Electrophysiological Characterization of GFP-Expressing Cell Populations in the Intact Retina

Studying the physiological properties and synaptic connections of specific neurons in the intact tissue is a challenge for those cells that lack conspicuous morphological features or show a low population density. This applies particularly to retinal amacrine cells, an exceptionally multiform class of interneurons that comprise roughly 30 subtypes in mammals1. Though being a crucial part of the visual processing by shaping the retinal output2, most of these subtypes have not been studied up to now in a functional context because encountering these cells with a recording electrode is a rare event

Literatur-Rundschau

Beatrice Dernbach/Wiebke Loosen (Hg.): Didaktik der Journalistik. Konzepte, Methoden und Beispiele aus der Journalistenausbildung (Renate Hackel-de Latour)Melanie Kretschmer-Elser: Kritische Reflexionen zur Medienkompetenz (Claudia Paganini)Petra Grimm / Heinrich Badura (Hg.): Medien – Ethik – Gewalt. Neue Perspektiven (Dagmar Hoffmann)Alexander Filipovic ́ / Michael Jäckel / Christian Schicha (Hg.): Medien- und Zivilgesellschaft Kommunikations- und Medienethik (Karin Knop)Thomas Wiedemann: Walter Hagemann. Aufstieg und Fall eines politisch ambitionierten Journalisten und Publizistikwissenschaftlers (Kurt Koszyk)Michael Lukas: Josef Homeyer (1929–2010). Priester – Bischof – Europäer (Ferdinand Oertel

Differential Distribution of Retinal Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Kinase II (CaMKII) Isoforms Indicates CaMKII-β and -δ as Specific Elements of Electrical Synapses Made of Connexin36 (Cx36)

AII amacrine cells are essential interneurons of the primary rod pathway and transmit rod-driven signals to ON cone bipolar cells to enable scotopic vision. Gap junctions made of connexin36 (Cx36) mediate electrical coupling among AII cells and between AII cells and ON cone bipolar cells. These gap junctions underlie a remarkable degree of plasticity and are modulated by different signaling cascades. In particular, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) has been characterized as an important regulator of Cx36, capable of potentiating electrical coupling in AII cells. However, it is unclear which CaMKII isoform mediates this effect. To obtain a more detailed understanding of the isoform composition of CaMKII at retinal gap junctions, we analyzed the retinal distribution of all four CaMKII isoforms using confocal microscopy. These experiments revealed a differential distribution of CaMKII isoforms: CaMKII-α was strongly expressed in starburst amacrine cells, which are known to lack electrical coupling. CaMKII-β was abundant in OFF bipolar cells, which form electrical synapses in the outer and the inner retina. CaMKII-γ was diffusely distributed across the entire retina and could not be assigned to a specific cell type. CaMKII-δ labeling was evident in bipolar and AII amacrine cells, which contain the majority of Cx36-immunoreactive puncta in the inner retina. We double-labeled retinas for Cx36 and the four CaMKII isoforms and revealed that the composition of the CaMKII enzyme differs between gap junctions in the outer and the inner retina: in the outer retina, only CaMKII-β colocalized with Cx36-containing gap junctions, whereas in the inner retina, CaMKII-β and -δ colocalized with Cx36. This finding suggests that gap junctions in the inner and the outer retina may be regulated differently although they both contain the same connexin. Taken together, our study identifies CaMKII-β and -δ as Cx36-specific regulators in the mouse retina with CaMKII-δ regulating the primary rod pathway

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes

Boosting conversation or shrinking attention? An experimental investigation of using smartphones during face-to-face communication

The use of smartphones has become indispensable for daily activities in today’s world and enables users to be permanently online and permanently connected. More and more recently it has become a commonplace observation that people use their smartphones even in presence of others, for instance during face to face (f2f) communication. This so-called phenomenon of phubbing has become of increasing interest to academic research. So far, quantitative and qualitative studies of smartphone use in moments of physical co-presence produced contradictory results: Smartphones were considered either as a source of disturbance or an enrichment to the conversation. This inconsistency can be explained in terms of insufficient levels of differentiation between types of use in previous research. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating potential effects of smartphone use in moments of physical co-presence in a more differentiated manner by asking: To what extent does the type of smartphone use during f2f communication (proactive, reactive, integrative) influence the perceived conversational quality as well as the attentiveness and politeness of the conversational partner

Gesprächsförderer oder Gesprächskiller? Eine experimentelle Untersuchung des Einflusses der Smartphone-Nutzung auf die wahrgenommene Qualität der Face-to-Face-Kommunikation sowie die Aufmerksamkeit und Höflichkeit des Gegenübers

Für die meisten Menschen ist das Smartphone aus ihrem Alltag kaum mehr wegzudenken. Es ermöglicht dem Einzelnen, permanently online/permanently connected zu sein. Zunehmend lässt sich beobachten, dass auch im Beisein anderer Menschen, beispielsweise während Face-to-face-Gesprächen (f2f), nicht auf die Smartphone-Nutzung verzichtet wird. Quantitative und qualitative Studien zur Smartphone-Nutzung während der f2f-Kommunikation brachten widersprüchliche Befunde hervor, indem Smartphones entweder als Störquelle oder Bereicherung fungieren. Die Inkonsistenz der bisherigen Ergebnisse lässt sich durch die unzureichende Wirkungsforschung zu verschiedenen Arten der Smartphone-Nutzung erklären. Vor dem theoretischen Hintergrund der Expectancy Violations Theory, dem skizzierten empirischen Forschungsstand und den Wandlungsannahmen der POPC-Forschung ergibt sich die Forschungsfrage: Inwiefern beeinflusst die Art der Smartphone-Nutzung innerhalb von f2f-Gesprächen die Bewertung des Gesprächs und des Gegenübers

Boosting conversation or shrinking attention? An experimental investigation of using smartphones during face-to-face communication

The use of smartphones has become indispensable for daily activities in today’s world and enables users to be permanently online and permanently connected. More and more recently it has become a commonplace observation that people use their smartphones even in presence of others, for instance during face to face (f2f) communication. This so-called phenomenon of phubbing has become of increasing interest to academic research. So far, quantitative and qualitative studies of smartphone use in moments of physical co-presence produced contradictory results: Smartphones were considered either as a source of disturbance or an enrichment to the conversation. This inconsistency can be explained in terms of insufficient levels of differentiation between types of use in previous research. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating potential effects of smartphone use in moments of physical co-presence in a more differentiated manner by asking: To what extent does the type of smartphone use during f2f communication (proactive, reactive, integrative) influence the perceived conversational quality as well as the attentiveness and politeness of the conversational partner

Gesprächsförderer oder Gesprächskiller? Eine experimentelle Untersuchung des Einflusses der Smartphone-Nutzung auf die wahrgenommene Qualität der Face-to-Face-Kommunikation sowie die Aufmerksamkeit und Höflichkeit des Gegenübers

Für die meisten Menschen ist das Smartphone aus ihrem Alltag kaum mehr wegzudenken. Es ermöglicht dem Einzelnen, permanently online/permanently connected zu sein. Zunehmend lässt sich beobachten, dass auch im Beisein anderer Menschen, beispielsweise während Face-to-face-Gesprächen (f2f), nicht auf die Smartphone-Nutzung verzichtet wird. Quantitative und qualitative Studien zur Smartphone-Nutzung während der f2f-Kommunikation brachten widersprüchliche Befunde hervor, indem Smartphones entweder als Störquelle oder Bereicherung fungieren. Die Inkonsistenz der bisherigen Ergebnisse lässt sich durch die unzureichende Wirkungsforschung zu verschiedenen Arten der Smartphone-Nutzung erklären. Vor dem theoretischen Hintergrund der Expectancy Violations Theory, dem skizzierten empirischen Forschungsstand und den Wandlungsannahmen der POPC-Forschung ergibt sich die Forschungsfrage: Inwiefern beeinflusst die Art der Smartphone-Nutzung innerhalb von f2f-Gesprächen die Bewertung des Gesprächs und des Gegenübers