Altered coordination between sleep timing and cortisol profiles in night working female hospital employees.

Background: Cortisol typically peaks in the morning after waking up and declines throughout the day, reaching its lowest levels during nighttime sleep. Shift work can cause misalignment between cortisol levels and sleep-wake timing. We analyzed this misalignment in female shift workers focusing on the timing and extent of these changes.

Investigating the influence of shift work rosters on stress measured as cortisol in hair during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the workload and has affected physical and mental health of many employees. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) has proven useful as a marker for retrospective assessment of stress in epidemiological studies and was measured here in non-healthcare night-shift workers with standard shifts (8-h shifts) and extended shifts (12-h shifts) before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Results showed a twofold increase in HCC among shift workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with previous measurements.

Night work, chronotype and cortisol at awakening in female hospital employees.

To examine the effect of night shift on salivary cortisol at awakening (C1), 30 min later (C2), and on the cortisol awakening response (CAR, the difference between C2 and C1). We compared shift and non-shift workers with a focus on the impact of worker chronotype. Our study included 66 shift-working females (mean age = 37.

Impact of shift work on the risk of depression.

We studied the association between shift work and depressive symptoms in the prospective Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study, considering various demographic, lifestyle and work-related factors. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D)-Scale (≥17 points defined as high symptoms) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) with a cutoff ≥9, or prescription of an anti-depressant. The definition of shift work included work hours outside 7:00 to 18:00, whereas night work was defined as a shift including work between 0:00 and 5:00.

Associations between shift work and risk of colorectal cancer in two German cohort studies.

The association between shift work and the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) is still unclear. Therefore, we studied the associations between exposure to shift or night work and incident CRC in two German population-based cohort studies, the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study (HNR) and the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Including up to 6,903 participants, we analyzed the cohorts pooled and individually.

Decreased psychomotor vigilance of female shift workers after working night shifts.

Background: We compared psychomotor vigilance in female shift workers of the Bergmannsheil University Hospital in Bochum, Germany (N = 74, 94% nurses) after day and night shifts.

Methods: Participants performed a 3-minute Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) test bout at the end of two consecutive day and three consecutive night shifts, respectively. Psychomotor vigilance was analyzed with respect to mean reaction time, percentage of lapses and false starts, and throughput as an overall performance score, combining reaction time and error frequencies.

Dilution correction for dynamically influenced urinary analyte data.

Urinary analyte data has to be corrected for the sample specific dilution as the dilution varies intra- and interpersonally dramatically, leading to non-comparable concentration measures. Most methods of dilution correction utilized nowadays like probabilistic quotient normalization or total spectra normalization result in a division of the raw data by a dilution correction factor. Here, however, we show that the implicit assumption behind the application of division, log-linearity between the urinary flow rate and the raw urinary concentration, does not hold for analytes which are not in steady state in blood.

Night Shift Work Affects Urine Metabolite Profiles of Nurses with Early Chronotype.

Night shift work can have a serious impact on health. Here, we assess whether and how night shift work influences the metabolite profiles, specifically with respect to different chronotype classes. We have recruited 100 women including 68 nurses working both, day shift and night shifts for up to 5 consecutive days and collected 3640 spontaneous urine samples.

Vitamin D supply in shift working nurses.

We studied determinants of Vitamin D in serum of 67 female health care workers (aged 25-60 years), including age, body mass index, physical activity, and shift work. Overall, vitamin D levels were low, ranging from 6 to 51 ng/mL (median: 20 ng/mL). Lower serum levels were found in samples drawn in winter and spring and in obese subjects.

Night shift work and breast cancer: a pooled analysis of population-based case-control studies with complete work history.

Night shift work has been suspected to increase breast cancer risk but epidemiological studies have been inconsistent due to heterogeneous assessment of exposure to night work. To overcome this limitation, we pooled data of five population-based case-control studies from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and Spain into a single harmonized dataset using a common definition of night work including 6093 breast cancer cases and 6933 population controls. The odds ratio for breast cancer in women who ever worked at night for at least 3 h between midnight and 5 a.

Shift work and the incidence of prostate cancer: a 10-year follow-up of a German population-based cohort study.

Objectives We investigated the association of shift and night work with the incidence of prostate cancer using data of the population-based prospective Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study from the highly industrialized Ruhr area in Germany. Methods Participants of the baseline survey were recruited between 2000-2003. A follow-up survey including, a detailed interview on shift and night work, was conducted from 2011-2014.

Stability of targeted metabolite profiles of urine samples under different storage conditions.

Introduction: Few studies have investigated the influence of storage conditions on urine samples and none of them used targeted mass spectrometry (MS).

Objectives: We investigated the stability of metabolite profiles in urine samples under different storage conditions using targeted metabolomics.

Methods: Pooled, fasting urine samples were collected and stored at -80 °C (biobank standard), -20 °C (freezer), 4 °C (fridge), ~9 °C (cool pack), and ~20 °C (room temperature) for 0, 2, 8 and 24 h.

Polymorphisms in circadian genes, night work and breast cancer: results from the GENICA study.

Objectives: The role of genetic variants and environmental factors in breast cancer etiology has been intensively studied in the last decades. Gene-environment interactions are now increasingly being investigated to gain more insights into the development of breast cancer, specific subtypes, and therapeutics. Recently, night shift work that involves circadian disruption has gained rising interest as a potential non-genetic breast cancer risk factor.

N-acetyltransferase 2 phenotype, occupation, and bladder cancer risk: results from the EPIC cohort.

Background: An association between N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) slow acetylation and bladder cancer has been consistently observed in epidemiologic studies. However, evidence has been mainly derived from case-control studies and was sparse from cohort studies. We evaluated the association between NAT2 slow acetylation and bladder cancer in a case-control study nested in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

CYP2B6*6 is associated with increased breast cancer risk.

The cytochrome P450 2B6 (CYP2B6) is involved in the metabolism of testosterone. Functional changes in this enzyme may influence endogenous hormone exposure, which has been associated with risk of breast cancer. To assess potential associations between two functional polymorphisms CYP2B6_516_G>T (rs3745274) and CYP2B6_785_A>G (rs2279343) and breast cancer risk, we established a specific matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry assay.

The UGT1A6_19_GG genotype is a breast cancer risk factor.

Validation of an association between the UGT1A6_19_T>G (rs6759892) polymorphism and overall breast cancer risk. A pilot study included two population-based case-control studies from Germany (MARIE-GENICA). An independent validation study comprised four independent breast cancer case-control studies from Finland (KBCP, OBCS), Germany (BBCC), and Sweden (SASBAC).

Night work and breast cancer estrogen receptor status--results from the German GENICA study.

Objectives: The potential mechanisms that link night-shift work with breast cancer have been extensively discussed. Exposure to light at night (LAN) depletes melatonin that has oncostatic and anti-estrogenic properties and may lead to a modified expression of estrogen receptor (ER) α. Here, we explored the association between shift work and breast cancer in subgroups of patients with ER-positive and -negative tumors.

Confirmation of the reduction of hormone replacement therapy-related breast cancer risk for carriers of the HSD17B1_937_G variant.

17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD17B1) plays an important role in the biosynthesis of 17β-estradiol. The current study aimed at confirming the reduced risk of breast cancer in carriers of the non-synonymous HSD17B1_937_A>G (rs605059) polymorphism who used any hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for 10 years or longer. We performed an independent association study using four breast cancer case-control studies from Australia, Germany, and Sweden.

Exploring the association between genetic variation in the SUMO isopeptidase gene USPL1 and breast cancer through integration of data from the population-based GENICA study and external genetic databases.

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteins are covalently attached to target proteins to modify their function. SUMO conjugation participates in processes tightly linked to tumorigenesis. Recently USPL1 (ubiquitin-specific peptidase-like (1) was identified as a SUMO isopeptidase.

NOTCH1, HIF1A and other cancer-related proteins in lung tissue from uranium miners--variation by occupational exposure and subtype of lung cancer.

Background: Radon and arsenic are established pulmonary carcinogens. We investigated the association of cumulative exposure to these carcinogens with NOTCH1, HIF1A and other cancer-specific proteins in lung tissue from uranium miners.

Methodology/principal Findings: Paraffin-embedded tissue of 147 miners was randomly selected from an autopsy repository by type of lung tissue, comprising adenocarcinoma (AdCa), squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC), small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and cancer-free tissue.