GK-06/Eng – mam labs

General Knowledge / Part-06

1. If a person suffer from apnoea (apnea), what is (the patient) unable to do?

Breathe

Apnoea (apnea) is a pathological condition (sleep disorder) in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. More common in men esp. aged and obese.
It can lead to heart and brain problems.
It occurs in certain adults during sleep (sleep apnoea), or in new-born infants.
The main reason is breathing is prevented due to an obstruction in the airways.

The main types of apnoea:

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA):

It is the most common apnoea (about 84%). Breathing becomes difficult due to a functional obstruction in the mouth and throat.

Central Sleep Apnoea (CSA):

It is the least occurring apnoea with about 0.4%. It is a neurological problem.

Breathing stops as the brain and nervous system do not send breathing signals to the respiratory system.

Mixed (Complex / Combined) Sleep Apnoea (MSA):

It is the combined condition of both OSA and CSA. It persists in apneic patients of about 15%.

Common symptoms in apneic patients are snoring loudly and feeling tired even after a full-night sleep.

Treatment often includes a change in lifestyle and using breathing assistance device (CPAP = Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) at night.

2. What was the first James Bond film?

Doctor No

It was released in 1962 in the United Kingdom and in the US in 1963.
The leading roles were played by Sean Connery (James Bond), Ursula Andress (Honey Rider), Joseph Wiseman (Dr. Julius No), and Jack Lord (Felix Leiter).
Terence Young, an Irish film director and screenwriter, directed the first three films viz. Doctor No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), and Thunderball (1965).

The theme of James Bond films is based on the novels written by Ian Fleming, a British naval intelligence officer turned to be a writer cum journalist.
He is famous for his James Bond Series ‘Spy novels’.
The James Bond character was first introduced in the novel Casino Royal, but Doctor No was filmed first.
The interesting fictional organization in these films called Spectre was introduced in the novel Thunderball published in 1961.
American film title designer Maurice Binder designed the highly stylized main title sequence and introduction of Bond character through the view of a gun barrel.
The budget for the film Doctor No was $1.1 million and it collected $59.5 million revenue at Box office.

3. Which was the first element to be created artificially?

Technetium

Technetium is a shiny gray crystalline transition metal (similar to platinum).
It was synthesized in a particle accelerator in 1937 having atomic number 43.
Its symbol is Tc. It is commonly obtained as a gray powder.

It comes under group 7 of the periodic table and lies between the elements manganese and rhenium and having chemical properties between these two.
Emilio Gino Segre received Noble Prize in physics in 1959 for discovering technetium and astatine, and the antiproton along with Owen Chamberlain.
Paul W Merrill, an American astronomer discovered the spectral signature of technetium’s wavelengths in light from S-type red giants (a low mass luminous giant stars) in a late phase of stellar evolution.
It proved that technetium is being produced in the stars by nuclear reactions.

4. Which ancient Greek physician gave his name to an oath taken by medical students?

Hippocrates

Hippocrates is called the “Father of Medicine”.
He lived in the 5^th century BCE.
He separated the discipline of medicine from religion and said that diseases were caused naturally, not because of superstitions and gods.
He advanced systematic clinical study by summing up the medical knowledge of previous cases through the Hippocratic Corpus and other works.

Hippocratic Oath is usually taken by medical graduates about to enter medical practice.
It is a popular medical texts by a number of healing gods originally written in Greek.
It is an oath of ethics such as medical confidentiality (promise through confidentiality agreements) and non-maleficence (analyzing the critical medicine and research), etc. to uphold scientific ethical standards of paramount significance.
There used to follow a punishment ranging from a penalty to losing the right to medical practice for breaking the Hippocratic oath In the olden days.
In modern times, there is no direct punishment for breaking the Hippocratic Oath.

5. Which country is the world’s largest producer of coffee?

Brazil

For over 150 years, Brazil has been the highest producing country for coffee. The coffee crop is cultivated in 27,000 sq.km land.
Coffee is called Café curto or café expresso in Brazil.

Sao Paulo, Parana, and Minas Gerais are the top three cities for growing coffee in Brazil.
The two main types of coffee beans cultivated in this country are Arabica and Robusta. The beneficial climate and the large plantation area help the advancement of the cultivation putting Brazil in top position.
After Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Ethiopia stand the following positions in order for coffee production.

6. What was the Roman name for London?

Londinium

Londinium (Roman London) was founded in the 1^st century with an area roughly equal to half of the area of the modern London.
It was originally a settlement (oppidum) capital for the Roman Britain (also called Britannia) lasted from 41 CE to 410 CE.
It established around the point on the River Thames, the second longest river in the United Kingdom.

It expanded greatly as the greatest city of Britannia with large public buildings and forums by the end of 1^st century. In the 2^nd century it flourished at its height with famous structures such as forum-basillica.
The London Wall (a defensive wall) was built by the Romans around the landside of the city roughly between 190 and 225. It lasted for almost 1600 years defining the perimeter of the Old City.
It is revealed by historians that the gradual process of transformation of the name of London starting from Londinion, Londinium, Lyndon, and to the present name – London.

7. What is the meaning of the word ‘moribund’?

Near death (dying) or on the point of death.

It is the condition of a patient lacking life and vitality on the death bed and about to pass away.
The origin of the word came from Latin. Mori means ‘to die’ in Latin.

An interesting thing to know is that moribund insects leave nests when they are close to death.
The same way moribund ants become isolated from nest mates.
The reason may be to protect their kin from any pathogenic infections.

Examples and usage:

Moribund computer/government:

The computer (government) that may stop (fall) at any stage.

2. Moribund language:

Endangered or disappearing language.

8. Which Scottish scientist and inventor patented the telephone in 1876?

Alexander Graham Bell

He was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist, and engineer. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.
The origin of the word telephone:
Tele means distance and phone, the voice (sound) in Greek. Thus telephone stands for distant voice.
The first patent for the electric telephone was awarded to Alexander Graham Bell by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 1876 (March).

USPTO is the national patent office and trademark registration authority in the US Department of Commerce.
Bell’s patent stood as the master patent for the later developed telephone devices.
The essential elements of a telephone are a transmitter (microphone) and receiver (earphone).
The first telephones were customer-to-customer type (connected directly between customers).
This system was later replaced by manually operated exchanges (switchboard type).
In 1973, handheld mobile phones were first introduced.

9. Which two countries are connected by the Simplon Pass?

Switzerland and Italy

It is a high mountain pass and connects Switzerland with Italy between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps. This mountain range is spread between Switzerland and Italy.
The Pennine Alps also known as Valais Alps are a mountain range (western part of the Alps) located in Valais (Switzerland) and Italy.

The Lepontine Alps are a mountain range (the north-western part of Alps) located in Switzerland and Italy.
To carry rail traffic between the two countries a Tunnel called the Simplon Tunnel was built beneath the vicinity of the Simplon Pass in the 20 the century to connect the cities ‘Brig’ in Switzerland and Domodossola in Italy.