News in Short

• Eating low-carb and high-fat diet can help fight against Alzheimer's disease, by protecting neurons from death during the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new research.
• Since interneurons require more energy compared to other neurons, they may be more susceptible to dying when they encounter the Alzheimer's disease protein amyloid beta.
• "Ketogenic" is a term for a low-carb diet. The idea is to get more calories from protein and fat and less from carbohydrates.

• A study has found that giving a dose of the common antibiotic Vancomycin not only helped immune cells kill tumours that were directly treated with radiation, but also kill cancer cells that were further away in the body.
• The antibiotic vancomycin alters the gut microbiome in a way that can help prime the immune system to more effectively attack tumour cells after radiation therapy.
• Vancomycin specifically improved the function of dendritic cells, which are the messenger cells that T cells rely on to know what to attack.

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) trimmed its forecast for India's economic growth in 2019-20 to 5.1 per cent saying consumption was affected by slow job growth and rural distress aggravated by poor harvest.
• ADB had forecast India's GDP to grow 6.5 per cent in 2019-20 and 7.2 per cent in the year thereafter.
• ADB said growth should pick up to 6.5 per cent in the next fiscal year with supportive policies.

• ISRO is set to launch the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying Indian radar imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR1 from Sriharikota.
• The launch will mark a significant milestone for the space agency as it would be the 50th flight of the PSLV and also the 75th vehicle mission from Sriharikota.
• The satellite, meant for applications in various fields like agriculture, forestry and disaster management support, will also carry nine customer satellites, including one each from Israel, Italy, Japan and six from the United States.

• Lok Sabha has unanimously passed a Constitution amendment bill to extend reservation to SCs and STs in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by another 10 years.
• The reservation for SCs, STs and Anglo-Indians given for the past 70 years in Lok Sabha and state assemblies was due to end on January 25, 2020.
• The reservation for Anglo-Indians in the form of "nomination" is set to expire on January 25 as the bill does not extend the facility to the community.