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Objective: The pterion is an H-shaped suture complex. This study's goal was to determine the location of its external and internal surfaces and extension and emphasize and discuss its surgical importance.Methods: Fifty dried adult human skulls were obtained from the Department of Anatomy. A 2-mm drill bit was placed externally over the pterion, and the pterion was drilled through the bone perpendicular to the skull's surface.Results: The midpoint of the H shape in the pterion area was not at the same level on the skull's external and internal pterion surfaces. According to these measurements, the external pterion lay above the internal pterion when the skull was viewed externally. Furthermore, the internal pterion was on average longer than the external pterion. The internal and external pterions were schematized such that the skull was viewed from the outside. These areas were divided into 4 quadrants (anterior-superior, anterior-inferior, posterior-superior, and posterior-inferior) by a vertical and horizontal line. In 30 cases (60%), sulci of the middle meningeal artery's parietal branches entered the posterior-superior quadrant on the bone, whereas the artery's frontal branches were located in the anterior-superior and anterior- inferior quadrants, and the Sylvian fissure's origin was in the posterior-inferior quadrant.Conclusions: By using a subdivision into 4 quadrants, and considering our anatomic findings, we determined the way surgical procedures can be performed more easily and reliably. Even with modern localization technologies, anatomic landmarks can be useful to the neurosurgeon.

The neurotropic Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is responsible for Japanese encephalitis, an uncontrolled inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Microglia cells are the unique innate immune cell type populating the brain that cross- communicate with neurons via the CX3CR1-CX3CL1 axis. However, microglia may serve as a viral reservoir for JEV. Human microglia are able to transmit JEV infectivity to neighbouring cells in a cell-to-cell contact-dependent manner. Using JEV-treated human blood monocyte-derived microglia, the present study investigates molecular mechanisms behind cell-to-cell virus transmission by human microglia. For that purpose, JEV-associated microglia were co-cultured with JEV susceptible baby hamster kidney cells under various conditions. Here, we show that microglia hosting JEV for up to 10 days were able to transmit the virus to susceptible cells. Interestingly, neutralizing anti-JEV antibodies did not completely abrogate cell-to-cell virus transmission. Hence, intracellular viral RNA could be a contributing source of infectious virus material upon intercellular interactions. Importantly, the CX3CL1- CX3CR1 axis was a key regulator of cell-to-cell virus transmission from JEV-hosting human microglia. Our findings suggest that human microglia may be a source of infection for neuronal populations and sustain JEV brain pathogenesis in long-term infection. Moreover, the present work emphasizes on the critical role of the CX3CR1- CX3CL1 axis in JEV pathogenesis mediating transmission of infectious genomic JEV RNA.

The pectoralis major is a muscle of the upper limb girdle. This muscle has a unique morphological architectonic and a high rate of clinical applications. However, there is lack of data regarding the morphological and functional interactions of the pectoralis major with other muscle and fascial compartments. According to the applied knowledge, the “Humero-pectoral” morpho-functional concept has been postulated. The purpose of this review was the dissectible investigation of the muscle anatomy and literature review of surgical applications.

Profound anatomical knowledge is the basis for modern demands in medicine and surgery, but many countries worldwide including Australia and New Zealand have discontinued offering dissection courses to medical and dental students during the past decades. This educational project done in Australia aimed at enhancing basic and advanced anatomy teaching by engaging a sub-group of second-year undergraduate students of a compulsory prosection- and model-based anatomy course (n = 54/170) in an optional multimodal course, which should easily articulate with a vertical curriculum. With topographical cadaver dissections as core, peer student-teams prepared and peer-assessed anatomy lectures based on clinical topics, which were rated highly by the peers and teachers. Anatomical knowledge was tested by quizzes and a multiple-choice examination. Individual dissection skills were self- and teacher-assessed. A final course grade was assigned based on these assessments. The grades in the system-based compulsory course achieved by the attendees of the paralleling dissection course were compared with their peers attending other optional courses. After beginning of the semester, the students in the dissection course performed similar, significantly (P

JEV vaccine-induced chemokine receptor pattern in human microglia. Human M-MG and BdMG were treated with Alum and JEV vaccine (used at a concentration of 1.2 pg/cell) at 37 °C for 24 h. Cells were stained for the indicated chemokine receptor and analysed by flow cytometry. Representative histogram plots of (A) CC, (B) CXC and (C) CX3C chemokine receptor expressing-human M-MG (upper panel) and BdMG (lower panels) are shown. Cells were gated as in Fig. 1. (PDF 208 kb)

The quadriceps femoris is traditionally described as a muscle group composed of the rectus femoris and the three vasti. However, clinical experience and investigations of anatomical specimens are not consistent with the textbook description. We have found a second tensor-like muscle between the vastus lateralis (VL) and the vastus intermedius (VI), hereafter named the tensor VI (TVI). The aim of this study was to clarify whether this intervening muscle was a variation of the VL or the VI, or a separate head of the extensor apparatus. Twenty-six cadaveric lower limbs were investigated. The architecture of the quadriceps femoris was examined with special attention to innervation and vascularization patterns. All muscle components were traced from origin to insertion and their affiliations were determined. A TVI was found in all dissections. It was supplied by independent muscular and vascular branches of the femoral nerve and lateral circumflex femoral artery. Further distally, the TVI combined with an aponeurosis merging separately into the quadriceps tendon and inserting on the medial aspect of the patella. Four morphological types of TVI were distinguished: Independent-type (11/26), VI-type (6/26), VL-type (5/26), and Common-type (4/26). This study demonstrated that the quadriceps femoris is architecturally different from previous descriptions: there is an additional muscle belly between the VI and VL, which cannot be clearly assigned to the former or the latter. Distal exposure shows that this muscle belly becomes its own aponeurosis, which continues distally as part of the quadriceps tendon.

The mammary gland undergoes significant remodeling during pregnancy and lactation, which is fuelled by controlled mammary stem cell (MaSC) proliferation. The scarcity of human lactating breast tissue specimens and the low numbers and quiescent state of MaSCs in the resting breast have hindered understanding of both normal MaSC dynamics and the molecular determinants that drive their aberrant self-renewal in breast cancer. Here, we demonstrate that human breastmilk contains stem cells (hBSCs) with multilineage properties. Breastmilk cells from different donors displayed variable expression of pluripotency genes normally found in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). These genes included the transcription factors (TFs) OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, known to constitute the core self-renewal circuitry of hESCs. When cultured in the presence of mouse embryonic feeder fibroblasts, a population of hBSCs exhibited an encapsulated ESC-like colony morphology and phenotype and could be passaged in secondary and tertiary clonogenic cultures. While self-renewal TFs were found silenced in the normal resting epithelium, they were dramatically upregulated in breastmilk cells cultured in 3D spheroid conditions. Furthermore, hBSCs differentiated in vitro into cell lineages from all three germ layers. These findings provide evidence that breastmilk represents a novel and noninvasive source of patient-specific stem cells with multilineage potential and establish a method for expansion of these cells in culture. They also highlight the potential of these cells to be used as novel models to understand adult stem cell plasticity and breast cancer, with potential use in bioengineering and tissue regeneration.

Microglia cells are the unique residential macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS). They have a special origin, as they derive from the embryonic yolk sac and enter the developing CNS at a very early stage. They play an important role during CNS development and adult homeostasis. They have a major contribution to adult neurogenesis and neuroinflammation. Thus, they participate in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and contribute to aging. They play an important role in sustaining and breaking the blood-brain barrier. As innate immune cells, they contribute substantially to the immune response against infectious agents affecting the CNS. They play also a major role in the growth of tumours of the CNS. Microglia are consequently the key cell population linking the nervous and the immune system. This review covers all different aspects of microglia biology and pathology in a comprehensive way.