Publications
Find out about the latest research findings from the Downie and Chinnery “Front-tear” research groups.
Their paper about alterations to mouse corneal endothelial cells during corneal inflammation is featured as a Research highlight in the latest issue of IOVS.
For further details please visit:
http://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2532035
Practitioner perspectives on extended clinical placement programs in optometry.
Bentley SA, Cartledge A, Guest DJ, Cappuccio S, Woods CA.
Clin Exp Optom. 2016 Feb 18.
Of the 268 Australian practicioners surveyed, 34 per cent of participants who were key decision-makers were supportive of extended clinical placement programs, with a further 30 per cent being possibly supportive.
Retinal Electrophysiology Is a Viable Preclinical Biomarker for Drug Penetrance into the Central Nervous System.
Charng J, He Z, Vingrys AJ, Fish RL, Gurrell R, Bui BV, Nguyen CT.
J Ophthalmol. 2016;2016:5801826
We measured whether retinal electrophysiology (ERG) could detect whether a drug could bypass the blood-brain and blood-retinal-barriers. We found that, when conducted under conscious recordings, the ERG was a useful biomarker of drug penetration into the central nervous system.
A case of mistaken identity: CD11c-eYFP+ cells in the normal mouse brain parenchyma and neural retina display the phenotype of microglia, not dendritic cells.
Dando SJ, Naranjo Golborne C, Chinnery HR, Ruitenberg MJ, McMenamin PG.
Glia. 2016 May 18. doi: 10.1002/glia.23005.
The CNS is thought to be devoid of antigen presenting cells; however, putative dendritic cells (DCs) are present in the retina and brain parenchyma of CD11c-eYFP mice. We show that most CNS CD11c-eYFP(+) cells do not display the phenotype of DCs and are most likely a subpopulation of microglia.
Impact of Peripheral Field Loss on the Execution of Natural Actions: A Study With Glaucomatous Patients and Normally Sighted People.
Dive S, Rouland JF, Lenoble Q, Szaffarczyk S, McKendrick AM, Boucart M.
J Glaucoma. 2016 Mar 4.
Although slower than controls and utilizing more eye and head movements, patients with glaucoma could accomplish natural actions efficiently even when the task required discrimination of small structurally similar objects (e.g. nuts and screws).
Blue-light filtering intraocular lenses (IOLs) for protecting macular health
Downie LE, Busija L, Keller PR.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2015 11: DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011977
This Cochrane review protocol details the methodological approach for a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effects of blue-light filtering intraocular lenses on macular health and function.
Comparing self-reported optometric dry eye clinical practices in Australia and the United Kingdom: is there scope for practice improvement?
Downie LE, Rumney N, Gad A, Keller PR, Purslow C, Vingrys AJ.
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2016 Mar;36(2):140-51.
This study reports several parallels and divergences in the self-reported dry eye clinical practices of optometrists in Australia and United Kingdom.
Assessing ocular bulbar redness: a comparison of methods.
Downie LE, Keller PR, Vingrys AJ.
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2016 Mar;36(2):132-9.
This paper describes a simple scoring method for grading ocular redness using image processing of digital photographs and compares it to an automated scale derived from the Oculus Keratograph 5M.
Retinal ganglion cells: mechanisms underlying depolarization block and differential responses to high frequency electrical stimulation of ON and OFF cells.
Kameneva T, Maturana MI, Hadjinicolaou AE, Cloherty SL, Ibbotson MR, Grayden DB, Burkitt AN, Meffin H.
J Neural Eng. 2016 Feb;13(1):016017.
Differences in transmembrane potassium conductance produce shifts of the stimulus currents that generate peak spike rates, suggesting that the differential responses of ON and OFF cells may be due to differences in the expression of this current type.
A Simple and Accurate Model to Predict Responses to Multi-electrode Stimulation in the Retina.
Maturana MI, Apollo NV, Hadjinicolaou AE, Garrett DJ, Cloherty SL, Kameneva T, Grayden DB, Ibbotson MR, Meffin H.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2016 Apr 1;12(4):e1004849.
We demonstrate that a linear-nonlinear model accurately predicts neural responses to arbitrary patterns of stimulation using in vitro recordings from single retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) stimulated with a subretinal multi-electrode array.
Foveal and parafoveal contrast suppression are different: Mechanisms revealed by the study of healthy aging.
Nguyen BN, McKendrick AM.
J Vis. 2016 Feb 1;16(3):10.
Studying non-foveal vision is important to understanding performance in natural visual environments. We find novel differences between foveal and non-foveal vision that are apparent when healthy ageing effects are considered
Visual Contextual Effects of Orientation, Contrast, Flicker, and Luminance: All Are Affected by Normal Aging.
Nguyen BN, McKendrick AM.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2016 Apr 18;8:79.
Performance on contextual tasks involving four key characteristics of visual stimuli is altered with ageing. This is highly relevant to real-world functioning where objects of interest are rarely presented on uniform backgrounds.
Saccadic Eye Movements in Anorexia Nervosa.
Phillipou A, Rossell SL, Gurvich C, Hughes ME, Castle DJ, Nibbs RG, Abel LA.
PLoS One. 2016 Mar 24;11(3):e0152338.
Women with anorexia nervosa made shorter latency prosaccades, and more inhibitory errors for memory-guided saccades, than healthy controls. Groups did not differ in antisaccade, no-go saccade or self-paced saccade performance, or on fMRI findings.
Resting state functional connectivity in anorexia nervosa.
Phillipou A, Abel LA, Castle DJ, Hughes ME, Nibbs RG, Gurvich C, Rossell SL.
Psychiatry Res. 2016 Apr 19;251:45-52.
AN participants displayed reduced functional connectivity between the sensorimotor and visual networks, compared to healthy controls. This finding is discussed in terms of differences in visuospatial processing in AN, and their distorted body image.
Body Image in Anorexia Nervosa: Body Size Estimation Utilising a Biological Motion Task and Eyetracking.
Phillipou A, Rossell SL, Gurvich C, Castle DJ, Troje NF, Abel LA.
Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2016 Mar;24(2):131-8.
AN participants tended to 'hyperscan' stimuli but did not demonstrate differences in how visual attention was directed to different body areas, relative to controls. Groups also did not differ in their estimation of body size.
Incorporating Spatial Models in Visual Field Test Procedures.
Rubinstein NJ, McKendrick AM, Turpin A.
Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2016 Mar 11;5(2):7.
We developed a new perimetric algorithm – SWeLZ – which incorporates spatial models. Computer simulations revealed that SWeLZ reduced test times in normal observers, whilst being able to detect localised defects in glaucoma.
Development of Visual Field Screening Procedures: A Case Study of the Octopus Perimeter.
Turpin A, Myers JS, McKendrick AM.
Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2016 May 9;5(3):3.
Visual field screening is used in community settings and eye care practice. This study provides a principled approach to the development of such screening procedures and details a new procedure.