Active clinical trials for "Chronobiology Disorders"

The purpose of this study to determine the degree to which ramelteon, once daily (QD), can reduce the insomnia symptoms associated with rapid, eastward travel across 5 time zones.

Mood and circadian rhythm disruptions are associated with binge eating (BE). BE is a discrete, episodic behavior characterized by 1) eating an objectively large amount of food and 2) experiencing a subjective sense of loss of control. BE episodes are often preceded by negative mood states, and a subtype of individuals with BE has high levels of negative moods. This group has more comorbid psychopathology and a poorer response to treatment. Thus, understanding the role of negative mood is a critical area for research on BE. Individuals with BE demonstrate disruptions in several circadian rhythms, including diurnal meal timing, hormone patterns (e.g., daily cortisol rhythms), and mood variations. The most potent synchronizer of circadian rhythms is light. Thus, exposure to light may explain other phenomena that fluctuate similarly, such as mood and the occurrence of BE. Mood is subject to the influence of light, and BE is also influenced by exposure to bright light. It is unknown whether regulating circadian rhythms via regular exposure to light improves BE through its effects on mood or via changes in other biological or behavioral rhythms. This knowledge can inform the development of treatments targeting biobehavioral mechanisms that maintain BE and indicate for whom this may be most effective. This project aims to test the roles of negative mood and circadian rhythms in the relationship between light exposure and BE and identify subtypes of individuals in whom this effect is strong. The investigators hypothesize that individuals exposed to less natural bright light will experience more frequent BE, more negative mood, and a blunted morning cortisol response. The investigators further hypothesize that manipulating exposure to artificial bright light will reduce the frequency of BE and negative mood and increase the morning cortisol response. Finally, the investigators hypothesize that the effects of this artificial bright light exposure on BE frequency will be mediated by changes in negative mood, which itself will be accounted for by changes in circadian rhythms as indicated by the morning cortisol response. Additionally, the investigators have two moderation hypotheses: that the effects of artificial bright light exposure on BE will be greater for those who fit the high negative mood type than those who do not and that the effects will be greater for individuals with a blunted morning cortisol response at baseline than for those without.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a common postoperative complication in patients aged 65 and over, which refers to cognitive function changes such as memory decline and attention deficit after anesthesia and surgery. In severe cases, personality changes and social behavior decline may also occur, resulting in irreversible cognitive impairment.Previous studies have suggested that cognitive dysfunction after general anesthesia is linked to a genetic disorder of the body clock.Exosomes are cellular forms of cellular microvesicles containing complex RNA and proteins.Exosomes can mediate the expression of genes in the late transcriptional period of the clock system, and directly or indirectly participate in the negative regulation of rhythm expression of minute control genes, playing an important role in the intercellular circadian rhythm information output pathway.Rhythm disorders in the core biological clock system of urinary exosomes and the clock control genes related to kidney can early indicate circadian rhythm changes in the core biological clock system.The sorting and detection of urinary exosome clock information materials in patients has the advantages of easy access, continuous monitoring, early diagnosis and less damage, making urinary exosome a biomarker for the diagnosis and monitoring of circadian rhythm of a good kidney biological clock system.

The purpose of this research study is to compare the effectiveness of Zolpidem CR to that of placebo in improving sleep efficiency in people with dementia admitted to the hospital because of their symptoms. You can participate in this study if you have dementia of the Alzheimer's type or vascular dementia. This study involves placebo; a placebo is a tablet that looks exactly like Zolpidem CR, the study drug, but contains no active study drug. We will use placebos to see if the study results are due to the study drug or due to other reasons. Zolpidem CR is also called Ambien CR and is widely available by prescription. Zolpidem CR is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the short-term treatment of insomnia (trouble falling or staying asleep).

This study will evaluate the impact of blueberry consumption on markers of gastrointestinal health including gut microbiota, intestinal permeability, and gut-derived inflammation in those vulnerable to a unhealthy gut milieu. All participants will consume a blueberry powder and a placebo in this crossover study.

The proposed study is a double-blind, placebo controlled pilot study of HD, PD, and DLB subjects with sleep disturbances. This study is designed to determine the effects of 4 weeks Ramelteon treatment on the sleep patterns of people with basal ganglia disorders such as HD, PD and DLB. The study also aims to look at the sleep patterns of caregivers of people with HD, PD and DLB.

The investigators plan to create several sleep/circadian rhythm friendly rooms within the medical intensive care unit to determine if decreasing sleep fragmentation effects recovery in patients hospitalized in the ICU.

As in healthy term babies, the ideal food for preterm infants and sick term babies is breast milk. There are many studies indicating that the composition of breast milk can vary from mother to mother, according to the gestational week of the baby and gender. In new researches on breast milk content; It is argued that breast milk is different during the day and at night, that the micro and macro nutrient content, hormones and some enzymes show different levels of secretion at different times of the day, and that breast milk has a circadian rhythm. This research is designed as a prospective, randomized, controlled type. The study will be carried out in order to evaluate the effect of Chronobiological Approach Nutrition Model application on baby's growth parameters and discharge time in preterm babies hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Simple randomization method will be used for the study and the babies will be divided into intervention(n=40) and control groups(n=40). The research was carried out with 80 babies followed up in the neonatal intensive care unit. The milk of the intervention group patients will be matched circadian and given to the babies, the milk of the control group patients will be given without matching according to the clinical routine practice. Demographic data, anthropometric measurements (weight, height, head circumference of all babies will be recorded in the "Baby Monitoring Form" created by the researcher.

In the majority of intensive care units, nurses work 12 hour shifts that consist of days and nights. Shift work outside of 6am-6pm has been reported to cause fatigue, induce sleep disorders, and cause metabolic disturbances. This shift to a nocturnal 'day' rather than diurnal, can result in reduced work performance, processing errors, accidents at work, absenteeism, and reduced quality of life. More chronically, those working at night have been shown to experience higher risks of heart disease, cancer and shorter median durations of life span. Much of this elevated risk is thought to be due to altered exposure to light, the dominant environmental cue regulating our circadian rhythms. As diurnal organisms much of our biology is regulated by the solar day. Acutely, bright light exposure (i.e., sun) regulates the phase of the biological clock principally through the suppression of melatonin, which biologically mediates increased alertness and in essence, 'our daytime alertness'. During the night melatonin gradually increases and induces tiredness and ultimately sleep. This, in part, is biology behind the use of melatonin in those with sleep disturbances or to mitigate jet lag, with cross-continental or transoceanic flights. In this study, the investigators will randomize nurses in the hospital to receive either high intensity white light (3,000 lux) or standard ambient white fluorescent (~400 lx) light for 10 hours during their night shift. This high illuminance light, rich in blue spectrum, is what diurnal creatures, like humans, are exposed to during the day. The lights may subsequently be equipped with blue filters (442 nm) to heighten the exposure to the rich blue spectrum light. Exposure will commence at the beginning of the night shift (~7pm) and continue for 10 hours. The rationale for terminating exposure prior to shift end is to foster an onset of sleep biology. At the end of each shift, the nurses will complete the Stanford Sleepiness Scale and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). Saliva samples will be collected for melatonin level analysis and the nurses will complete sleep diaries at home. The investigators hypothesize that exposure to high intensity lighting during night shifts will reduce fatigue and enhance alertness and computational capacity that correlates with reduced melatonin.

This study will investigate the potential benefit of scheduled natural daylight exposure to improve glucose control in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients and to unravel molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of natural daylight on circadian clocks and (glucose) metabolism in human skeletal muscle from T2D patients. Participants will stay at our research facilities and will be exposed to natural daylight or artificial light during the daytime over 4.5 days in a randomized cross-over design. For both conditions, the evening and night will be spent under standardized dim and dark conditions.