A ROCK inhibitor permits survival of dissociated human embryonic stem cells.

Poor survival of human embryonic stem (hES) cells after cell dissociation is an obstacle to research, hindering manipulations such as subcloning. Here we show that application of a selective Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, Y-27632, to hES cells markedly diminishes dissociation-induced apoptosis, increases cloning efficiency (from approximately 1% to approximately 27%) and facilitates subcloning after gene transfer. Furthermore, dissociated hES cells treated with Y-27632 are protected from apoptosis even in serum-free suspension (SFEB) culture and form floating aggregates.

Heterogeneous epileptogenicity and cortical function within malformations of cortical development: a case report.

The authors report a 24-year-old patient with intractable partial epilepsy and massive malformations of cortical development (MCD). Subdural EEG recordings of habitual seizures showed heterogeneous epileptogenicity, and visual evoked potential was recorded within the MCD just adjacent to the most active epileptogenic focus. Resection of the small cortical area presumably with core epileptogenicity, while sparing the cortical functional area, improved seizure outcome without any postoperative functional deficits.

Conversion of semantic information into phonological representation: a function in left posterior basal temporal area.

A unique feature of Japanese language is that its written sentences consist of both morphograms (kanji) and syllabograms (kana). Despite extensive research by PET, functional MRI and magnetoencephalography, the issues of the difference (or the similarities) between the processing of kanji and kana, and between word reading and object/picture naming have not been resolved as yet. This study investigated the function of the posterior basal temporal area in the language dominant hemisphere in auditory and visual language processing, with special emphasis on semantic and phonological recognition.