The Molecular Mechanism of Thermal Noise in Rod Photoreceptors

Science ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 337 (6099) ◽  
pp. 1225-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Gozem ◽  
I. Schapiro ◽  
N. Ferre ◽  
M. Olivucci
2018 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward N. Pugh

Vertebrate rod photoreceptors evolved the astonishing ability to respond reliably to single photons. In parallel, the proximate neurons of the visual system evolved the ability to reliably encode information from a few single-photon responses (SPRs) as arising from the presence of an object of interest in the visual environment. These amazing capabilities were first inferred from measurements of human visual threshold by Hecht et al. (1942), whose paper has since been cited over 1,000 times. Subsequent research, in part inspired by Hecht et al.’s discovery, has directly measured rod SPRs, characterized the molecular mechanism responsible for their generation, and uncovered much about the specializations in the retina that enable the reliable transmission of SPRs in the teeth of intrinsic neuronal noise.


Author(s):  
David L. Wetzel ◽  
John A. Reffner ◽  
Gwyn P. Williams

Synchrotron radiation is 100 to 1000 times brighter than a thermal source such as a globar. It is not accompanied with thermal noise and it is highly directional and nondivergent. For these reasons, it is well suited for ultra-spatially resolved FT-IR microspectroscopy. In efforts to attain good spatial resolution in FT-IR microspectroscopy with a thermal source, a considerable fraction of the infrared beam focused onto the specimen is lost when projected remote apertures are used to achieve a small spot size. This is the case because of divergence in the beam from that source. Also the brightness is limited and it is necessary to compromise on the signal-to-noise or to expect a long acquisition time from coadding many scans. A synchrotron powered FT-IR Microspectrometer does not suffer from this effect. Since most of the unaperatured beam’s energy makes it through even a 12 × 12 μm aperture, that is a starting place for aperture dimension reduction.


2001 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. A91-A91
Author(s):  
P TIETZ ◽  
P SPLINTER ◽  
M MCNIVEN ◽  
R HUEBERT ◽  
N LARUSSO

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 187A-187A
Author(s):  
J CARVAJAL ◽  
S KATO ◽  
J SAEZ ◽  
F LEIGHTON ◽  
G VALENZUELA ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan ◽  
Jiang ◽  
Zhang ◽  
Bai

In efforts to identify naturally occurring compounds that act as protective agents, resveratrol, a phytoalexin existing in wine, has attracted much interest because of its diverse pharmacological characteristics. Considering that apoptosis induction is the most potent defense approach for cancer treatment, we have tried to summarize our present understanding of apoptosis induction by resveratrol based on the two major apoptosis pathways.


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