Cochlear neural degeneration disrupts hearing in background noise by increasing auditory cortex internal noise

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Auditory Corticothalamic Neurons Are Recruited by Motor Preparatory Inputs

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β-Catenin stabilization promotes proliferation and increase in cardiomyocyte number in chick embryonic epicardial explant culture

Cardiomyocyte (CM) differentiation from proepicardial organ- (PEO) and embryonic epicardium (eEpi)-derived cells or EPDCs in a developing heart emerges as a wide interest in purview of cardiac repair and regenerative medicine. eEpi originates from the precursor PEO and EPDCs, which contribute to several cardiac cell types including smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and CMs during cardiogenesis. Here in this report, we have analyzed several cardiac lineage-specific marker gene expressions between PEO and eEpi cells. We have found that PEO-derived cells show increased level of CM lineage-specific marker gene expression compared to eEpi cells. Moreover, Wnt signaling activation results in increased level of CM-specific marker gene expression in both PEO and eEpi cells in culture. Interestingly, Wnt signaling activation also increases the number of proliferating and sarcomeric myosin (Mf20)-positive cells in eEpi explant culture. Together, this data suggests that eEpi cells as a source for CM differentiation and Wnt signaling mediator, β-catenin, might play an important role in CM differentiation from eEpi cells in culture.     

Characterizing thrombus with multiple red blood cell compositions by optical coherence tomography attenuation coefficient

Embolectomy is one of the emergency procedures performed to remove emboli. Assessing the composition of human blood clots is an important diagnostic factor and could provide guidance for an appropriate treatment strategy for interventional physicians. Immunostaining has been used to identity compositions of clots as a gold-standard procedure, but it is time-consuming and cannot be performed in situ. Here, we proposed that the optical attenuation coefficient of optical coherence tomography (OCT) can be a reliable indicator as a new imaging modality to differentiate clot compositions. Fifteen human blood clots with multiple red blood cell (RBC) compositions from 21% to 95% were prepared using healthy human whole blood. A homogeneous gelatin phantom experiment and numerical simulation based on the Lambert–Beer's law were examined to verify the validity of the attenuation coefficient estimation. The results displayed that optical attenuation coefficients were strongly correlated with RBC compositions. We reported that attenuation coefficients could be a promising biomarker to guide the choice of an appropriate interventional device in a clinical setting and assist in characterizing blood clots.