A GLANCE at Mahatma Gandhi's letters to his near and dear ones Aduring his later years (1920s-40s) reveals his obsession with food and health. Besides sharing his philosophy and advice on healthy eating, he also emphasises on good bowel movement. Indeed, as his biographers have chronicled, Gandhi was fascinated by clues that faecal matter provides on the state of one's health.
Researchers find merit in the motion even today. In 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, scientists found RNA fragments of the SARS-COV-2 virus in Ahmedabad's Old Pirana Waste Water Treatment Plant. Months later, in May 2021, researchers from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Indian Institute of Chemical Technology found the virus in samples from sewage treatment plants in Hyderabad. Both papers were published in Science of The Total Environment.
Researchers opine that the study of human faces can not just help trace the spread of a disease like COVID-19 but also revolutionise healthcare diagnosis.
About 75 per cent of faeces is water, and the remaining is made up of proteins, undigested fibres and fats, salts, cells from the intestinal lining, mucus and organic matter. Some 25-50 per cent of the organic matter comprises microbes. “These give a snapshot of the gut microbiome and its metabolic activities, Vineet Sharma, associate professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, tells Down To Earth (DTE).
この記事は Down To Earth の March 01, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Down To Earth の March 01, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
INVISIBLE THREAT
Significant presence of microplastics in Puducherry’s agricultural soil raises concerns for soil and crop health
Feeding off each other
VEGETARIAN MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA AND THE WEST GREW WITH MUTUAL SUPPORT AND VALIDATION
India's unhealthy patent amendments
Despite strong pleas, the Modi regime has changed the rules to impose a cost on those who challenge faulty patents
URBAN DISCOMFORT
Poorly planned, heat-trapping infrastructure, along with dwindling natural spaces, turn up the temperatures in major Indian cities
BLAZING SUN IS ON
Rising temperatures are testing the limits of human tolerance to heat. With their predominantly built-up landscape, urban areas offer no respite. A study by the Centre for Science and Environment on the morphology and heat patterns of nine Indian cities over the past decade shows how these urban centres are turning into heat islands with a potentially serious impact on human health. An analysis by Rajneesh Sareen, Mitashi Singh and Nimish Gupta, with Shagun in Haryana and Kiran Pandey
"H5N1 may be more severe than COVID-19"
In early April, the US confirmed the first case of avian influenza in livestock, along with cow-to-human transmission of the virus disease.
A PSYCHEDELIC HIGH
Driven by surge in global trials and low success rate of current medications in treating mental health problems, researchers call for home-grown clinical trials of psychedelic drugs
Locked out
Two years after becoming the only state to be excluded from the Centre's ruralemployment guarantee scheme, villages in West Bengal grapple with distress migration and debt traps
'Protection from climate change part of right to life'
The Supreme Court of India, on April 5, recognised that citizens have a right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change, saying it is intertwined with the fundamental rights to life and equality. Here are the key arguments articulated by the three-judge bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra in their judgement
Weaving dreams
Tribal communities in West Bengal slowly embrace traditional weaving to ensure sustainable livelihood