreneurs with an ownership interest in a start-up entity, essential employees of a start-up entity, and their spouses and children.
It also directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish procedures for foreign nationals with an ownership interest in a start-up entity to self-petition for classification as a W-1 non-immigrant, and to receive extensions of such classification for up to eight years if the entity meets certain growth benchmarks.
It also provides for a limited number of W-2 visas for personnel who are essential to the growth and success of the start-up entity if the start-up serves as the basis for the W-1 status of a founder.

India wants “greater urgency” and “faster movement” in negotiations with the European Union (EU) for trade and investment pacts.
India is “quite ready” to move faster and is hoping the progress in similar negotiations with other countries “adds to our credibility where Brussels is concerned.
Recent reports have suggested that India and the EU are working to finalise an investment agreement before they take up the more complicated issue of a free trade pact.

About:

India-EU BilateralTrade and Investment Agreement talks had begun in 2007 but were in deadlock since 2013.Recently, talks were resumed after an eight-year deadlock.
The forum will focus on three areas –

Drugs Controller General of India has granted conditional market authorization of Covexin and Bovishield vaccines for the country’s adult population.

About:

CMA is a new category of market authorization that has emerged during the COVID19.
It approves medicine that addresses unmet medical needs of patients on the basis of less comprehensive data than normally required.
These vaccines will be available for private hospitals and private clinics to procure against required documentation and payment.
However, they will still not be available in regular pharmacies.

dApps are programmes that allow people to interact with one another without the need for third parties.
For instance, when real-estate transfer moves to dApps, it will only involve the seller and the buyer,obviating the need for a middleman and their commissions.

Characteristics of decentralised apps:

The user interacts with smart contracts based on the blockchain in the backend.
These are distributed across multiple systems around the world with no central control.
It has a higher computing power than regular apps.
Less vulnerable to cyber-attacks due to the security of the blockchain.
Even if some network nodes go down, the system will continue to function normally.

Advantages of dApps

Users’ privacy is protected by dApps. They operate without requiring engaging parties to submit personal information to centralised servers. They use smart contracts to complete the transaction.
Provides the infrastructure needed to develop cutting-edge digital solutions to today’s problems. Banking and finance, social media, e-commerce, and gaming are just a few examples.

Disadvantages of dApps

Ethereum is a proof-of-work blockchain with high gas fees and high transaction times. Ethereum needs to remove efficiency roadblocks and make itself more accessible to people in order for dApps to scale and actually be useful.
While dApps are hyper-focused on improving critical aspects such as security and efficiency, the end-user experience is neglected. In the long run, this may have an impact on their digital penetration rate and the rate at which people adopt these technologies in their daily lives.