While the correlation between diabetes during pregnancy and birth defects is well-established, how hyperglycemia causes developmental abnormalities remains unclear. In this study, we developed a novel "hyperglycemic" chicken embryonic model by administrating various doses of glucose to fertilized eggs at embryonic stages HH16 or HH24. When the embryos were collected at HH35, the LD50 was 1.57 g/Kg under HH16 treatment and 0.93 g/Kg under HH24 treatment, indicating that "hyperglycemic" environments can be lethal for the embryos. When exposed to a dose equal to or higher than 1 g/Kg glucose at HH16 or HH24, more than 40% of the surviving chicken embryos displayed heart defects and/or limb defects. The limb defects were associated with proliferation defects of both the wing and leg buds indicated by reduced numbers of p-H3S10 labeled cells. These limb defects were also associated with ectopic apoptosis in the leg bud and expression changes of key apoptotic genes. Furthermore, glucose treatment induced decreased expression of genes involved in Shh-signaling, chondrogenesis, and digit patterning in the limb bud. In summary, our data demonstrated that a high-glucose environment induces congenital heart and limb defects associated with disrupted cell proliferation and apoptosis, possibly through depressed Shh-signaling.Adipocyte differentiation is an essential part of adipose tissue development, and is closely related to obesity and obesity-related diseases. In this study, we found that the expression of PPARγ, RUVBL2 and Adiponectin were concurrently obviously increased in the 5th-7th day of 3T3-L1 cell differentiation. PPARγ overexpression or the PPARγ activator facilitated Adiponectin trafficking and secretion and upregulated RUVBL2 expression as well as AS160 phosphorylation during adipogenic differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells. Consistently RUVBL2 overexpression also enhanced the polymerization and secretion of Adiponectin, in contrast, RUVBL2 knockdown reduced Adiponectin secretion. Further, PPARγ significantly enhanced RUVBL2 promoter activity and transcription. The progressive deletions and mutations of RUVBL2 promoter for PPARγ binding sites suggested that the PPARγ binding motif situated at -804/-781 bp is an essential component required for RUVBL2 promoter activity. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays determined that PPARγ can directly interact with the RUVBL2 promoter DNA. Taken together, these data suggest that PPARγ promotes the expression, polymerization and secretion of Adiponectin by activating RUVBL2 transcriptionally, which accelerates 3T3-L1 cell differentiation.India is the world's largest milk producing country because of massive contribution made by cattle and buffaloes. In the present investigation, comprehensive comparative profiling of transcriptomic landscape of milk somatic cells of Sahiwal cattle and Murrah buffaloes was carried out. Genes with highest transcript abundance in both species were enriched for biological processes such as lactation, immune response, cellular oxidant detoxification and response to hormones. Analysis of differential expression identified 377 significantly up-regulated and 847 significantly down-regulated genes with fold change >1.5 in Murrah buffaloes as compared to Sahiwal cattle (padj less then 0.05). Marked enrichment of innate and adaptive immune response related GO terms and higher expression of genes for various host defense peptides such as lysozyme, defensin β and granzymes were evident in buffaloes. Genes related to ECM-receptor interaction, complement and coagulation cascades, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and keratinization pathway showed more abundant expression in cattle. Network analysis of the up-regulated genes delineated highly connected genes representing immunity and haematopoietic cell lineage (CBL, CD28, CD247, PECAM1 and ITGA4). For the down-regulated dataset, genes with highest interactions were KRT18, FGFR1, GPR183, ITGB3 and DKK3. Our results lend support to more robust immune mechanisms in buffaloes, possibly explaining lower susceptibility to mammary infections as compared to cattle.As overweight/obesity prevalence increases in sub-Saharan Africa, information is needed about factors influencing food purchases in households with overweight members. This study assessed food purchasing decisions of Malawian mothers with young children (N = 54 dry season, N = 55 rainy season) among whom the mother, child, or both were overweight. Research assistants completed structured observations of mothers shopping for food during the dry season and of the types and quantities of foods in mothers' homes during the rainy season. After each observation, research assistants conducted an in-depth interview about factors that influenced food purchases, including asking mothers to sort 12 factors into piles that always, sometimes, or never influence their food purchases. Observations showed mothers most often shopped at outdoor markets to buy foods needed to prepare relish, such as tomatoes (71%), green leafy vegetables (58%), cooking oil (58%), and fish (40%). At home, maize flour (80%) and salt (66%) were the most common foods. Pile sorts and in-depth interviews revealed cost, taste preferences, freshness, and healthiness were the strongest factors influencing food purchases. Mothers described buying a smaller quantity or making substitutions (e.g., fish instead of meat) if a food is too expensive. Many mothers reported buying foods their family likes and prioritizing children's preferences.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/oligomycin-a.html  Freshness of foods, especially fruits and vegetables, and whether foods were perceived to be healthy also influenced food purchases, but mothers' knowledge of which foods were healthy was mixed. Mothers used some of their minimal funds to buy unhealthy foods (e.g., packaged or fried snacks) for their children, despite their overall emphasis on food cost and healthiness. These findings can be used by programs to reinforce healthy and decrease unhealthy food purchases by mothers with young children in Malawi.Electrically responsive drug delivery is an attractive approach for the localised, tuneable release of drugs to meet therapeutic demands. Conducting polymers and hydrogels have been explored individually as materials for drug delivery applications with hybrids of these two materials offering potential to extend the range and amount of drug delivered, thereby creating new opportunities to achieve real-world benefit. Although accurate and long-term on-demand release of drugs through conducting polymer hydrogels still presents challenges, these are promising materials for the next generation of electrically responsive drug delivery devices. Here we review the fabrication methods and properties of conducting polymer hydrogels, relevant to drug delivery. In addition, the mechanisms behind drug loading and release are discussed, and applications for these systems presented. The current state of the field is discussed, alongside future steps required to achieve successful translation of these materials to the clinic.