Interesting Paper: Creatine Transporter Immunolocalization In Aged Human And Detached Retinas
This manuscript by Clairton F de Souza, Michael Kalloniatis, David L Christie, Philip J Polkinghorne, Charles N J McGhee and Monica L Acosta examines the distribution of creatine transporter in the aging human retina, particularly after retinal detachment. The questions behind this paper have ultimately to do with examining markers of energy metabolism in the retina and any …
Portland Oregon, October 2012
Notable Paper: Photomechanical Responses In Drosophila Photoreceptors
This notable paper by Roger C. Hardie and Kristian Franze looks at phototransduction in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila melanogaster has a long history in vision research of informing our understanding of the biochemical processes involved in phototransduction going back almost 40 years to this paper. However, the Hardie and Franze paper looks at transient receptor potential (TRP) …
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Intrinsic Physiological Properties Of Rat Retinal Ganglion Cells With A Comparative Analysis
This paper in the Journal of Neurophysiology by Raymond C S Wong, Shaun L Cloherty, Michael R Ibbotson and Brendan J O’Brien examined properties of retinal ganglion cells types that are conserved through mammalian species by looking at 16 morphologically defined rat and cat retinal ganglion cell types. Their work demonstrates morphologically distinct retinal ganglion cell types …
Harvest Moon 2012
A Day On A Horse
Looking Out The Window, SLC To JFK And Back
Fallout Shelter
Notable Paper: Molecular Analysis Of The Amphioxus Frontal Eye…
I have a fascination with the evolution of the eye and are always looking for interesting papers that help describe from where, how and when vision came. This paper, Molecular analysis of the amphioxus frontal eye unravels the evolutionary origin of the retina and pigment cells of the vertebrate eye by Pavel Vopalenskya, Jiri Pergnera, Michaela …
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Notable Paper: The Molecular Mechanism of Thermal Noise in Rod Photoreceptors
Phototransduction is the process by which photon capture by opsins in photoreceptors is transduced into a neural signal. However, there are limits on visual sensitivity that are imposed by thermal means as opposed to the photochemical mechanisms resulting in activation of the phototransduction cascade. The mechanism of this limit has long been a matter …
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Bonneville Speed Week, 2012
Notable Paper: Partial Rescue of Retinal Function in Chronically Hypoglycemic Mice
This paper by Yumiko Umino, Nicolas Cuenca, Drew Everhart, Laura Fernandez-Sanchez, Robert B. Barlow and Eduardo Solessio examined late onset retinal degeneration in a model of diabetic retinopathy. Specifically, this manuscript attempted to examine the impact on retinas from the Gcgr knockout mice with long term high dietary glucose to see if that rescues retinal structure …
Quiet Darkness
Was Van Gogh Colorblind?
A friend of mine (and amazing landscape/nature photographer) Jim Goldstein sent me a Tweet and pointed out simmering new conjecture in the art community that Vincent Van Gogh might have been color blind, specifically a protanope. I seem to remember some discussion of this years ago, particularly given that one can rather nicely simulate both protanopia …