Adult exposure of atrazine alone or in combination with carbohydrate diet hastens the onset/progression of type 2 diabetes in Drosophila.

Aim: The combined impact of traditional and non-traditional risk factors of type 2 diabetes (T2D) on the development and progression of insulin resistance and associated complications is poorly understood. Therefore, we assessed the effect of moderately rich sugar diet coupled with environmental chemical exposure on the development and progression of T2D using Drosophila as a model organism.

Main Methods: We reared newly eclosed Drosophila males on a diet containing atrazine (20 μg/ml; non-traditional risk factor) and/or moderately high sucrose (0.

Altered sperm fate in the reproductive tract milieu due to oxidative stress leads to sub-fertility in type 1 diabetes females: A Drosophila-based study.

Aims: Female sub-fertility, a prominent complication due to Type 1 diabetes (T1D), is generally attributed to disturbances in menstrual cycles and/or ovarian defects/disorders. T1D women, however, are high in oxidative stress, although the impact of the same on their reproduction and associated events remains unknown. Therefore, we assessed the repercussions of elevated oxidative stress on the sperm fate (storage/utilization) in the reproductive tract milieu of T1D females and their fertility using the Drosophila T1D model (Df[dilp1-5]), which lacks insulin-like peptides and displays reduced female fertility.

Estrogen-related receptor is critical for testicular mitochondrial homeostasis and sperm motility: a Drosophila-based study.

Objective: To study the role of estrogen-related receptors (ERRs) in testicular function, with particular emphasis on mitochondrial homeostasis, testicular steroidogenesis, and sperm motility using Drosophila as a model.

Design: Experimental study.

Setting: Academic research laboratory.

Drosophila ecdysone receptor activity-based ex vivo assay to assess the endocrine disruption potential of environmental chemicals.

Insect pollinators, critical for both agricultural output and the ecosystem, are declining at an alarming levels partly due to human-made chemicals. Majority of environmental chemicals hamper the endocrine function and studies on the same in insects remain neglected. Here, we report a Drosophila-based ex vivo assay system that employs a reproductive tissue from transgenic males carrying a reporter gene (lacZ) downstream of ecdysone receptor response element (EcRE) and permits the evaluation of chemical-mediated activity modulation of all three isoforms of ecdysone receptor, which are critical for male fertility.

From "learning from the field" to jointly driving change.

The theme of the 8th edition of the Geneva Health Forum (GHF) was Improving access to health: learning from the field. While 'the field' often denotes people, patients, communities, and healthcare workers, we challenge the notion and its usage. A group of like-minded conference participants set up a working group to examine the term 'the field' and look at questions related to language, power, participation, and rights.

Xenobiotic mediated diabetogenesis: Developmental exposure to dichlorvos or atrazine leads to type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Drosophila.

The increased incidence of diabetes to the magnitude of a global epidemic is attributed to non-traditional risk factors, including exposure to environmental chemicals. However, the contribution of xenobiotic exposure during the development of an organism to the etiology of diabetes is not fully addressed. Developing stages are more susceptible to chemical insult, but knowledge on the consequence of the same to the onset of diabetes is residual.

Correction: Functional male accessory glands and fertility in Drosophila require novel ecdysone receptor.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.

Mlh1 is required for female fertility in Drosophila melanogaster: An outcome of effects on meiotic crossing over, ovarian follicles and egg activation.

Mismatch repair (MMR) system, a conserved DNA repair pathway, plays crucial role in DNA recombination and is involved in gametogenesis. The impact of alterations in MMR family of proteins (bacterial MutS and MutL homologues) on mammalian fertility is well documented. However, an insight to the role of MMR in reproduction of non-mammalian organisms is limited.

Correction: Functional male accessory glands and fertility in Drosophila require novel ecdysone receptor.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.

Functional male accessory glands and fertility in Drosophila require novel ecdysone receptor.

In many insects, the accessory gland, a secretory tissue of the male reproductive system, is essential for male fertility. Male accessory gland is the major source of proteinaceous secretions, collectively called as seminal proteins (or accessory gland proteins), which upon transfer, manipulate the physiology and behavior of mated females. Insect hormones such as ecdysteroids and juvenoids play a key role in accessory gland development and protein synthesis but little is known about underlying molecular players and their mechanism of action.

Estrogen related receptor is required for the testicular development and for the normal sperm axoneme/mitochondrial derivatives in Drosophila males.

Estrogen related receptors (ERRs), categorized as orphan nuclear receptors, are critical for energy homeostasis and somatic development. However, significance of ERRs in the development of reproductive organs/organelles/cells remain poorly understood, albeit their homology to estrogen receptors. In this context, here, we show that knockdown of ERR in the testes leads to improperly developed testes with mis-regulation of genes (aly, mia, bruce, bam, bgcn, fzo and eya) involved in spermatogenesis, resulting in reduced male fertility.

Exposure to endosulfan influences sperm competition in Drosophila melanogaster.

Dwindling male fertility due to xenobiotics is of global concern. Accordingly, male reproductive toxicity assessment of xenobiotics through semen quality analysis in exposed males, and examining progeny production of their mates is critical. These assays, in part, are biased towards monogamy.

Influence of mating histories and age on female remating behaviour in a few closely related species of Drosophila nasuta subgroup.

Female remating with more than one male leads to coexistence of sperm from different males in the same female, thus creating a selection pressure on sperm. To understand the extent of divergence in the reproductive behaviour among closely related species, in the present study, the influence of first mating histories like mating latency, duration of copulation and age of flies have been analysed on female remating behaviour in closely related Drosophila nasuta subgroup species with varying levels of reproductive isolation. The time taken for the once mated females to remate varied from 7 days in D.

The Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid protease "seminase" regulates proteolytic and post-mating reproductive processes.

Proteases and protease inhibitors have been identified in the ejaculates of animal taxa ranging from invertebrates to mammals and form a major protein class among Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid proteins (SFPs). Other than a single protease cascade in mammals that regulates seminal clot liquefaction, no proteolytic cascades (i.e.

A workshop report on HIV mHealth synergy and strategy meeting to review emerging evidence-based mHealth interventions and develop a framework for scale-up of these interventions.

mHealth is a term used to refer to mobile technologies such as personal digital assistants and mobile phones for healthcare. mHealth initiatives to support care and treatment of patients are emerging globally and this workshop brought together researchers, policy makers, information, communication and technology programmers, academics and civil society representatives for one and a half days synergy meeting in Kenya to review regional evidence based mHealth research for HIV care and treatment, review mHealth technologies for adherence and retention interventions in anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programs and develop a framework for scale up of evidence based mHealth interventions. The workshop was held in May 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya and was funded by the Canadian Global Health Research Initiatives (GHRI) and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Polyglutamic acid-based nanocomposites as efficient non-viral gene carriers in vitro and in vivo.

A series of polyethylenimine (PEI) and γ-polyglutamic acid (PGA) nanocomposites (PPGA) was prepared and evaluated in terms of their cell viability and transfection efficiency in vitro and in vivo. On complexion with pDNA, the positively charged PPGA/DNA nanocomposites resulted in a higher level of in vitro reporter gene transfection (2.7-7.

Linear PEI nanoparticles: efficient pDNA/siRNA carriers in vitro and in vivo.

Unlabelled: Linear polyethylenimine (lPEI, 25 kDa) nanoparticles' (LPN) series was synthesized by varying percentage of cross-linking with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDE) and their size, surface charge, morphology, pDNA protection/release, cytotoxicity and transfection efficiency were evaluated. Synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) were spherical in shape (size: ∼109 - 235 nm; zeta potential: +38 to +16 mV). These NPs showed increased buffering capacity with increasing percent cross-linking and also exhibited excellent transfection efficiency (i.

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of linear polyethylenimine nanoparticles.

bPEI (polyethylenimine, 25 kDa, gold standard) is highly effective in transfection efficiency owing to its high buffering capacity, however, cytotoxicity limits its use in in vivo applications. We hypothesized that partial conversion of secondary amines in IPEI to tertiary amines, while preserving the overall number of amines, would result in improved buffering capacity, which may, in turn, improve transfection efficiency of the resulting nanoparticles with cell viability comparable to that of native IPEI. IPEI was crosslinked with BDE to obtain a series of IPEI nanoparticles (LPN-1 to LPN-8) which were obtained in approximately 80-85% yield.

Gellan gum-PEI nanocomposites as efficient gene delivery agents.

Of the non-viral vectors, a cationic polymer like PEI is an attractive candidate which however, has been negatively impacted due to its marked toxicity. An anionic sugar polymer gelan gum (GG) has been introduced into PEI system to increase transfection efficiency with minimal toxicity. We showed that one of the synthesized (GP1-GP6) GG-PEI nanocomposites (NCs), GP3, exhibited negligible toxicity in in vitro (primary keratinocytes, HEK293, HeLa and HepG2 cells) and in vivo (Drosophila melanogaster) as compared to PEI or lipofectamin.

Genotoxicity and apoptosis in Drosophila melanogaster exposed to benzene, toluene and xylene: attenuation by quercetin and curcumin.

Monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) such as benzene, toluene and xylene are being extensively used for various industrial and household purposes. Exposure to these hydrocarbons, occupationally or non-occupationally, is harmful to organisms including human. Several studies tested for toxicity of benzene, toluene and xylene, and interestingly, only a few studies looked into the attenuation.

Environmental chemical mediated male reproductive toxicity: Drosophila melanogaster as an alternate animal model.

Industrialization and indiscriminate use of agrochemicals have increased the human health risk. Recent epidemiological studies raised a concern for male reproduction given their observations of reduced sperm counts and altered semen quality. Interestingly, environmental factors that include various metals, pesticides and their metabolites have been causally linked to such adversities by their presence in the semen at levels that correlate to infertility.