may cause power blackouts. [1] Moreover, the refrigerant gases used in air conditioners are one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. [2] Passive cooling, e.g., cooling with no power input and without greenhouse gas emission, provides an attractive solution to alleviate the power demands as well as negative environmental impact of building cooling. Recent theoretical and experimental demonstrations of subambient daytime radiative cooling (SDRC) represent a breakthrough in realizing passive daytime cooling. [3-21] These radiative cooling materials exploit the infrared transparency window of the atmosphere, in the wavelength range of 8-13 µm, to directly transmit heat from an object at ambient temperature, through blackbody radiation, to the cold outer space which has a temperature of 3 K (−270 °C). This radiation effect, in fact, is what causes one to feel chilly when staying outside in summer nights. However, to generate subambient daytime cooling under direct sunlight using the same effect, the materials must overcome the heating generated by the direct sunshine. In

Polystyrene bead injection results in a mild, chronic elevation of IOP that recapitulates several critical aspects of human ocular hypertension and glaucoma, and results in early changes in retinal electrical function that precede histologic changes. It is possible that glaucoma associated with elevated IOP involves the early disruption of a complex combination of retinal synapses.

BETA2/NeuroD1 is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that is expressed widely throughout the developing nervous system. Previous studies have shown that BETA2/NeuroD1 influences the fate of retinal cells in culture. To analyze the effect of BETA2/NeuroD1 on the structure and function of the retina, we examined a line of BETA2/NeuroD1 knock-out mice that survives until adulthood. At 2-3 months of age, homozygous null mice showed a 50% reduction in rod-driven electroretinograms (ERGs) and a 65% reduction in cone-driven ERGs. ERGs measured from knock-out mice that were >9 months of age were undetectable. At 2-3 months, the number of photoreceptors in the outer nuclear layer was reduced by 50%. In addition, electron microscopy showed that the surviving photoreceptors had shortened outer segments. The number of cones labeled by peanut agglutinin was decreased 50-60%. By 18 months, retinas from null mice were completely devoid of photoreceptors. There appeared to be few changes in the inner retina, although BETA2/NeuroD1 is expressed in this area. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated UTP nick end labeling staining revealed a dramatic increase in cell death, peaking at approximately postnatal day 3 and continuing into adulthood. No defects in cell birth were detected using bromodeoxyuridine staining. Our results reveal that BETA2/NeuroD1 not only plays an important role in terminal differentiation of photoreceptors but also serves as a potential survival factor. Loss of BETA2/NeuroD1 results in an age-related degeneration of both rods and cones.

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