Contour interaction for foveal acuity targets at different luminances

Single-letter visual acuity is impaired by nearby flanking stimuli, a phenomenon known as contour interaction. We showed previously that when foveal acuity is degraded by a reduction of letter contrast, both the magnitude and angular spatial extent of foveal contour interaction remain unchanged. In this study, we asked whether contour interaction also remains unchanged when foveal visual acuity is degraded by a reduction of the target’s background luminance. Percent correct letter identification was measured for isolated, near-threshold black Sloan letters and for letters surrounded by 4 flanking bars in 10 normal observers, 5 at Anglia Ruskin University, UK (ARU) and 5 at Palacky University, Czech Republic (PU). A stepwise reduction in the background luminance over 3 log units resulted in an approximately threefold increase in the near-threshold letter size. At each background luminance, black flanking bars with a width equal to 1 letter stroke were presented at separations between approximately 0.45 and 4.5 min arc (ARU) or 0.32 and 3.2 min arc (PU). The results indicate that the angular extent of contour interaction remains unchanged at approximately 4 min arc at all background luminances. On the other hand, the magnitude of contour interaction decreases systematically as luminance is reduced, from approximately a 50% reduction to a 30% reduction in percent correct. The constant angular extent and decreasing magnitude of contour interaction with a reduction of background luminance suggest foveal contour interaction is mediated by luminance-dependent lateral inhibition within a fixed angular region

ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF MULLITE AND MULLITE-CONTAINING CERAMICS PART 1: THEORETICAL ASPECTS AND REVIEW OF MONOCRYSTAL DATA

In this first part of a two-paper set on the elastic properties of mullite and mullite ceramics the current literature is reviewed and, based on the available monocrystal data, a mutually consistent average set of elastic constants for polycrystalline mullite materials at room temperature is calculated and optimized via minimization of the total average relative root mean square (RMS) deviation. Based on the results of this paper, the recommended values of adiabatic elastic constants are 224.9 GPa for the Young’s modulus, 87.8 GPa for the shear modulus, 170.9 GPa for the bulk modulus and 0.281 for the Poisson ratio. The RMS deviation of this set is lower than for any other set, and thus these values exhibit a high degree of mutual consistency with respect to the elasticity standard relations. Micromechanical upper bounds and model relations are summarized for describing the porosity dependence of elastic moduli, and a simple relation is used to estimate the difference between adiabatic and isothermal elastic constants. The results show that this difference increases slightly with temperature, but is not larger than 4 % even at 1500°C. In particular, for the Young’s modulus the difference remains below 0.5 %. That means, the difference between adiabatic and isothermal Young’s moduli will usually be unmeasurably small and negligible in practice

Contour interaction under photopic and scotopic conditions

In the present study, we asked whether contour interaction undergoes significant changes for different luminance levels in the central and peripheral visual field. This study included nine normal observers at two laboratories (five at Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic and four at the University of Houston, USA). Observers viewed a randomly selected Sloan letter surrounded by four equally spaced bars for several separations measured edge-to-edge in min arc. Stimuli were viewed foveally under photopic and mesopic luminances and between 58 and 128 peripherally for four different background luminances of the display monitors, corresponding to photopic, mesopic, scotopic, and dim scotopic levels. The extent of the contour interaction in the fovea is approximately 20 times smaller than in the periphery. Whereas the magnitude of foveal contour interaction markedly decreases with decreasing luminance, no consistent luminance-induced change occurs in peripheral contour interaction. The extent of contour interaction does not scale with the size of the target letter, either in the fovea or peripherally. The results support a neural origin of contour interaction consistent with the properties of center-surround antagonism

Magneto-responsive hyaluronan hydrogel for hyperthermia and bioprinting: Magnetic, rheological properties and biocompatibility

Magneto-responsive soft hydrogels are used for a number of biomedical applications, e.g., magnetic hyperthermia, drug delivery, tissue engineering, and neuromodulation. In this work, this type of hydrogel has been fabricated from hyaluronan (HA) filled with a binary system of Al2O3 nanoparticles and multicore magnetic particles (MCPs), which were obtained by clustering of superparamagnetic iron oxide FeOx NPs. It was established that the presence of diamagnetic Al2O3 has several positive effects: it enhances the hydrogel storage modulus and long-term stability in the cell cultivation medium; prevents the magnetic interaction among the MCPs. The HA hydrogel provides rapid heating of 0.3 °C per min under exposure to low amplitude radio frequency alternating magnetic field. Furthermore, the magneto-responsive hydrogel was successfully used to encapsulate cells and extrusion-based 3D printing with 87±6% cell viability, thus providing a bio-ink. The combination of high heating efficiency, softness, cytocompatibility, and 3D printability of magnetic HA hydrogel leads to a material suitable for biomedical applications.DKRVO, (RP/CPS/2022/003, RP/CPS/2022/005); Program Multilateral Scientific and Technological Cooperation in the Danube Region, (8X20041); Tomas Bata University in Zlin, TBU, (22–33307S, CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/19_073/0016941, IGA/FT/2023/006); Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy, MŠMT; Grantová Agentura České Republiky, GA ČR, (RP/CPS/2022/001)Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic-DKRVO [RP/CPS/2022/003, RP/CPS/2022/005]; Program Multilateral Scientific and Technological Cooperation in the Danube Region [8X20041]; TBU [IGA/FT/2023/006]; Czech Science Foundation [22-33307S]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [RP/CPS/2022/001

Mapping human dispersals into the Horn of Africa from Arabian Ice Age refugia using mitogenomes

Rare mitochondrial lineages with relict distributions can sometimes be disproportionately informative about deep events in human prehistory. We have studied one such lineage, haplogroup R0a, which uniquely is most frequent in Arabia and the Horn of Africa, but is distributed much more widely, from Europe to India. We conclude that: (1) the lineage ancestral to R0a is more ancient than previously thought, with a relict distribution across the Mediterranean/Southwest Asia; (2) R0a has a much deeper presence in Arabia than previously thought, highlighting the role of at least one Pleistocene glacial refugium, perhaps on the Red Sea plains; (3) the main episode of dispersal into Eastern Africa, at least concerning maternal lineages, was at the end of the Late Glacial, due to major expansions from one or more refugia in Arabia; (4) there was likely a minor Late Glacial/early postglacial dispersal from Arabia through the Levant and into Europe, possibly alongside other lineages from a Levantine refugium; and (5) the presence of R0a in Southwest Arabia in the Holocene at the nexus of a trading network that developed after ~3 ka between Africa and the Indian Ocean led to some gene flow even further afield, into Iran, Pakistan and India

Protected area characteristics that help waterbirds respond to climate warming

Protected area networks help species respond to climate warming. However, the contribution of a site's environmental and conservation-relevant characteristics to these responses is not well understood. We investigated how composition of nonbreeding waterbird communities (97 species) in the European Union Natura 2000 (N2K) network (3018 sites) changed in response to increases in temperature over 25 years in 26 European countries. We measured community reshuffling based on abundance time series collected under the International Waterbird Census relative to N2K sites' conservation targets, funding, designation period, and management plan status. Waterbird community composition in sites explicitly designated to protect them and with management plans changed more quickly in response to climate warming than in other N2K sites. Temporal community changes were not affected by the designation period despite greater exposure to temperature increase inside late-designated N2K sites. Sites funded under the LIFE program had lower climate-driven community changes than sites that did not received LIFE funding. Our findings imply that efficient conservation policy that helps waterbird communities respond to climate warming is associated with sites specifically managed for waterbirds

Von Willebrand Factor Gene Variants Associate with Herpes simplex Encephalitis

Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) is a rare complication of Herpes simplex virus type-1 infection. It results in severe parenchymal damage in the brain. Although viral latency in neurons is very common in the population, it remains unclear why certain individuals develop HSE. Here we explore potential host genetic variants predisposing to HSE. In order to investigate this we used a rat HSE model comparing the HSE susceptible SHR (Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats) with the asymptomatic infection of BN (Brown Norway). Notably, both strains have HSV-1 spread to the CNS at four days after infection. A genome wide linkage analysis of 29 infected HXB/BXH RILs (recombinant inbred lines-generated from the prior two strains), displayed variable susceptibility to HSE enabling the definition of a significant QTL (quantitative trait locus) named Hse6 towards the end of chromosome 4 (160.89-174Mb) containing the Vwf (von Willebrand factor) gene. This was the only gene in the QTL with both cis-regulation in the brain and included several non-synonymous SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism). Intriguingly, in human chromosome 12 several SNPs within the intronic region between exon 43 and 44 of the VWF gene were associated with human HSE pathogenesis. In particular, rs917859 is nominally associated with an odds ratio of 1.5 (95% CI 1.11-2.02; p-value = 0.008) after genotyping in 115 HSE cases and 428 controls. Although there are possibly several genetic and environmental factors involved in development of HSE, our study identifies variants of the VWF gene as candidates for susceptibility in experimental and human HSE

Genome Instability and Bleomicin Sensitivity Test

Procjena individualne osjetljivosti na mutagene često je dio istraživanja u epidemiološkim studijama koje prate pojavnost zloćudnih bolesti u populacijama. Posljedica djelovanja mutagena u genomu izloženih osoba jest nastanak određene, manje ili veće, količine oštećenja, uvjetovane individualnim razlikama u osjetljivosti. Viša razina takve genomske nestabilnosti znači opasnost (rizik) od razvoja zloćudnih bolesti. Interindividualne razlike u odgovoru na mutagene obično se povezuju i s promijenjenom (većinom smanjenom) sposobnosti (kapacitetom) za popravak DNA. Citogenetičke studije su pokazale da je genom tumorskih stanica nestabilniji od normalnih, a time i skloniji akumuliranju oštećenja, bilo da je nestabilnost uzrokovana nasljeđem, izloženošću ili kombinacijom tih dvaju učinaka. U oboljelih ispitanika utvrđena je povećana učestalost kromatidnih i kromosomskih aberacija naspram normalne populacije te sklonost razvoju određenih vrsta neoplazija. U praćenju povezanosti promijenjenog odgovora i pojavnosti tumora služe nam različiti biomarkeri. Kao indirektni pokazatelji uspješnosti popravka DNA često se rabe testovi osjetljivosti na mutagene u kulturama limfocita periferne krvi. Jedan od takvih testova je i bleomicinski test. Radiomimetik i citostatik, a po strukturi glikopeptid, bleomicin se u stanici prevodi u aktivni oblik sposoban cijepati molekulu DNA što uzrokuje brojne jednolančane i dvolančane lomove. Kao jednostavna i jeftina metoda, zasniva se na utvrđivanju ukupnog broja jednolančanih lomova u kromosomima limfocita uzgajanih u staničnoj kulturi koji su u uvjetima in vitro tijekom kasne G2-faze staničnog ciklusa bili izloženi bleomicinu. Ovaj revijalni rad daje pregled utjecaja raznih faktora na rezultate samog testa i pokazuje njegovu široku primjenu u proučavanju genomske nestabilnosti koju najčešće uzrokuje kombinacija raznih faktora.Estimation of individual susceptibility to mutagens is often a part of epidemiological studies monitoring the appearance of malignant disease in different populations. Genome exposure to mutagens can lead to DNA damage. The rate of damage depends on individual differences in response, which are usually associated with differences in DNA repair capacity. Cytogenetic studies have shown that the genome of tumour cells is less stable than normal cells and therefore accumulates more damage. Tumour patients show a higher frequency of chromatid and chromosomal aberrations and a predisposition to certain types of tumours. One of the common biomarkers used in monitoring tumour appearance and changed response to DNA damage is the bleomycin test. In its active form, bleomycin (glycopeptid) is a radiomimetic cytostatic that can damage the DNA molecule and cause multiple single and double strands. The bleomycin test is simple and inexpensive, and is based on scoring chromatid breaks in lymphocytes in vitro exposed to bleomycin during the late G2 phase of the cell cycle. This review looks into different factors that may affect test results and discusses its wide implementation in studies of genome instability usually caused by a combination of factors