Related topics: circadian clock , biological clock
Circadian rhythm
hideA circadian rhythm is a roughly-24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes of living entities, including plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria (see bacterial circadian rhythms). The term "circadian", coined by Franz Halberg, comes from the Latin circa, "around," and diem or dies, "day", meaning literally "approximately one day." The formal study of biological temporal rhythms such as daily, tidal, weekly, seasonal, and annual rhythms, is called chronobiology.
Circadian rhythms are endogenously generated, and can be entrained by external cues, called Zeitgebers, the primary one of which is daylight. These rhythms allow organisms to anticipate and prepare for precise and regular environmental changes.
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News tagged with circadian rhythms
New pattern in our biological clock overturns long-held theory
Oct 08, 2009 |
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(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 ...
First human gene implicated in regulating length of human sleep
Aug 13, 2009 |
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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.
Appetite, consumption controlled by clockwork genes at cross-purposes in flies
Dec 06, 2009 |
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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 ...
A Biological Basis for the 8-Hour Workday? Researchers uncover 8- and 12-hour Cycles of Gene Activity
Apr 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The circadian clock coordinates physiological and behavioral processes on a 24-hour rhythm, allowing animals to anticipate changes in their environment and prepare accordingly. Scientists ...
Not just bleach: Hydrogen peroxide may tell time for living cells
Nov 03, 2009 |
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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.
How alcohol blunts the ability of hamsters to 'rise and shine'
Sep 01, 2009 |
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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 ...
The food-energy cellular connection revealed
Oct 15, 2009 |
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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 ...
Researchers find new mechanism for circadian rhythm
Oct 20, 2009 |
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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 ...
Researchers develop light-treatment device to improve sleep quality in the elderly
May 29, 2009 |
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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 ...
Body clock regulates metabolism
Mar 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- UC Irvine researchers have discovered that circadian rhythms - our own body clock - regulate energy levels in cells. The findings have far-reaching implications, from providing greater insights ...
Missing or mutated 'clock' gene linked to vascular disease
Mar 25, 2009 |
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The circadian clocks that set the rhythmic motion of our bodies for wakeful days and sleepy nights can also set us up for vascular disease when broken, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
Paper sheds new 'light' on fascinating rhythms of the circadian clock
Biology /
Feb 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have long known that interrupting the 24-hour circadian rhythm plays havoc with the lives and health of medical, military and airline personnel, factory employees and travelers.
Faulty body clock may make kids bipolar
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 12, 2009 |
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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 p ...
Siestas Among the Drosophilae
Biology /
Jan 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Isaac Edery is concerned with biological clocks, internal mechanisms that enable virtually all plants and animals to behave in rhythmic biological cycles known as circadian rhythms.
Biological clocks of insects could lead to more effective pest control
Aug 12, 2009 |
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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 ...
