Amniotic fluid-derived stem cells as an effective cell source for transplantation therapy in stroke

This review examines stem cells harvested from human amniotic fluid and considers their possible applications in regenerative medicine, specifically for stroke therapy. Providing an early-stage, highly differentiable source of mesenchymal stem cells, amniotic fluid shows the potential to be effective in the development of future stem cell-based transplantation. This paper underscores the importance of pursuing amniotic fluid as a stem cell source in stroke therapy, citing both the characteristics and the demonstrated functional benefits of these cells in animal models. Additional research is required to discover the full range of amniotic fluid-derived stem cells′ (AFSCs) applications but these cells have thus far demonstrated the ability to be applied to a wide array of existing and future treatment methods. Both amniotic fluid- and amnion membrane-derived stem cells (AMSCs) have their merits, and this assessment will accordingly provide a comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of both cell sources

Translational research in early neuroscience careers of high school students

Este artículo presenta los resultados del Proyecto de Investigación Técnica realizado en la Facultad de Ingeniería bajo la dirección del Dr. Ingeniero Alvaro Correa Arroyave y cuyo objetivo general es el diseño y construcción del equipo de corte directo para suelos. Se estudia el significado de la resistencia al corte en suelos y la importancia de los parámetros C y  O en los modelos utilizados para el diseño de obras de ingeniería, en especial en el nivel de seguridad que se debe garantizar tanto en su construcción como durante su vida útil. La confiabilidad de estos modelos depende principalmente de la manera con que se desarrollan los ensayos de laboratorio, en donde se trata de simular en formar conveniente el comportamiento del suelo ante las solicitaciones inducidas por el hombre o la misma naturaleza. Se presentan las características básicas del equipo construido que cumplen con las normas internacionales ASTM-3080n e incorporan innovaciones que responden a las necesidades observadas durante la investigación preliminar. Se efectuaron ejercicios de calibración cuyos resultados demuestran la idoneidad de este equipo de laboratorio

Neural activity induced by sensory stimulation can drive large-scale cerebrospinal fluid flow during wakefulness in humans.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow maintains healthy brain homeostasis, facilitating solute transport and the exchange of brain waste products. CSF flow is thus important for brain health, but the mechanisms that control its large-scale movement through the ventricles are not well understood. While it is well established that CSF flow is modulated by respiratory and cardiovascular dynamics, recent work has also demonstrated that neural activity is coupled to large waves of CSF flow in the ventricles during sleep. To test whether the temporal coupling between neural activity and CSF flow is in part due to a causal relationship, we investigated whether CSF flow could be induced by driving neural activity with intense visual stimulation. We manipulated neural activity with a flickering checkerboard visual stimulus and found that we could drive macroscopic CSF flow in the human brain. The timing and amplitude of CSF flow was matched to the visually evoked hemodynamic responses, suggesting neural activity can modulate CSF flow via neurovascular coupling. These results demonstrate that neural activity can contribute to driving CSF flow in the human brain and that the temporal dynamics of neurovascular coupling can explain this effect