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This study explored how people look at The Night Watch (1642), Rembrandt's masterpiece. Twenty-one participants each stood in front of the painting for 5 min, while their eyes were recorded with a mobile eye-tracker and their thoughts were verbalized with a think-aloud method. We computed a heatmap of the participants' attentional distribution using a novel markerless mapping method. The results showed that the participants' attention was mainly directed at the faces of the two central figures, the bright mascot girl in the painting, and detailed elements such as the apparel of the key figures. The eye-movement analysis and think-aloud data also showed that participants' attention shifted from the faces of the key figures to other elements of the scene over the course of the 5 min. Our analyses are consistent with the theory that Rembrandt used light and texture to capture the viewer's attention. Finally, the robustness of the eye-tracking method was demonstrated by replicating the study on a smaller replica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dialogue imagines that in early July 1914 Weber seeks guidance from Simmel about how to approach the visual arts when pursuing his ambition to produce a sociology of all the arts. During the previous decade, Weber became enthusiastic about medieval, renaissance and modern painting. We assume he has read Simmel’s The Picture Frame as well as two pieces about Rembrandt, later elaborated to become the third chapter of Simmel’s Rembrandt. Weber questions Simmel’s ideas about the autonomy of works of art and encourages Simmel to re-state them in the light of the relational implications of his ideas about form. They discuss how one might explain the origins of the use of picture-frames, how they work as form for content and their possibly positive implications for interaction under modern, metropolitan conditions of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a grade IV glioma with a median survival of 15 months. Recently, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling has been shown to promote survival in xenograft murine models. To gain a better understanding of the role of BMP signaling in human GBMs, we examined the genomic alterations of 90 genes associated with BMP signaling in GBM patient samples. We completed this analysis using publically available datasets compiled through The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Glioma Molecular Diagnostic Initiative. Here we show how mRNA expression is altered in GBM samples and how that is associated with patient survival, highlighting both known and novel associations between BMP signaling and GBM biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A painted portrait differs from a photo in that selected regions are often rendered in much sharper detail than other regions. Artists believe these choices guide viewer gaze and influence their appreciation of the portrait, but these claims are difficult to test because increased portrait detail is typically associated with greater meaning, stronger lighting, and a more central location in the composition. In three experiments we monitored viewer gaze and recorded viewer preferences for portraits rendered with a parameterised non-photorealistic technique to mimic the style of Rembrandt (DiPaola, 2009 International Journal of Art and Technology 2 82-93). Results showed that viewer gaze was attracted to and held longer by regions of relatively finer detail (experiment 1), and also by textural highlighting (experiment 2), and that artistic appreciation increased when portraits strongly biased gaze (experiment 3). These findings have implications for understanding both human vision science and visual art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gliomas are the most devastating of primary adult malignant brain tumors. These tumors are highly infiltrative and can arise from cells with extensive self-renewal capability and chemoresistance, frequently termed glioma-propagating cells (GPCs). GPCs are thus the plausible culprits of tumor recurrence. Treatment strategies that eradicate GPCs will greatly improve disease outcome. Such findings support the use of GPCs as in vitro cellular systems for small-molecule screening. However, the nuances in using GPCs as a cellular screening platform are not trivial. These slow-growing cells are typically cultured as suspension, spheroid structures in serum-free condition supplemented with growth factors. Consequently, replenishment of growth factors throughout the screening period must occur to maintain cells in their undifferentiated state, as the more lineage-committed, differentiated cells are less tumorigenic. We present a case study of a small-molecule screen conducted with GPCs and explain how unique sphere activity assays were implemented to distinguish drug efficacies against the long-term, self-renewing fraction, as opposed to transient-amplifying progenitors, the latter of which are detected in conventional viability assays. We identified Polo-like kinase 1 as a regulator of GPC survival. Finally, we leveraged on public glioma databases to illustrate GPC contribution to disease progression and patient survival outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The anatomy lesson of Dr Tulp is one of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt. A detailed examination of the scene leads us to believe that Dr Tulp was demonstrating the function of the flexor digitorum superficialis. Therefore, the painting is a true lesson in physiology which is in keeping with the spirit of the 17th century, which was the century in which the modern theory of movement in physics evolved. The anatomy lesson of Dr Tulp also symbolizes the break with the descriptive anatomy of Vesalius which occurred during this century. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]