Contrast-Dependence of Temporal Frequency Tuning in Mouse V1.

The perception of speed is influenced by visual contrast. In primary visual cortex (V1), an early stage in the visual perception pathway, the neural tuning to speed is directly related to the neural tuning to temporal frequency of stimulus changes. The influence of contrast on speed perception can be caused by the joint dependency of neural responses in V1 on temporal frequency and contrast.

Activity in Lateral Visual Areas Contributes to Surround Suppression in Awake Mouse V1.

Neuronal response to sensory stimuli depends on the context. The response in primary visual cortex (V1), for instance, is reduced when a stimulus is surrounded by a similar stimulus [1-3]. The source of this surround suppression is partially known.

Visual Processing by Calretinin Expressing Inhibitory Neurons in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex.

Inhibition in the cerebral cortex is delivered by a variety of GABAergic interneurons. These cells have been categorized by their morphology, physiology, gene expression and connectivity. Many of these classes appear to be conserved across species, suggesting that the classes play specific functional roles in cortical processing.

Carbamazepine degradation using a N-doped TiO2 coated photocatalytic membrane reactor: Influence of physical parameters.

Commercial α-Al2O3 photocatalytic membranes with a pore size of 200 and 800-nm were coated with N-doped TiO2 photocatalytic film using a sol-gel technique for concurrent bottom-up filtration and photocatalytic oxidation. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the deposited N-doped TiO2 films are in the form of anatase with 78-84% coverage of the membrane surface. The concentration of N found by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was in the range of 0.

Lack of functional specialization of neurons in the mouse primary visual cortex that have expressed calretinin.

Calretinin is a calcium-binding protein often used as a marker for a subset of inhibitory interneurons in the mammalian neocortex. We studied the labeled cells in offspring from a cross of a Cre-dependent reporter line with the CR-ires-Cre mice, which express Cre-recombinase in the same pattern as calretinin. We found that in the mature visual cortex, only a minority of the cells that have expressed calretinin and Cre-recombinase during their lifetime is GABAergic and only about 20% are immunoreactive for calretinin.

Eyes as gateways for environmental light to the substantia nigra: relevance in Parkinson's disease.

Recent data indicates that prolonged bright light exposure of rats induces production of neuromelanin and reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase positive neurons in the substantia nigra. This effect was the result of direct light reaching the substantia nigra and not due to alteration of circadian rhythms. Here, we measured the spectrum of light reaching the substantia nigra in rats and analysed the pathway that light may take to reach this deep brain structure in humans.

Near-field electrospinning of light-emitting conjugated polymer nanofibers.

The authors report on the realization of ordered arrays of light-emitting conjugated polymer nanofibers by near-field electrospinning. The fibers, made from poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene], have diameters of a few hundreds of nanometers and their emission peaked at 560 nm. The observed blue-shift compared to the emission from reference films is attributed to different polymer packing in the nanostructures.

Bright light exposure reduces TH-positive dopamine neurons: implications of light pollution in Parkinson's disease epidemiology.

This study explores the effect of continuous exposure to bright light on neuromelanin formation and dopamine neuron survival in the substantia nigra. Twenty-one days after birth, Sprague-Dawley albino rats were divided into groups and raised under different conditions of light exposure. At the end of the irradiation period, rats were sacrificed and assayed for neuromelanin formation and number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons in the substantia nigra.