The thalamic reticular nucleus (RT) is a sheet-like nucleus which surrounds the anterolateral aspect of the dorsal thalamus. In this study, we present data on the connections of the dorsocaudal portion of the RT in hamsters using anterograde, retrograde and transneuroual fiber tracing techniques. After injection of one eye with a mixture of ~3H-proline and ~3H-fucose (2 animals; 10 and 15 days survival time), transneuronal label was located in the dorsocaudal portion of the RT (dc RT) on both sides of the thalamus.After separate injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the thalamic lateral posterior nucleus (LP), dorsal and ventral nuclei of the lateral geniculate body (LGd, LGv) (8 animals, one day survival time), HRP labelled neurons wereobserved in the dorsal, middle and ventral area of the ipsilateral dc RT respectively.A small iontophoretic injection of a mixture of ~3H-proline and ~3H-leucine was made into different sites of area 17 in each of 3 hamsters (one day survival time),in each case an elongated patch of label was located in nearly the entire rostrocaudal extent of the ipsilateral dc RT. A caudal Injection in area 17 resulted in labelling the dorsal area while a progressively more rostral injection resulted in labelling a more ventral area of the dc RT.Thus, the dorsocaudal portion of the RT can be defined as the visual portion of the nucleus because it has connections with many of the known visual centres, namely, the visual cortex, LP, LGd, LGv Furthermore, because of the topographic connection with area 17 and the visual thalamic nuclei, the notion that the dc RT as a nucleus which is capable of processing specific and localised visual information. should be considered.

Although the interventional radiology, a rapidly expanding medical specialty, has already been widely popularized and generally accepted for many years, it is still facing lots of challenges and turf wars, such as the brain drain, understaffed and the gap between the old and the young.This article attempts to analyze the reasons through investigating the current teaching situation of interventional radiology in medical colleges and finding out the undergraduates' attitude to interventional radiology, in order to explore possible paths for solving the imbalance between supply and demand of qualified personnel.

Although the interventional radiology, a rapidly expanding medical specialty, has already been widely popularized and generally accepted for many years, it is still facing lots of challenges and turf wars, such as the brain drain, understaffed and the gap between the old and the young. This article attempts to analyze the reasons through investigating the current teaching situation of interventional radiology in medical coUeges and finding out the undergraduates' attitude to interventional radiology, in order to explore possible paths for solving the imbalance between supply and demand of qualified personnel.