Because the microenvironment that supports hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) proliferation and differentiation is not fully understood, we adapted a heterotopic bone formation model as a new approach for studying the HSC microenvironment in vivo. Endogenous HSCs homed to tissue-engineered ossicles and individually sorted HSCs from ossicles were able to reconstitute lethally irradiated mice. To furt...

OBJECTIVES It is not unusual for a cochlear implantation (CI) candidate to have some type of ear malformation, in particular an abnormal course of the facial nerve (FN). In this study, we attempted to reconstruct a three-dimensional (3D) image of temporal bone structures with malformation using computed tomography (CT) imaging and examined its usefulness in the surgical planning of CI in a malf...

The story of the evolution of hearing in land vertebrates is fascinating but complex. The water-to-land transition changed the physical environment in which hearing happens so dramatically that both the peripheral receptor structures and the central auditory circuits underwent a revolution, leading to the sensitive hearing of higher-frequency airborne sound. This (r)evolution took a very long t...

Fishes have evolved a diversity of sound-generating organs and acoustic signals of various temporal and spectral content. Additionally, representatives of many teleost families such as otophysines, anabantoids, mormyrids and holocentrids possess accessory structures that enhance hearing abilities by acoustically coupling air-filled cavities to the inner ear. Contrary to the accessory hearing st...

INTRODUCTION The anatomical variations of bones in the hand are common. The existence of exostosis and shortening of metacarpal bones has been described in the literature as part of the hereditary multiple exostosis syndrome but no case has been reported with the co-existence of sesamoid ossicles in the same patient. CASE PRESENTATION We report a case with co-existence of distal ulnar and rad...

In this paper, we diagnose a new genus of Sclerodactylidae, Coronatum gen. et sp. nov., from shallow waters of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Coronatum baiensis sp. nov. has a compact calcareous ring with short posterior processes and a unique set of body wall ossicles, composed of two-pillared tables, which do not have any morphological affinities with Euthyonidiella dentata and Pseudothyone...

Cochlear nerve (CN) aplasia refers to the absence of a visible CN on oblique sagittal magnetic resonance images of the lateral aspect of the inner auditory canal (IAC). Magnetic resonance (MR) is the preferred technique in patients with sensorineural hearing loss and/or vertigo; however, computed tomography (CT) is used to evaluate the IAC or facial nerve canal. Three types of aplasia or hypopl...

We report the development of a novel otoscopy probe for assessing middle ear anatomy and function. Video imaging and phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography are combined within the same optical path. A sound stimuli channel is incorporated as well to study middle ear function. Thus, besides visualizing the morphology of the middle ear, the vibration amplitude and frequency of the eardrum a...

Three infaunal apodid sea cucumbers collected in Kushimoto, Shirahama, and Susami, the southern coast of Wakayama, Japan are described. They have different morphological characteristics body color, ossicle arrangement, internal organs, each other. First species, animal displays a large size (approximately 70–150 mm) pale color (semi-transparent pink with anterior tip brownish) was found out. Se...