Effects of a synchronizer phase shift on circadian rhythms in response of mice to ethanol or ouabain

Geographic and extraterrestrial aspects of morbidity and/or mortality patterns from myocardial infarction and stroke

Two authors (M.K. and M.M.) provided insight into a manuscript submitted by them elsewhere for publication and kindly offered for meta-analysis data on the monthly incidence from January 1989 up to December 2004, of 6094 cerebral infarctions, 414 intracerebral and 277 subarachnoid hemorrhages, cases admitted at the Neurological Clinic in Nové Zamky, Slovakia. Spectral components with a period exceeding (beyond = trans) the length of the calendar year--transyears--reported originally by M.K. and M.M. are here also documented linearly on original data without and after detrending by the fit of first- or second-order polynomials. For intracerebral and subarachnoidal hemorrhage, the zero-amplitude (no-rhythm) assumption is rejected (P < 0.05, not corrected for multiple testing) for the transyear but not for a precise 1.0-year trial period. As reported earlier by M.K. and M.M., the transyear's amplitude is larger than the calendar year's amplitude for all three series of stroke incidence in Slovakia. The putative importance of the new findings stems from earlier and new analyses revealing other spectral components that are presumed signatures of magnetoperiodisms, e.g. about 50- and 7-year components in about five decades of diagnostically unqualified, pooled data on stroke in Minnesota. There is, however, the danger of relatively small numbers providing artifacts for loosely defined transyears. The original cosinor approach by M.K. and M.M., testing anticipated periods, had its strength. The observation of a quindecadal component in mortality from strokes in Minnesota supports the presence of signatures of effects from extraterrestrial space in acute human pathology such as strokes, myocardial infarctions and sudden cardiac death. Magnetoperiodic mechanisms remain to be investigated further as added strokes accumulate in Nové Zamky and greater Slovakia as well as for sudden cardiac death where transyears have been documented in the Czech Republic, in Arkansas and particularly in Minnesota, but not elsewhere (as yet?). This study is also a plea for worldwide access to morbidity, mortality and natality data that constitute a largely unexploited treasure, brought to the fore mainly for relatively short-term comparisons of the effect of interventions against the fiction of imaginary baselines.

Schedule-shifts, circadian rhythms and lifespan of freely-feeding and meal-fed mice

Mice feeding ad lib were subjected to weekly 12-hr shifts of the daily light-dark (LD) schedule beginning at either 7, 20 or 52 weeks of age and continuing until death. Other mice were meal-fed and, from 7 weeks of age until death, experienced weekly 12-hr shifts of the LD schedule alone (with mealtime fixed) or of both the LD schedule and mealtime. Telemetered core temperature data indicated marked differences in response to the different shift conditions and suggested, in the case of meal-fed animals, involvement of a food-anticipatory rhythm. Shifting of the LD schedule had no statistically significant effect on the mean survival time of mice feeding ad lib, regardless of when shifting began. While meal-feeding in itself prolonged life, the added imposition of schedule-shifting had no statistically significant effect on mean survival time, regardless of whether the meal schedule reinforced or opposed shifts of the LD schedule. In the latter case, tenth-decile survival time may have been increased.

Chronopharmacological studies of neuroleptics

Studies were carried out to clarify the mechanism of appearance and the laws controlling the appearance of such phenomena as circadian fluctuation in the effects of neuroleptics. A detailed review was initially made of previous studies on drugs closely related to neuroleptics; then data obtained by the authors was analyzed. Significant circadian fluctuation was found in the effect of chlorpromazine, haloperidol, and tetrabenazine, varying with the time of administration, with the kind of drug, and even with the dose of the same drug. There was also circadian fluctuation in lethality rate, which was seen to be a phenomenon controlled by a law different from that controlling circadian fluctuation in the effect of a drug. Circadian fluctuation in the effect of a drug was regulated externally by clock time, setting the light-dark rhythm of the raising environment. Different times of administration of a drug did not affect chronological changes in the blood level or intracerebral concentration of a drug after administration. From these results, it was assumed that this phenomenon might be induced by the circadian rhythm of drug sensitivity of a brain where the drug acts.