About SGLT2 Inhibitors:

• SGLT2 (Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2) inhibitors are a class of medications primarily used to treat Type 2 diabetes (T2D).
  • T2D, the most common type of diabetes, is a disease that occurs when the blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high.
• SGLT2 Inhibitors manage blood sugar by helping kidneys remove extra glucose.

How do SGLT2 inhibitors work?

• SGLT2 is a protein in the kidneys that reabsorbs glucose.
• Typically, when glucose in the blood flows through the kidneys, some glucose goes back into the bloodstream.
• SGLT2 inhibitors block that process, so the kidneys don’t reabsorb glucose.

• The use of SGLT2 inhibitors is as follows:
  • They also help improve kidney and heart health for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or heart failure.
  • They can slow the progression of kidney disease and reduce the risk of needing dialysis.
  • SGLT2 inhibitors also lower the risk of heart failure flare-ups.

Common SGLT2 inhibitors:

• Dapagliflozin
• Empagliflozin
• Canagliflozin
• Ertugliflozin
• Some of the side effects include:
  • Higher risk of developing genital and urinary tract infections
  • Urinating more frequently
  • Flu like symptoms
  • Nausea
  • Joint pain.

About Defence Acquisition Council (DAC):

• It is the highest decision-making body of India's Ministry of Defence on procurement.
• Main Objective: To ensure expeditious procurement of the approved requirements of the armed forces in terms of capabilities sought and time frame prescribed by optimally utilizing the allocated budgetary resources.
• Formation: It was formed after the Group of Minister’s recommendations on ‘Reforming the National Security System’, in 2001, post-Kargil War (1999).
• Composition:
  • The Defence Minister is the chairman of DAC.
  • Its members include senior civil and military leaders of the Ministry of Defence, among them the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the Defence Secretary; and other senior officials responsible for finance, production, and acquisition.
• Functions:
  • Give in-principle approval to long-term perspective planning, as applicable under the current framework.
  • Categorisation of the acquisition proposals relating to ‘Buy’, ‘Buy & Make’, and ‘Make’.
  • Look into issues relating to single vendor clearance.
  • Take decisions regarding the Transfer of Technology under the ‘Buy & Make’ category of acquisition proposals.
  • Field trial evaluation.
• The categorisation decisions taken by the DAC are especially significant, because they influence whether contracts flow to Indian designers and manufacturers or to foreign suppliers.
• Through its approvals, the DAC effectively sets the direction of India's military modernisation.

About Greater Flamingo:

• It is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family.
• Scientific Name: Phoenicopterus roseus
• Habitat and Distribution:
  • The Greater flamingo inhabits Africa, the Middle East, southern Europe, and the Indian subcontinent.
  • They occur in relatively shallow water bodies, such as saline lagoons, salt pans, large alkaline or saline lakes, and estuaries.
  • Breeding takes place on sandbanks, mudflats, sandy or rocky islands, or open beaches.
• Features:
  • It is a large bird with an elegant body, a long and slender neck, and extremely long legs.
  • Its plumage is predominantly pale pink, with more intense shades on the wings and black wingtips.
  • The beak is thick, downward-curved, and pink with a black tip.
  • The legs are long, thin, and bright pink, perfectly adapted for moving through shallow waters.
  • Juveniles have a gray-brown coloration, with some pink on their underparts, tail and wings, with the legs and beak being mainly brown.
  • They are a highly social species, nesting in large, dense colonies.
  • They feed by filtering water with their specialized beaks, consuming crustaceans, algae, and small invertebrates.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Key Facts about Veeranam Lake:

• Veeranam Lake (Veeranarayanan Lake) is a man-made lake located Tamil Nadu.
• It is among the oldest and largest man-made lakes in Tamil Nadu.
• Built during the 10th century CE by Rajaditya Chola, the son of Parantaka Chola I, the lake stands as a remarkable example of the Chola Empire’s engineering excellence and irrigation planning.
• It was constructed to strengthen irrigation and support the northern territories of the Chola kingdom.
• The lake is fed by Vadavar river and Sengal stream.
• It continues to serve as a lifeline for agriculture in the region and is also an important source of drinking water for Chennai through the New Veeranam Water Supply Scheme.
• Veeranam Lake is closely associated with Kalki Krishnamurthy’s celebrated historical novel Ponniyin Selvan.

About Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA):

• SMA is a group of inherited neuromuscular disorders cause certain muscles to become weak and waste away.
• It is a progressive disorder that can cause life-threatening

What Happens in SMA?

• In SMA, the nerves that control muscle strength and movement break down.
• These nerves (called motor neurons) are in the spinal cord and lower part of the brain.
• They can't send signals from the brain to the muscles to make them move.
• Because the muscles don't move, they get smaller (or atrophy).
• The weakness in SMA tends to be more severe in the muscles that are close to the center of the body (proximal muscles) than in the muscles farther away from the body’s center (distal muscles).
• Muscle weakness tends to worsen with time.

What Causes SMA?

• Motor neurons need a protein called SMN (survival motor neuron) to work.
• Most kinds of SMA are caused by a problem with a gene that makes this protein, called the SMN1 gene.
• When this gene mutates (changes in some way), it can’t make enough protein for the motor neurons to work properly.
• The motor neurons break down and can't send signals to the muscles.

• Types of SMA:
  • It is classified as type 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending on age of onset.
    • SMA type 1 (infantile-onset SMA or Werdnig-Hoffman disease): It is the most severe It is also the most common. Babies with this type usually show signs of the disease before 6 months of age.
    • SMA type 2 (intermediate SMA): It is a moderate to severe type of SMA. It is usually first noticed between 6 and 18 months of age.
    • SMA type 3 (juvenile SMA, Kugelberg Welander syndrome): It is the mildest type that affects children. The signs of the disease usually show up after age 18 months.
    • SMA type 4 (adult SMA): It is rare and often mild.  It usually causes symptoms after 21 years of age. 
  • The term "5q SMA" is often used to refer to all 4 common types of SMA.
  • Healthcare providers classify them based on the age of onset, as well as the severity and life expectancy.
• Treatment:
  • There isn’t a cure for SMA.
  • Treatment for SMA mainly seeks to manage symptoms and prevent complications.

About Phuket Island:

• It is Thailand's largest island and sits on the Andaman Sea, a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean.
• Located in southern Thailand, it lies off the country's western coast.
• It is known as the “Pearl of the Andaman Sea”.
• History:
  • It was settled as early as the 1st century BCE.
  • Located on trading routes between India and China, Phuket was subjected to foreign influences long before many other parts of Thailand.
  • Phuket first became part of a Thai state during the thirteenth century when Thai armies from Sukhothai wrestled control of the island from the Sirivijaya Empire based in Sumatra.
  • Phuket is first mentioned as a major source of tin in the sixteenth century when the island became an important source of revenue for the Thai kingdom at Ayutthaya, as well as an important trading post.
  • It was also during this period that the first Europeans arrived on Phuket.
  • Due to Phuket's abundant supply of tin and its importance as a trading port, the island's economy continued to prosper.
  • The British secured a tin mining concession and nearly claimed Phuket as part of the British Empire.
• The residents of Phuket comprise Thais who have migrated from the mainland, ethnic Chinese, Malays, and Chao Leh or ‘sea-gypsies’ who are the original inhabitants of Phuket.
• The island features a hilly and mountainous landscape, with forests and agricultural plantations covering parts of its interior.
• It is reached by bridge (Sarasin Bridge) from the mainland to the north across a narrow strait.
• Phuket city, located in the southeastern portion of the island, is a major port and commercial centre.
• The island has also become a major seaside resort.

About Raimona National Park:          

• Location: It is located in Assam.
• The park lies along the India-Bhutan border and is situated at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas. 
• It is connected with Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park.
• Topography: The Park has diverse terrain and vegetation.
• Major Rivers: The Sankosh River flows along the western boundary, Saralbhanga River lies on the eastern side and Pekua River forms the southern boundary.
• Vegetation: It mainly consists of Moist sal forests, Sub-Himalayan semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous forests, savannah forests and riverine and khoir-sisoo forests.
• Flora: Many orchid species, riverine grasslands and about 380 species of plants.
• Fauna: It is famous for the Golden Langur, Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Wild Water Buffalo and Spotted Deer.

About Immersive Technologies:        

• Immersive technologies are an emerging suite of technologies that create interactive, engaging and realistic digital experiences.
• Features:
  • These can combine the physical and digital worlds.
  • They enable users to interact with digital content in ways that feel more natural and experiential.
  • Users can interact with digital objects and respond to simulated situations.
  • Unlike conventional digital media, these technologies can engage multiple senses and create a stronger sense of presence.
• Examples:
  • A student can explore a virtual laboratory instead of only viewing diagrams on a screen.
  • A tourist can virtually explore a heritage site before visiting it physically.
• The three most common forms of immersive technology are Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). Collectively, these technologies are often referred to as Extended Reality (XR).
• Extended Reality (XR):
  • It refers to technologies that combine real and digital environments through computer systems and wearable devices.
  • It creates different levels of interaction between people and digital content. XR includes Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR).
• Virtual Reality (VR):
  • It creates a completely digital environment that surrounds the user.
  • It mainly engages sight and sound to create a strong sense of presence.
  • Users can explore and interact with this simulated environment using specialised devices.
• Augmented Reality (AR):
  • It adds digital information to the user’s existing physical surroundings. It can engage sight and sound, while keeping the real-world environment visible.
  • For example, AR can display directions, information or digital objects over the physical world.
• Mixed Reality (MR):
  • It combines the physical and digital worlds in an interactive environment.
  • It can engage sight and sound, while allowing digital objects to interact with physical surroundings. Users can see and interact with digital objects as if they were part of the real environment.

About Infrastructure Investment Trust:        

• An Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) is a SEBI-regulated investment vehicle that enables investors to invest in income-generating infrastructure assets through units of a trust.
• Objective: To provide retail investors with access to investment opportunities in infrastructure projects, which were previously only available to large institutional investors.
• Features of the Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT):
  • Structure: An InvIT has 4 parties namely; Trustee, Sponsor(s) and Investment Manager and Project Manager.
  • INVITs are created by sponsors, who are typically infrastructure companies or private equity firms.
  • The sponsor sets up the INVITs and transfers ownership of the underlying infrastructure assets to the trust.
  • The trust then issues units to investors, which represent an ownership stake in the trust and thus the underlying assets.
  • While the trustee (certified by Sebi) has the responsibility of inspecting the performance of an InvIT, sponsor(s) are promoters of the company that set up the InvIT.
  • Regulation: InvITs are regulated by the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014.

About Hydroseeding:

• It is a modern technique for sowing seeds by spraying a slurry mixture of seeds, water, fertilizers, mulch, and soil stabilizers onto the soil surface using specialized equipment.
• It aims to stabilise dump slopes, prevent soil erosion and accelerate green restoration through modern technology.
• Process of Hydroseeding:
  • Preparing Slurry: The process involves preparing a slurry of seeds, mulch, fertiliser and water. This mixture is loaded into a hydroseeder.
    • The slurry is then sprayed onto the prepared soil surface using a hose or cannon.
  • Equipment and Technology: It is carried out using purpose-built hydroseeders available in a range of tank sizes and output capacities to suit different project scales.
    • These machines are designed to properly mix fibre mulch, seed and additives while delivering an even, controlled spray pattern.
    • The machine can spray up to 50 metres and cover dump slopes up to 80 metres.
  • Applications: It is widely used for lawn development, slope stabilization, erosion control, and ecological restoration in difficult or uneven terrains.
  • Advantages:
  • Compared to traditional seeding methods, it is faster, cost-effective, and suitable for large areas.
  • It is especially useful on mine overburden dumps and rugged terrain where conventional plantation is difficult and time-consuming.
  • It controls erosion on open slopes, strengthens slopes, reduces landslide risks, promotes faster plant growth and natural greenery, retains soil moisture for germination.

About Integrated Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosol Toxicity Analysis Laboratory:

• It is a specialised facility aimed at identifying the sources, composition and potential health impacts of air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
• It is established under Mission Mausam.
• It is designed to provide real-time information on pollution sources and their relative contributions, helping authorities move beyond Air Quality Index (AQI) readings to develop targeted pollution-control measures.
• Features of AATAL:
  • It is equipped to analyse atmospheric gases, aerosols, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), metals, toxic elements and other pollutants.
  • Its capabilities will help distinguish between pollution sources, including vehicular emissions, industrial activity, biomass and crop-residue burning, construction and road dust, and pollution transported from neighbouring regions.
  • It will also examine the chemical characteristics of pollutants to improve scientific understanding of their potential toxicity and implications for public health.
  • AATAL has been integrated with IITM’s AIRWISE, or Air Quality Warning and Integrated Decision Support System for Emissions, which combines air-quality observations, forecasts and source-apportionment information.
    • AIRWISE provides forecasts at a spatial resolution of 400 metres for the next 72 hours, enabling authorities to assess how pollution levels and their likely sources may vary across different parts of Delhi.
  • The system is intended to help identify locations likely to experience deteriorating air quality and provide advance information for preventive action.
  • It would help the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) and other agencies plan targeted interventions and assess their effectiveness.