Comparisons of choroidal thickness and volume in eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy to that of control eyes determined by ultra-widefield optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: To compare choroidal thickness and volume in eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and healthy control eyes over a wide area of the fundus using ultra-widefield optical coherence tomography (UWF-OCT).

Methods: Thirty-three eyes of 29 patients with CSC and 36 eyes of 21 healthy controls were examined retrospectively. Choroidal images were obtained with a prototype UWF-OCT device with a field of view of 105° or approximately 31.

Forward genetic screen of Caenorhabditis elegans mutants with impaired sleep reveals a crucial role of neuronal diacylglycerol kinase DGK-1 in regulating sleep.

The sleep state is widely observed in animals. The molecular mechanisms underlying sleep regulation, however, remain largely unclear. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, developmentally timed sleep (DTS) and stress-induced sleep (SIS) are 2 types of quiescent behaviors that fulfill the definition of sleep and share conserved sleep-regulating molecules with mammals.

ER proteostasis regulators cell-non-autonomously control sleep.

Sleep is regulated by peripheral tissues under fatigue. The molecular pathways in peripheral cells that trigger systemic sleep-related signals, however, are unclear. Here, a forward genetic screen in C.

Intracellular Ca dynamics in the ALA neuron reflect sleep pressure and regulate sleep in .

The mechanisms underlying sleep homeostasis are poorly understood. The nematode exhibits 2 types of sleep: lethargus, or developmentally timed, and stress-induced sleep. Lethargus is characterized by alternating cycles of sleep and motion bouts.

PERIPHERAL CHOROIDAL THICKNESS DETERMINED BY WIDE-FIELD OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IN EYES WITH CENTRAL SEROUS CHORIORETINOPATHY.

Purpose: To determine the central and peripheral choroidal thickness in eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and to compare these thicknesses values with those of control normal eyes.

Methods: Wide-field optical coherence tomographic images of 24 eyes of 19 patients with CSC and 14 normal eyes of 7 individuals were recorded. A 20-mm vertical scan through the fovea was obtained with the Xephilio optical coherence tomographic S1 (Canon, Japan), a wide-field optical coherence tomographic device.

Morphological differences of choroid in central serous chorioretinopathy determined by ultra-widefield optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the morphology of the central and peripheral choroid of eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) to that of normal eyes using ultra-widefield optical coherence tomography (UWF-OCT).

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 29 eyes of 25 patients (23 men, 2 women; average age 44.4 years) with CSC and 34 eyes of 22 healthy subjects (19 men, 3 women; average age, 49.

Diagnosis of central serous chorioretinopathy by deep learning analysis of en face images of choroidal vasculature: A pilot study.

Purpose: To diagnose central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) by deep learning (DL) analyses of en face images of the choroidal vasculature obtained by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to analyze the regions of interest for the DL from heatmaps.

Methods: One-hundred eyes were studied; 53 eyes with CSC and 47 normal eyes. Volume scans of 12×12 mm square were obtained at the same time as the OCT angiographic (OCTA) scans (Plex Elite 9000 Swept-Source OCT®, Zeiss).

Corollary discharge promotes a sustained motor state in a neural circuit for navigation.

Animals exhibit behavioral and neural responses that persist on longer timescales than transient or fluctuating stimulus inputs. Here, we report that uses feedback from the motor circuit to a sensory processing interneuron to sustain its motor state during thermotactic navigation. By imaging circuit activity in behaving animals, we show that a principal postsynaptic partner of the AFD thermosensory neuron, the AIY interneuron, encodes both temperature and motor state information.

Sleep Architecture in Mice Is Shaped by the Transcription Factor AP-2β.

The molecular mechanism regulating sleep largely remains to be elucidated. In humans, families that carry mutations in , which encodes the transcription factor AP-2β, self-reported sleep abnormalities such as short-sleep and parasomnia. Notably, AP-2 transcription factors play essential roles in sleep regulation in the nematode and the fruit fly Thus, AP-2 transcription factors might have a conserved role in sleep regulation across the animal phyla.

Progressive Changes in Sleep and Its Relations to Amyloid-β Distribution and Learning in Single Knock-In Mice.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients often suffer from sleep disturbances. Alterations in sleep, especially rapid eye movement sleep (REMS), can precede the onset of dementia. To accurately characterize the sleep impairments accompanying AD and their underlying mechanisms using animal models, it is crucial to use models in which brain areas are affected in a manner similar to that observed in the actual patients.

Widely Distributed Neurotensinergic Neurons in the Brainstem Regulate NREM Sleep in Mice.

Classical transection studies suggest that, in addition to the hypothalamus, the brainstem is essential for non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. The circuits underlying this function, however, have remained largely unknown. We identified a circuit distributed in the midbrain, pons, and medulla that promotes NREM sleep in mice.

Choroidal neovascularization imaging using multiple en face optical coherence tomography angiography image averaging.

Purpose: To determine the effects of averaging five en face optical coherence tomography angiographic (OCTA) images on the quality of the images in eyes with a choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Methods: Twenty-seven eyes of 25 patients (18 men, 7 women; average age 71.0 years) with a CNV were examined by OCTA (OCT HS-100, Canon.

Visualizing large choroidal blood flow by subtraction of the choriocapillaris projection artifacts in swept source optical coherence tomography angiography in normal eyes.

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) seems not to image the choroidal blood flow pattern in the normal individual because of the OCT light attenuation. Our purpose in the current study was to visualize the large choroidal blood flow pattern after subtraction of the choriocapillaris projection artifact in normal eyes non-invasively by swept source (SS) OCTA. Sixty-one eyes of 45 individuals (19 men, 26 women) without ocular disease were examined by SS-OCTA (AngioPlex Elite 9000, Zeiss, Germany).

Descending pathway facilitates undulatory wave propagation in through gap junctions.

Descending signals from the brain play critical roles in controlling and modulating locomotion kinematics. In the nervous system, descending AVB premotor interneurons exclusively form gap junctions with the B-type motor neurons that execute forward locomotion. We combined genetic analysis, optogenetic manipulation, calcium imaging, and computational modeling to elucidate the function of AVB-B gap junctions during forward locomotion.

Excitatory motor neurons are local oscillators for backward locomotion.

Cell- or network-driven oscillators underlie motor rhythmicity. The identity of oscillators remains unknown. Through cell ablation, electrophysiology, and calcium imaging, we show: (1) forward and backward locomotion is driven by different oscillators; (2) the cholinergic and excitatory A-class motor neurons exhibit intrinsic and oscillatory activity that is sufficient to drive backward locomotion in the absence of premotor interneurons; (3) the UNC-2 P/Q/N high-voltage-activated calcium current underlies A motor neuron's oscillation; (4) descending premotor interneurons AVA, via an evolutionarily conserved, mixed gap junction and chemical synapse configuration, exert state-dependent inhibition and potentiation of A motor neuron's intrinsic activity to regulate backward locomotion.

CLINICAL FINDINGS OF EYES WITH MACULAR EDEMA ASSOCIATED WITH BRANCH RETINAL VEIN OCCLUSION REFRACTORY TO RANIBIZUMAB.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between the clinical findings and the response to ranibizumab therapy in eyes with macular edema associated with branch retinal vein occlusion.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 68 patients with macular edema associated with a branch retinal vein occlusion. The patients were placed in the refractory group if the central foveal thickness remained more than 250 μm throughout the 6-month study period despite the ranibizumab therapy; otherwise, they were placed in the responsive group.

An extrasynaptic GABAergic signal modulates a pattern of forward movement in Caenorhabditis elegans.

As a common neurotransmitter in the nervous system, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) modulates locomotory patterns in both vertebrates and invertebrates. However, the signaling mechanisms underlying the behavioral effects of GABAergic modulation are not completely understood. Here, we demonstrate that a GABAergic signal in C.

The NCA sodium leak channel is required for persistent motor circuit activity that sustains locomotion.

Persistent neural activity, a sustained circuit output that outlasts the stimuli, underlies short-term or working memory, as well as various mental representations. Molecular mechanisms that underlie persistent activity are not well understood. Combining in situ whole-cell patch clamping and quantitative locomotion analyses, we show here that the Caenorhabditis elegans neuromuscular system exhibits persistent rhythmic activity, and such an activity contributes to the sustainability of basal locomotion, and the maintenance of acceleration after stimulation.

Hyperactivation of B-type motor neurons results in aberrant synchrony of the Caenorhabditis elegans motor circuit.

Excitatory acetylcholine motor neurons drive Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion. Coordinating the activation states of the backward-driving A and forward-driving B class motor neurons is critical for generating sinusoidal and directional locomotion. Here, we show by in vivo calcium imaging that expression of a hyperactive, somatodendritic ionotropic acetylcholine receptor ACR-2(gf) in A and B class motor neurons induces aberrant synchronous activity in both ventral- and dorsal-innervating B and A class motor neurons.

Proprioceptive coupling within motor neurons drives C. elegans forward locomotion.

Locomotion requires coordinated motor activity throughout an animal's body. In both vertebrates and invertebrates, chains of coupled central pattern generators (CPGs) are commonly evoked to explain local rhythmic behaviors. In C.

An imbalancing act: gap junctions reduce the backward motor circuit activity to bias C. elegans for forward locomotion.

A neural network can sustain and switch between different activity patterns to execute multiple behaviors. By monitoring the decision making for directional locomotion through motor circuit calcium imaging in behaving Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), we reveal that C.

ALS mutations in FUS cause neuronal dysfunction and death in Caenorhabditis elegans by a dominant gain-of-function mechanism.

It is unclear whether mutations in fused in sarcoma (FUS) cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis via a loss-of-function effect due to titrating FUS from the nucleus or a gain-of-function effect from cytoplasmic overabundance. To investigate this question, we generated a series of independent Caenorhabditis elegans lines expressing mutant or wild-type (WT) human FUS. We show that mutant FUS, but not WT-FUS, causes cytoplasmic mislocalization associated with progressive motor dysfunction and reduced lifespan.