Cortical differentiation

The crosstalk between the chromaffin and adrenocortical cells is essential for the endocrine activity of the adrenal glands. This interaction is also likely important for tumorigenesis and progression of adrenocortical cancer and pheochromocytoma. We developed a unique in vitro 3D model of the whole adrenal gland called Adrenoid consisting in adrenocortical carcinoma H295R and pheochromocytoma MTT cell lines. Adrenoids showed a round compact morphology with a growth rate significantly higher compared to MTT-spheroids...

Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), single-cell ATAC sequencing (scATAC-seq), and single-cell spatial transcriptomics to characterize murine cortical OPCs throughout postnatal life. During development, we identified two groups of differentially localized PDGFRα+ OPCs that are transcriptionally and epigenetically distinct. One group (active, or actOPCs) is metabolically active and enriched in white matter. The second (homeostatic, or hOPCs) is less active, enriched in gray matter, and predicted to derive from actOPCs...

Psychosis is characterized by a diminished ability of the brain to distinguish externally driven activity patterns from self-generated activity patterns. Antipsychotic drugs are a class of small molecules with relatively broad binding affinity for a variety of neuromodulator receptors that, in humans, can prevent or ameliorate psychosis. How these drugs influence the function of cortical circuits, and in particular their ability to distinguish between externally and self-generated activity patterns, is still largely unclear...

BACKGROUND: The behavioral manifestations and neurophysiological responses to sedation can assist in understanding brain function after neurological damage, and can be described by cortical functional connectivity. Glioma patients may experience neurological deficits that are not clinically detectable before sedation. We hypothesized that patients with gliomas exhibit distinct cortical connectivity patterns compared to non-neurosurgical patients during sedation. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of a previously published prospective observational study...

Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) represents a group of diverse localized cortical lesions that are highly epileptogenic and occur due to abnormal brain development caused by genetic mutations, involving the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). These somatic mutations lead to mosaicism in the affected brain, posing challenges to unravel the direct and indirect functional consequences of these mutations. To comprehensively characterize the impact of mTOR mutations on the brain, we employed here a multimodal approach in a preclinical mouse model of FCD type II (Rheb), focusing on spatial omics techniques to define the proteomic and lipidomic changes...

INTRODUCTION: Dysphagia commonly occurs after stroke, yet the mechanisms of post-stroke corticobulbar plasticity are not well understood. While cortical activity associated with swallowing actions is bihemispheric, prior research has suggested that plasticity of the intact cortex may drive recovery of swallowing after unilateral stroke. Age may be an important factor as it is an independent predictor of dysphagia after stroke and neuroplasticity may be reduced with age. Based on previous clinical studies, we hypothesized that cranial muscle activating volumes may be expanded in the intact hemisphere and would contribute to swallowing function...

Unlocking the full dimensionality of single-cell RNA sequencing data (scRNAseq) is the next frontier to a richer, fuller understanding of cell biology. We introduce q-diffusion, a framework for capturing the coexpression structure of an entire library of genes, improving on state-of-the-art analysis tools. The method is demonstrated via three case studies. In the first, q-diffusion helps gain statistical significance for differential effects on patient outcomes when analyzing the CALGB/SWOG 80405 randomized phase III clinical trial, suggesting precision guidance for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer...

The pathological hallmarks of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are degeneration of the primary motor cortex grey matter (GM) and corticospinal tract (CST) resulting in upper motor neuron (UMN) dysfunction. Conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows abnormal CST hyperintensity in some UMN-predominant ALS patients (ALS-CST+) but not in others (ALS-CST-). In addition to the CST differences, we aimed to determine whether GM degeneration differs between ALS-CST+ and ALS-CST- patients by cortical thickness (CT), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and fractal dimension analyses...

INTRODUCTION: Ewing sarcoma (ES) is a malignant and aggressive bony tumor affecting the most common age group of 5-20 years. It constitutes 10%-15% of all bone sarcomas and is the second most common primary malignant bone tumor after osteosarcoma. It usually presents with pain, which is typically constant and progressive in nature. The primary source of pain is due to the instability of the spine to support the weight of the body, the vertebral body's expanding cortices due to the growing mass, compression of nerve roots due to tumour mass, pathologic fractures, spinal cord compression, and invasion of tissue by the tumour mass...

INTRODUCTION: ?Introduction: Periosteal chondromas are rare, slow-growing, benign cartilaginous tumors arising from the cortical surface of the bone, beneath the periosteal membrane. Typically affect young males, the most common site being the proximal humerus. There have been no reported cases of periosteal chondroma of the talus in the literature. CASE REPORT: A 9-year-old Indian boy presented with a 1.5-year history of atraumatic right ankle pain and swelling, exacerbated by walking, with limited dorsiflexion...

Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) has the ability to invade human cortical bones and cause intracellular infections in osteoblasts, which may lead to a long-term infection that is difficult to eliminate. It is critical to identify the underlying mechanisms of the osteoblast response to the intracellular S. aureus . More recently, multiple circular RNA (circRNA) functions have been identified, including serving as protein scaffolds or miRNA sponges and being translated into polypeptides. The role that circRNAs play in intracellular S...

Intracortical microelectrodes (IMEs) are devices designed to be implanted into the cerebral cortex for various neuroscience and neuro-engineering applications. A critical feature of these devices is their ability to detect neural activity from individual neurons. Currently, IMEs are limited by chronic failure, largely considered to be caused by the prolonged neuroinflammatory response to the implanted devices. Over the decades, characterization of the neuroinflammatory response has grown in sophistication, with the most recent advances including advanced genomics and spatially resolved transcriptomics...

INTRODUCTION: Low energy availability due to excessive exercise lowers bone mass and impairs various physiological functions, including immunity and hematopoiesis. We focused on Cxcl12 abundant reticular (CAR) cells, which are bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and are essential for the maintenance of hematopoietic and immune cells in bone marrow. We examine the functional changes in CAR cells resulting from dietary restriction combined with exercise. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five-week-old wild-type female mice were divided into an ad libitum group (CON), a 60% dietary restriction group (DR), an ad libitum with exercise group (CON + ex), and a 60% dietary restriction with exercise group (DR + ex)...

OBJECTIVES: To explore the value of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, including intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM), T1 mapping, and T2 mapping, in assessing the microstructural and perfusion changes in the kidneys of rats with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). METHODS: An IUGR rat model was established through a low-protein diet during pregnancy. Offspring from pregnant rats on a low-protein diet were randomly divided into an IUGR 8-week group and an IUGR 12-week group, while offspring from pregnant rats on a normal diet were divided into a normal 8-week group and a normal 12-week group ( n =8 for each group)...

Bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferations (BPOPs) are distinct clinical-pathological entities that demonstrate combinations of atypical-appearing osseous and chondromatous tissues. These lesions are usually reactive in nature. Histopathologically, 'bizarre' cartilage is a characteristic feature of this lesion. BPOPs usually represent slow-growing painless bony hard protuberances that arise from the surface of affected bone cortices, typically the metacarpals, metatarsals, and phalanges. The occurrence of these lesions in the skull and jaws is sporadic...

INTRODUCTION: Targeted temperature management (TTM) is considered to be a neuroprotective strategy during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) assisted procedures, possibly through the activation of cold shock proteins. We therefore investigated the effects of mild compared with deep hypothermia on the neuroinflammatory response and cold shock protein expression after CPB in rats. METHODS: Wistar rats were subjected to 1 hr of mild (33 °C) or deep (18 °C) hypothermia during CPB or sham procedure...

We retrospectively analyzed data from 15 patients, with a normal pre-operative cognitive performance, undergoing awake surgery for left fronto-temporal low-grade glioma. We combined a pre-surgical measure (fMRI maps of motor- and language-related centers) with intra-surgical measures (MNI-registered cortical sites data obtained during intra-operative direct electrical stimulation, DES, while they performed the two most common language tasks: number counting and picture naming). Selective DES effects along the precentral gyrus/inferior frontal gyrus (and/or the connected speech articulation network) were obtained...

The traditional models of reading development describe how language processing and word decoding contribute to reading comprehension and how impairments in word decoding, a defining feature of dyslexia, affect reading comprehension outcomes. However, these models do not include word and sentence reading (contextual reading) fluency, both of which engage executive functions, with notably decreased performance in children with dyslexia. In the current study, we compared cortical thickness and sulcal depth (CT/SD) in the cingulo-opercular (CO) executive functions brain network in children with dyslexia and typical readers and examined associations with word vs...

OBJECTIVES: Mild cognitive impairment presenting with an amnestic syndrome (aMCI) and amyloid positivity is considered due to AD. Many subjects, however, can show an overall very slow progression relevant for differential diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. This study assessed PET biomarkers, including brain glucose metabolism, tau, and amyloid load, in a series of comparable aMCI at baseline, clinically evaluated at follow-up. METHODS: We included 72 aMCI subjects from Geneva Memory Center (N = 31) and ADNI cohorts (N = 41), selected based on available FDG-PET, tau-PET, amyloid-PET, and clinical follow-up (2...

BACKGROUND: Recently, the osteogenic potential of Adiponectin-labeled adipogenic lineage progenitors (Adipoq-lineage progenitors) in bone marrow has been observed to support bone maintenance and repair. However, little is known about the function of Schnurri-3 (SHN3, also known as HIVEP3) in other mesenchymal lineage cells, apart from its negative regulation of bone formation on osteoblasts. METHOD: In this study, we used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) profiling to demonstrate that Adipoq-lineage progenitors express higher levels of Shn3 compared to other mesenchymal cell populations in mice and humans...