The disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae is: MCQ with Answer and Explanation

Explanation:
Living organisms exhibit irritability, i.e., they detect and respond to changes in their environment. Non-living objects can increase in size (e.g., crystal growth), possess mass, and occur in nature, but they lack consciousness and the ability to respond to stimuli. Thus, responsiveness is a defining property of life.

Explanation:
Prolactin, from the anterior pituitary, promotes mammary gland development and milk synthesis. Oxytocin triggers milk ejection. Estrogen and progesterone prepare breasts during pregnancy but inhibit milk secretion.

Explanation:
Minamata disease is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning, first discovered in Minamata, Japan, due to industrial wastewater containing methylmercury that bioaccumulated in fish. Lead causes plumbism, cadmium causes Itai-itai disease, arsenic causes arsenicosis. Mercury affects the central nervous system, causing numbness, muscle weakness, and vision problems.