Monitoring Visual Cortical Activities During Progressive Retinal Degeneration Using Functional Bioluminescence Imaging

Mouse models of inherited retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa are characterized by degeneration of photoreceptors, which hinders the generation of signal to be transmitted to the visual cortex. By monitoring Ca2+-bioluminescence neural activity, we quantified changes in visual cortical activities in response to visual stimuli in RD10 mice during progression of retinal degeneration, which correlated with progressive deteriorations of electro-retinography signal from the eyes. The number of active neurons in the visual cortex, the intensity of Ca2+-bioluminescence response, and neural activation parameter showed progressive deterioration during aging. Further, we correlated the thinning of retina as measured by Optical Coherence Tomography with the decrease in visual cortical activities as retinal degeneration progressed. The present study establishes Ca2+-bioluminescence monitoring as a longitudinal imaging modality to characterize activities in visual cortex of retinal degenerative disease models and therapeutic interventions.

Dynamics of Mental States of Learners Working with Didactic VR Programs Using Virtual Reality Technologies

The article presents the results of studying the mental states of adolescent students involved in the work using didactic VR programs implemented using VR technologies of different levels, demonstrated using different technical means (stationary PC, VIVE helmet), causing immersive experience of different quality. Before and after work, the participants were controlled: activation, excitement, tone, well-being; mood, asthenia, euphoria; the severity of the presence effect. As a result, it was shown that the participants who were involved in the work with the help of a PC experienced a decrease in indicators at the level of reliable statistical significance for the activation parameter. When working with VIVE helmets, reliable increases are shown in terms of activation, arousal, tone, well-being, asthenic state and euphoria. In general, we can talk about the intensive and positive impact of didactic VR programs broadcast with the help of higher level VR technologies on the mental states of students, which can become a source of formation of their stable and productive educational and cognitive motivation.

Tailoring capacitance of 3D-printed graphene electrodes by carbonisation temperature

The carbonisation temperature has shown to be a key activation parameter to modulate the capacitive performance of graphene-based 3D-printed nanocomposite electrodes.