AbstractCarbonatites are carbonate-rich rocks of igneous origin. They form the magmas of their own that are generated in the deep mantle by low degrees of partial melting of carbonated peridotite or eclogite source rocks. They are known to occur since the Archaean times till recent, the activity showing gradual increase from older to younger times. They are commonly associated with alkaline rocks and be genetically related with them. They often induce metasomatic alteration in the country rocks forming an aureole of fenitization around them. They are host for economically important mineral deposits including rare metals and REE. They are commonly associated with the continental rifts, but are also common in the orogenic belts; but not known to occur in the intra-plate regions. The carbonatites are known to occur all over the globe, majority of the occurrences located in Africa, Fenno-Scandinavia, Karelian-Kola, Mongolia, China, Australia, South America and India. In the Indian Subcontinent carbonatites occur in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka; but so far not known to occur in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. This paper takes an overview of the carbonatite occurrences in the Indian Subcontinent in the light of recent data. The localities being discussed in detail cover a considerable time range (>2400 Ma to <0.6 Ma) from India (Hogenakal, Newania, Sevathur, Sung Valley, Sarnu-Dandali and Mundwara, and Amba Dongar), Pakistan (Permian Koga and Tertiary Pehsawar Plain Alkaline Complex which includes Loe Shilman, Sillai Patti, Jambil and Jawar), Afghanistan (Khanneshin) and Sri Lanka (Eppawala). This review provide the comprehensive information about geochemical characteristics and evolution of carbonatites in Indian Subcontinent with respect to space and time.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in India. Tobacco, alcohol, poor oral hygiene, and socio-economic factors remain causative for this high prevalence. Identification of non-invasive diagnostic markers tailored for Indian population can facilitate mass screening to reduce overall disease burden. Saliva offers non-invasive sampling and hosts a plethora of markers for OSCC diagnosis. Here, to capture the OSCC-specific salivary RNA markers suitable for Indian population, we performed RNA-sequencing of saliva from OSCC patients (n = 9) and normal controls (n = 5). Differential gene expression analysis detected an array of salivary RNAs including mRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, transfer-RNAs, and microRNAs specific to OSCC. Computational analysis and functional predictions identified protein kinase c alpha (PRKCA), miR-6087, miR-449b-5p, miR-3656, miR-326, miR-146b-5p, and miR-497-5p as potential salivary indicators of OSCC. Notably, higher expression of PRKCA, miR-6087 and miR-449b-5p were found to be associated with therapeutic resistance and poor survival, indicating their prognostic potential. In addition, sequencing reads that did not map to the human genome, showed alignments with microbial reference genomes. Metagenomic and statistical analysis of these microbial reads revealed a remarkable microbial dysbiosis between OSCC patients and normal controls. Moreover, the differentially abundant microbial taxa showed a significant association with tumor promoting pathways including inflammation and oxidative stress. Summarily, we provide an integrated landscape of OSCC-specific salivary RNAs relevant to Indian population which can be instrumental in devising non-invasive diagnostics for OSCC.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.