The Eastern Ghats Belt (EGB) has been extensively studied by the geoscientific community; however, this communication reports unique mineral assemblages that have not been documented previously. This study documents the occurrence of sapphirine, spinel, orthopyroxene, sodic-gedrite, calcic-amphibole, biotite and plagioclase assemblage indicating in ultrahigh temperature (UHT) metamorphic conditions. The significance of this study lies in the peculiarity of sapphirine being present within anorthite matrix which has been reported for the first time from the Indian subcontinent. The studied assemblage has been correlated with the more or less similar assemblage of rock called ‘Sakenites’ reported from southern Madagascar to correlate the most probable source rock ‘anorthosites’ that underwent metamorphic transformations and led to the unique UHT mineral assemblage. The Na-rich gedrite identified within the assemblage represents a relict mineral indicative of high-grade amphibolite-facies metamorphism. The derived pressure–temperature (P-T) trajectory reveals a decompression path with almost uniformly decreasing P-T conditions in contrast to the commonly reported isothermal decompression (ITD) path from various other domains and provinces of the EGB. The corresponding retrograde assemblage has been recalibrated by the sequential removal of sapphirine and corroborated with T-X (H2O) constraints.

The analyzed EMP U-Th-Pb monazite chemical age constraints suggest mesoproterozoic to neoproterozoic episodes corresponding to a pair of ∼959 Ma and ∼846 Ma thermal events. These metamorphic events have been correlated to reconstructing the Rodinian supercontinent at ∼959 Ma and the initiation of its subsequent break-up at ∼846 Ma.

The study area Sonapahar is an integral part of Shillong Meghalaya Gneissic Complex (SMGC), which is located in the Northeastern part of India. This complex mainly comprises metamorphic formations spanning from Upper Amphibolite to Ultra-high temperature granulite, interspersed with various igneous intrusions. In this study, particular attention is directed towards unravelling the metamorphic history of Mg-Al granulite. For the very first time, we establish the pressure–temperature (P-T) trajectory of the Mg-Al granulite from Sonapahar, SMGC. Employing conventional thermobarometry along with winTWQ analysis, the inferred metamorphic conditions for this granulite reveal temperatures exceeding 900°C and pressures of approximately >8 kbar. These conditions firmly indicate the presence of ultra-high-temperature metamorphism. By utilizing the Perple_X software in the MnO-Na2O-CaO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-TiO2-Fe2O3 compositional system, we construct a P-T pseudosection. This gives a clockwise P-T path, signifying an episode of cooling (+ minor decompression). Such a pattern also suggests rapid cooling of the tectonically-thickened crust. Concurrently, a geochemical exploration of trace and rare earth elements in the rocks offers further insights. These investigations give an idea about the protolith, having a clay-to-sandstone in nature. Additionally, chemical data from monazite within the studied rock provide a weighted mean age of 682 Ma for the peak metamorphic stage. This age aligns with the global Pan-African orogenic events. The biotite K-Ar isotopic geochronology from the symplectite position provides decompression history or cooling age of 442 Ma. This age corresponds to a period after the last peak metamorphic phase that occurred during the Pan-African thermal event.

Centrality measures aim to indicate who is important in a network. Various notions of ‘being important’ give rise to different centrality measures. In this paper, we study how important the central vertices are for the connectivity structure of the network, by investigating how the removal of the most central vertices affects the number of connected components and the size of the giant component. We use local convergence techniques to identify the limiting number of connected components for locally converging graphs and centrality measures that depend on the vertex’s neighbourhood. For the size of the giant, we prove a general upper bound. For the matching lower bound, we specialise to the case of degree centrality on one of the most popular models in network science, the configuration model, for which we show that removal of the highest-degree vertices destroys the giant most.

We studied the genetic polymorphism of beta-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) whey protein in Gangatiri zebu cows for this Research Communication. The polymorphic nature of milk protein fractions and their association with milk production traits, composition and quality has attracted several efforts in evaluating the allelic distribution of protein locus as a potential dairy trait marker. Genetic variants of β-Lg have highly significant effects on casein number (B > A) and protein recovery (B > A) and also determine the yield of cheese dry matter (B > A). Molecular techniques of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and high-resolution accurate mass-spectroscopy were applied to characterize the β-Lg protein obtained from the Gangatiri breed milk. Sequence analysis of β-Lg showed the presence of variant B having UniProt database accession number P02754, coded on the PAEP gene. Our study can provide reference and guidance for the selection of superior milk (having β-LgB) from this indigenous breed that could potentially give a good yield of β-Lg for industrial applications.

Immunoactivation depends upon the antigen potential to modulate T-cell repertoires. The present study has enumerated the effect of 61 kDa recombinant Leishmania donovani co-factor-independent phosphoglycerate mutase (rLd-iPGAM) on mononuclear cells of healthy and treated visceral leishmaniasis subjects as well as on THP-1 cell line. rLd-iPGAM stimulation induced higher expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the phagocytic cell, its receptor and CD69 on T-cell subsets. These cellular activations resulted in upregulation of host-protective cytokines IL-2, IL-12, IL-17, tumour necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ, and downregulation of IL-4, IL-10 and tumour growth factor-β. This immune polarization was also evidenced by upregulation of nuclear factor-κ light-chain enhancer of activated B cells p50 and regulated expression of suppressor of mother against decapentaplegic protein-4. rLd-iPGAM stimulation also promoted lymphocyte proliferation and boosted the leishmaniacidal activity of macrophages by upregulating reactive oxygen species. It also induced 1·8-fold higher release of nitric oxide (NO) by promoting the transcription of inducible nitric oxide synthase gene. Besides, in silico analysis suggested the presence of major histocompatibility complex class I and II restricted epitopes, which can proficiently trigger CD8+ and CD4+ cells, respectively. This study reports rLd-iPGAM as an effective immunoprophylactic agent, which can be used in future vaccine design.