Search results for "Sleep"

The preference and costs of sleeping under light at night in forest and urban great tits

2019

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasing phenomenon associated with worldwide urbanization. In birds, broad-spectrum white ALAN can have disruptive effects on activity patterns, metabolism, stress response and immune function. There has been growing research on whether the use of alternative light spectra can reduce these negative effects, but surprisingly, there has been no study to determine which light spectrum birds prefer. To test such a preference, we gave urban and forest great tits (Parus major) the choice where to roost using pairwise combinations of darkness, white light or green dim light at night (1.5 lux). Birds preferred to sleep under artificial light instead of dar…

Adjusted bat algorithm for tuning of support vector machine parameters

2016

Support vector machines are powerful and often used technique of supervised learning applied to classification. Quality of the constructed classifier can be improved by appropriate selection of the learning parameters. These parameters are often tuned using grid search with relatively large step. This optimization process can be done computationally more efficiently and more precisely using stochastic search metaheuristics. In this paper we propose adjusted bat algorithm for support vector machines parameter optimization and show that compared to the grid search it leads to a better classifier. We tested our approach on standard set of benchmark data sets from UCI machine learning repositor…

The Gut Metagenome Changes in Parallel to Waist Circumference, Brain Iron Deposition, and Cognitive Function.

2017

Context Microbiota perturbations seem to exert modulatory effects on emotional behavior, stress-, and pain-modulation systems in adult animals; however, limited information is available in humans. Objective To study potential relationships among the gut metagenome, brain microstructure, and cognitive performance in middle-aged, apparently healthy, obese and nonobese subjects after weight changes. Design This is a longitudinal study over a 2-year period. Setting A tertiary public hospital. Patients or other participants Thirty-five (18 obese) apparently healthy subjects. Intervention(s) Diet counseling was provided to all subjects. Obese subjects were followed every 6 months. Main outcome me…

The function of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and its tissue inhibitor (TIMP-1) in several clinical conditions: Results and analysis of our surv…

2021

The goal of this research was to evaluate the plasma concentration of MMP-9 and its tissue inhibitor (TIMP-1) in different clinical conditions. It included several groups of subjects: 31 overweight subjects; 91 obese adults divided into two subgroups according to the BMI value (BMI 30–35 Kg/m2 and BMI > 35 Kg/m2); 90 subjects with metabolic syndrome (MS) divided into two subgroups (with and without diabetes mellitus); 100 subjects with preclinical carotid atherosclerosis (PCA) divided according to the number of cardiovascular risk factors and to the insulin resistance degree; 48 subjects with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) divided according to the apnoea/hypopnea index (AHI); 2…

Heterogeneous Indicators of Cognitive Performance and Performance Variability Across the Lifespan

2020

Reaction time (RT) and RT variability are core components of cognitive performance that can be captured through brief and easy-to-administer tasks of simple RT and choice RT. The current study aims to describe age-related differences in cognitive performance, toward better characterizing normative performance across the lifespan. We examined mean and variability of response times on a simple RT and choice RT tasks in a large and diverse web-based sample (10,060 visitors to TestMyBrain.org). We also examined lifespan-related differences in response time variability using multiple different approaches (raw variability, mean scaled variability, and mean residualized variability). These analyse…

2016

Introduction: cognitive deterioration and reductions of bone health coincide with increasing age. We examine the relationship between bone composition and plasma markers of bone remodelling with measures of cognitive performance in healthy adults. Methods: this cross-sectional study included 225 old (52% women, mean age: 74.4 ± 3.3 years) and 134 young (52% women, mean age: 23.4 ± 2.7 years) adult participants from the MyoAge project. Whole body bone mineral density was measured by dualenergy X-ray absorptiometry. Blood analyses included a panel of bone-related peptides (dickkopf-1, osteoprotegerin, osteocalcin (OC), osteopontin, sclerostin, parathyroid hormone and fibroblast growth factor …

Circadian Rhythm and Concentration of Melatonin in Breast Cancer Patients

2020

Background: Melatonin is a biomarker of the central circadian clock and its chronobiotic actions entraining circadian rhythms to the light-dark cycle are well known. Reduction in melatonin levels and altered circadian rhythms have been associated with a high risk of breast cancer. Melatonin has also shown to display anti-proliferative effects on breast cancer growth and proliferation. Evaluation of melatonin circadian rhythm alterations in patients bearing breast cancer may have interesting prognostic and therapeutic applications. Objective: To review studies evaluating the circadian rhythm of melatonin in breast cancer patients. The effects of surgery and chemotherapy on melatonin secreti…

A TRAPPC6B splicing variant associates to restless legs syndrome

2016

Abstract INTRODUCTION: RLS is a common movement disorders with a strong genetic component in its pathophysiology, but, up to now, no causative mutation has been reported. METHODS: We re-evaluated the previously described RLS2 family by exome sequencing. RESULTS: We identified fifteen variations in the 14q critical region. The c.485G > A transition of the TRAPPC6B gene segregates with the RLS2 haplotype, is absent in 200 local controls and is extremely rare in 12988 exomes from the Exome Variant Server (EVS). This variant alters a splicing site and hampers the normal transcript processing by promoting exon 3-skipping as demonstrated by minigene transfection and by patient transcripts. CON…

Excessive daytime sleepiness is associated with an increased frequency of falls and sarcopenia.

2021

Background:\ud \ud This cross-sectional study aimed to examine associations between excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) with falls and falls related conditions in older adults.\ud \ud Methods:\ud \ud To assess EDS, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale was used, with a score of ≥11/24 points indicating EDS. Number of falls and fall history (at least one) in the last year were recorded. Timed Up and Go test (TUG) was used to assess fall risk. Sarcopenia was defined by SARC-F tool. A grip strength score of the dominant hand, measured with a hand-grip dynamometer, less than 16 kg in females and 27 kg in males was accepted as dynapenia. Frailty status was defined by five dimensions including shrinking, e…

Apnea events in neonatal age: A case report and literature review.

2019

Abstract Background Among the most common autonomic signs visible in preterm neonates, apnea can represent the first sign of several neurologic and non-neurologic disorders, and seizure is a relatively infrequent cause. Herein authors present a case of neonatal autonomic apnea, discussing the polygraphic video-EEG features of this pathological entity and the differential diagnosis with central apnea and autonomic apnea. Case report A female preterm Caucasian infant (29 + 4 weeks' gestational age (GA)), first twin of a twin pregnancy, at birth was intubated and surfactant administration was performed. She was ventilated via invasive ventilation for three days, with subsequent weaning with no…