General Science Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations

Notes:
Most cases of filariasis are caused by the parasite known as Wuchereria bancrofti. A wide range of mosquitoes can transmit this parasite, depending on the geographic area. In Africa, the most common vector is Anopheles while in the Americas, it is Culex quinquefasciatus. Aedes and Mansonia transmits transmit the infection in the Pacific and in Asia. Thus, Culex, Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes serve as vector for W. bancrofti in transmission of the disease. Aedes mosquito causes dengue fever. Anopheles mosquito causes malaria. Culex mosquito causes filaria. A wide range of mosquitoes can transmit the parasite, depending on the geographic area. In Africa, the most common vector is Anopheles and in the Americas, it is Culex quinquefasciatus. [This question was wrongly framed in exam as “filaria is caused by__:”. GKtoday has edited it to make it correct.]

Notes:
The brain’s limbic system controls emotional expression through the hypothalamus, which has control over the body’s emotional responses systems. The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating hunger, thirst, response to pain, levels of pleasure, sexual satisfaction, anger and aggressive behavior, etc. It also regulates pulse, blood pressure, breathing, and arousal in response to emotional circumstances.

Notes:
The stapes or stirrup is a bone in the middle ear of humans which is involved in the conduction of sound vibrations to the inner ear. The stapes transmits sound vibrations from the incus, another little bone in the middle ear, to the oval window adjacent to the inner ear. The stapes is the smallest bone in the body.

Notes:
Intensive farming is an agricultural intensification and mechanization system that aims to maximize yields from available land through various means, such as heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital and labour, and higher crop yields per unit land area.

Notes:
Milk is a poor source of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). It contains about 1 mg ascorbate per 100 g. Even the little Vitamin C is usually destroyed when the milk is heat treated. Milk as a complete food contains most of the esential nutrients except are vitamin C and iron.

Notes:
Land snails, insects, birds, and some reptiles excrete uric acid as the major nitrogenous waste. The white, crystalline substance seen in a typical bird or lizard “poop” is actually urine: a little pool of uric acid crystals in a very small amount of water.

Notes:
Coconut water, the clear liquid inside young green coconuts (fruits of the coconut palm), is liquid endosperm. In early development, it serves as a sus pension for the endosperm of the coconut during their nuclear phase of development. It contains sugars, vitamins, minerals, proteins, free amino acids and growth promoting factors.

Notes:
Enzymes are defined as biological catalysts. Chemically all enzymes are globular proteins. Each enzyme catalyses only one chemical reaction. Protein part of enzyme is known as Apoenzyme. It forms an active enzyme system by combination with a coenzyme and determines the specificity of this system for a substrate.

Notes:
Both polio and chicken pox are caused by virus. Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus; while, Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV).

Notes:
Cuscuta (Dodder) is a genus of about 100-170 species of yellow, orange or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. Dodders are supremely adapted for a life of plunder and pillage. Reduced in form to scrambling and twining threads, they appear to be completely leafless, although closer inspection reveals tiny scale leaves pressed close to the stems. So, it is a stem parasite.