Active clinical trials for "Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm"

The investigators will perform a prospective, cohort study of 100 older intensive care unit (ICU) patients, to investigate the association between sleep disruption and ICU delirium.

The overall goal of the present application is to test the hypothesis that shift workers, who are chronically exposed to circadian misalignment and sleep loss, have a higher cardio-metabolic risk than day workers, and that the accumulated sleep debt and the degree of circadian misalignment both predict their elevated cardio-metabolic risk.

Jet lag and some sleep disorders are caused by a disruption in an individual's "internal clock." Understanding the most effective way to quickly re-adjust the body's internal clock will be beneficial for treating individuals with these conditions. This study will evaluate the combined effectiveness of light and non-light therapies at regulating sleep cycles and improving sleep quality.

Due to the development of neonatal intensive care the number of surviving premature infants increased significantly. The immature brain undergoes a fair amount of external stimuli, which have a great impact on later cognitive development. Increasingly data show, that a delayed emergence of sleep-wake-cycling in newborns can be the first sign of brain injury. Studies have shown that clearly defined sleep states can be identified from 31-32 weeks of gestation onwards. But a few studies show, that also extremely premature infants already show cyclical variations of the background pattern within amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG= a time-compressed, simplified EEG) and conventional EEG. This might resemble early sleep-wake-states and their presence correlates to the integrity of the central nervous system, although no clearly defined "sleep states" according to the classical definition can be identified. Complex EEG analysis needs the use of automated methods to exclude personal bias and to ensure gestational age specific data analysis. The newly developed NLEO algorithm was specially designed for EEG analysis of premature infants. Conventional EEG within this study will be analyzed visually and with the automated algorithm. In our research project we will study the emergence of Sleep-wake-cycling in extremely premature infants and its impact on their neurodevelopmental outcome prospectively. The different sleep and wake states will be derived from analysis of the conventional Video-EEG, aEEG and polysomnographic measurements. Visual analysis will include assessment of amplitudes and frequencies as well as the latencies and durations of EEG-Bursts and Interburst intervals. The automated NLEO-algorithm will be firstly used for comparison with above described visual analysis and secondly to find regions of interest involved in the organization of these early sleep states. The aim of this study is first to understand and analyze in detail the emergence of sleep-wake cycling including its disturbances in premature infants and to compare automated NLEO algorithm to conventional visual analysis methods. Secondly to correlate neurodevelopmental outcome to the emergence of sleep-wake-cycling.

This study's first aim is to widen the knowledge of the characteristics of delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPS) by focusing on the circadian rhythms of appetite regulation factors and their phase relations to the cycles of sleep-wake, melatonin, cortisol and body temperature. This study's second aim is to assess the influence of forced morning awakening, as a daily struggle faced by DSPS patients, upon the synchronization of these variables in DSPS patients. The investigators hypothesize that the chronic incompatibility between the endogenous sleep-wake rhythm of the DSPS patients and the morning wakefulness, as a social demand, may impair the synchronization between the different rhythms, as findings indicate in normal subjects under jet lag. And finally, the third aim of the study is to assess the influence of successful treatment with melatonin upon the phase locations of circadian rhythms of studied measures and the synchronization between them. These measures will be assessed in a controlled study, for 36 hours (sampled every 2 hours) under three distinct experimental conditions: first, under free sleep-wake conditions (ad-libitum bedtime and arousal); second, under restricted sleep-wake conditions (enforced morning wake-up); and finally, after 12 weeks of melatonin treatment.

The purpose of this research is to study pre-operative sleep problems and delirium in Hispanic/Latino patients after heart and lung surgery.

The hypothalamus is a part of the brain containing a number of nuclei with a variety of functions. It is central in the regulation of hormone secretion, sleep, and circadian functions. The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus is a key component in controlling circadian rhythms and generates the rhythm of melatonin secretion from the pineal gland and cortisol secretion. Both melatonin and cortisol are involved in the regulation of circadian rhythms and sleep. Craniopharyngiomas are a type of brain tumors that usually affect the hypothalamus indirectly. In general, they are locally aggressive invading crucial structures e.g. the hypothalamus, the pituitary, and the optic nerve. Compared to healthy controls, craniopharyngioma patients have previously been reported with impaired quality of life, increased self-reported general and physical fatigue, increased daytime sleepiness, and increased prevalence of severe sleepiness Damage to the hypothalamus by local tumour or its treatment might involve the suprachiasmatic nucleus and thereby melatonin secretion leading to disturbed circadian function causing clinical manifestations in terms of daytime sleepiness and fatigue. The investigators aimed to assess the influence of craniopharyngiomas or their treatment on melatonin secretion, and the association with sleep pattern, sleep quality, fatigue, and sleepiness. 15 patients with craniopharyngioma and 15 gender, age, and BMI matched healthy controls were included. Salivary melatonin and cortisol were measured over a 24h-period. Sleep-wake patterns were characterized by two weeks of actigraphy recordings and sleep diaries. Sleepiness, fatigue, sleep quality, and general health were assessed by questionnaires.

This study assessed the meal distribution across the day (energy and macronutrient intake) and its relationship to the nutritional status of nursing professionals.

The investigators hypothesize that in patients with shift work sleep disorder, armodafinil will specifically increase brain activity in the frontal cortex parallel with improvements in deficits of fundamental mechanisms of attention.

Objective The objective of the current trial is to investigate the effect of perioperative sleep and circadian rhythm on the natural course of survival among patient diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Concurrently, outcome measures like depression, fatigue, quality of life, and co-morbidity will be measured continuously in the short-, intermediate- and long-term period following diagnosis. The a-priori hypothesis is that preoperative sleep and circadian disturbances is a prognostic marker of reduced overall survival. Likewise, preoperative sleep-wake disturbances at baseline are expected to result in overall universally reduced quality of life, increased depression and fatigue. Furthermore, development of sleep-wake disturbances in the postoperative period as compared to preoperative sleep-wake rhythm is expected to a prognostic marker of negative outcomes. Target and study population The study population are all patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer in Region Zealand recruited consecutively from the trial initiation until study end each patient with an intended 5 year follow-up period. All available cases will be included in the trial. Study design The study will be an observational prospective cohort study applying a longituditional repeated measure design. Exposures and outcomes of interest The primary outcomes in the trial are sleep and circadian outcomes measured via actigraphy in the perioperative period. Furthermore, cancer related survival and overall survival in the 5 year follow-up period is considered primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes consist of consecutively measured depression, fatigue, quality of life, follow-up treatment and co-morbidity. Exposure variables are primary related to the cancer, i.e. cancer stage, surgical treatment, oncological treatment, baseline co-morbidity and pharmacological treatment. Some of the secondary outcomes could be expected to serve as confounding or mediating factors. Meaningful control for confounding will in the analysis phase be cancer stage and baseline sleep-wake rhythm status. Sampling methods All available cases will be sought included in the trial. No formal sample size has been performed and continues inclusion into the trial will be performed during an 1,5 year period. Statistical analyses The relationship between overall survival and baseline sleep-wake rhythm will be investigated using survival statistics and/or multivariate logistic regression. Expected results The investigators expect to see a marked difference in overall survival among patients with sleep and circadian disturbances at baseline.