Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent sensory disorders affecting the human nervous system. Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a physiological process that facilitates the reversible and dynamic assembly of biomolecular condensates. Increasing evidence suggests that LLPS plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of hereditary hearing loss. Nevertheless, there is a conspicuous lack of systematic investigations exploring the impact of LLPS abnormalities on the etiology of hereditary hearing loss. In this review, we examine the mechanisms by which dysfunctions in LLPS contribute to hereditary hearing loss, specifically focusing on its effects on mechanoelectrical transduction in hair bundles, transcriptional regulation, post-transcriptional modifications, the actin cytoskeleton, ion homeostasis within the inner ear, and energy and redox homeostasis. Furthermore, we evaluate the considerable potential of targeting LLPS as a therapeutic approach for hearing loss and propose innovative perspectives on LLPS that may guide future research initiatives in the field of auditory disorders.
Humans ; Animals ; Hearing Loss/physiopathology* ; Phase Separation

Objective:To explore the clinical outcomes of locking compression plating (LCP) in the treatment of periprosthetic fracture (PPF) of the distal femur in the aged patients.Methods:A retrospective study was performed to analyze the 31 aged patients who had been treated at Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital to Nantong University for PPF of the distal femur with LCP between June 2012 and May 2023. There were 27 females and 4 males with an age of (80.2±6.1) years. According to the Unified Classification System (UCS), 18 PPFs were classified as type Ⅴ.3B1 and 6 PPFs as type Ⅴ.3B2 after total knee arthroplasty and 7 PPFs as type Ⅳ.3C after total hip arthroplasty. The patients were fixated with a lateral single plate in 25 cases, and with lateral and medial dual plates in 6 cases. The surgical time, intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization time, postoperative weight-bearing time, fracture healing time, and knee joint function and complications during follow-up were recorded.Results:For the 25 patients undergoing fixation with a lateral single plate, the surgical time was (58.7±7.9) minutes, the intraoperative blood loss (78.0±15.1) mL, the hospitalization time (6.9±1.6) days, the postoperative weight-bearing time (5.9±1.4) days, and the follow-up time 37 (15, 51) months. For the 6 patients undergoing fixation with lateral and medial dual plates, the surgical time was (186.6±9.8) minutes, the intraoperative blood loss (1,256.7±231.2) mL, the hospitalization time (17.8±3.3) days, the postoperative weight-bearing time (3.6±0.6) days, and the follow-up time 17 (16, 21) months. The fracture healing time was (14.9±2.0) and (18.7±2.6) weeks, respectively, for patients fixed with single and double steel plates. By the scoring criteria of the American Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), the knee joint function was evaluated at the last follow-up as excellent in 10 cases and as good in 15 cases for the 25 patients undergoing fixation with a lateral single plate, and as good for all the 6 patients undergoing fixation with lateral and medial dual plates. No patient experienced such complications as incision infection, bone nonunion, or internal fixation failure during the follow-up period.Conclusions:LCP fixation can achieve satisfactory outcomes in the treatment of PPF of the distal femur in the aged patients. As fixation with a single lateral femoral plate is suitable for most of the aged patients with PPF of the distal femur, it can be used as the first choice. Fixation with dual plates can provide stronger stability, but its indications should be strictly controlled.

Aim To explore the effects and mecha-nisms of choro-oxime derivatives on spatial learning and memory impairment in Kunming mice and SD rats induced by scopolamine and Aβ1-42 , respectively. Methods 40 Kunming mice were randomly divided into 5 groups: control group, model group, donepezil treatment group, arimoclomol treatment group and TCO-2 treatment group. There were 8 mice in each group. Mice of control group were established by intra-peritoneal injection of saline, and mice of other groups were injected with scopolamine and caused memory im-pairment. Both control group and model group were treated with solvent by intraperitoneal administration;donepezil treatment group received donepezil by intra-gastric administration; arimoclomol treatment group and TCO-2 treatment group were given the correspond-ing drugs by abdominal injection, respectively. The solvent and drugs were given at the same time every morning for 8 days. Spatial learning and memory abili-ty were tested by Morris water maze from the fifth day of the drugs administration. 40 SD rats were divided into 5 groups the same as the dementia model men-tioned above. Mice of control group were established by intracerebroventricular injection of saline, and mice of other groups were injected with insoluble Aβ1-42 to be induced of memory impairment. Solvent and drugs were also delivered as mentioned above. Morris water maze was carried out from the fifth day of the drug de-livery. After that, acetyl cholinesterase activity of hip-pocampus was tested with acetyl cholinesterase reagent kit; the content of Aβ1-42 in hippocampus was meas-ured by ELISA assay kit;the expression of phosphoryl-ated tau proteins was detected by Western Blot. Re-sults In both two dementia models, choro-oxime de-rivatives could improve the spatial learning and memory ability, shorten the escape latency and increase the times of crossing the former platform. Choro-oxime de-rivatives could also inhibit the acetyl cholinesterase ac-tivity in animal brain, decrease the concentration of Aβ1-42 and the expression of phosphorylated tau pro-teins in the dementia rats’ hippocampus. Conclusions Spatial learning and memory deficits induced by sco-polamine and Aβ1-42 could be reversed by choro-oxime derivatives. It may be concerned with enhancement of the cholinergic system functions and reduction of the levels of Aβ1-42 and phosphorylated tau proteins in the brain.