Effects of light on the circadian rhythm of diabetic rats under restricted feeding

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the entrainment of light cue is affected or not in diabetic animals. We found that the individual light/dark (LD) reversal showed a tissue- and gene-specific effect on the circadian phases of peripheral clock genes, which was generally similar between the control and diabetic rats. In the liver and heart, the peak phases of examined clock genes (Bmal1, Rev-erb¥á, Per1, and Per2) were slightly shifted by 0¡­4 h in the liver and heart of control and diabetic rats. However, we found that the peak phases of these clock genes were greatly shifted by 8¡­12 h after the LD reversal for 7 days in the pineal gland of both control and diabetic rats. However, the activity rhythm was greatly different between two groups. After the individual LD reversal, the activity rhythm was completely shifted in the control rats but retained in the diabetic rats. These observations suggested that the behavioral rhythm of diabetic rats may be uncoupled from the master clock after the individual LD reversal. Moreover, we also found that the serum glucose levels of diabetic rats kept equally high throughout the whole day without any shift of peak phase after the individual reversal of LD cycle. While the serum glucose levels of control rats were tightly controlled during the normal and LD reversal conditions. Thus, the impaired insulin secretion induced uncontrollable serum glucose level may result in uncoupled activity rhythm in the diabetic rats after the individual LD reversal

Spatial context and visual perception for action

In this paper, evidences that visuo-spatial perception in the peri-personalspace is not an abstract, disembodied phenomenon but is rather shaped byaction constraints are reviewed. Locating a visual target with the intention ofreaching it requires that the relevant spatial information is considered inrelation with the body-part that will be used to perform the task. This entailsthe selection of body-scaled visual information in regard to an actiondependentsystem of reference. In this regard, experimental data are presentedwhich suggest that (1) what is visually perceived as reachable depends onanthropometrical and motor factors. (2) The location of what is visuallyreachable is defined according to body limbs, which serve as system ofreference in the specification of the spatial dimensions that characterise thereachable object. (3) The system of reference is specified from a combinationof visual and somatic information, what is accounted for by the notion of"allelocentric" system of reference. (4) The specification of the independentspatial dimensions determining the location of a visual object, i.e. distanceand direction, is based on visual signals of different nature