http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. One of the pioneers in research on sleep:wake circadian genes, Amita Sehgal, Ph.D., has discovered that fruit flies' appetite and consumption are controlled by two rival sets of clocks, one in neurons and the other in the fly fat body, which is analogous to the liver. http://www.physorg.com/news179329066.html Biology Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:00:01 EST news179329066 How does our biological system know that it is supposed to operate on a 24-hour cycle? Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered that a tiny molecule holds the clue to the mystery. http://www.physorg.com/news178804470.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:20:02 EST news178804470 When you eat may be just as vital to your health as what you eat, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their experiments in mice revealed that the daily waxing and waning of thousands of genes in the liver -- the body's metabolic clearinghouse -- is mostly controlled by food intake and not by the body's circadian clock as conventional wisdom had it. http://www.physorg.com/news178369757.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:09:50 EST news178369757 (PhysOrg.com) -- A paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers offers new insights into a gene that plays a key role in modulating the body`s Circadian system and may also simultaneously modulate its metabolic system. http://www.physorg.com/news177682464.html Chemistry Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:16:12 EST news177682464 A paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers offers new insights into a gene that plays a key role in modulating the body's Circadian system and may also simultaneously modulate its metabolic system. The relationship between circadian and metabolic systems the researchers describe could have important implications for understanding the higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes among shift workers. http://www.physorg.com/news177268238.html Biology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:11:20 EST news177268238 Malfunctioning circadian clock genes may be responsible for bipolar disorder in children. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry found four versions of the regulatory gene RORB that were associated with pediatric bipolar disorder. http://www.physorg.com/news177224772.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:16:31 EST news177224772 If a circadian rhythm is like an orchestra - the united expression of the rhythms of millions of cells - a common chemical may serve as the conductor, or at least as the baton. http://www.physorg.com/news176480161.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:30:01 EST news176480161 New research reveals a pathway that links peripheral sensory tissues with a "clock" in the brain to regulate molecular processes and behaviors in response to cyclical temperature changes. The research, published by Cell Press in the October 29th issue of the journal Neuron, reveals some surprising fundamental differences between how light-dark and temperature cycles synchronize the brain clock of the fruit fly, Drosophila. http://www.physorg.com/news175951588.html Biology Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:27:28 EST news175951588 Molecules that may hold the key to new ways to fight cancer and other diseases have been found to play an important role in regulating circadian rhythm, says Liheng Shi, a researcher in Texas A&M's Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. http://www.physorg.com/news175276746.html Chemistry Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:30:04 EST news175276746 Our body's activity levels fall and rise to the beat of our internal drums -the 24-hour cycles that govern fundamental physiological functions, from sleeping and feeding patterns to the energy available to our cells. Whereas the master clock in the brain is set by light, the pacemakers in peripheral organs are set by food availability. The underlying molecular mechanism was unknown. http://www.physorg.com/news174834182.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:04:23 EST news174834182 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Michigan mathematicians and their British colleagues say they have identified the signal that the brain sends to the rest of the body to control biological rhythms, a finding that overturns a long-held theory about our internal clock. http://www.physorg.com/news174228584.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:00:03 EST news174228584 You're not as different from Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin after all, at least when it comes to patterns of correspondence. http://www.physorg.com/news173112935.html Other Sciences Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:56:25 EST news173112935 The annual migration of monarch butterflies from across eastern North America to a specific grove of fir trees in Mexico has long fascinated scientists who have sought to understand just how these delicate creatures can navigate up to 2,000 miles to a single location. Neurobiologists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) have now found that a key mechanism that helps steer the butterflies to their ultimate destination resides not in the insects' brains, as previously thought, but in their antennae, a surprising discovery that provides an entirely new perspective of the antenna's role in migration. http://www.physorg.com/news173021625.html Biology Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:20:02 EST news173021625 (PhysOrg.com) -- Many of the genes that regulate insulin also alter the timing of the circadian clock, a new study has found. http://www.physorg.com/news172409914.html Biology Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:38:57 EST news172409914 A study in the Sept.1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that the sleep-wake activity rhythms of breast cancer patients are impaired during the administration of chemotherapy. Results indicate that the first cycle of chemotherapy is associated with a temporary disruption of these rhythms, while repeated administration of chemotherapy results in progressively worse and more enduring impairments. http://www.physorg.com/news171007271.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:30:02 EST news171007271 Chronic alcohol consumption blunts the biological clock's ability to synchronize daily activities to light, disrupts natural activity patterns and continues to affect the body's clock (circadian rhythm), even days after the drinking ends, according to a new study with hamsters. http://www.physorg.com/news171006931.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:55:57 EST news171006931 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Columbia and Rockefeller Universities have identified cells in the stomach that regulate the release of a hormone associated with appetite. The group is the first to show that these cells, which release a hormone called ghrelin, are controlled by a circadian clock that is set by mealtime patterns. The finding, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has implications for the treatment of obesity and is a landmark in the decades-long search for the timekeepers of hunger. http://www.physorg.com/news170688849.html Medicine & Health Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:10:01 EST news170688849 The circadian system is not the only pathway involved in determining alertness at night. Research described in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience showed that red light, which does not stimulate the circadian system, is just as effective at increasing night-time alertness as blue light, which does. http://www.physorg.com/news170536215.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:30:01 EST news170536215 (PhysOrg.com) -- New York collaborators at Columbia and Rockefeller Universities have identified cells in the stomach that time the release of a hormone that makes animals anticipate food and eat even when they are not hungry. The finding, which has implications for the treatment of obesity, marks a landmark in the decades-long search for the timekeepers of hunger. The work reveals what the stomach `tells` the brain. http://www.physorg.com/news169478118.html Medicine & Health Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:16:11 EST news169478118 Scientists have discovered the first gene involved in regulating the optimal length of human sleep, offering a window into a key aspect of slumber, an enigmatic phenomenon that is critical to human physical and mental health. http://www.physorg.com/news169391884.html Medicine & Health Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:18:48 EST news169391884 Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered that the circadian rhythms or biological "clocks" in some insects can make them far more susceptible to pesticides at some times of the day instead of others. http://www.physorg.com/news169299983.html Biology Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:47:19 EST news169299983 The ability of plants to tell the time, a mechanism common to all living beings, enables them to survive, grow and reproduce. In a study published in the latest issue of the prestigious journal Ecology Letters, an international team has studied this circadian clock from a molecular viewpoint and has found an ecological implication: it makes climate change scenarios and CO2 level figures more accurate. http://www.physorg.com/news165771470.html Biology Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:40:02 EST news165771470 New research, conducted by Charles Wingo and his colleagues, at the University of Florida, Gainsville, suggests a link between the circadian rhythm and control of sodium (salt) levels in mice. http://www.physorg.com/news165687966.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:30:03 EST news165687966 The fuzzy pale mold that lines the glass tubes in Dr. Yi Liu's lab doesn't look much like a clock. But this fungus has an internal, cell-based timekeeper nearly as sophisticated as a human's, allowing UT Southwestern Medical Center physiologists to study easily the biochemistry and genetics of body clocks, or circadian rhythms. http://www.physorg.com/news163700594.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:24:15 EST news163700594 (PhysOrg.com) -- Embedded in our genes is a "clock" that regulates when we sleep, when we are awake and when we eat. This human clock manages what are known as circadian rhythms, 24-hour biological cycles that adapt our bodies to the light-dark pattern of day and night. http://www.physorg.com/news162826877.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 14:42:14 EST news162826877 Sleep disturbances increase as we age. Some studies report more than half of seniors 65 years of age or older suffer from chronic sleep disturbances. Researchers have long believed that the sleep disturbances common among the elderly often result from a disruption of the body's circadian rhythms -- biological cycles that repeat approximately every 24 hours. http://www.physorg.com/news162813350.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 10:56:21 EST news162813350 Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have made new inroads into understanding the regulatory circuitry of the biological clock that synchronizes the ebb and flow of daily activities, according to two studies published May 15. http://www.physorg.com/news161607782.html Biology Fri, 15 May 2009 12:03:37 EST news161607782 Fluctuations in light intensity allow restoring the regularity of circadian rhythms. This is the main conclusion of the work carried out by Javier Buceta, group leader of The SiMBioSys Group (Theoretical and In Silico Modelling of Biological Systems) and Antoni Da ez-Noguera, dean at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona. The study is published today in Biophysical Journal. http://www.physorg.com/news160898378.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 07:00:19 EST news160898378 A study in the May 1 issue of the journal SLEEP suggests that babies born to mothers with depression are more likely to suffer from significant sleep disturbances at 2 weeks postpartum that continue until 6 months of age. Findings of the study are of particular importance, as sleep disturbances in infancy may result in increased risk for developing early-onset depression in childhood. http://www.physorg.com/news160384516.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 May 2009 08:15:39 EST news160384516 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered a new protein complex operating in fruit fly circadian clocks, which may also help to regulate our own biological clocks. http://www.physorg.com/news160215248.html Biology Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:14:51 EST news160215248