Alterations to foveal crowding with microsaccade preparation.

Visual stimuli presented around the time of a saccade have been shown to be perceived differently by the visual system, including a reduction in the harmful impact of flankers (crowding). However, whether the effects observed are due strictly to crowding remains controversial, and the effects have only been measured with large saccades in peripheral vision. Here we investigate how crowded stimuli placed 20 arc minutes from the center of gaze are affected by an upcoming microsaccade.

Microsaccadic correlates of covert attention and crowding.

Spatial crowding occurs when an object is cluttered among other objects in space and is a ubiquitous factor affecting object recognition in the peripheral visual field. Crowding is typically tested by presenting crowded stimuli at an eccentric location while having observers fixate at a point in space. However, even during fixation, our eyes are not perfectly steady but instead make small-scale eye movements (microsaccades) that have recently been suggested to be affected by shifts in attentional allocation.

Asymmetries of reading eye movements in simulated central vision loss.

Patients with central vision loss are forced to use an eccentric retinal location as a substitute for the fovea, called a preferred retinal locus, or PRL. Clinical studies have shown that patients habitually choose a PRL located either to the left, and/or below the scotoma in the visual field. The position to the right of the scotoma is almost never chosen, even though this would be theoretically more suitable for reading, since the scotoma no longer blocks the upcoming text.

Gα and the Phospholipase Cβ3 X-Y Linker Regulate Adsorption and Activity on Compressed Lipid Monolayers.

Phospholipase Cβ (PLCβ) enzymes are peripheral membrane proteins required for normal cardiovascular function. PLCβ hydrolyzes phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, producing second messengers that increase intracellular Ca level and activate protein kinase C. Under basal conditions, PLCβ is autoinhibited by its C-terminal domains and by the X-Y linker, which contains a stretch of conserved acidic residues required for interfacial activation.

Comparative DNA binding of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and their dihydrodiol and bay region diolepoxide metabolites in newborn mouse lung and liver.

Bay region diolepoxides of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) generally are more tumorigenic than their parent PAHs in newborn mice. This contrasts to the results obtained in mouse skin, in which the same diolepoxides are frequently less tumorigenic than their parents. In order to evaluate mechanism(s) responsible for this behavior we have investigated the binding of metabolites of [3H]benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]), [3H]5- and [3H6]6-methyl-chrysene (5-MeC and 6-MeC) and their corresponding dihydrodiols and bay region diolepoxides to pulmonary and hepatic DNA in male and female newborn mice and compared the results with their tumorigenic activities.