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Study discovers crucial step in formation of deadly brain diseases

The research concerned prion diseases- a group of brain diseases caused by proteins called prions that malfunction and ‘misfold’, turning into a form that can accumulate and kill brain cells. These diseases can take decades to manifest but are then aggressive and fatal.

They include Kuru, mad cow disease and its human equivalent Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), and a heritable condition called fatal familial insomnia.

India saw largest spike in malware attacks in 2020: Report

“2020 offered a perfect storm for cybercriminals and a critical tipping point for the cyber arms race,” SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner, said in a statement.

“The pandemic — along with remote work, a charged political climate, record prices of cryptocurrency, and threat actors weaponising cloud storage and tools — drove the effectiveness and volume of cyberattacks to new highs.”

Over 26,100 Indian websites hacked in 2020 as per CERT-In data: Dhotre

“According to the logs analysed and made available to CERT-In, the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the computers from where the attacks appear to be originated belong to various countries, including Algeria, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Netherlands, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, USA, Vietnam etc,” he said

Irdai lowers min cover, raises max cover under Arogya Sanjeevani policy

“In order to enhance the coverage available under Arogya Sanjeevani Policy, in partial modification of the extant guidelines, insurers shall mandatorily offer the sum insured between Rs 50,000 to Rs 10,00,000 under the standard product Arogya Sanjeevani w.e.f 1st May, 2021 or earlier,” Irdai said in a circular addressed to the general and standalone health insurers.

First known baby born with antibodies after mother vaccinated: Doctors

According to the yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted in the preprint server medRxiv, the mother had received a single dose of the Moderna mRNA vaccine at 36 weeks and three days of her gestation period.

Three weeks later, she gave birth to a vigorous, healthy, full-term girl, whose blood sample taken immediately after birth revealed the presence of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the study noted.

EU countries to resume AstraZeneca vaccinations after ‘Safe, Effective’ verdict from WHO

The closely-watched announcement from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) came after the WHO and Britain’s health watchdog both said the vaccine was safe, adding that it was far riskier to not get the shot as several countries face a worrying rise in coronavirus cases.

However, Norway and Sweden said they were not ready to resume using the vaccine.

COVID-19 patients above 65 years of age more prone to reinfection, says study

“Our study confirms what a number of others appeared to suggest — reinfection with COVID-19 is rare in younger, healthy people, but the elderly are at greater risk of catching it again,” said study co-author Steen Ethelberg, from the Statens Serum Institut.

“Since older people are also more likely to experience severe disease symptoms, and sadly die, our findings make clear how important it is to implement policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic,” Ethelberg said.

P-notes investment climbs to 33-month high at Rs 91,658 crore in Feb

“A sharp rise in FPIs’ participation through offshore derivative instruments or P-notes in February once again vindicates growing confidence of overseas investors into domestic markets. However, we note that FPIs’ participation through P-note route has been improving in consistently since April 2020,” Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, said.

Chubb explores acquisition of $22 billion rival Hartford

Greenberg, 66, built the business into a mammoth insurer by combining Ace Ltd., the company he ran, with Chubb Corp. in a nearly $30 billion deal in 2016. The son of former American International Group Inc. CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, he has transformed Chubb into a firm with huge footholds in both personal and commercial lines. The company calls itself the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty insurer, with operations in 54 countries and more than 30,000 employees, according to its website.

Amazon starts offering healthcare service to other employers

The move shows how the No. 2 U.S. private employer is diving further into healthcare, the latest industry it has aimed to disrupt after retail, enterprise technology and Hollywood.
Piloted in September 2019 for staff near its Seattle headquarters, “Amazon Care” lets employees video-chat with doctors for diagnoses and referrals. It also facilitates housecalls and drug delivery in greater Seattle, a non-virtual benefit that Amazon said would be available in greater Washington, D.C., and Baltimore in the coming months.

‘India facing high fossil fuel consumption challenge’

India is a signatory to the Paris Agreement. Under the agreement signed in 2015, India has committed to cut GHG (Green House Gas) emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent, increase non-fossil fuel power capacity to 40 per cent from 28 per cent in 2015, add carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes CO2 per annum by increasing the forest cover, all by 2030.

Natural disasters occurring three times more often than 50 years ago: new FAO report

The least developed and low to middle income countries have fared worst of all. From 2008 to 2018, natural disasters have cost the agricultural sectors of developing economies more than $108 billion in damaged crop and livestock production.

Over the same period, Asia was the most hard-hit region, with overall economic losses of $49 billion, followed by Africa at $30 billion, and Latin America and the Caribbean at $29 billion.

Over 20 mn kids in India facing extremely high water vulnerability: UNICEF

Extreme water vulnerability is the combination of the highest levels of physical water scarcity risks and lowest levels of drinking water service that affects a given population (surface water, unimproved or limited water service), it said.

“Women and girls are the most often burdened with fetching water long distances, which disrupts their education and opportunity for any work. This is exacerbated by the fact that India is particularly vulnerable to climate change, which exposes women and children to increasing environmental hazards.