PNAS highlights for the week of April 25-29
...are the prokaryotic ability to use light-sensitive retinal proteins as electrical gradient generators. --- Geographic and Genetic Differences in Barbary Monkeys DNA analysis of the threatened Barbary macaque in Morocco and Algeria shows genetic differences between the populations. Rice Plant Gene Protect...Ophthalmologists implant five patients with artificial silicon retina microchip
...licants. The implants are designed for people with retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retiniti...n persons with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other retinal diseases. The microsurgical procedure starts with three tiny incisions in the white part of the subj...Six previously blind patients detect light, motion, identify objects with retinal prostheses
...e first six patients implanted with an intraocular retinal prosthesis-more popularly referred to as an artifi...Both AMD and RP destroy vision by annihilating the retinal cells that allow light to be translated into recognizable images. Second Sight's intraocular retinal...Brain may be less plastic than hoped
...ate brain displays less flexibility in response to retinal injury than previously thought, according to a new... the primary visual cortex that corresponds to the retinal injury recover to pre-lesional levels in the months following the lesion?" said Smirnakis. "The answ...Retina adapts to light changes by rewiring itself
... be useful in future efforts to develop prosthetic retinal devices that allow changes in light to trigger spike signals within ganglion cells, allowing people who are blind to distinguish shapes, von Gersdorff said. "We're still in the very early days of understanding the retina. There's so much we don't kn...Early function of specialized neurons marks 'first light' in retinal maturation
...ers have discovered that a set of light-responsive retinal cells that form connections to the circadian clock...alized neurons called intrinsically photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). Although extensive research has characterized the delayed functional matura...Researchers discover mechanism that may enable stem cell-based treatment for eye disorders
...cell-based therapies totreat eye disorders such as retinal degeneration. The finding also reveals how the ret...e visual disorders that result from loss ofcertain retinal cell types." During the process of embryonic development, groups of neural precursorcells, which ar...Joslin Diabetes Center announces new national Joslin Vision Network affiliation program
...tic retinopathy." The JVN is the only diagnostic retinal evaluation service offering patients a pain-free a...at has been validated against dilated eye exams by retinal specialists. The JVN is already in use at more than 35 federal health care sites in 15 states, and i...Retina adapts to seek the unexpected, ignore the commonplace
...rding of signals that are less useful, and dynamic retinal adaptation provides a means of stripping from the ...ster and his co-authors examined neural signals in retinal ganglion cells, which convey visual images from the eye to the brain. These cells generally record l...Joslin-chaired study shows new compound may decrease vision loss in diabetes
...ng and Aiello also collaborated on a number of PKC retinal studies that provided further evidence of the link between PKC and blood vessel abnormalities of the eye, conditions which improved following treatment with the PKC-beta inhibitor.......ses gradual loss of central vision by damaging the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells that lie underneath... know how to replace or repair the dead or damaged retinal cells," he said, " we need to find ways to protect them." Because people stop producing new RPE ce...Gene therapy works in mice to prevent blindness that strikes boys
...caused by single gene defects, including a host of retinal disorders. Retinoschisis is usually first detected...lems cause reading difficulties. In a healthy eye, retinal cells secrete a protein called retinoschisin, or RS1, which acts like glue to connect the layers of ...Eye on the prize: UH optometry students set record with fellowships
...conduct her research in adaptive optics imaging of retinal blood flow. Marsack was given the Bausch & Lomb Ezell Fellow award for his research on wavefront guided design of contact lenses for patients with corneas distorted by disease. Ostrin was awarded the Essilor of American Ezell Fellowship for her re...Scientists focus on 'dwarf eye'
...MFRP was recently identified in mice as a cause of retinal degeneration, not extreme farsightedness," he said... the MFRP protein is located on the surface of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which is located beneath the retina and helps maintain photoreceptors, the...Microscopic brain imaging in the palm of your hand
...oved contrast agent that is most commonly used for retinal exams in humans. The fluorescein labeled the blood plasma so the vessels in the brain could be clearly seen. There are many different options for further exploration, now that the technique has been successfully demonstrated, ranging from biomedical...K-State eye researchers focus on stopping spread of damaged eye cells
... time you stick a needle into the eye, you can get retinal detachment. They have to continue to find ways to get things past that blood-ocular barrier. That's the big thing in eye research right now. We know how to treat things; it's just getting it into the eye without having to inject it." The research is ...Genetic testing helps physicians zero in on eye disease
...affecting one in every 3,500 individuals, in which retinal degeneration leads to blindness or severe vision l...ximately 180 mutations associated with early-onset retinal degenerations. To date more than 30 genes have been identified for various forms of RP. Ayyagari not...The brain needs the middle ear to track depth
...sults demonstrate not only that monkeys can update retinal disparity information but also that intact vestibular motion cues are critical in reconstructing three-dimensional visual space during motion in depth," concluded Li and Angelaki....Color perception is not in the eye of the beholder: It's in the brain
...lor cones in the eyes of living humans with varied retinal structure. Each subject was asked to tune the color of a disk of light to produce a pure yellow light that was neither reddish yellow nor greenish yellow. Everyone selected nearly the same wavelength of yellow, showing an obvious consensus over what...Combination therapy for mouse model of human inherited blindness
...ly effective and complementary means for restoring retinal function in this animal model of human hereditary blindness." They noted that the oral treatment was easier to administer compared with injecting the gene therapy directly into the eye, but a disadvantage of the oral treatment was a potential for lon...