Tag Archives: short

Light-emitting e-readers before bedtime can adversely impact sleep

“We found the body’s natural circadian rhythms were interrupted by the short-wavelength enriched light, otherwise known as blue light, from these electronic devices,” said Anne-Marie Chang, PhD, corresponding author, and associate neuroscientist in BWH’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders. “Participants reading an LE-eBook took longer to fall asleep and had reduced evening sleepiness, reduced melatonin secretion, later timing of their circadian clock and reduced next-morning alertness than when reading a printed book.” Previous research has shown that blue light suppresses melatonin, impacts the circadian clock and increase alertness, but little was known about the effects of this popular technology on sleep. The use of light emitting devices immediately before bedtime is a concern because of the extremely powerful effect that light has on the body’s natural sleep/wake pattern, and may thereby play a role in perpetuating sleep deficiency…

Orphan receptor proteins deliver two knock-out punches to glioblastoma cells

The scientists say when activated, one protein, called the short form, stops glioblastoma cells from replicating their DNA, and the other, called the long form, prevents cell division if the DNA has already been replicated, explains Rebecca Riggins, PhD, assistant professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi. The study was posted online Dec. …

Orphan receptor proteins deliver two knock-out punches to glioblastoma cells — ScienceDaily

The scientists say when activated, one protein, called the short form, stops glioblastoma cells from replicating their DNA, and the other, called the long form, prevents cell division if the DNA has already been replicated, explains Rebecca Riggins, PhD, assistant professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi. The study was posted online Dec…

Cancer-fighting drugs might also stop malaria early

Duke University assistant professor Emily Derbyshire and colleagues identified more than 30 enzyme-blocking molecules, called protein kinase inhibitors, that curb malaria before symptoms start. By focusing on treatments that act early, before a person is infected and feels sick, the researchers hope to give malaria — especially drug-resistant strains — less time to spread. The findings appear online and are scheduled to appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal ChemBioChem. Malaria is caused by a single-celled parasite called Plasmodium that spreads from person to person through mosquito bites. …

Exercise training as ‘prehabilitation’ before surgery

CPET is a non-invasive measurement of the cardiovascular and respiratory system during exercise to assess exercise capacity and cardiopulmonary fitness. According to the researchers, the role of exercise training or ‘prehabilitation’ for optimising preoperative physiological function to counter catabolic effects of surgery has received little attention in cancer patients…

New role for cell dark matter in genome integrity

Each time a cell divides, chromosomes, the long DNA molecules that encode our genes, must be duplicated. But the machinery that does this replication is imperfect, failing to perform duplication all the way to the ends of chromosomes. How living cells divide and how this process is accurately achieved are among the deepest questions scientists have been addressing for decades. …