• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 2015

The secretion of melatonin exhibits a circadian rhythm entrained with the sleep-wake cycle. An alteration of this secretory rhythm has been found in various psychiatric disorders. This review summarizes the regulation of melatonin and its relationship to the circadian rhythm, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder, Alzheimer's disease and autism. The review also looks at the effect of melatonin and melatonin agonist on sleep and symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder. In Alzheimer's disease, the circadian rhythm alterations are associated with the change of melatonin levels and melatonin receptors. It has been reported that melatonin and melatonin synthetic enzyme levels decrease in autism spectrum disorder.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 1998

Chronobiology is the area of medicine that is, how time-related event shape our daily biologic responses and apply to any aspect of medicine with regard to altering pathophysiology and treatment response. In mammals, there are several evidences that prove suprachiasmatic nuclei(SCN) is the major circadian pacemaker and the circadian rhythm influences so many biological aspects of an living organism such as rest-activity, thermoregulation, reproduction, and endocrine system. In case of human beings, there had been little information of circadian system. That may be due to the experimental, technical difficulties to study but also to the fact that human has the more complex environments that may alter the circadina rhythm like the artificial light, many socio-cultural aspects and so forth. However, several reports of these days indicate human's circadian system is composed of two or more circadian oscillators and SCN is the major circadian oscillator among them like the other mammals. Free-running circadinan period of mankind is about 24 hours rather than about 25 hours, and rest-activity rhythm is polymodal like other species. In addition to that, human may have capcities to change the circadian rhythm as the seasonal changes of daynight schedule. In this article, the author will summarize recent progress of anatomy and physiology of the circadian clock mechanism in humans.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 2023

The Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a disorder characterized by prolonged periods of depression and various physical and psychological symptoms experienced during specific seasons, typically winter. In this review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of SAD with a specific focus on psychophysiological aspects. Through the review from ancient times to the present, this paper explores the characteristics, causes, and underlying mechanisms of SAD. Particularly, it comprehensively reviews the research findings on the relationship between external factors such as light, sunlight, climate, and their association with SAD. Furthermore, the paper discusses the interplay between SAD and psychophysiological changes, along with the latest research trends in treatment and prevention strategies. By combining theoretical and practical perspectives on SAD, this article aims to provide a holistic understanding and offer suggestions for future research directions and clinical interventions.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 1998

Seasonal rhythmic changes in gentamicin pharmacokinetics was evaluated in 10 healthy male volunteers after single intravenous 80 mg administration of gentamicin at 9:00 a.m. during summer and winter. The mean terminal half-life and AUC of gentamicin were $3.56\pm0.14\;hr\;and\;25.03\pm2.84\;{\mu}g/ml{\cdot}hr$ in winter and $3.08\pm0.41\;hr\;and\;21.84\pm2.51\;{\mu}g/ml{\cdot}hr$ in summer. The mean total body clearance $(CL_t)$ and elimination rate constant $(k_{10})$ of gentamicin was $3.17\pm0.43\;L/hr,\;0.458\pm0.06\;hr^{-1}\;in\;winter\;and\;3.66\pm0.45\;L/hr,\;0.561\pm0.07\;hr^{-1}$ in summer, The mean volumn of distribution $(V_{dss})$ of gentamicin at steady state was $12.65\pm1.09$L in winter and $12.39\pm1.25$ L in summer. Serum concentrations of gentamicin in winter were increased significantly during 4-8 hr (p<0.05) compared to those of gentamicin in summer. The elimination rate constant $(k_{10})$ of gentamicin in winter was decreased significantly $(p<0.05)$ compared to that of gentamicin in summer. The mean volume of distribution at steady state $(V_{dss})$, AUC, mean total body clearance ($CL_t$) and terminal half-life of gentamicin in the winter were increased but were not significant. The mean intrasubject fluctuations in terminal half-life, AUC and $CL_t$ between winter and summer were 8.2, 11.0 and $6.0\%$ respectively.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.47-62
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• 1969

A goby, Synechogobius hasta (Temminck et Schlegel) was studied to investigate the food consumed and the biological change of the food organisms, and the fish were sampled from the closed tributary and the lower Part of the Naktong River, near Pusan, during the period from November of 1967 to December of 1968. The fish were sampled from four stations (Fig. 1), the total number of fish being 1,295 and they were grouped and analysed monthly. The content of the alimentary canal was analysed in three categories according to modified Nilsson's method (Dahl 1962) with a slight alteration: 1) The number of each item of stomach contents was counted and the percentage of each item in proportion to the total number of food organisms is indicated by the letter 'N' representing numerical percentage in Table 2. 2) The percentage of fish which contained any items of food organisms in proportion to the total number of fish caught in a given season is indicated by the letter 'O' representing frequency of occurrence. 3) Dominant groups of food items were selected and the percentage of the number of each dominant item in proportion to the number of the food organisms belonging to the dominant groups is indicated by the letter 'D' representing dominance. All food organisms were classified in 50 food item categories and then they were grouped in 13 main groups (Fig. 2-1), and they were further divided into 1) obligatory bottom animals, 2) organic drifts and 3) actively swimming forms; according to the conditions of the animal communities within the habitat. Since the majority of its food was composed of the obligatory bottom animals ($94.6\%$), the fish appeard to be a typical bottom feeder. And the dominant food organisms of the fish is generally determined by the local composition of the benthic fauna within the fish habitat. And their seasonal rhythm occurs among the food organisms in the stomach by the biological interaction. Locality variation in the population of the same food organism occurs due to the difference of food organisms in the habitat of the fish at Seonam and Garak, and at Seongsan and Hadan the condition of the niche for the fish in the both regions seems to be the same since the composition and the seasonal variation of the organisms were the same. The results may be summarized as follows: 1) The goby mainly feed on the animals of bottom fauna, and the food organisms are deter-mined by the food compositions within the habitat. 2) Seasonal variation of the stomach content shows the seasonal rhythm due to the biological variation of the population and their interaction. 3) The goby shows no preference on specific food, and the food is composed of a variety of animals. 4) Major food items of the goby are Polychaeta, Palaemon modestus, Isopoda, Gammaridea, Insecta (nymphs and larvae), Ilyoplax deschampsi, and Paratye compressa. 5) Logitudinal succession oil the population of the food organisms is apparently recognized within the community of Seongsan, Garak and Seonam. 6) The goby begins to descend toward the estuary and sea around April when the water temperature reaches $20^{\circ}C$, and they begin to return to river waters in September.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.149-177
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• 2013

Living beings are surrounded by various changes exhibiting periodical rhythms in environment. The environmental changes are imprinted in organisms in various pattern. The phenomena are believed to match the external signal with organisms in order to increase their survival rate. The signals are categorized into circadian, seasonal, and annual cycles. Among the cycles, the circadian rhythm is regarded as the most important factor because its periodicity is in harmony with the levels of melatonin secreted from pineal gland. Melatonin is produced by the absence of light and its presence displays darkness. Melatonin plays various roles in creatures. Therefore, this review is to introduce the diverse potential ability of melatonin in manifold aspects in living organism.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1064-1072
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• 2013

Circadian rhythm is controlled by hormonal oscillations governing the physiology of all living organisms. In mammals, the main function of the pineal gland is to transform the circadian rhythm generated in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus into rhythmic signals of circulating melatonin characterized by a largely nocturnal increase that closely reflects the duration of night time. The pineal gland has lost direct photosensitivity, but responds to light via multi-synaptic pathways that include a subset of retinal ganglion cells. Rhythmic control is achieved through a tight coupling between environmental lighting and arylalkylamine-N-acetyltransferase (AANAT) expression, which is the rhythm-controlling enzyme in melatonin synthesis. Previous studies on the nocturnal expression of AANAT protein have described transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational regulatory mechanisms. Molecular mechanisms for dependent AANAT expression provide novel aspects for melatonin's circadian rhythmicity. Extensive animal research has linked pineal melatonin for the expression of seasonal rhythmicity in many mammalian species to the modulation of circadian rhythms and to sleep regulation. It has value in treating various circadian rhythm disorders, such as jet lag or shift-work sleep disorders. Melatonin, also, in a broad range of effects with a significant regulation influences many of the body's physiological functions. In addition, this hormone is known to influence reproductive, cardiovascular, and immunological regulation as well as psychiatric disorders.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.9-12
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• 2002

Circadian rhythms can be seen in a variety of physiological functions in insects. Light is a powerful zeitgeber not only synchronizing but also modulating the rhythm to adjust insect's temporal structure to seasonal changes in the environmental cycle. There are two general effects of the length of light phase within 24 hr light cycles on the circadian rhythms, i.e., the modulation of free-running period and the waveform. Since the photoperiodic modulation of the free-running period is induced even in the clock mutant flies, per$\^$s/, the free-running period is not fully determined genetically. In crickets, the ratio of activity (a) and rest phase (p) under the constant darkness (DD) is clearly dependent on the photoperiod under which they have been kept. When experienced the longer photoperiod it becomes smaller. The magnitude of change in a/p-ratio is dependent on the number of cycles they experienced. The neuronal activity of the optic lobe in DD shows the a/p-ratio changing with the preceding photoperiod. These data suggest that a single circadian pacemaker stores and maintains the photoperiodic information and that there is a system that accumulates the effects of single photoperiod to cause greater effects.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2012

Many mammals in temperate zones are affected by the distinctive changes of the four seasons in these zones. Their reproductive status is active in the summer climate and inactive during severe winter weather. The golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is seasonal breeding animal whose sexual activities are regulated by photoperoidism. The reproduction and metabolism are activated by long summer days (LD) and inhibited by short winter days (SD). After several months of SD, animals become refractory to this inhibitory photoperiod and spontaneously revert to LD-like physiology. The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) house the primary circadian oscillator in mammals. Seasonal changes in the photic input to this structure control many annual physiological rhythms via SCN-regulated pineal melatonin secretion, which provides an internal endocrine signal representing photoperiod. The aim of this study was to assess the variation in the morphology of the testis in relation to the natural photoperiod in male golden hamsters. The hamsters were castrated at different weeks (2, 5, 8, and 15). The cell numbers of tubules with spermatogonia (SG), spermatocyte (SC), spermatids (ST), and spermatozoa (SZ) were recorded in each sample. The results showed that testicular regression of golden hamsters occurred in the SD-treated animals. The present investigation determines that the effects of the photoperiod on the reproduction of male golden hamsters. It was also found that the circadian period increases the rate of reproductive inhibition in animals exposed to inhibitory photoperiods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.59-63
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• 2012

Melatonin has been studied as a potential treatment of cancer, immune disorders, cardiovascular diseases, depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), circadian rhythm sleep disorders, sexual dysfunction and some forms of insomnia. Prolonged release melatonin has shown good results in treating insomnia in older adults. It may ameliorate circadian misalignment and SAD. Basic research indicates that melatonin may play a significant role in modulating the effects of drugs of abuse such as cocaine. A 2004 review found that melatonin significantly increased total sleep time in people suffering from sleep restriction. Therefore, in this study, in order to explain characteristics of melatonin, total energy, net charge, vibrational mode of melatonin are calculated by PM3 methods of HyperCam 6.0.