Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Macula | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Part of | Retina of human eye |
| System | Visual system |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | macula lutea |
| MeSH | D008266 |
| TA98 | A15.2.04.021 |
| TA2 | 6784 |
| FMA | 58637 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
The macula (/ˈmækjʊlə/),[1] in full macula lutea, is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and in other animals. The macula in humans has a diameter of around 5.5 mm (0.22 in) and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avascular zone, fovea, parafovea, and perifovea areas.[2]
The anatomical macula, at a size of 5.5 mm (0.22 in), is much larger than the clinical macula, which, at a size of 1.5 mm (0.059 in), corresponds to the anatomical fovea.[3][4][5]
The macula is responsible for the central, high-resolution, color vision that is possible in good light. This kind of vision is impaired if the macula is damaged, as in macular degeneration. The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography.
The term macula lutea comes from Latin macula, "spot", and lutea, "yellow".


The macula is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and other animal eyes. Its center is shifted slightly away from the optical axis (laterally, by 5°=1.5 mm).[6] The macula in humans has a diameter of around 5.5 mm (0.22 in) and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avascular zone, fovea, parafovea, and perifovea areas.[2] An even smaller central region of highest receptor density (40–80 μm) is sometimes referred to as the foveal bouquet.[7][8][9][10] The anatomical macula at 5.5 mm (0.22 in) is much larger than the clinical macula which, at 1.5 mm (0.059 in), corresponds to the anatomical fovea.[3][4][5]
The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography. The anatomical macula is defined histologically in terms of having two or more layers of ganglion cells.[11] The umbo is the center of the foveola which in turn is located at the center of the fovea.
The fovea is located near the center of the macula. It is a small pit that contains the largest concentration of cone cells. The retina's receptor layer contains two types of photosensitive cells, the rod cells and the cone cells.
Because the macula is yellow in color, it absorbs excess blue and ultraviolet light that enter the eye and acts as a natural sunblock (analogous to sunglasses) for this area of the retina. The yellow color comes from its content of lutein and zeaxanthin, which are yellow xanthophyll carotenoids, derived from the diet. Zeaxanthin predominates at the macula, while lutein predominates elsewhere in the retina. There is some evidence that these carotenoids protect the pigmented region from some types of macular degeneration. A formulation of 10 mg lutein and 2 mg zeaxanthin has been shown to reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration progressing to advanced stages, although these carotenoids have not been shown to prevent the disease.[12]
After death or enucleation (removal of the eye), the macula appears yellow, a color that is not visible in the living eye except when viewed with light from which red has been filtered.[13]
Structures in the macula are specialized for high-acuity vision. Within the macula are the fovea and foveola that both contain a high density of cones, which are nerve cells that are photoreceptors with high acuity.
In detail, the normal human eye contains three different types of cones, with different ranges of spectral sensitivity. The brain combines the signals from neighboring cones to distinguish different colors. There is only one type of rod, but the rods are more sensitive than the cones, so in dim light, they are the dominant photoreceptors active, and without information provided by the separate spectral sensitivity of the cones it is impossible to discriminate colors. In the fovea centralis, cones predominate and are present at high density. The macula is thus responsible for the central, high-resolution, color vision that is possible in good light; and this kind of vision is impaired if the macula is damaged, for example in macular degeneration.[14]
The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography.
Whereas loss of peripheral vision may go unnoticed for some time, damage to the macula will result in loss of central vision, which is usually immediately obvious. The progressive destruction of the macula is a disease known as macular degeneration and can sometimes lead to the creation of a macular hole. Macular holes are rarely caused by trauma, but if a severe blow is delivered it can burst the blood vessels going to the macula, destroying it.[14]
Visual input from the macula occupies a substantial portion of the brain's visual capacity. As a result, some forms of visual field loss that occur without involving the macula are termed macular sparing. (For example, visual field testing might demonstrate homonymous hemianopsia with macular sparing.)
In the case of occipitoparietal ischemia owing to occlusion of elements of either posterior cerebral artery, patients may display cortical blindness (which, rarely, can involve blindness that the patient denies having, as seen in Anton's Syndrome), yet display sparing of the macula. This selective sparing is due to the collateral circulation offered to macular tracts by the middle cerebral artery.[15] Neurological examination that confirms macular sparing can go far in representing the type of damage mediated by an infarct, in this case, indicating that the caudal visual cortex (which is the principal recipient of macular projections of the optic nerve) has been spared. Further, it indicates that cortical damage rostral to, and including, lateral geniculate nucleus is an unlikely outcome of the infarction, as too much of the lateral geniculate nucleus is, proportionally, devoted to macular-stream processing.[16]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The macula (), in full macula lutea, is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and in other animals. The macula in humans has a diameter of around 5.5 mm (0.22 in) and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avascular zone, fovea, parafovea, and perifovea areas. The anatomical macula, at a size of 5.5 mm (0.22 in), is much larger than the clinical macula, which, at a size of 1.5 mm (0.059 in), corresponds to the anatomical fovea. The macula is responsible for the central, high-resolution, color vision that is possible in good light. This kind of vision is impaired if the macula is damaged, as in macular degeneration. The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography. The term macula lutea comes from Latin macula, "spot", and lutea, "yellow".
Schrankia macula, the black-spotted schrankia moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Herbert Druce in 1891. It is found from North America (including Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) to Central America. The wingspan is 13–18 mm. The larvae feed on a species of bracket fungus.
Macula (pl. maculae ) is the Latin word for 'spot'. It is used in planetary nomenclature to refer to unusually dark areas on the surface of a planet or moon. They are seen on the icy surfaces of Pluto, Jupiter's moon Europa, Saturn's moon Titan, Neptune's moon Triton, and Pluto's moon Charon. The term was adopted for planetary nomenclature when high resolution pictures of Europa revealed unusual new surface features.
In the kidney, the macula densa is an area of closely packed specialized cells lining the wall of the distal tubule where it touches the glomerulus. Specifically, the macula densa is found in the terminal portion of the distal straight tubule (thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle), after which the distal convoluted tubule begins. The cells of the macula densa are sensitive to the concentration of sodium chloride in the thick ascending loop of henle. A decrease in sodium chloride concentration initiates a signal from the macula densa that has two effects: (1) it decreases resistance to blood flow in the afferent arterioles, which raises glomerular hydrostatic pressure and helps return the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) toward normal, and (2) it increases renin release from the juxtaglomerular cells of the afferent and efferent arterioles, which are the major storage sites for renin. As such, an increase in sodium chloride concentration would result in vasoconstriction of afferent arterioles, and reduced paracrine stimulation of juxtaglomerular cells. This demonstrates the macula densa feedback, where compensatory mechanisms act in order to return GFR to normal. The release of renin is an essential component of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS), which regulates blood pressure and volume.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.