Measurement in saliva from neurotypical adults of biomarkers pertinent to autism spectrum disorders.

Aim: Measure biomarkers pertinent to autism in saliva from humans.

Materials & Methods: At 7:30 PM (reading instructions) and 8:30 PM (hearing instructions), neurotypical adults (6 M, 6 F) each spat into tubes containing protease inhibitors. Cells were counted, samples aliquoted, frozen and thawed.

The Chronobra identifies prevailing mammary vascularity as a candidate variable in breast cancer post-operative outcome prediction.

We previously described a menstrual heat cycle of the breast in four groups of women (healthy, family history of breast cancer, benign breast disease, 'cancer-associated') who wore a thermometric brassiere (Chronobra). We now ask if 'breast minus oral temperature', indicating 'breast-associated vascularity', could be associated with breast cancer cell vascular access around different aspects of the menstrual cycle rhythm and survival. Thirty-six pre-menopausal breast cancer patients (average age: 38.

Menstrual cycle and respiratory symptoms in a general Nordic-Baltic population.

Rationale: There is little knowledge of variations in respiratory symptoms during the menstrual cycle in a general population, and potential modifying factors are not investigated.

Objectives: To investigate menstrual cycle variation in respiratory symptoms in a large general population, using chronobiology methodology, and stratifying by body mass index (BMI), smoking, and asthma status.

Methods: A total of 3,926 women with regular cycles less than or equal to 28 days and not taking exogenous sex hormones answered a postal questionnaire regarding the first day of their last menstruation and respiratory symptoms in the last 3 days.

A risperidone-induced prolactinoma resolved when a woman with schizoaffective disorder switched to ziprasidone: a case report.

Antipsychotic drug therapy, e.g., risperidone, can be associated with endocrine abnormalities, including an increase in serum prolactin level (sPrl) due to a drug-induced benign pituitary tumor (prolactinoma).

Decadal Cycles in the Human Cardiovascular System.

Seven of the eight authors of this report each performed physiologic self-surveillance, some around the clock for decades. We here document the presence of long cycles (decadals, including circaundecennians) in the time structure of systolic (S) and diastolic (D) blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). Because of the non-stationary nature in time and space of these and other physiologic and environmental periodic components that, like the wind, can appear and disappear in a given or other geographic location at one or another time, they have been called "Aeolian".

Determination of whole body circadian phase in lung cancer patients: melatonin vs. cortisol.

Background: A quantifiable and reliable technique for the determination of body circadian phase applicable to non-laboratory studies would allow the evaluation of circadian dysregulation. In this study we evaluated feasible methodologies to individualize whole body circadian phase in lung cancer patients.

Methods: Cortisol and melatonin serum levels were measured in blood samples collected every 4 h for 24 h from eleven male controls and nine men suffering from non-small cell lung cancer.

Circadian aspects of hyperthermia in mice induced by Aconitum napellus.

Background: Aconitum napellus (Acn) is used topically to relieve pain, itching and inflammation, and internally to reduce febrile states, among others. Any circadian time-related consequences of Acn administration are unknown. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of two doses of Acn on body temperature (BT) of mice treated at six different times over 24 hours.

Comparison of circadian characteristics for cytotoxic lymphocyte subsets in non-small cell lung cancer patients versus controls.

Lymphocyte subsets are major cellular components of the adaptive immune response and in most cases show 24-h (circadian) variations in health. In order to determine overall levels and circadian characteristics of cytotoxic natural killer (NK) and T and B lymphocyte subsets, blood samples were collected every 4 h for 24 h from eleven male controls (C) without neoplastic disease and nine men with untreated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and analyzed for 3 hormones (melatonin, cortisol, and interleukin 2 [IL2]) and for 11 lymphocyte subpopulations classified by cell surface clusters of differentiation (CD) and antigen receptors. Circadian rhythmicity for each variable was evaluated by ANOVA and 24 h cosine fitting and groups compared.

Alteration of hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis function in non-small-cell lung cancer patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis function in patients suffering from lung cancer. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), interleukin (IL)-2, and melatonin serum levels were measured in blood samples collected every 4 hours for 24 hours from 11 healthy participants (H; ages 35-53 years) and 9 patients suffering from non-small-cell lung cancer (C; ages 43-63 years). Relationships between hormone levels overall and over time of day were evaluated within and among groups.

Circadian aspects of growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor axis function in patients with lung cancer.

Background And Purpose: Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) promotes cell cycle progression and inhibition of apoptosis and may have a role in carcinogenesis and cancer promotion. Growth hormone (GH) stimulates IGF1 production in liver and other tissues. The aim of our study was to evaluate differences between healthy subjects and patients with lung cancer in the GH-IGF1 axis function.

Sunspot dynamics are reflected in human physiology and pathophysiology.

Periodic episodes of increased sunspot activity (solar electromagnetic storms) occur with 10-11 and 5-6 year periodicities and may be associated with measurable biological events. We investigated whether this sunspot periodicity characterized the incidence of Pap smear-determined cervical epithelial histopathologies and human physiologic functions. From January 1983 through December 2003, monthly averages were obtained for solar flux and sunspot numbers; six infectious, premalignant and malignant changes in the cervical epithelium from 1,182,421 consecutive, serially independent, screening Pap smears (59°9″N, 4°29″E); and six human physiologic functions of a healthy man (oral temperature, pulse, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respiration, and peak expiratory flow), which were measured ∼5 times daily during ∼34,500 self-measurement sessions (44°56″N, 93°8″W).

Circadian study of decompression sickness symptoms and response-associated variables in rats.

In order to study circadian rhythms and decompression sickness (DCS), we determined: 1) the baseline circadian time structure in noncompressed rats of potential response variables to compression/decompression (C/D), and 2) whether rats subjected to C/D display a circadian time-dependent difference in inflammatory response intensity and biological tolerance. Subgroups of male rats, standardized to a 12 h light/12 h dark schedule, were evaluated every 4 h over 24 h after they were either compressed to 683 kPa (group E) or remained at sea level (group C). During 60 min recovery, evaluation included gross DCS symptoms and pulmonary edema in all E rats, and cell counts, nitric oxide, protein, thromboxane B(2,) and leukotriene E(4) levels in survivors.

Chronomics, human time estimation, and aging.

Background: Circadian rhythm stage affects many outcomes, including those of mental aging.

Methods: Estimations of 1 minute approximately 5 times/day for a year, 25 years apart, by a healthy male biomedical scientist (RBS), are analyzed by the extended cosinor.

Results: Cycles of a half-week, a week, approximately 30 days, a half-year and a year, in self-assessed 1-minute estimation by RBS between 25 and 60 years of age in health, are mapped for the first time, compared and opposite effects are found.

Chronobiological analysis of circadian patterns in transcription of seven key clock genes in six peripheral tissues in mice.

The molecular clock machinery in mammals consists of a number of clock genes (CGs) and their resultant proteins that form interlocking transcription-translation feedback loops. These loops generate and maintain the 24 h mRNA and protein oscillations and consequential biological and physiological rhythms. To understand whether peripheral oscillators share similarly-timed clock machinery, the temporal expression patterns of the seven recognized key CGs (mPer1, mPer2, mCry1, mCry2, mRev-erb alpha, mClock, and mBmal1) were examined simultaneously in six peripheral tissues in mice every 4 h for 24 h in synchronized light-dark conditions using real time PCR assays.

Circadian variations in clock gene expression of human bone marrow CD34+ cells.

Time-dependent variations in clock gene expression have recently been observed in mouse hematopoietic cells, but the activity of these genes in human bone marrow (BM) has so far not been investigated. Since such data can be of considerable clinical interest for monitoring the dynamics in stem/progenitor cells, the authors have studied mRNA expression of the clock genes hPer1 , hPer2, hCry1, hCry2, hBmal1, hRev-erb alpha, and hClock in human hematopoietic CD34-positive (CD34( +)) cells. CD34(+) cells were isolated from the BM samples obtained from 10 healthy men at 6 times over 24 h.

Circadian expression of clock genes in purified hematopoietic stem cells is developmentally regulated in mouse bone marrow.

Objective: Clock genes are known to mediate circadian rhythms in the central nervous system and peripheral organs. Although they are expressed in mouse hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells, it is unknown if they are related to circadian rhythms in these cells. We therefore investigated the 24-hour patterns in the activity of several clock genes in the bone marrow (BM) side population (SP) primitive stem cells, and compared these 24-hour patterns to clock gene variations in the whole BM and liver.

Sun exposure, sexual behavior and uterine cervical human papilloma virus.

We have previously observed marked seasonal fluctuations in the frequency of cervical smears positive for human papilloma virus (HPV) in a series of smears obtained in Holland, with a peak in the summer months, especially August. Here, we tested two possible mechanisms that might underlie this summer peak: (1) enhanced transmission of HPV due to increased seasonal sexual activity, or (2) suppression of immunity due to summertime population exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Data derived from a continuous series of >900,000 independent cervical smears obtained from 1983 to 1998 were assessed for histopathologic epithelial changes pathognomonic of HPV.

Season, sun, sex, and cervical cancer.

Introduction: Sunlight's UV B component, a known cellular immunosupressant, carcinogen, and activator of viral infections, is generally seasonally available. Venereal human papillomavirus (HPV) transmission, at least in part, causes cervical cancer. We have previously inspected the monthly rates of venereal HPV infection and sunlight fluency in Southern Holland over 16 consecutive years.

Chronoastrobiology: proposal, nine conferences, heliogeomagnetics, transyears, near-weeks, near-decades, phylogenetic and ontogenetic memories.

"Chronoastrobiology: are we at the threshold of a new science? Is there a critical mass for scientific research?" A simple photograph of the planet earth from outer space was one of the greatest contributions of space exploration. It drove home in a glance that human survival depends upon the wobbly dynamics in a thin and fragile skin of water and gas that covers a small globe in a mostly cold and vast universe. This image raised the stakes in understanding our place in that universe, in finding out where we came from and in choosing a path for survival.

Aspects of diurnal rhythmicity in pain, stiffness, and fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia.

Objective: To determine diurnal rhythm characteristics of pain, stiffness, and fatigue in self-ratings performed by patients with fibromyalgia (FM).

Methods: Twenty-one women with FM made self-measurements of pain, stiffness, and fatigue on 100 mm horizontal visual analog scales at 6 prespecified timepoints at home for 10 consecutive days. Linear and multiple regressions were performed on the original data and the 24-hour means vs FM classifiers (age, disease duration, tender points, dolorimetry score, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire score), respectively.

Transdisciplinary unifying implications of circadian findings in the 1950s.

Afew puzzles relating to a small fraction of my endeavors in the 1950s are summarized herein, with answers to a few questions of the Editor-in-Chief, to suggest that the rules of variability in time complement the rules of genetics as a biological variability in space. I advocate to replace truisms such as a relative constancy or homeostasis, that have served bioscience very well for very long. They were never intended, however, to lower a curtain of ignorance over everyday physiology.