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Binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy using a standard fiberoptic surgical headlight.

Binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy may be performed in the operating room with a fiberoptic surgical headlight and condensing lens, eliminating the need for the indirect ophthalmoscope headpiece. The resultant aerial inverted stereo image has enhanced stereopsis but is otherwise identical to that obtained with the headpiece. Safe power settings for individual headlights can be determined with a photometer by measuring illuminance from a standard indirect ophthalmoscope and comparing this value to the intensities obtained at each voltage setting of the headlight. Illuminance from four different headlights was measured, and settings that yielded light output equivalent to the average indirect ophthalmoscope were designated for each headpiece. The maximum indirect ophthalmoscope illuminance values were averaged and found to be 2.0 watts/m2 (W/m2) for the 20-diopter (D) lens and 1.8 W/m2 for the 30-D lens. All of the headlights could be used at transformer settings that produced light intensities at or below the average maximum indirect ophthalmoscope illuminance. A stereoscopic image was obtained with each of the headlights, with both the 20-D and 30-D lenses. We conclude that standard fiberoptic surgical headlights may be used for stereoscopic fundus examination. The average maximal light intensity of fiberoptic surgical headlights is greater than that of the average indirect ophthalmoscope. However, each fiberoptic headlight can be operated at brightnesses equal to or below that of the maximum intensity of the indirect ophthalmoscope, and therefore, retinal toxicity is unlikely for brief retinal evaluations.

Depth Perception↗

Optical quality of the ocular lens of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) during the mature and transformer periods of life.

While larval sea lampreys exist as eyeless filter feeders for several years, they transform into free-swimming juveniles (transformers) that attach parasitically to prey fish as they develop sexual maturity. This study examines lamprey lens development and optics and, since the lens is often the only refractive component of an aquatic eye, the data also provide an indication of visual ability during transformer and adult periods of life. Seven adult sea lampreys (0.40-0.55 m) and eight transformers (0.15-0.18 m) were sacrificed, the eyes removed and lenses dissected, measured, and placed in an automated laser scanning instrument. Back vertex focal length (spherical aberration) was measured for 14 beam positions across each lens by using a digital camera to record the position of the refracted beam. Transformer lenses exhibit positive spherical aberration, with average focal lengths varying from about 2.40 mm near the lens center and 1.06 mm at the lens periphery. On the other hand, the lenses from adults are largely corrected for spherical aberration, with average focal lengths varying from 2.19 mm to 2.44 mm. This result indicates that the younger lenses do not have a gradient refractive index necessary to mitigate the aberration and that further study of this model may reveal the relation between lens embryology and the development of such a gradient.

Animals↗

Optical imaging and control of genetically designated neurons in functioning circuits.

Proteins with engineered sensitivities to light are infiltrating the biological mechanisms by which neurons generate and detect electrochemical signals. Encoded in DNA and active only in genetically specified target cells, these proteins provide selective optical interfaces for observing and controlling signaling by defined groups of neurons in functioning circuits, in vitro and in vivo. Light-emitting sensors of neuronal activity (reporting calcium increase, neurotransmitter release, or membrane depolarization) have begun to reveal how information is represented by neuronal assemblies, and how these representations are transformed during the computations that inform behavior. Light-driven actuators control the electrical activities of central neurons in freely moving animals and establish causal connections between the activation of specific neurons and the expression of particular behaviors. Anchored within mathematical systems and control theory, the combination of finely resolved optical field sensing and finely resolved optical field actuation will open new dimensions for the analysis of the connectivity, dynamics, and plasticity of neuronal circuits, and perhaps even for replacing lost--or designing novel--functionalities.

Animals↗

Implications of motion detection for early non-linearities.

Analysis of motion may be accomplished using the spatiotemporal variations produced when a spatially varying luminance waveform moves across linear receptive fields. Moving contrast-modulated patterns which consist of coarse-scale spatial variations in the contrast of fine-scale luminance patterns cannot be analysed in this way. The human visual system can analyse the motion of contrast-modulated patterns and this suggests it may contain mechanisms that use non-linear transformations. Non-linear transformation of contrast-modulated patterns would give rise to a component (a distortion product) that varies on the same spatial scale as the contrast variation; this can be analysed to extract motion. Is the non-linearity simply an inherent part of the transduction process or is it a characteristic of a mechanism specialized for the analysis of the motion of such patterns? Comparisons of the spatial and temporal limitations of motion discrimination using luminance and contrast-modulated patterns suggest that the mechanisms which analyse the two types of patterns are different, although recent physiological evidence suggests that they may have common elements.

Animals↗

Growth of thalamic afferents into mouse barrel cortex.

We studied thalamocortical afferent (TCA) growth into somatosensory cortex as the whisker barrels emerge in postnatal mice. Ingrowing fibers from the ventrobasal (VB) thalamus were selectively labeled by two means. Under direct vision, individual axons and populations of axons were labeled in vitro with HRP, or in fixed tissue with Dil (1,1'-dioctodecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate), in pieces of brain containing both the source nucleus in the thalamus and its cortical target. Many simple thalamocortical afferents are already within the upper cortical plate at birth [postnatal day one (PND1)]. Initially, TCAs from each point in the thalamus distribute in the cortex as two-dimensional "Gaussians," which overlap laterally to constitute a uniform projection pattern. The projection is topographic, because adjacent focal injections within VB label adjacent cortical loci. Subsequent development of barreloids (thalamic representations of the whiskers) partitions the TCA projection into a set of whisker-related Gaussians, centered on cortical targets whose collective topography reflects that of the source pattern. After barreloids form on about PND3, but before barrels appear in cytoarchitecture on about PND5, the overlapping TCAs segregate into dense terminal clusters in layer IV, around which barrels later mature. Time series of single fibers traced with camera lucida explain this transformation that is so noticeable at the population level. As early as PND1, individual TCAs emit multiple ascending collaterals on their horizontal run through white matter and oblique ascent into upper cortex. Subsequently, by PND4, and proceeding at least through PND7, there is accelerated terminal arborization of selected appropriate collateral branches and pruning back of other inappropriate ones. The selection mechanism appears to result from within-group reinforcement events that are stronger for branches toward the center of each whisker-related Gaussian distribution.

Animals↗

Phase transfer and point-spread function of the human eye determined by a new asymmetric double-pass method.

A recent study has shown that the double-pass method provides a good estimate of the ocular modulation transfer function (MTF) but that it does not yield the phase transfer function (PTF) [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 12, 195 (1995)]. Therefore, one cannot recover the true retinal point-spread function (PSF). We present a modification of the double-pass method to overcome this problem. The key is to break the symmetry between the two passes. By using an unexpanded Gaussian input beam, we produce a diffraction-limited PSF for the first passes. Then, by using a large exit pupil, we get an aberrated PSF for the second pass. The double-pass aerial image is the cross correlation of both PSF's, so that the Fourier transform of such an aerial image directly provides the true retinal PTF, up to the cutoff frequency of the effective (small), diffraction-limited entrance pupil. The resulting double-pass aerial image is a blurred version of the true retinal PSF. Thus it shows the effect not only of even symmetric aberrations but also of odd and irregular aberrations such as coma. We have explored two different ways to retrieve the true retinal PSF: (a) deblurring of the aerial image and (b) PSF reconstruction combining PTF data with conventional double-pass MTF. We present promising initial results with both artificial and real eyes.

Humans↗

Systematic distortion of perceived three-dimensional structure from motion and binocular stereopsis.

The geometric relation between physical and perceived space as specified by binocular stereopsis and structure from motion was investigated. Four experimental tasks were used, each of which required a different aspect of three-dimensional (3-D) structure to be performed accurately. To examine whether the transformation between physical and perceptual space preserved the 3-D structural properties required to perform each of our tasks, the constancy of judged shape over changes in a depicted object's viewing distance or orientation was examined. Our results reveal that observers' judgments of 3-D shape from binocular stereopsis and motion contained systematic distortions: Perceived 3-D shape from motion was not invariant over orientation change and perceived 3-D structure from stereo, and motion and stereo in combination was not invariant over changes in viewing distance.

Computer Graphics↗

[Kerato-epithelin mutation (R 555 Q) in a case of Reis-Bücklers corneal dystrophy].

BACKGROUND: Mutations in the kerato-epithelin gene on chromosome 5 q 31 are known to cause four distinct autosomal dominant diseases of the human cornea: Reis-Bücklers, granular, lattice, and Avellino corneal dystrophy. Mutation of arginin to glutamine in codon 555 (R 555 Q) in kerato-epithelin was recently reported in four blood-related patients with Reis-Bücklers corneal dystrophy. CASE: A 42 year-old female has had photophobia with decreasing vision since the age of 20 years. Her corrected visual acuity was 0.5 in both eyes. She showed subepithelial opacities in both corneas characteristic of Reis-Bücklers corneal dystrophy. METHOD: The DNA was extracted from leukocytes according to standard protocols. The keratoepithelin gene was examined for a mutation by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct sequencing. FINDINGS: We identified kerato-epithelin mutation R 555 Q. The patient's two children and 50 controls did not show missense mutation. CONCLUSION: Kerato-epithelin mutation R 555 Q was present in a Japanese patient with Reis-Bücklers corneal dystrophy.

Adult↗

Cellular metabolism and activation of retinoids: roles of cellular retinoid-binding proteins.

Vitamin A and related molecules--the retinoids--play essential roles in vision, growth, reproduction, and cellular differentiation beginning in early development. Retinoic acid, a key regulatory retinoid formed intracellularly through the oxidation of retinol, functions as ligand for a family of nuclear retinoic acid receptors that regulate transcription from target genes. Metabolic events are critical to maintaining physiological concentrations of retinoic acid. In the cytoplasm, retinol, retinaldehyde, and retinoic acid are associated with retinoid-binding proteins, most of which are approximately 15-kDa proteins belonging to the fatty acid-binding protein/cellular retinol-binding protein family. The ligand binding properties and molecular features of these proteins have been well characterized. Recent experiments have highlighted the importance of the cellular retinoid-binding proteins in controlling the concentration of free retinoids and in directing protein-bound retinoids to key enzymes responsible for their metabolism. For example, the cellular retinol-binding protein, CRBP, has been implicated in retinol uptake, retinol esterification, mobilization of retinyl esters, and the initial oxidation of retinol to retinaldehyde. The ligands bound to other retinoid-binding proteins have also been shown to be available for enzymatic transformation. The new knowledge of the various ways these cytoplasmic proteins buffer the concentration of ligand, control their distribution, and determine their metabolism by specific enzymes is contributing to an improved understanding of the physiological control of retinoid action.

Animals↗

[Correction of EOG with eye movement measured by the eye mark recorder system].

The electrooculogram (EOG) is usually necessary for the subject to fixate two targets alternately at a fixed visual angle. However, in the patients with poor vision, it can be difficult to fixate exactly. In such case, the results can be improved by using both the measurement of real eye position and the measurement of EOGs in combination. In this study, we measured subject's eye position simultaneously with the potential changes around his eyes as the subject pursued alternately two on-and-off visual targets which were horizontally placed on the cylindrical screen at a regular visual angle in front of his eyes. The EOG is obtained from those potential changes. If the difference between the target position and the fixating point can be calculated from the net eye movement measured with an eye camera, the error potential can be derived from this difference. Therefore, exact potential changes are obtained by correcting the measured potentials with the above error potentials. The authors were able to confirm that the potential changes were approximately proportional to the amplitude of saccadic eye movements within about 30 degrees in front of the eyes. Therefore, the simultaneous measurement of the potential changes and the eye position enable measurement of EOG without pursuing the targets by transforming the measured potentials into the exact values corresponding to the constant amplitudes of saccades.

Electrooculography↗

Retinocortical gain in the foveal pathway: the effect of spatial frequency and stimulus size.

The amplitude and the phase of the simultaneously recorded steady-state pattern electroretinogram (PERG) and visual evoked potential (VEP) were evaluated in humans as a function of the vertical diameter (D) of unidimensional Gabor stimuli. In the other dimension, parallel to the horizontal gratings, the patterns all had constant diameter (see Methods and Materials). Spatial frequencies (SFs) of 1 cycle per degree (cpd) and 5.3 cpd were counterphase modulated at a rate of 6.8 Hz. After off-line artifact rejection, the response was subject to Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT). Amplitude and phase of the first and second harmonics of both ERG and VEP were displayed for each SF and stimulus diameter. Both ERG and VEP amplitude were found to increase as a function of D. Using trend analysis we found that ERG amplitude increased linearly as a function of D. VEP amplitude was found to be both linear and cubic, as a function of D. We calculated the ratio of VEP amplitude and ERG amplitude at each D and termed it retinocortical gain (G). G normalized to stimulus area was high for small D and decreased with D independently of SF. Unity gain occurred at stimulus sizes of 6 degrees to 7 degrees. ERG phase was found to be more negative at 5.3 cpd than at 1 cpd. Although no significant difference was found between VEP phases at the two SFs tested, neither ERG nor VEP phase changed as a function of D. The results suggest that retinocortical gain is highest for the foveally centered low spatial frequency small patch Gabors. The results provide support for the notion of the "foveal window" in human vision.

Adult↗

[Spectral sensitivity and visual pigments of the coastal crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus].

It has been shown that the compound eye of the coastal crab has one photosensitive pigment rhodopsin and screening pigments, black and orange one. The orange pigment has lambda max = 480 nm, rhodopsin in digitonin is stable towards hydroxylamin action, has lambda max = 490-495 nm and after bleaching is transformed into free retinene and opsin. The pigments with lambda max = 430 and 475 nm of the receptor part of the eye are also solubilized. These pigments are not photosensitive but they dissociate under the effect of hydroxylamine. The curye of spectral sensitivity of the coastal crab has the basic maximum at approximately 525 nm and the additional one at 450 nm, which seems to be provided by a combination of the visual pigment--rhodopsin (lambda max 500 nm) with a carotinoid filter (lambda max 480-490). Specific features of the visual system of coastal crab are discussed.

Animals↗

Visual evoked spectrum array and interhemispheric variations.

An EEG spectrum analysis during visual stimulation was computed in 19 normal subjects. Visual stimulation consisted of trains of flashes at frequencies ranging between 2.5 and 20 flashes per second. Recordings were carried out simultaneously from the right and left occipital regions with bipolar and referential montages. Compressed spectral arrays were computed for eight-second epochs at each recording site using a fast Fourier transform. The ratio of the spectral energy from homologus regions of right and left hemispheres at each stimulation frequency was determined. The ratios were graphically displayed in a visual evoked spectrum array (VESA) ratio plot (VESA-GRAM); the mean of the ratio plot was designated the VESA coefficient. The range of variation for these measurements was determined for normal subjects. An application of the technique to patients with hemianopia showed abnormal VESA (characterized by smaller spectral amplitudes over the appropriate hemisphere), abnormal VESA ratio plots, and high VESA coefficients. These preliminary findings suggest that VESA may be a promising method to detect retrochiasmatic visual defects.

Adult↗

Retinal photoisomerase: role in invertebrate visual cells.

In invertebrate visual cells, the rhodopsin content is maintained at a high level by the fast process of photoregeneration during daylight. Rhodopsin is converted by photoabsorption to metarhodopsin, which is reconverted to rhodopsin by light. In addition, rhodopsin is regenerated by a slow process of renewal which takes days to complete and involves the biosynthesis of opsin. It is well known that rhodopsin can be formed from opsin only when 11-cis-retinal is present; this requires the existence of an isomerizing enzyme which is capable of transforming all-trans-retinal, released from the degradation of metarhodopsin, into the 11-cis-retinal isomer. In some invertebrate visual systems, experiments on rhodopsin regeneration have been interpreted by assuming that the isomerization reaction is a light-dependent process involving a retinal-protein complex. Two retinal photoisomerases which have been well characterized, i.e. bee photoisomerase and cephalopod retinochrome, are reviewed here. Their properties are compared in order to determine their physiological role, which is likely to be in the renewal of visual pigment rhodopsin. To conclude, a visual pigment cycle is proposed in which rhodopsin regeneration follows two light-dependent pathways. This greatly simplifies the rhodopsin regeneration scheme for invertebrate visual systems.

Animals↗

Maladaptation and natural selection.

The transformations George Williams initiated in evolutionary biology seem so blindingly obvious in retrospect that they spur the question of why he saw what no one else did. While most humans are prone to see only what theory predicts, Williams sees in bold relief whatever does not fit. Not an adaptationist or an anti-adaptationist, Williams is better described as a maladaptionist. The challenge of finding evolutionary explanations for apparent maladaptations has been overlooked with casualness akin to that once typical for group selection. Suboptimal traits tend to be dismissed as illustrations of the weakness and stochastic nature of selection compared with mutation and drift. A closer look suggests that such constraints are only one of six possible kinds of explanations for apparently suboptimal designs: mismatch, coevolution, tradeoffs, constraints, reproductive advantage at the expense of the individual, and defenses that are aversive but useful Medicine has asked proximate questions at every possible level but has only begun to ask evolutionary questions about why bodies are vulnerable to disease. Considering all six possible evolutionary reasons for apparently suboptimal traits will spur progress not only in medicine but also more generally in biology. 'Williams Vision" may not yield a net benefit to the possessor, but it is invaluable for the species.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

[Problem of visual segmentation and spatial-frequency filtration].

The analysis of the visual segmentation problem involved questions concerned with a signal description as a result of linear filtering, nature following nonlinear transformations, and possible role of a spatial attention in pooling. Different approaches to the visual segmentation problem are compared. Our data suggest a model of visual segmentation. It uses the universal principle of linear filters pooling at second-order mechanisms. The pooling mechanism is characterized by position, spatial frequency and orientation tuning an is selective in respect to pattern size. The most activated pooling mechanisms are "targets" for selective attention. It is shown that the information selected this way is necessary and sufficient for recognition. Multiple representation of a visual scene with different resolution and hierarchical principle of description organise the recognition as successive specification.

Attention↗

Attentional shifts between surfaces: effects on detection and early brain potentials.

Two consecutive events transforming the same illusory surface in transparent motion (brief changes in direction) can be discriminated with ease, but a prolonged interference ( approximately 500 ms) on the discrimination of the second event arises when different surfaces are concerned [Valdes-Sosa, M., Cobo, A., & Pinilla, T. (2000). Attention to object files defined by transparent motion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26(2), 488-505]. Here we further characterise this phenomenon and compare it to the attentional blink AB [Shapiro, K.L., Raymond, J.E., & Arnell, K.M. (1994). Attention to visual pattern information produces the attentional blink in RSVP. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 357-371]. Similar to the AB, reduced sensitivity (d') was found in the two-surface condition. However, the two-surface cost was associated with a reduced N1 brain response in contrast to reports for AB [Vogel, E.K., Luck, S.J., & Shapiro, K. (1998). Electrophysiological evidence for a postperceptual locus of suppression during the attentional blink. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(6), 1656-1674]. The results from this study indicate that the two-surface cost corresponds to competitive effects in early vision. Reasons for the discrepancy with the AB study are considered.

Adult↗

Age differences of visual field impairment and mutation spectrum in Danish choroideremia patients.

Visual prognosis is a crucial theme in the counselling of individuals affected by a progressive retinal dystrophy. Unfortunately prognostic predictions are hampered by large interindividual differences in disease courses even within well defined nosological entities. Ten patients from 8 families affected by choroideremia were studied. The clinical signs in our patients were rather uniform. Deterioration of the peripheral visual fields typically began in the second decade of life, and progressed during the following one or two decades. Esterman transformation of peripheral visual field measurements was chosen as the best single indicator of visual impairment. Noticeable age differences in residual visual fields among patients were demonstrated. The age difference between the mildest and the severest cases amounted to 25 years. One of the expectations of the exploration of disease genes, is the potential predictive value of mutation identification with regard to phenotypic variability. Different presumed causative mutations were identified. Nevertheless, all the mutations are predicted to cause premature stops during translation, resulting in a non-functional or missing protein. Consequently, the observed age variation in the photopic visual field degradation must be due to still unrecognized factors, either constitutional and/or environmental.

Adolescent↗