Behavior Archives - EMFSA

Treating sleep and circadian problems to promote mental health: perspectives on comorbidity, implementation science and behavior change

Editor — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 14:30:59 +0000

Allison G Harvey, Treating sleep and circadian problems to promote mental health: perspectives on comorbidity, implementation science and behavior change, Sleep, Volume 45, Issue 4, April 2022, zsac026, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsac026

Abstract

Insufficient sleep and mistimed sleep are prominent, yet under-appreciated and understudied, contributors to poor mental health and to mental disorders. The evidence that improving sleep and circadian functioning is an important pathway to mental health continues to mount. The goal of this paper is to highlight three major challenges ahead. Challenge 1 points to the possibility that comorbidity is the norm not the exception for the sleep and circadian disorders that are associated with mental disorders. Hence, the sleep and circadian problems experienced by people diagnosed with a mental disorder may not fit into the neat diagnostic categories of existing nosologies nor be adequately treated with single disorder approaches. The Sleep Health Framework and the Transdiagnostic Intervention for Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction (TranS-C) are discussed as alternative approaches. Challenge 2 points to the large time lag between the development of a treatment and the availability of that treatment in routine clinical practice. This is a key reason for the emergence of implementation science, which is a flourishing, well-developed, and quickly moving field. There is an urgent need for more applications of implementation science within sleep and circadian science. Challenge 3 describes one of the greatest puzzles of our time—the need to unlock the fundamental elements of behavior change. There is potential to harness the science of behavior change to encourage widespread engagement in sleep health behavior and thereby reduce the staggering burden of sleep and circadian problems and the associated mental health problems.

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Honey Bee Proteolytic System and Behavior Parameters under the Influence of an Electric Field at 50 Hz and Variable Intensities for a Long Exposure Time

Editor — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:58:12 +0000

Migdał, P.; Murawska, A.; Strachecka, A.; Bieńkowski, P.; Roman, A. Honey Bee Proteolytic System and Behavior Parameters under the Influence of an Electric Field at 50 Hz and Variable Intensities for a Long Exposure Time. Animals 2021, 11, 863. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030863

Simple Summary

The amount of electromagnetic field (EMF) in the environment emitted by electrical and electronic devices, mobile phone masts, or power lines is constantly increasing. Honey bee can be exposed to the EMF in the environment, ^and the influence of this factor on bees is still under consideration. Studying the impact of EMF on honey bees can give valuable information about whether it poses a threat to them. The honey bee is an important pollinator, playing a significant role in maintaining biodiversity and food production. Our research showed that a 50 Hz electric field at various intensities reduced the number of occurrences of walking, contacts between individuals, and self-grooming, and increased the activity of proteases, which are involved in the immune system response.

Abstract

The effect of an artificial electromagnetic field on organisms is a subject of extensive public debate and growing numbers of studies. Our study aimed to show the effect of an electromagnetic field at 50 Hz and variable intensities on honey bee proteolytic systems and behavior parameters after 12 h of exposure. Newly emerged worker bees were put into cages and exposed to a 50 Hz E-field with an intensity of 5.0 kV/m, 11.5 kV/m, 23.0 kV/m, or 34.5 kV/m. After 12 h of exposure, hemolymph samples were taken for protease analysis, and the bees were recorded for behavioral analysis. Six behaviors were chosen for observation: walking, flying, self-grooming, contact between individuals, stillness, and wing movement. Bees in the control group demonstrated the highest number of all behavior occurrences, except flying, and had the lowest protease activity. Bees in the experimental groups showed a lower number of occurrences of walking, self-grooming, and contacts between individuals than the control bees and had significantly higher protease activity than the control bees (except that of alkaline proteases in the 23.0 kV/m group).

Full text: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/3/863/htm

5. Conclusions

The amount of artificial electromagnetic field in the environment is constantly increasing, thus the honey bee is exposed to this factor. In our study, bees in the control group demonstrated the highest number of all behavior occurrences, except flying, and had the lowest activity of all types of proteases. Bees in the experimental groups showed a lower number of walking, self-grooming, and contact between individual occurrences than control bees and had higher protease activity than control bees. Our results show that an E-field is potential harmful factor to the honey bee. However, we do not know if the changes in behavior and protease activity of the honey bee after E-field exposure persist and for how long. It would be important to investigate behavior parameters and biochemical markers at different time intervals after the end of exposure to an E-field. It can be helpful to determine the interaction between the biochemical marker activity and behavioral parameters. Such an observation could provide a better understanding of the immune response of the honey bee exposing to environmental stressors.

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Saliva cortisol, melatonin levels and circadian rhythm alterations in Chinese primary school children with dyslexia

Editor — Sun, 09 Feb 2020 10:25:51 +0000

RESEARCH ARTICLE: OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Medicine: February 2020 – Volume 99 – Issue 6 – p e19098

doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000019098

Abstract

Cortisol is the main end product of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal gland (HPA axis), and melatonin (MT) has a regulating effect on HPA axis, and both are closely related to individual behavior and cognitive function. We aimed to evaluate cortisol and MT roles on children dyslexia in this study.

A total of 72 dyslexic children and 72 controls were recruited in this study. Saliva samples were collected in the morning, afternoon, and night, respectively. The levels of saliva cortisol and MT were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Differences of cortisol and MT levels between dyslexic and normal children were compared, and the variation trend was also analyzed by dynamic monitoring in 3 time points.

The levels of salivary cortisol and MT in children with dyslexia were all lower than those in normal children whether in the morning (7:30-8:30 am ), at afternoon (15:30-16:30 pm ) or at night (21:30-22:30 pm ) (all P < .001). Compared with normal children, the circadian rhythm variations of salivary cortisol and MT in dyslexic children disappeared and became disordered. The salivary cortisol and MT levels in children with dyslexia were declined throughout the day; and the circadian rhythm was disordered or disappeared.

The results suggest that cortisol and MT levels and their circadian rhythm may affect children dyslexia, but the mechanisms need further exploration.

https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/FullText/2020/02070/Saliva_cortisol,_melatonin_levels_and_circadian.51.aspx

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Babies in the womb may see more than we thought

Editor — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 19:20:43 +0000

By Robert Sanders, Media relations| NOVEMBER 25, 2019

See the image in the article: An intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell (ipRGC) as it would appear if you looked at a mouse’s retina through the pupil. The white arrows point to the many different types of cells it networks with: other subtypes of ipRGC cell (red, blue and green) and retinal cells that are not ipRGCs (red). The white bar is 50 micrometers long, approximately the diameter of a human hair. (Image by Franklin Caval-Holme)

By the second trimester, long before a baby’s eyes can see images, they can detect light.

But the light-sensitive cells in the developing retina — the thin sheet of brain-like tissue at the back of the eye — were thought to be simple on-off switches, presumably there to set up the 24-hour, day-night rhythms parents hope their baby will follow.

University of California, Berkeley, scientists have now found evidence that these simple cells actually talk to one another as part of an interconnected network that gives the retina more light sensitivity than once thought, and that may enhance the influence of light on behavior and brain development in unsuspected ways.

In the developing eye, perhaps 3% of ganglion cells — the cells in the retina that send messages through the optic nerve into the brain — are sensitive to light and, to date, researchers have found about six different subtypes that communicate with various places in the brain. Some talk to the suprachiasmatic nucleus to tune our internal clock to the day-night cycle. Others send signals to the area that makes our pupils constrict in bright light.

But others connect with surprising areas: the perihabenula, which regulates mood, and the amygdala, which deals with emotions.