Regional homogeneity on resting state fMRI in patients with tinnitus

Objective:To study central functional network connections and their alterations in tinnitus patients using fMRI.Methods:Regional homogeneity(ReHo) values on fMRI were obtained from 18 tinnitus patients and 20 age and gender-matched control subjects.ReHo values were compared between tinnitus patients and control subjects to evaluate functional network connection differences.Results:Tinnitus patients showed increased ReHo values in gyrus frontalis inferior and decreased ReHo values in the anterior lobe of cerebellum in comparison with the controls.Analysis of functional network connection from the gyrus frontalis interior shows stronger connections to the middle brain(FWE,P < 0.001) and right ventral striatum(FEW,P < 0.05,small volume correction).Conclusions:The fMRI results indicate that both auditory and non-auditory centers play important roles in tinnitus.Functional connections among the auditory cortex,thalamus,medial temporal gyrus,parahippocampal gyrus and insula may be an underlying cause for the development of tinnitus.

Organic-semiconductor-assisted dielectric screening effect for stable and efficient perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells(pero-SCs)performance is essentially limited by severe non-radiative losses and ion migration.Although numerous strategies have been proposed,challenges remain in the basic understanding of their origins.Here,we report a dielectric-screening-enhancement effect for perovskite defects by using organic semiconductors with finely tuned molecular structures from the atoms level.Our method produced various perovskite films with high dielectric constant values,reduced charge capture regions,suppressed ion migration,and it provides an efficient charge transport pathway for suppressing non-radiative recombination beyond the passivation effect.The resulting pero-SCs showed a promising power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 23.35%with a high open-circuit voltage(1.22 V);and the 1-cm^(2) pero-SCs maintained an excellent PCE(21.93%),showing feasibility for scalable fabrication.The robust operational and thermal stabilities revealed that this method paved a new way to understand the degradation mechanism of pero-SCs,promoting the efficiency,stability and scaled fabrication of the pero-SCs.

PGC-1α overexpression promotes mitochondrial biogenesis to protect auditory cells against cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity

Cisplatin(CDDP)-induced ototoxicity is one of the common adverse effects of cisplatin chemotherapy.Thus far,effective approaches for attenuating hearing loss are unavailable in clinical practice.Mitochondrial biogenesis acts as a master element of mitochondrial health and is necessary for mitochondrial quality control.The current study examined whether mitochondrial biogenesis is involved in CDDP-induced ototoxicity.Herein,we showed that CDDP damaged mitochondrial function and caused death of House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti 1(HEI-OC1)cells by impairing mitochondrial biogenesis.Moreover,overexpression of peroxisome proliferatoractivated receptor-g coactivator-1a,a key factor in mitochondrial biogenesis,promoted mitochondrial biogenesis in HEI-OC1 cells and protected them against CDDP-induced cytotoxicity.These findings suggest that mitochondrial biogenesis is involved in the pathology of CDDP cytotoxicity of HEI-OC1 cells,and activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g coactivator-1a can be considered a potential therapeutic strategy to attenuate CDDP-mediated ototoxicity.