Ocular accommodation and cognitive demand: An additional indicator besides pupil size and cardiovascular measures?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of the present study was to assess accommodation as a possible indicator of changes in the autonomic balance caused by altered cognitive demand. Accounting for accommodative responses from a human factors perspective may be motivated by the interest of designing virtual image displays or by establishing an autonomic indicator that allows for remote measurement at the human eye. Heart period, pulse transit time, and the pupillary response were considered as reference for possible closed-loop accommodative effects. Cognitive demand was varied by presenting monocularly numbers at a viewing distance of 5 D (20 cm) which had to be read, added or multiplied; further, letters were presented in a "n-back" task.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cardiovascular parameters and pupil size indicated a change in autonomic balance, while error rates and reaction time confirmed the increased cognitive demand during task processing. An observed decrease in accommodation could not be attributed to the cognitive demand itself for two reasons: (1) the cognitive demand induced a shift in gaze direction which, for methodological reasons, accounted for a substantial part of the observed accommodative changes. (2) Remaining effects disappeared when the correctness of task processing was taken into account.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although the expectation of accommodation as possible autonomic indicator of cognitive demand was not confirmed, the present results are informative for the field of applied psychophysiology noting that it seems not to be worthwhile to include closed-loop accommodation in future studies. From a human factors perspective, expected changes of accommodation due to cognitive demand are of minor importance for design specifications – of, for example, complex visual displays.</p

Genetic Variants on Chromosome 1q41 Influence Ocular Axial Length and High Myopia

As one of the leading causes of visual impairment and blindness, myopia poses a significant public health burden in Asia. The primary determinant of myopia is an elongated ocular axial length (AL). Here we report a meta-analysis of three genome-wide association studies on AL conducted in 1,860 Chinese adults, 929 Chinese children, and 2,155 Malay adults. We identified a genetic locus on chromosome 1q41 harboring the zinc-finger 11B pseudogene ZC3H11B showing genome-wide significant association with AL variation (rs4373767, β = −0.16 mm per minor allele, Pmeta = 2.69×10−10). The minor C allele of rs4373767 was also observed to significantly associate with decreased susceptibility to high myopia (per-allele odds ratio (OR) = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.68–0.84, Pmeta = 4.38×10−7) in 1,118 highly myopic cases and 5,433 controls. ZC3H11B and two neighboring genes SLC30A10 and LYPLAL1 were expressed in the human neural retina, retinal pigment epithelium, and sclera. In an experimental myopia mouse model, we observed significant alterations to gene and protein expression in the retina and sclera of the unilateral induced myopic eyes for the murine genes ZC3H11A, SLC30A10, and LYPLAL1. This supports the likely role of genetic variants at chromosome 1q41 in influencing AL variation and high myopia

Environmental effects of ozone depletion, UV radiation and interactions with climate change : UNEP Environmental Effects Assessment Panel, update 2017

Peer reviewe

Large-Diameter Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Formed Alongside Small-Diameter Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Samples containing a majority of either single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) or double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) are prepared in the same catalytic chemical vapor deposition conditions but using slightly different catalytic materials, based on alumina impregnated with iron and molybdenum salts. There is a sharp SWCNTs-to-DWCNTs transition. By contrast to the usual findings, the selectivity is not correlated to the size of the iron-based catalyst nanoparticles, nor does the transition occur upon a decreasing carbon/catalyst ratio. The result is attributed to the increasing MoO3 concentration inducing modifications of the gas atmosphere, such as the formation of more reactive C2 species through C2H4 dissociation, which thus favors the nucleation and growth of a DWCNT. In the DWCNT sample, the average diameter of the SWCNTs is higher than the average outer diameter of the DWCNTs, which is uncommon, as many authors stress that SWCNTs show a lower diameter than DWCNTs. The study could provide guidelines for the synthesis of very small diameter DWCNTs