Circadian rhythm dysfunction occurs in both common and rare neurodegenerative diseases. This dysfunction manifests as sleep cycle mistiming, alterations in body temperature rhythms, and an increase in symptomatology during the early evening hours known as Sundown Syndrome. Disruption of circadian rhythm homeostasis has also been implicated in the etiology of neurodegenerative disease. Indeed, individuals exposed to a shifting schedule of sleep and activity, such as health care workers, are at a higher risk. Thus, a bidirectional relationship exists between the circadian system and neurodegeneration. At the heart of this crosstalk is the molecular circadian clock, which functions to regulate circadian rhythm homeostasis. Over the past decade, this connection has become a focal point of investigation as the molecular clock offers an attractive target to combat both neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis and circadian rhythm dysfunction, and a pivotal role for neuroinflammation and stress has been established. This review summarizes the contributions of molecular clock dysfunction to neurodegenerative disease etiology, as well as the mechanisms by which neurodegenerative diseases affect the molecular clock.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2021.644747/full

Copyright © 2021 Carter, Justin, Gulick and Gamsby. 

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Abstract

The use of body-worn wireless devices with different communication protocols and rapidly changing exposure scenarios is still multiplying and the need to identify possible health effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure with extremely low-frequency (ELF) modulation envelops. In this study, effects of ELF-modulated 935 MHz RF-EMF on apoptosis, autophagy, oxidative stress and electron exchange in N9 microglial and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were investigated.

Cells were exposed at 4 W/kg or sham-exposed for 2 and 24 h. RF-EMF exposure of both cell types did not alter apoptosis, the number of living cells nor the apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), irrespective of the exposure duration. RF-EMF exposure for 24, but not for 2 h, increased protein levels of the autophagy marker ATG5, whereas LC3B-I and II and pERK were not altered in both cell types and exposure times investigated. A transient increase in glutathione (GSH), but not hydrogen peroxide and cytochrome c oxidase was found only in SH-SY5Y cells, indicating that short-time RF-EMF at SAR levels accepted by today’s safety guidelines might cause autophagy and oxidative stress with the effect being dependent on cell type and exposure duration.

Further studies are needed to evaluate possible underlying mechanisms involved in pulse-modulated RF-EMF exposure.

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Abstract:

Light is necessary for life, but prolonged exposure to artificial light is a matter of increasing health concern. Humans are exposed to increased amounts of light in the blue spectrum produced by light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which can interfere with normal sleep cycles. The LED technologies are relatively new; therefore, the long-term effects of exposure to blue light across the lifespan are not understood. We investigated the effects of light in the model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, and determined that flies maintained in daily cycles of 12-h blue LED and 12-h darkness had significantly reduced longevity compared with flies maintained in constant darkness or in white light with blue wavelengths blocked. Exposure of adult flies to 12 h of blue light per day accelerated aging phenotypes causing damage to retinal cells, brain neurodegeneration, and impaired locomotion. We report that brain damage and locomotor impairments do not depend on the degeneration in the retina, as these phenotypes were evident under blue light in flies with genetically ablated eyes. Blue light induces expression of stress-responsive genes in old flies but not in young, suggesting that cumulative light exposure acts as a stressor during aging. We also determined that several known blue-light-sensitive proteins are not acting in pathways mediating detrimental light effects. Our study reveals the unexpected effects of blue light on fly brain and establishes Drosophila as a model in which to investigate long-term effects of blue light at the cellular and organismal level.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-019-0038-6

Daily exposure to blue light may accelerate aging, even if it doesn’t reach your eyes

by Oregon State University

Prolonged exposure to blue light, such as that which emanates from your phone, computer and household fixtures, could be affecting your longevity, even if it’s not shining in your eyes.

New research at Oregon State University suggests that the blue wavelengths produced by light-emitting diodes damage cells in the brain as well as retinas.

The study, published today in Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, involved a widely used organism, Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, an important model organism because of the cellular and developmental mechanisms it shares with other animals and humans.

Jaga Giebultowicz, a researcher in the OSU College of Science who studies biological clocks, led a research collaboration that examined how flies responded to daily 12-hour exposures to blue LED light—similar to the prevalent blue wavelength in devices like phones and tablets—and found that the light accelerated aging.

Read more at https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10-daily-exposure-blue-aging-doesnt.html

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Doctor van der Merwe also serves on the National WHO International EMF Project IAC – ZA and ISC committee. https://drive.google.com/file/d/139vTDdQO-Me9yE16sSW6lFcNb_Gck3C8/view

13th August 2018

Dr Pierre van der Merwe is a practicing neurologist at Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital, Cape Town. Office tel: (021) 554-3032. He also functions as a Neuropsychiatrist after completing his Med Psychiatry. However, after his own personal health failure and dedication to his Hippocratic oath, he made strong changes within his own personal life. This leads him to lose weight, increase his energy levels and better care for his patients.     

Part of his message: “People don’t decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.”

He talks about the importance of sleep, morning rituals, and intermittent fasting. These were effective strategies for mitigating health pitfalls.

Some of the supportive science on what Dr. van der Merwe speaks about:

Some risks with night shift workers (or binge-watching) If it was midnight, the brain would be forwarded a couple of hours to 2 a.m., which matches what scientists expected from previous research. But they found signs that the clocks in the gut, liver and pancreas were much further ahead as if it was noon. The mounting research and recent Nobel gave for work in circadian biology have researchers astounded by how important this is. If your circadian genes are disrupted throughout your body, diseases like cancer, neurodegeneration, and diabetes will inevitably be the result.

More on chronobiology (2017 Nobel Prize) “Scientists have been working for decades to help the body’s circadian system readily re-synchronize to variable work and eating schedules and flights across multiple time zones,” Güler said. “Finding this connection between dopamine-producing neurons and the circadian centre allows us to target these neurons with therapies that could potentially provide relief of symptoms for travellers and shift workers particularly, and possibly people with insomnia.”

Sleep disorders and abnormal circadian rhythms affecting the brain and other organs can worsen many pathologies involving aberrant dopamine neurotransmission, Güler said, including Parkinson’s disease, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and drug addiction. [ https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-08-neurons-brain-body-clock.html ]

Over the recent years, increasing studies into melanopsin show it as a photon/light-sensitive protein in our body. It’s in our eye, brain, and skin. The light you are exposed to matters, immensely! We evolved under sunlight and moonlight/fire for millions of years. Non-native EMF (artificial light) is still very new for us from an evolutionary perspective and the spectrum can and does differ greatly from what nature provides. As Dr. van der Merwe discusses, meal timing is important – we are designed to eat during sun and this has impacts on metabolism as well as our clock genes. Focus on actions to align your circadian rhythm for optimal health and disease prevention. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/night-shifts-put-your-brain-and-gut-clocks-out-of-whack-1.4744868

nnEMF (blue light) exposure thins your retina because of the melanopsin/retinol mechanism. Wearing sunglasses increases that risk. When you practice the action of nnEMF exposure (blue light) day and night, plus wear sunglasses in the day, you get neurodegeneration. The following paper supports why modern humans are afflicted with these diseases now https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/2685869

Finally, melatonin is not only a sleep story. More sunlight = more melatonin (from AM sunlight + darkness at night), ups the efficiency of respiratory proteins (shortening their distance) in mitochondria. What does that mean? Better electron tunnelling = increased fuel efficiency and a faster spinning ATPase because H+ is in the matrix and deuterium is denied access. A breakdown in the melanopsin/retinol systems lowers melatonin and allows deuterium to infect the KREB’s BICYCLE.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21355880

Melatonin is made by UVA-IR-A light. Melatonin lowers mitochondrial heteroplasmy rates. Defects in the blood-brain barrier are a risk factor for a neuro-degenerative disease because this barrier protects the brain from protons, bio-molecules, and any other inflammation-causing process between the brain-gut axis. Check out the chronobiology link explaining the link between melatonin and neurodegenerative diseases [ https://www.chronobiology.com/the-link-between-melatonin-and-neurological-diseases/ ].

Super Dads – Dr. Pierre van der Merwe – growing your neurological greenhouse

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