• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2024

Light is a major external environmental factor that influences the circadian rhythm of photosynthetic organisms and various physiological phenomena, such as growth, maturation, and behavior. The number of light-reaching organisms changes depending on the season and atmospheric conditions, and the intensity and wavelength of light differ depending on the organisms inhabiting the environment. Altered light changes the circadian rhythm of fish, which is controlled by clock genes, such as period 2 (Per2), cryptochrome 1 (Cry1), and melatonin. In this study, we set the zeitgeber time (ZT; 14 light-10 dark, LD) based on the actual sunrise and sunset times and examined Per2 and Cry1 activities, levels of aralkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT), and melatonin in Pholis nebulosa, a drifting seaweed species exposed to irregular light. Per2 and Cry1 levels increased during the daytime and decreased after sunset. The AANAT levels decreased during the daytime and increased during the night. Melatonin concentration was highest around midnight (ZT21, 23:30), but exhibited similar concentrations during the daytime. While the activity of Per2, Cry1, and AANAT levels exhibited a typical circadian rhythm observed in most vertebrates, melatonin concentrations did not show a significant difference between the daytime and nighttime. These findings provide insights into the circadian rhythm patterns of organisms exposed to irregular light environments, such as P. nebulosa, which differ from those of typical fish species.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.151-155
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• 2008

Circadian variations of acebutolol and its main metabolite, diacetolol pharmacokinetics were studied after a single oral administration of acebutolol (10 mg/kg) to eight rabbits at 10 : 00 AM (in the morning) and 10 : 00 PM (at night). The plasma concentration profiles of acebutolol were significantly different (P<0.05) between 10 : 00 AM and 22 : 00 PM, suggesting circadian variations of pharmacokinetic behaviors. A significant circadian rhythm of pharmacokinetic parameters was noted in rabbits, showing higher total body clearance (CL/F), and lower the area under the plasma concentration-time curves (AUC) of acebutolol than that at night. The half-life ($t_{1/2}$) of acebutolol and diacetolol were also significantly shorter in the morning than at night (P<0.05). Metabolite-parent AUC ratio at night significantly decreased compared to in the morning, implying that night time could inhibit acebutolol metabolism than in the morning. From this study there was an administration-time difference of acebutolol pharmacokinetics in the rabbits. The optimized dosing regimen of acebutolol can be decided by considering circadian rhythm so that the effective therapies are established for patients.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.125-144
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• 1994

Recently excessive daytime sleepiness was found to have relations with various social, occupational, and health problems. This condition is common symptom of several sleep disorders, among which sleep apnea syndrome is most contributive. It is essential to assess daytime sleepiness exactly for the diagnosis of such sleep disorders. Multiple sleep latency test which is a valid and objective measurement technique of sleepiness is time and cost consuming, and so there is increasing need of scales measuring general level of daytime sleepiness which are quick and simple to perform for clinical and research purpose. And also, there have been a lot of sleep researches viewing sleep as a chronobiological process, especially in the study of circadian type of shift workers. In these studies they used various techniques of multiple demensions to assess sleepiness or circadian rhythm which concerns various psychological variables. Of these measurement techniques circadian type questionnaires might have some problems in their psychometric properties. So some of these morningness-eveningness questionnaires have been revised and more valid scales are being suggested by different authors. The author briefly reviewed various measurement techniques of sleepiness and circadian rhythm and introduced recently developed scales which are more valid allegedly, and finally discussed psychometric properties of these morningness-eveningness questionnaires.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2009

Six healthy female volunteers twice undertook an experiment with different types of clothing leaving the arms and legs covered or uncovered at $24{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ and $50{\pm}5%$ RH to study how different thermal stimulation to the distal extremities during the afternoon could modulate circadian parameters of body temperature rhythm. One type of clothing consisted of long-sleeved shirts and full-length trousers (Type I, 989 g, 0.991 clo); the other type consisted of half-sleeved shirts and knee-length trousers (Type II, 750 g, 0.747 clo). Subjects wore Type I or Type II clothing during the afternoon (14:00 h - 19:00 h), and Type I clothing during the evening (19:00 h - 22:30 h) and the night sleep (22:30 h - 06:00 h). Rectal temperature and skin temperatures at the arm and leg were measured continuously. Results were as follows: 1) The circadian amplitude of rectal temperature tended to be greater, and the acrophase was significantly earlier when wearing Type II rather than Type I clothing. 2) The circadian nadirs of skin temperatures of the arm and leg were significantly lower and the amplitudes were significantly greater with Type II clothing. In addition, the acrophase and bathyphase of the circadian rhythm of arm skin temperature were significantly earlier with Type II than Type I clothing. 3) The amplitude of rectal temperature was related closely with that of arm and leg skin temperature. These results suggest that a slightly cool thermal stress during the afternoon to the arms and legs exerted by wearing half-sleeved shirts and knee-length trousers induces a greater amplitude and a phase advance of the overt circadian rhythm of body temperature.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.417-422
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• 2009

Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) are known to get activated during various stress signals and transduce the message from the cell membrane to the nucleus for appropriate cellular reorganization. Though, a certain basal activity of MAPK is often observed in the control plants. Prolonged exposure of rice plants to lowered or elevated temperature exhibited a rhythm in the activation of MAPKs. We analyzed existence of a possible endogenous rhythm in the activity of MAPKs in rice plants. The plants growing at constant temperature entrained in 16/8 h day-night cycle showed diurnal rhythm in activity. When the activation of MAPK was tested under continuous conditions by shifting plants to continuous darkness for a period of 72 h, the periodic rhythm persisted and followed a circadian pattern. Analysis of the transcripts of group A, B and C members of MAPKs under above conditions by quantitative real time PCR revealed that the members of group C exhibit periodic rhythm. Our data indicates that the MAP kinase activity in rice follows rhythmic expression in a circadian manner.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.129-149
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• 1991

Circadian rhythm is entrained in the 24-hour time interval by periodic factors in the environment, known as zeitgeber. But most rotating work schedules are outside the range of the entrainment of the pacemaker timing the human circadian sleep - wake cycle. It has been postulated that physiological and emotional disturbances occur in most human functions when the circadian rhythm is disturbed. So application of circadian principles to the design of shift schedules can aid in maintaining the temporal integrity of the circadian system and thereby minimize for the shift worker any detrimental consequences of circadian disruption. This study was a quasi-experimental study to test the effect of shift intervals for the clinical nurse on the circadian rhythm. Twenty nurses newly employed in general units of two hospitals were selected as an experimental group and twelve college nursing students as a control group. Both groups were selected according to an established criteria using a purposive sampling technique. Ten subjects were assigned to a weekly shift group and another ten to a biweekly shift group engaged in a semi -continuous shift schedule(sunday off) with a backward direction, that is, morning -evening - night shift. The control group worked a morning shift for 42 days. Oral temperature rhythm, waking tim, sleep - wake cycle, fatigue, and mental performance were measured during the experimental period. The data collection period was from April 30, 1990 to June 10, 1990. MANOVA, paired t-test, ANOVA, and Student Newman Keuls method were used for statistical analysis. The results are summarized as follows. 1. Phase delay in the acrophase of temperature rhythm was shown according to the backward rotating shift. A complete adaptation to work on the night shift was achieved between the sixth and ninth day of the night shift. 2. There was no difference in either waking time or sleep- wake cycle according to the duration of the working day for every shift group. Significant difference was found in the waking time and the sleep -wake cycle for subjects on the morning, evening, and night shift in both of the shift groups(weekly shift group : λ＝0.121, p＜0.01, λ＝0.112, p＜0.01, biweekly shift group : λ＝0.116, p＜0.01, λ＝0.084, p＜0.01). 3. There was no difference in fatigue between the first working day and the last working day for the control group and for the biweekly shift group. In the weekly shift group, physical fatigue was significantly different for the first day and the sixth day of the night shift(t＝-2.28, p＜0.05). Physical fatigue and total fatigue on the first day of the night shift showed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝5.79, p＜0.01, F＝4.56, p＜0.05). There was a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05), Physical fatigue, neurosensory fatigue and total fatigue on the last day of the night shift showed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝12.65, p＜0.01, F＝7.77, p＜0.01, F＝9.68, p＜0.01). There was a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05). 4. No difference in mental performance was seen between the first day and the last day of work in each case. An arithmatic test on the first day of the night shift revealed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝3.79, p＜0.05). There was a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05) . The digital symbol substitution test and the arithmetic test on the last day of the night shift showed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝3.68, p＜0.05, F＝5.55, p＜0.01), and both showed a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05). Accordingly, this study showed that during night duty, the waking time, sleep- wake cycle, and fatigue increased and mental performance decreased compared with morning and evening duty. It was also found that the weekly shift group had a higher fatigue score on the sixth day of night duty as compared to the -first day, but the waking time, sleep- wake cycle, and mental performance revealed no difference for the duration of the night duty or between shift groups, and complete adaptation of temperature rhythm was achieved between the sixth and ninth day of night duty. It is possible to conclude from these results that for intermediate circadian type in a healthy young woman, a biweekly shift system is more compatible with the circadian timing system than weekly shift system.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.263-274
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• 2018

Purpose: This study examined the correlation of insomnia, sleep quality, depression, and circadian rhythm in nursing students. Methods: A total of 213 subjects completed a questionnaire consisting of their general characteristics, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D), and Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM). The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficient using the SPSS 23.0 program. Results: The subjects' mean scores were ISI 7.18; PSQI 11.18; CES-D 16.00; and CSM 30.18. In insomnia, there were significant differences according to caffeine, perceived health status and major satisfaction. In sleep quality, there were significant differences according to perceived health status and major satisfaction. Significant differences in depression were observed according to gender, caffeine, subjective health status, major satisfaction, and circadian rhythm by drinking and exercise. A significant positive correlation was observed among ISI, PSQI, and CES-D. ISI and CES-D were negatively correlated. Conclusion: Tailored health care programs should be developed and applied to prevent and manage sleep-related and emotion-related problems in nursing students by considering the health status, major satisfaction, and gender.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.10 no.3_4
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• pp.7-13
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• 1995

The most periodlengths($\tau$) of conidiation of Neurospora were shortened in the medium with Li$^+$, Rb$^+$, and Cs$^+$ under the blue or green light. The higher the concentration of the heavy metal elements are, the shorter the circadian lengths are. The largest differences between the maxima- and minima circadian lengths showed in the medium with LiCI, RbCl, and CsCI under the blue lights at 150 Lux, while the little differences of circadian lengths presented in 1 mM heavy metal elements at the 270Lux blue light. Li$^+$ under the blue light effected extremely much and in the order of Rb$^+$ and Cs$^+$ on the conidiation of Neurospora. Under the green lights at 270Lux, the smallest changes of the circadian lengths are resulted in the medium with heavy metal elements. The other way at the green light 150Lux, the conidiation is stimulated by lmM LiCI or RbCl for the average 0.71h and 0.29h longer than the periodlength of control 28.34h. The medium with Li$^+$ under the green light has less effect on the conidiation rhythm of Neurospora than with Rb$^+$ or Cs$^+$.

• 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.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

Nocturnal polyuria is one of the main pathogenic mechanisms of enuresis. Disturbance of circadian rhythm of antidiuretic hormone (ADH or AVP), hypercalciuria, and/or solute diuresis are considered to cause nocturnal polyuria, which in turn causes enuresis in patients with relatively small bladder capacity and high threshold for awakening. Evaluation of these factors would guide the therapeutic approach for enuresis.