Sleep Disorders
22 Aug Biological Clock: Removing Protein Repressor Boosts Clock Function
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ruifeng Cao, MD,PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Laboratory of Nahum Sonenberg McGill University Department of Biochemistry Montreal, QC H3A 1A3, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Circadian (~24h) timing is a fundamental biological process, underlying cellular physiology in animals, plants, fungi, and cyanobacteria. In mammals, including humans, a circadian clock in the brain drives daily rhythms in sleep and wakefulness, feeding and metabolism, and many other essential processes. We studied how protein synthesis, which is a fundamental process underlying many biological activities, is controlled in the brain clock in mice and identified a protein that functions as a clock repressor. By removing the repressor protein, the clock function is improved.22 Aug Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Sleep Apnea
Posted at 01:59h
in Author Interviews, Diabetes, JCEM, OBGYNE, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Sleep Disorders
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with
Sirimon Reutrakul MD
Section of Endocrinology Department of Medicine
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, Illinois 60612
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We found a strong association between obstructive sleep apnea and gestational diabetes mellitus. In pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes, the risk of obstructive sleep apnea is increased nearly 7-fold compared to those without gestational diabetes. In addition, we found that in non-diabetic women, pregnancy is associated with more disrupted sleep.
15 Jul Poor Sleep and Poor Behavior in Children
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca J. Scharf MD MPH Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center Center for Global Health MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Scharf: This study examined data from approximately 8,500 children, born in 2001, who were 4 years old at the time of the study. These children...
04 Jul Disruption of Circadian Rhythms and Impaired Intestinal Barrier
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Keith Summa MD/PhD Student
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Disruption of the Circadian Clock in Mice Increases Intestinal Permeability and Promotes Alcohol-Induced Pathology and Inflammation
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The main findings of the study were that disruption of circadian rhythms, which we achieved using independent genetic and environmental strategies in mice, leads to impaired function of the intestinal epithelial barrier. This loss of epithelial barrier integrity, which has been associated with numerous diseases, results in "gut leakiness," a phenomenon in which endotoxin from gut bacteria can cross the intestinal wall and enter circulation, promoting inflammation. In particular, using in a disease model of gut-derived endotoxemia and inflammation, alcoholic liver disease, we found the circadian disruption interacted with alcohol, leading to increased gut leakiness, inflammation and liver damage.
17 Jun Restless Legs Syndrome and Increased Risk of Death
Posted at 22:25h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Medical Research Centers, Sleep Disorders
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Yanping Li, PhD
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Department of Medicine
Channing Division of Network Medicine
Boston, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: During 8 years of follow-up, we observed that men with RLS had a 30% increased risk of death.
MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?
Answer: Based on our hypothesis, we would like to observed a higher risk of death from cardiovascular diseases, but we do not.
12 Jun Insomnia and Health Services Utilization in Middle-Aged, Older Adults
Hemodialysis.com Interview with: Christopher Kaufmann, MHS Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Hampton House, Room 800 624 North Broadway Baltimore, MD 21205 email: ckaufman@jhsph.edu MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Mr. Kaufmann: The purpose of our study was to examine the association between insomnia and the use of a number of costly health services. We used data from the Health and Retirement Study, a large nationally representative longitudinal population-based study of US middle-aged and older adults. We found that individuals who reported a greater number of insomnia symptoms were more likely to report being hospitalized, using home healthcare services, and using nursing homes two years later. After we accounted for a number of demographic and clinical characteristics, the association between number of reported insomnia symptoms and hospitalization remained statistically significant.07 Jun Genetic Sleep Preferences Influence College Major, Career Choice
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Frederick M. Brown, Ph.D. Associate Professor The Pennsylvania State University Department of Psychology, Cognitive and Wellness Director, Human Performance Rhythms Laboratory MedicalResearch.com: What was the primary finding of your study? Dr. Brown: Time of day of an occupation, as well as a regular versus irregular routine, may influence whether a person wants to go into it or not. Most educational research has focused on academic major selection motivated by job aptitude, personality, and sociocultural factors. Our findings suggest that a person’s genetically determined built-in morning versus evening (M/E) preference for best time of day to work or sleep may influence career choice in two important ways: This M/E preference for work and sleep is related to 1) personality and to 2) the time of day the job is executed. These may interact with how much sleep a person thinks they need. In addition to the personality traits associated with M/E, such as morning people being more introverted and evening people more extroverted, an individual’s choice of major may be influenced by their preference for the typical work hours of a profession, such as a routine 9-to-5 schedule versus irregular evening and weekend work.18 May Sleep Duration as a Predictor of Moderate/High (vs Low) Suicide Risk in Insomnia
Posted at 02:18h
in Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Sleep Disorders, University of Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com eInterview with:
Linden Oliver, MA, Clinical Research Coordinator
University of Pennsylvania Behavioral Sleep Medicine Research Program Philadelphia, Pa
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We found that less sleep is associated with greater suicide risk in those with insomnia. Specifically, we looked at suicide risk in people with insomnia, and also asked how much sleep they got in the past month. In those with some suicide risk, the likelihood of being high risk (versus low risk) decreased by 72% for every hour of sleep that person reported getting at night.
04 Apr Melatonin Secretion and the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes
Posted at 03:02h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Diabetes, JAMA, Medical Research Centers, Melatonin, Sleep Disorders
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Ciaran McMullan MD
from Channing Division of Network Medicine in Boston, a research division within the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Mass
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. McMullan: In this observational study performed in non-diabetic women we found that lower nocturnal melatonin secretion predicted future risk of developing type 2 diabetes. When we categorized the individuals by category of nocturnal melatonin secretion we found that those in the lowest category had twice the risk as those in the highest category of nocturnal melatonin secretion. This association remained even after adjusting for other well established risk factors for development of diabetes including body mass index, physical activity, dietary factors, family history of diabetes, smoking and hypertension. This increased risk translates into the lower melatonin secretion group having an additional 5 cases of incident diabetes per 1000 person years than the high melatonin secretion group.
30 Mar The subjective–objective mismatch in sleep perception among those with insomnia and sleep apnea
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Matt T. Bianchi MD PhD MMSc
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology
Director, Sleep Division
Massachusetts General Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Bianchi: We showed that patients reporting symptoms of insomnia tend to under-estimate the amount of time they slept during overnight sleep testing in our clinical sleep laboratory.
27 Mar Genetic factors in evolution of sleep length – a longitudinal twin study in Finnish adults
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christer Hublin Apulaisylilääkäri, neurologian dosentti (Helsingin yliopisto) - Assistant Chief Medical Officer, Docent (Adjunct Professor) in Neurology (Helsinki University) Unilääketieteen erityispätevyys (Suomen lääkäriliitto) Sleep medicine specialist (NOSMAC/ESRS) Työterveyslaitos - Finnish Institute of Occupational Health FIN-00250 Helsinki Finland MedicalResearch.com What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We found in an adult twin cohort (the Finnish Twin Cohort) that the proportion of variance in sleep length accounted for by genetic effects was relatively low (about one third) but stable (correlation 0.76 over a period of 15 years.). In contrast, the proportion of variance accounted for by environmental effects was high (about 0.7) and these effects were less stable (correlation over the time period 0.18). The proportion of short sleepers was more than doubled in both genders, whereas in the proportion of long sleepers no major change was seen during the follow-up. To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study providing data on the contribution of genetic factors to stability and change of sleep length over time.26 Mar Independent associations between fatty acids and sleep quality among obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Christopher Papandreou Department of Social Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Papandreou: Certain adipose tissue fatty acids measured in the gluteal site were found to be associated with sleep quality parameters in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome after controlling for possible confounders.08 Sep Study finds Insomnia affects 40% of Adult Canadians
Posted at 14:30h
in Sleep Disorders
Sleep disorders affect 40 percent of Canadians Quebec City, September 8, 2011—Sleep disorders affect 40% of adult Canadians according to a study conducted by Université Laval researchers under the supervision of Dr. Charles M. Morin. The work of Dr. Morin and his colleagues will be presented at the 4th World Congress...
04 Aug Compression Stockings May Reduce Sleep Apnea in Some Patients
Posted at 23:36h
in Sleep Disorders
August 4 2011 Newswise — Wearing compression stockings may be a simple low-tech way to improve obstructive sleep apnea in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, according to French researchers. ”We found that in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, compression stockings reduced daytime fluid accumulation in the legs, which in turn reduced the...