Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, PLoS, Sleep Disorders / 04.07.2013

Keith Summa MD/PhD Student Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, Illinois, United States of AmericaMedicalResearch.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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Sleep Disorders, University of Pennsylvania / 07.06.2013

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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Sleep Disorders, University of Pennsylvania / 18.05.2013

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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Diabetes, JAMA, Medical Research Centers, Melatonin, Sleep Disorders / 04.04.2013

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 MassMedicalResearch.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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Sleep Disorders / 30.03.2013

 MedicalResearch.com Interview with Matt T. Bianchi MD PhD MMSc Assistant Professor Department of Neurology Director, Sleep Division Massachusetts General HospitalMatt 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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Sleep Disorders / 27.03.2013

 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. (more…)