Science - Zoology - Some Important and Interesting Facts

• For the first time the term physiology was introduced by Jean Fernel in 1542.

• The study of frog is called Batrecology.

• Frog, Toad, Salamander, Newts, Necturus (Mudpuppy) and Ichthyophis (limbless) are the few members of class Amphibia.

• In humans, daily secretion of saliva is more than one litre.

• Each day, the stomach wall secretes about 3 litres of gastric juice.

• About every 20 seconds, the stomach contents are mixed by the charming action of smooth muscles. When an empty stomach churns, hunger pangs are left.

• We take 600 million breathe during our life time.

• Opened out and laid flat, the lungs would cover an area of the size of a tennis court.

• On an average, we breathe roughly a litre of air every ten seconds.

• The total amount of blood pumped by the human heart each day is about 8000 litres.

• Since the entire blood volume of an average sized man is only 5 litres, the blood must be recirculated 1600 times a day.

• The heart beats rhythemically 72 times per minute in adult man at rest and a single heart beat lasts for 0.8 of a second.

• Average heart beat rate in new born is about 130 times per minutes.

• In an average life time of 70 years, the human heart beats about 2.5 billion times, pumping about 180 million litres of blood.

• Blood raises through the arteries upto 1 metre (3 feet) per second. There are over 60,000 Kilometres 37,000 miles of capillaries in the human body.

• The name hormone was first used by the English physiologists W.M. Bayliss and E.H. Starling in 1909.

• The thyroid is the largest of the endocrine glands, weighing about 20-25 g.

• The hormone adrenalin is excessively secreted into blood stream at the time of frightened state or panic state to keep the body in steady state. So it is called as emergency hormone or hormone of fear.

• Controlled dose of insulin and sugar free diet are best preventive measures for diabetes mellitus. Glucagon is secreted to increase sugar level in blood by breaking down the glycogen in the liver into glucose. Its action is opposite to that of insulin. Glucagon starts functioning when blood glucose level falls in blood.

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Magnetism in medicine

An electric current always produces a magnetic field. Even weak ion currents that travel along the nerve cells in our body produce magnetic fields. When we touch something, our nerves carry an electric impulse to the muscles we need to use. This impulse produces a temporary magnetic field. These fields are very weak and are about one-billionth of the earth’s magnetic field. Two main organs in the human body where the magnetic field produced is significant are the heart and the brain. The magnetic field inside the body forms the basis of obtaining the images of different body parts. This is done using a technique called Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Analysis of these images helps in medical diagnosis.

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Geographical Information System (GIS)

Geographical Information System (GIS) is an organized collection of computer hardware, software, Geographical data and personal, designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyse and display all forms of geographically referenced information. The data stored in GIS can be used for computer mapping with 3Dimensional (3D) effects.

GIS is also used by planners, engineers, cartographers, construction companies, surveyors, architects, marketing analysists etc. GIS is also used for analyzing data on population distribution, traffic movements, land availability, real traffic movements, land availability, real estate prices, environmental hazards, soil types, flood zones, disaster zones etc.

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Indian Freedom Movement - Important Facts

The Congress tri-colour flag was hoisted on 26 January 1930. The people took pledge to fight for achieving complete independence. It became a red letter day for the Congress. To make this day memorable in our history, the Indian Constitution was formally adopted on 26 January 1950. This day is now celebrated as the Republic Day.

In The Salt Satyagraha of 1930 or The Civil Disobedience Movement, Gandhi covered the distance of 241 miles (about 400 K.M.) from Sabarmathi Ashram to Dandi on foot in 25 days with 78 chosen followers including Sarojini Naidu. The slogan Vande Matharam echoed everywhere.

Rash Behari Bose was an Indian who had settled in Japan since 1915. He organized a freedom conference in Tokyo in March 1942.

The Punjab tragedy (Jallianwalabagh Massacre, 13 April 1919) had a lasting impact on succeeding generations. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his Knighthood as a measure of protest. Gandhiji returned the Kaiser-i-Hind medal given to him by the South African Government. C.F. Andrews, a friend of Tagore, Gandhi and Nehru, wrote to Mahadev Desai, after a visit to Amritsar, “It was a massacre, a butchery.”

Gandhiji wrote a series of articles in the magazine, the Harijan. He explained his ideas which were soon to take shape as the historic Quit India Movement. He made it clear that he could no longer afford to wait. He said. “If I continue to wait I might have to wait till doomsday.” Gandhi was so impatient that he said, “Personally I am so sick of slavery that I am even prepared to take the risk of anarchy.”

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General Knowledge on Zoology - Blood Coagulation

The coagulation of blood is the property of plasma alone, the red and white blood cells do not take part in it. The blood cells become caught up in the meshes of the clot giving the characteristic appearance of the clot. Coagulation of blood helps to stop further haemorrhage. When the blood is shed the platelets disintegrate and liberate thromboplastin. The thromboplastin is derived from damaged tissues disintegrating platelets and also plasma.

Thromboplastin converts prothrombin into thrombin with the help of calcium ions. Prothrombin is a plasma protein. Ionic calcium greatly helps in the formation of active thromboplastin. Prothrombin is a plasma protein and is manufactured in the liver. Vitamin K is required by the liver for normal formation of prothombin.

Thrombin is an active enzyme which converts soluble protein fibrinogen into insoluble fibrin. The fibrin forms fine threads that adhere to damaged surface of blood vessels and thereby prevent blood loss. The normal coagulation time is about 5 to 8 minutes.

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General Knowledge Question and Answers for the Competitive Exams like UPSC, RRB, TRB, IBPS Banking Exams etc.

•  JCB Company was founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford (JCB) in October 1945

• The Suez Canal connects Mediterranean Sea & the Red Sea. It allows water transportation between Europe & Asia without navigation around Africa.

• The Reserve Bank of India was set up on the recommendations of the Hilton-Young Commission.

• SALEM is humorously said to be an abbreviation for "Steel, Aluminum, Lime, Electricity and Mango".

• The parliament of India has three sessions each year: 

         1) Budget session: February to May.

         2) Monsoon session: July to September.

         3) Winter session: November to December.

• The All-India Muslim League was founded by the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka (Bangladesh), on December 30, 1906.

• The 1st World War came to an end by the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

• Central Soil Salinity Research Institute is located in Karnal.

• ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi) Institute, formerly known as Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, was established on 16 July 1929.

• Central Institute for Cotton Research is located in Nagpur.

• Central Institute for Research on Buffalo (CIRB) is located in Hisar.

• Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology is located in Mumbai.

• Central Institute of Fisheries Education is located in Mumbai.

• Central Institute for Research on Goats is located in Mathura.

 

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First Television Advertisement

In USA (United States of America), the first television advertisement was broadcast on July 1, 1941. The watchmaker Bulova paid $9 for a placement on New York television station WNBT before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The 20-second spot displayed a picture of a clock superimposed on a map of the United Sates (US), accompanied by the voice-over “America runs on Bulova time.”

The first colour television advertisement in the world was in 1951 for General Foods Jell-O Pudding and Pie Filling.

In India, the first television advertisement was for Gwalior Suitings, on Doordarshan and the first colour advertisement was for Bombay Dyeing.

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