Policy of foreign direct investment liberalisation in India: implications for retail sector

This study has analysed the impact of liberalisation of Indian economy and FDI policy on the retail sector since its implementation in the 1990s. It also further analyses sub-categories by investigating its impact on the unorganised retail sector and the flow of FDI in single-brand retail and multi-brand retail sectors. A comprehensive and critical review of the existing evidence on the subject was carried out, and descriptive statistical analysis of data from 1991 to 2013 was performed which leads to conclude that the policy of FDI liberalisation has proved to provide diversification and sustainable development to the Indian economy and specifically retail sector which is considered to be one of the significant pillars of economy. Furthermore, for continuous growth of the economy, it seems vital to encourage more investment in other sectors by liberalising the restrictive policies

Ashwagandha Derived Withanone Targets TPX2-Aurora A Complex: Computational and Experimental Evidence to its Anticancer Activity

Cancer is largely marked by genetic instability. Specific inhibition of individual proteins or signalling pathways that regulate genetic stability during cell division thus hold a great potential for cancer therapy. The Aurora A kinase is a Ser/Thr kinase that plays a critical role during mitosis and cytokinesis and is found upregulated in several cancer types. It is functionally regulated by its interactions with TPX2, a candidate oncogene. Aurora A inhibitors have been proposed as anticancer drugs that work by blocking its ATP binding site. This site is common to other kinases and hence these inhibitors lack specificity for Aurora A inhibition in particular, thus advocating the need of some alternative inhibition route. Previously, we identified TPX2 as a cellular target for withanone that selectively kill cancer cells. By computational approach, we found here that withanone binds to TPX2-Aurora A complex. In experiment, withanone treatment to cancer cells indeed resulted in dissociation of TPX2-Aurora A complex and disruption of mitotic spindle apparatus proposing this as a mechanism of the anticancer activity of withanone. From docking analysis, non-formation/disruption of the active TPX2-Aurora A association complex could be discerned. Our MD simulation results suggesting the thermodynamic and structural stability of TPX2-Aurora A in complex with withanone further substantiates the binding. We report a computational rationale of the ability of naturally occurring withanone to alter the kinase signalling pathway in an ATP-independent manner and experimental evidence in which withanone cause inactivation of the TPX2-Aurora A complex. The study demonstrated that TPX2-Aurora A complex is a target of withanone, a potential natural anticancer drug

VERTICO: The Virgo Environment Traced in CO Survey

Galaxie

Non-target effects of bioinoculants on rhizospheric microbial communities of Cajanus cajan

"Bioinoculants" have become a useful, environment-friendly tool in agriculture to increase crop yield. Previous work has shown that Cajanus cajan, India's most important pulse, can profit considerably from applications of the three bioinoculants, viz. Bacillus megaterium MTCC 453, Pseudomonas fluorescens LPK2 and Trichoderma harzianum MTCC 801. For careful "risk assessment", it is of interest to investigate the effect of application of such bioinoculants not only on the target crop, but also on the indigenous rhizospheric microbial community of that particular plant. To do so C cajan treated with bioinoculants, individually as well as in combinations, was grown in pots under field conditions. Fingerprinting, using automated ribosomal spacer analysis showed distinct, highly diverse bacterial and fungal rhizospheric communities, which were differently influenced by the applied bioinoculants. Two important groups of soil microbes, actinomycetes and beta-proteobacteria, were quantified using qPCR and shown to be little affected by the bioinoculants. Additionally, rhizosphere populations of groups to which the inoculants belonged were enumerated on selective media. An increase in abundance of phosphate solubilizing Bacillus sp. (73%), Pseudomonas sp. (42%), and fungi (53%) was observed with triple inoculation at maturity, as compared to control plants. Thus, there was no negative impact of the bioinoculants used in the study on specific groups of indigenous microbial community. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved