Spiral Ganglion Stem Cells Can Be Propagated and Differentiated Into Neurons and Glia

Abstract The spiral ganglion is an essential functional component of the peripheral auditory system. Most types of hearing loss are associated with spiral ganglion cell degeneration which is irreversible due to the inner ear's lack of regenerative capacity. Recent studies revealed the existence of stem cells in the postnatal spiral ganglion, which gives rise to the hope that these cells might be useful for regenerative inner ear therapies. Here, we provide an in-depth analysis of sphere-forming stem cells isolated from the spiral ganglion of postnatal mice. We show that spiral ganglion spheres have characteristics similar to neurospheres isolated from the brain. Importantly, spiral ganglion sphere cells maintain their major stem cell characteristics after repeated propagation, which enables the culture of spheres for an extended period of time. In this work, we also demonstrate that differentiated sphere-derived cell populations not only adopt the immunophenotype of mature spiral ganglion cells but also develop distinct ultrastructural features of neurons and glial cells. Thus, our work provides further evidence that self-renewing spiral ganglion stem cells might serve as a promising source for the regeneration of lost auditory neurons

Availability, accessibility, and coverage of needle and syringe programs in prisons in the European Union

Needle and syringe programs (NSPs) are among the most effective interventions to control infection transmission among people who inject drugs in prisons. This review aimed to evaluate the availability, accessibility, and coverage of NSP in prisons in the European Union countries. In line with the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses” criteria, four databases of peer-reviewed publications (PubMed/Medline, ISI Web of Science, EBSCO, and ScienceDirect), and 53 databases for grey literature were systematically searched to collect data published from January 2008 to August 2018. A total of 23,969 documents (17,297 papers and 6,672 grey documents) were identified, of them 26 were included into the study. In 2018, imprisonment rates in 28 EU countries ranged between 51 per 100,000 in Finland and 235 per 100,000 in Lithuania. Only four countries namely Germany (in one prison), Luxemburg (no coverage data were found), Romania (available in more than 50% of prisons), and Spain (in all prisons) have needle and syringe programs in prisons. Portugal stopped the program after a six-months pilot phase. Despite the protective impact of the prison-based NSP on infection transmission, only four EU countries distribute sterile syringes among people who inject drugs in prisons, and coverage of the program within these countries is very low. Since most prisoners will eventually return to the community, lack of NSP in EU prisons is not only a threat to the health of prisoners but also endangers public health

MEM-BRAIN gas separation membranes for zero-emission fossil power plants

The aim of the MEM-BRAIN project is the development and integration of gas separation membranes for zero-emission fossil power plants. This will be achieved by selective membranes with high permeability for CO2, O2 or H2, so that high-purity CO2 is obtained in a readily condensable form. The project is being implemented by the “MEM-BRAIN” Helmholtz Alliance consisting of research centres, universities and industrial partners.\ud \ud The MEM-BRAIN project focuses on the development, process engineering, system integration and energy systems analysis of different gas separation membranes for the different CO2 capture process routes in fossil power plants

# Me Too: Global progress in tackling continued custodial violence against women. The 10 year anniversary of the Bangkok Rules.

On any given day, almost 11 million people globally are deprived of their liberty. In 2020, the global female population was estimated to be 741,000, an increase of 105,000 since 2010. In order to investigate progress in the adoption of the Bangkok Rules since 2010, we conducted a legal realist assessment based on a global scoping exercise of empirical research and United Nations reporting, using detailed MESH terms across university and UN databases. We found evidence in 91 documents which directly relate to violations of the Bangkok Rules in 55 countries. By developing a realist account we document the precarious situation of incarcerated women, and continued evidence of systemic failures to protect them from custodial violence and other gender sensitive human rights breaches worldwide. Despite prison violence constituting a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, very little research (from the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia) has been conducted on custodial violence against women since 2010. Whilst standards of detention itself is a focus of UN universal periodic review, special procedures (violence against women) and concluding observations by the UN committees, very few explicitly mentioned women, and the implications of violence against them whilst incarcerated. We highlight three central aspects which hinder the full implementation of the Bangkok Rules; the past decade of a continued invisible nature of women as prisoners in the system, the continued legitimization, normalization and trivialization of violence under the pretext of security within their daily lives; and the unawareness and disregard of international (Bangkok and others) rules

Unintended consequences of drug policies experienced by young drug users in contact with the criminal justice systems

The aim of this paper is to assess to what extent prohibitive drug policies hamper the management of drug problems from the perspective of young people who have experience with the criminal justice systems (CJS). Qualitative, in-depth interviews were carried out in six European countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK) following a common interview guide to obtain comparative data on the life trajectories of drug experienced youth. Altogether 198 interviews with people aged 14–25 years were collected and analysed by national teams following a common coding book. Unintended consequences of drug policies for the individual and society were identified. Individual consequences included health consequences and traumatic experiences with law enforcement. Social consequences included those affecting social relations such as stigmatisation and those impacting on institutions, for example, focusing on drug use and neglecting other problems. This paper confirmed earlier research indicating unintended consequences of prohibitive drug policies but also added to the literature its cross-national perspective and use of young people narratives as a source of analyses. There are, however, policy measures available that may reduce the volume and range of unintended effects. Their implementation is crucial to reduce the array of unintended consequences of prohibitive drug policies

Development and evaluation of the modiolar research array – multi-centre collaborative study in human temporal bones

OBJECTIVE: Multi-centre collaborative study to develop and refine the design of a prototype thin perimodiolar cochlear implant electrode array and to assess feasibility for use in human subjects. STUDY DESIGN: Multi-centre temporal bone insertion studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The modiolar research array (MRA) is a thin pre-curved electrode that is held straight for initial insertion with an external sheath rather than an internal stylet. Between November 2006 and February 2009, six iterations of electrode design were studied in 21 separate insertion studies in which 140 electrode insertions were performed in 85 human temporal bones by 12 surgeons. These studies aimed at addressing four fundamental questions related to the electrode concept, being: (1) Could a sheath result in additional intra-cochlear trauma? (2) Could a sheath accommodate variations in cochlea size and anatomies? (3) Could a sheath be inserted via the round window? and (4) Could a sheath be safely removed once the electrode had been inserted? These questions were investigated within these studies using a number of evaluation techniques, including X-ray and microfluoroscopy, acrylic fixation and temporal bone histologic sectioning, temporal bone microdissection of cochlear structures with electrode visualization, rotational tomography, and insertion force analysis. RESULTS: Frequent examples of electrode rotation and tip fold-over were demonstrated with the initial designs. This was typically caused by excessive curvature of the electrode tip, and also difficulty in handling of the electrode and sheath. The degree of tip curvature was progressively relaxed in subsequent versions with a corresponding reduction in the frequency of tip fold-over. Modifications to the sheath facilitated electrode insertion and sheath removal. Insertion studies with the final MRA design demonstrated minimal trauma, excellent perimodiolar placement, and very small electrode dimensions within scala tympani. Force measurements in temporal bones demonstrated negligible force on cochlear structures with angular insertion depths of between 390 and 450°. CONCLUSION: The MRA is a novel, very thin perimodiolar prototype electrode array that has been developed using a systematic collaborative approach. The different evaluation techniques employed by the investigators contributed to the early identification of issues and generation of solutions. Regarding the four fundamental questions related to the electrode concept, the studies demonstrated that (1) the sheath did not result in additional intra-cochlear trauma; (2) the sheath could accommodate variations in cochlea size and anatomies; (3) the sheath was more successfully inserted via a cochleostomy than via the round window; and (4) the sheath could be safely removed once the electrode had been inserted