QUES: Exposure to antibiotics early in life is associated with increased body mass in humans and mouse models. Early life is a critical period for the establishment of the intestinal microbiota and for metabolic development. Mice exposed to subtherapeutic antibiotic treatment (STAT)– with either penicillin, vancomycin, penicillin and vancomycin, or chlortetracycline had altered composition of the gut microbiota as well as its metabolic capabilities. Moreover, research have shown that mice given low-dose penicillin (1 μg/g body weight) around birth and throughout the weaning process had an increased body mass and fat mass, accelerated growth, and increased hepatic expression of genes involved in adipogenesis, compared to controlled mice. In addition, penicillin in combination with a high-fat diet increased fasting insulin levels in mice. However, it is unclear whether or not antibiotics cause obesity in humans. Studies have found a correlation between early exposure of antibiotics (<6 months) and increased body mass (at 10 and 20 months). Another study found that the type of antibiotic exposure was also significant with the highest risk of being overweight in those given macrolides compared to penicillin and cephalosporin. Therefore, there is correlation between antibiotic exposure in early life and obesity in humans, but whether or not there is a causal relationship remains unclear. Although there is a correlation between antibiotic use in early life and obesity, the effect of antibiotics on obesity in humans needs to be weighed against the beneficial effects of clinically indicated treatment with antibiotics in infancy.
What does STAT stand for?

ANS: subtherapeutic antibiotic treatment

QUES: Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a soil rhizosphere bacterium, can attach to plant cells and infect them with a callus-inducing Ti plasmid by horizontal gene transfer, causing a callus infection called crown gall disease. Schell and Van Montagu (1977) hypothesised that the Ti plasmid could be a natural vector for introducing the Nif gene responsible for nitrogen fixation in the root nodules of legumes and other plant species. Today, genetic modification of the Ti plasmid is one of the main techniques for introduction of transgenes to plants and the creation of genetically modified crops.
How can scientists use bacteria in the study of plants?

ANS: introducing the Nif gene

QUES: Eventually resulting in 17 libel writs in total, The Sun ran a series of false stories about the pop musician Elton John from 25 February 1987. They began with an invented account of the singer having sexual relationships with rent boys. The singer-songwriter was abroad on the day indicated in the story, as former Sun journalist John Blake, recently poached by the Daily Mirror, soon discovered. After further stories, in September 1987, The Sun accused John of having his Rottweiler guard dogs voice boxes surgically removed. In November, the Daily Mirror found their rival's only source for the rent boy story and he admitted it was a totally fictitious concoction created for money. The inaccurate story about his dogs, actually Alsatians, put pressure on The Sun, and John received £1 million in an out of court settlement, then the largest damages payment in British history. The Sun ran a front-page apology on 12 December 1988, under the banner headline "SORRY, ELTON". In May 1987 gay men were offered free one-way airline tickets to Norway to leave Britain for good: "Fly Away Gays - And We Will Pay" was the paper's headline. Gay Church of England clergymen were described in one headline in November 1987 as "Pulpit poofs".
What breed of dog did The Sun mistakenly report that Elton John owned?

ANS: Rottweiler

QUES: Despite the small land mass, place names are repeated; there are, for example, two islands named Long Island, three bays named Long Bay (on Somerset, Main, and Cooper's islands), two Horseshoe Bays (one in Southampton, on the Main Island, the other at Morgan's Point, formerly Tucker's Island), there are two roads through cuttings called Khyber Pass (one in Warwick, the other in St. George's Parish), and St George's Town is located on St George's Island within St George's Parish (each known as St George's). There is a Hamilton Parish in addition to the City of Hamilton (which is in Pembroke Parish).
In the Bermuda land mass, how many islands are named "Long Island"?

ANS:
two