The cerebellum is a region of the brain responsible for an organism’s ability to perform precise, coordinated movements. An abundance of research has characterized the anatomy of the cerebellum, and provides the foundation of current theories regarding the circuitry that supports motor learning. Delay eyelid conditioning is a form of motor learning. It is the learned association of a neutral stimulus and the reflexive response of an eyelid closure resulting in a well-timed eyelid closure in anticipation of the reflexive response. Two aspects of this learning are: different-conditioned stimulus savings and savings of timing. Different-CS savings is a rapid re-learning to a new, different neutral stimulus that occurs more quickly than learning to the original stimulus. Savings of timing is a phenomenon in which the timing of a response is preserved from a prior training experience. This dissertation presents evidence that forebrain input to the cerebellum is required for these aspects of delay eyelid conditioning. We trained animals with electrical stimulation as our neutral stimulus and thereby engaged a specific input pathway to the cerebellum, limiting forebrain inputs. In Chapter 2 we implement this technique and eliminate different-CS savings. These data suggest that forebrain input mediates this phenomenon. We then proceeded to investigate if the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the forebrain region involved in supporting this aspect of delay eyelid conditioning. We administered electrolytic lesions to the PFC of animals and found their ability to express different-CS savings was impaired. Evidence from these two chapters suggests the PFC provides input to the cerebellum necessary for different-CS savings. Finally, in Chapter 4 we examine savings of timing. We again limit forebrain input to the cerebellum and implement electrical stimulation as our neutral training stimulus. With stimulation as the neutral stimulus, animals do not exhibit savings of timing. The data suggest that a forebrain region is necessary to sustain this phenomenon as well. This dissertation provides two lines of evidence strongly supporting forebrain involvement in these modifications of delay eyelid conditioning - savings and savings of timing. These results convey the importance of accommodating forebrain-cerebellum interactions when developing theories of cerebellar function. / text

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Objetivos: descrever um novo método, baseado nas curvas de Bézier, de obtenção e análise quantitativa do contorno da pálpebra inferior de pacientes com orbitopatia de Graves. Casuística e Métodos: Foram estudados dois grupos de sujeitos, pareados por sexo e idade, sendo 41 pacientes portadores de orbitopatia de Graves e 43 sujeitos normais. Foi realizada exoftalmometria de Hertel em todos os integrantes do estudo e empregados cortes coronais de ressonância magnética orbitária para medir a área do músculo reto inferior de 17 pacientes e 16 controles. O programa ImageJ, com a ferramenta da curva de Bézier, foi usado para obtenção do contorno palpebral inferior de um dos olhos de todos os integrantes dos dois grupos da partir de fotografias digitais da fenda palpebral. O programa MatLab foi utilizado para se obterem, de ambos os grupos, o pico do contorno palpebral inferior, a distância margem reflexo 2 (MRD2), o índice de circularidade do contorno da pálpebra, o ângulo lacrimal, a área de exposição escleral delimitada pelo contorno palpebral bem como a razão entre as áreas temporal e medial dessa área. Resultados: A análise do contorno da porção ciliar da pálpebra inferior demonstrou que a retração palpebral está significativamente correlacionada ao grau de proptose do olho nos pacientes portadores de orbitopatia de Graves e ao deslocamento inferior do tubérculo lacrimal. Não houve correlação entre a magnitude da retração e o aumento da área do músculo reto inferior. O contorno da porção ciliar da palpebral inferior não apresentou deformações setoriais, achado este comprovado pela ausência de diferença significativa da posição do pico palpebral entre os dois grupos estudados, pela distribuição simétrica entre as áreas temporal e medial do contorno palpebral e pelo maior grau de circularidade detectado nas pálpebras dos portadores de orbitopatia de Graves. A retração deslocou significativamente o tubérculo lacrimal da pálpebra afetada. Conclusão: A curva de Bézier mostrou-se uma ferramenta útil para o estudo do contorno palpebral inferior. A análise do contorno evidenciou que não há flare temporal na retração palpebral inferior na orbitopatia de Graves. Os resultados possibilitaram melhor entendimento da retração palpebral, assim como planejamento cirúrgico mais preciso para correção dessa patologia palpebral. / Purpose: To describe a new method, based on the Bézier curves, to obtain and analyze quantitively the lower eyelid contour of patients with Graves orbitopathy. Magnetic. Casuistic and Methods: Two groups of sex and age matched subjects were studied: patients with Graves orbitopathy (n = 41) and normal controls (n= 43). Hertel exophthalmometry was performed in all subjects. Coronal slices of Magnetic resonance imaging were employed to estimate the area of the inferior rectus muscle of 17 patients and 16 controls. The Image J NIH software, equipped with the Bézier plugin, was used to obtain the lower eyelid contour of one eye of all participants from digital images of the palpebral fissure. With the software Matlab it was measured in all contours the following variables: margin reflex distance 2, the contour peak, the circularity index, the lacrimal angle and the total area of the lid contour as well the medial and lateral portions of this area. Results: The contour analysis of the ciliated portion of the lower eyelid showed that the lid retraction is significantly correlated with the degree of proptosis and with the displacement of the lacrimal tubercle of the lid. There is no correlation between the magnitude of retraction and the inferior rectus area. The ciliated portion of the lower eyelid does not show segmental deformities as demonstrated by the absence of difference between the temporal and medial areas of the contour as well by the highest index of circularity of the retracted lids. Lower eyelid retraction displaces significantly the lacrimal tubercle of the affected lid. Conclusions: The Bézier curve proved to be a useful tool for the study of the lower eyelid contour. The contour analyis showed that there is no lateral flare on the lower eyelid retraction of the Graves orbitopathy. The results allow a better understanding of the lid retraction and a precise surgical planning of this lid pathology.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Wisconsin. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 302-312).

An interspecies hybridization is usually viewed from two sides - either as mistakes in a reproduction resulting in decrease of a hybrids fitness (e. g. loss or decrease of viability and fertility) or as a mechanism helping animals adaptively respond to environmental changes resulting in higher fitness. Fitness is usually represented as a set of correlates. One of the correlates is an organism performance which is represented by a set of maximal values from measured physical activities. This thesis focuses on the evaluation of the endurance and the bite force for gecko species E. macularius and E. angramayniu, their interspecies hybrids and intraspecies hybrids to determine their performance. The results show differences in the bite force among each of the tested groups. E. macularius has the lowest bite force, while the highest bite force was measured in E. angramayniu. The bite force of interspecies hybrids is intermediate in comparison to the parent species. Nevertheless, intraspecies hybrids of large form and white form of E. macularius exceeds their parents in measured bite force. The variability in bite force suggests a positive effect of hybridization on fitness. The bite force differences between the large form and the white form of E. macularius support the hypothesis that there exist more...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Subciliary and transconjunctival approaches are commonly used to enter the orbital floor. Although both surgical approaches have been used for decades, there is no consensus regarding the most appropriate incision to prevent postoperative lower eyelid complications. The aim of this study was to compare the frequencies of lower eyelid complications after subciliary versus transconjunctival approaches to orbital floor fractures. The investigator implemented a retrospective cohort study and enrolled a sample consisting of subjects who had orbital floor repair. The predictor variable was two different surgical methods, subciliary or transconjunctival approch. The primary outcome variable was postoperative lower eyelid complications (ectropion, entropion, and eyelid retraction). Other variables were demographic backgrounds, anatomical consideration, or time to surgery. The samples were composed of 346 patients (98 [28.3%] females; 225 [65%] underwent a subciliary approach) with a mean age of 42.7 ± 21.1 years. The subciliary approach was significantly linked to the higher rates of ectropion and the lower rates of entropion at 7 days and 6 months postoperatively. There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of eyelid retraction between both groups. In the setting of orbital floor fractures, these results suggest that the use of the subciliary approach increases the frequency of ectropion, while the transconjunctival approach increases the frequency of entropion. Consequently, the selection should be based on an individual patient basis and surgeon’s preference.

Proper embryonic patterning requires precise spatio-temporal regulation of retinoic acid (RA) activity. Morphogenesis can be regulated at the level of RA distribution, mainly via its synthesis and catabolism by the RALDH and CYP26 enzymes respectively, and at the level of RA-mediated transcription through activation of its cognate nuclear receptor, the retinoic acid receptors (RARs) α, β, and γ. Loss of Cyp26b1 leads to increased local levels of RA in tissues such as the limb and craniofacial structures, and results in neonatal lethality. Visible gross phenotypic defects in neonates include phocomelia (shortening of the limbs), adactyly (missing digits), micrognathia (shortened lower jaw), and open eyes at birth. In addition, these embryos exhibit cleft palate and have a paucity of vibrissal (whisker) and pelage (hair) follicles. We have previously shown that ablating the gene encoding RARγ in a Cyp26a1-null background was able to rescue the caudal abnormalities associated with improper RA exposure in these embryos by limiting aberrant RA signalling, and thus rescuing expression domains of target genes involved in caudal development. I show here that ablating Rarg in a Cyp26b1-null background is able to partially rescue the defects associated with loss of CYP26B1. These include a reduction in the severity of limb defects, rescued vibrissae, fused eyelids, and recovered aspects of axial skeletal development. This compound-null murine model illustrates that RARγ plays a specific role in transducing the RA signal within tissues that are affected by the loss of CYP26B1. Further molecular analysis of the pathways responsible for directing limb bud outgrowth and eyelid fusion provided insight into pathways regulated by RARγ in these rescued tissues. / Thesis (Ph.D, Pathology & Molecular Medicine) -- Queen's University, 2010-04-01 15:38:52.05

The notion that forces from the eyelids can alter the shape of the cornea has been proposed for many years. In recent times, there has been a marked improvement in our ability to measure and define the corneal shape, allowing subtle changes in the cornea to be measured. These improvements have led to the findings that pressure from the eyelids can cause alterations in corneal shape following everyday visual tasks such as reading. There are also theories to suggest that pressure from the eyelids may be involved in the aetiology of corneal astigmatism. In this program of research, a series of experiments were undertaken to investigate the influence of the eyelids on the shape of the cornea. In the first experiment, an investigation into the diurnal variation of corneal shape was carried out by measuring corneal topography at three different times (approximately 9 am, 1 pm and 5 pm) during the day over three days of the week (Monday, Tuesday and Friday). Highly significant diurnal changes were found to occur in the corneal topography of 15 of the 17 subjects. This change typically consisted of horizontal bands of distortion in the superior, and to a lesser extent, inferior cornea, increasing throughout the day (and returning to baseline the next morning). These changes appeared to be related to forces from the eyelids on the anterior cornea. Some changes were also found in corneal astigmatism. Corneal astigmatism power vector J0 (astigmatism 90/180°) was found to increase slightly over the course of the week. Whilst the changes in astigmatism were small in magnitude, this result leaves open the possibility that pressure from the eyelid may cause changes in corneal astigmatism. If pressure from the eyelids is involved in the aetiology of corneal astigmatism, then one may expect associations to exist between certain characteristics of the eyelids and corneal shape. An experiment was then undertaken to explore these possible associations. We defined the average morphology of the palpebral fissure in different angles of vertical gaze for 100 young normal subjects. This was achieved through analysis of digital images that were captured in primary gaze, 20° downgaze and 40° downgaze. Parameters defining the size, position, angle and contour of the eyelids were determined. Highly significant changes were found to occur in the palpebral fissure with downward gaze. The palpebral aperture narrows in downward gaze, and the angle of the eyelids changes from being slightly upward slanted in primary gaze, to being slightly downward slanted in downward gaze. The eyelid margin contour also flattens significantly in downward gaze. The average topography of the central and peripheral cornea was also defined for this same population. A technique was used that allowed the capture and subsequent combination of topography data from both the central and the peripheral cornea. The use of this technique provided a large corneal topography map, with data extending close to the limbus for each subject. Marked flattening was found to occur in the peripheral cornea and a conic section was found to be a poor descriptor of corneal contour in the periphery (i.e. greater than 6 mm diameter). Corneal astigmatism was also found on average to reduce in the periphery. However a number of distinct patterns of peripheral corneal astigmatism were noted in the population. Corneal astigmatism in the peripheral cornea was either found to remain stable (59% of subjects), increase (10% of subjects) or reduce (31% of subjects) in magnitude in comparison to the amount of central corneal astigmatism. We also investigated associations between the parameters defining the palpebral fissure and parameters describing corneal shape in this population of subjects. A number of highly significant associations were found between the morphology of the palpebral fissure in primary gaze and the shape of the cornea. A general tendency was found for subjects with wider horizontal palpebral fissure widths to exhibit larger corneas and also flatter central corneal powers. There were also highly significant associations found between the angle of the eyelids and the axis of corneal astigmatism, but not the magnitude of corneal astigmatism. The associations found between corneal astigmatism and palpebral fissure morphology is further evidence supporting the hypothesis that pressure from the eyelids is involved in the aetiology of corneal astigmatism. The results of these investigations have shown that corneal changes as a result of eyelid forces occur in the majority of young subjects tested over the course of a normal working day. The average morphology of the palpebral fissure and topography of the central and peripheral cornea has also been defined in detail for a large population of young subjects. Significant associations were found between corneal astigmatism and the morphology of the palpebral fissure. Whilst these results support a model of corneal astigmatism development based on eyelid morphology, they do not prove causation. Further research including measurement of eyelid pressure and corneal rigidity may aid in understanding the exact aetiology of the magnitude and axis of corneal astigmatism.