Circadian characteristics of urinary melatonin from clinically healthy young women at different civilization disease risks

Rhythm characteristics in the about-daily (circadian) and about-yearly (circannual) frequency ranges were assessed for urinary melatonin. Clinically healthy women in Minnesota, USA, and Kyushu, Japan, were sampled around the clock once in 1-4 seasons. Possible differences that could reflect the large difference in breast cancer incidence in these two geographic locations were investigated. Each subject's risk of developing breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases resulting from an elevated blood pressure, and emotional conditions was numerically evaluated according to epidemiologic questionnaires. A prominent circadian rhythm characterizes urinary melatonin in both populations, peaking in the middle of the night. The American women exhibit a larger circadian rhythm-adjusted mean (mesor) than do the Japanese women. A circannual rhythm is also apparent in the North American women, but not in the Japanese women. The circadian mesor of urinary melatonin correlates negatively with the risk score of emotional depression and positively with that of developing cardiovascular diseases.

Cugini's syndrome in statu nascendi. Oratio contra morem prevalentem et pro chronobiologica ratione ad pressione sanguinis curandam. A plea against the prevailing custom and in favor of a chronobiological approach to treating blood pressure

An increase in the circadian amplitude (A) of blood pressure (BP) had been reported to precede a rise in the circadian BP average (MESOR, M), as pre-hypertension in the stroke-prone Okamoto rat. In humans, children with a positive family history of high BP and/or related cardiovascular disease had, on average, a larger BP-A than children with a negative family history, and an elevated BP-A was associated with intermediate values of the left ventricular mass index (LVMI), whereas an elevation in BP-M was only observed for larger LVMI values. Against this background, with 24-hour ambulatory monitoring (ABPM) interpreted chronobiologically, Pietro Cugini (University La Sapienza of Rome, Italy) has reported an elevation of both the circadian BP-M and BP-A as occurring with a minimal change (hypertensive) retinopathy. He determined by cosinor the extent of predictable BP change within a day as BP-2A, estimated by the least squares fit of a 24-hour cosine curve to the data. As compared to controls without retinopathy, he found a retinal end-organ involvement associated with average systolic (S) / diastolic (D) BP-Ms of 124/76 vs. 112/72 mmHg, with corresponding SBP/DBP-As of 12/10 vs. 8/7 mmHg. We refer to "Cugini's syndrome", suggesting the need for clarification, preferably in longitudinal studies, of any generalizable sequence in end-organ involvement, that may occur in the course of the development of some human Vascular Variability Disorders (VVDs) of unknown etiology, that include an elevation of the circadian BP-A and/or BP-M, concomitantly or separately in a sequence with the BP-A increase preceding that in BP-M, as in models of high BP in the rat or vice versa. Seven-day half-hourly or hourly around-the-clock monitoring of BP and HR variability interpreted chronobiologically, C-ABPM, as a minimum, is recommended for routine medical care to detect VVDs consisting of 1. MESOR-hypertension, MH; 2. Circadian Hyper-Amplitude-Tension, CHAT (BP overswing); 3. odd timing of the circadian rhythm of BP but not that of HR; 4. above-threshold pulse pressure; and/or 5. below-threshold HR variability. All conditions are best determined by 24-hour/7-day or, when abnormality is detected, longer C-ABPM. Eventually, all conditions will need to be assessed in the light of reference values from gender- and age-matched peers, as is now the case for the fi rst three VVDs listed above. When C-ABPM is not practicable, a 7-day series of 3-hourly manual self-measurements during waking (and one measurement about mid-sleep) (C-MBPM) is recommended. When continuous monitoring becomes possible, as it is within the state of the science, detecting Cugini's syndrome will also become possible with the clarification as to whether any change in BP-M and/or BP-A occurs concomitantly or sequentially, with changes in BP-A anticipated to precede changes in BP-M.

The biological effects of solar activity

The synchronization of biological circadian and circannual rhythms is broadly viewed as a result of photic solar effects. Evidence for non-photic solar effects on biota is also slowly being recognized. The ultrastructure of cardiomyocytes from rabbits, the time structure of blood pressure and heart rate of neonates, and the heart rate variability of human adults on earth and in space were examined during magnetically disturbed and quiet days, as were morbidity statistics. Alterations in both the about-daily (circadian) and about-weekly (circaseptan) components are observed during disturbed vs. quite days. The about-weekly period of neonatal blood pressure correlates with that of the local geomagnetic disturbance index K. Circaseptans which are seen early in human life and in various other forms of life, including unicells, may provide information about the possible site(s) of life's origins from an integrative as well as adaptive evolutionary perspective.

Salivary CA130 with and without unilateral autonomic parotid denervation of rats fed different diets

BACKGROUND

Tumor markers such as CA130 can be determined in human whole saliva. Saliva represents an attractive body fluid for longitudinal studies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

CA130 was determined in parotid saliva from 8 rats fed different diets, with or without autonomic denervation.

RESULTS

CA130 could be determined in parotid saliva of rats, irrespective of diet and/or autonomic denervation. Whether the numerical decrease in CA130 observed after autonomic denervation is statistically significant requires further work.

CONCLUSIONS

Since salivary CA130 has been shown to decrease following treatment with anti-cancer drugs in humans, the ability to determine this tumor marker in rat saliva opens new opportunities for optimizing cancer chronotherapy in the experimental laboratory.

Optimization of the chronotherapeutic index in the experimental animal laboratory

Large animal studies show that the effects of fixed doses of anticancer drugs vary predictably with multi-frequency rhythms' stages--components of a genetically--anchored, habitat synchronized, cosmically influenced time structure--the chronome. Both the tolerance by the host of the toxic drugs and the treatment's efficacy in killing cancer cells contribute to these changes. Chronotherapy, timing treatment according to the chronome, attempts to first maximize treatment efficacy while also minimizing toxicity, so as to optimize the therapeutic ratio. Outcomes have been improved by several hundred per cent by treating rodents at the "right" time with single or multiple agents under controlled laboratory conditions, and by chronoradiotherapy of human perioral tumors, using tumor temperature as a marker rhythm.

From experimental units to unique experiments: chronobiologic pilots complement large trials

The timing of treatment affects outcome. For mapping multi-frequency rhythm spectra first to optimize chronochemotherapy, 1000 marker determinations on the subject are more informative than a few determinations on each of hundreds of patients. N-of-6 subgroups should follow, with one subject assigned to each of 6 marker rhythm stages, 60 (e.g. 4 hours on a 24-hour scale) apart. Once the time structure has been mapped, minimal sampling requirements determined, and guidelines for treatment established, the information gained from chronobiologic n-of-1 and n-of-6 test pilot designs can be built cost-effectively into randomized controlled trials to benefit large patient populations. Sequential tests combined with marker rhythmometry and cosinor analysis on single test subjects, small groups and eventually on each patient are powerful tools that can extract information otherwise unattainable even at great cost and bring the P-value from publications to the patients.

Chronobiology: a frontier in biology and medicine

On the occasion of Franz Halberg's 70th birthday, some of his many achievements are reviewed. We provide a historical background to the development of chronobiology; offer insight into the current state of this new science; and sketch the promise of this discipline for health care and cure. As a tribute to Franz Halberg, in an era of fast-growing technology, an attempt is made to describe his perspective of tomorrow's medicine and biology. The many students he trained throughout his productive career face the challenge of deserving the trust he placed in them and of further implementing his vision. A leader in social pediatrics put it aptly: it will take several generations of researchers to study and master his life's work.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy and ambulatory cardiovascular monitoring noninvasively gauge timing of phosphate metabolism and circulation

Circadian changes in high-energy phosphate metabolism of the human forearm and the relative independence of these metabolic changes from the circulation were noninvasively demonstrated and quantified by combining nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate monitoring and chronobiologic time series analysis.

Chronosynergistic effects of lighting schedule-shift and cefodizime on plasmacytoma growth and host survival time

Lighting regimen shifts can modify the effects of cefodizime, for the purpose of a chronoimmunomodulation. Two experiments were carried out on male and female LOU rats inoculated subcutaneously with plasmacytoma cells. Some rats were kept on their original LD12:12 regimen, whereas others, after tumor implantation, were subjected every second day to 6-h shifts, instituted, in alternation, as advance or delay. Daily treatment with cefodizime or placebo started when, overall, about 50% of the animals had developed a palpable tumor. A subgroup of animals contributed daily smears for the determination of the estrus cycle and further provided core temperature and activity data by telemetry. In Experiment I, the repeated shifting of the LD regimen was associated with survival time prolongation (p less than 0.05), irrespective of drug administration. Moreover, in those (female) rats repeatedly exposed to shifts of the lighting schedule, cefodizime was found to prolong survival time (p less than 0.05). The effects of cefodizime vs placebo on survival time were found to be circadian stage-dependent. In Experiment II, differing from Experiment I in the initial conditions before the institution of the shifts, cefodizime treatment was associated with a prolongation of survival time of the female rats kept on a fixed LD12:12 regimen. Both male and female rats again showed a circadian stage-dependence of the cefodizime effect. These results suggest that interactions between synchronizers of rhythms (such as shifts of the lighting regimen, the latter simulating the daily routine) and immunomodulating agents such as cefodizime may be optimized to improve treatment strategies against cancer and other diseases.

Further steps toward a neonatal chronocardiology

The study of 53 series of blood pressures at half-hour intervals from clinically healthy full-term newborns during the first days of life reveals various classifiers correlating with a history of high blood pressure: the circadian amplitude of diastolic blood pressure, the 50% range of systolic blood pressure and the standard deviation of heart rate.

Evidence for a circaseptan and a circasemiseptan growth response to light/dark cycle shifts in nucleated and enucleated Acetabularia cells, respectively

Nucleated as well as enucleated Acetabularia mediterranea cells were subjected to 14 different patterns of shifts in a regimen of 12 hr of light alternating with 12 hr of darkness in four 30-day long experiments. With one exception, which might be due to a circannual modulation, these experiments showed that nucleated cells had maximal growth rates when a shift was performed every 7th or 15th day. In enucleated cells, maxima were observed on shift schedules that were about 3-4 days rather than about 7 days apart. The results indicate that in the unicellular green alga Acetabularia a rhythm of about 7 days (circaseptan) exists and that removal of the nucleus results in a circaseptan frequency multiplication.

Chronomodulatory effect of cyclosporine upon survival of DBA mice with L1210 leukemia

A circadian stage-dependent anti-tumor effect of cyclosporine was tested on 268 female DBA mice, 9-10 weeks of age. The mice were kept in 6 different environmental chambers on regimens of 12h of light alternating with 12h of darkness, staggered by 4h: they were inoculated intraperitoneally with 2 X 10(5) L1210 cells at one of 6 different circadian stages. At the same circadian stage, starting 48h after inoculation, for 4 days, each mouse received the vehicle, a fixed dose of cyclosporine (15 mg/kg b.w.), a varying dose of cyclosporine 5, 10, 20 and 25 mg/kg b.w.) or no treatment. Cyclosporine prolonged survival time in a circadian stage dependent fashion (p less than 0.01), as shown by an analysis of variance and by cosinor analysis (mesor = 8.45h; amplitude = 5.45h; acrophase = 12 HALO). Cyclosporine thus acts, in a feed-sideward, as a chronomodulator of the interaction between the tumor and its host.

Circadian characteristics of urinary epinephrine and norepinephrine from healthy young women in Japan and U.S.A

Clinically healthy diurnally active young adult women were studied during the same season (March) at the Universities of Kyushu (Fukuoka City, Japan) and of Minnesota (Minneapolis, U.S.A.), under comparable conditions, except that the habitual diets were not changed. The subjects (20 Japanese and 16 Americans of mixed Caucasian background) were studied over a single 24-hr span. Urine was collected at 4-hr intervals. A circadian rhythm in total urinary norepinephrine excretion showed similar characteristics in Japanese and Americans. In epinephrine excretion, the Japanese women showed a statistically significantly higher amplitude with higher peak values, but no statistically significant difference in the rhythm-adjusted mean. This intergroup difference is strictly time dependent; it does not come to the fore in urine samples covering the nocturnal rest span of the subjects.

Chronomodulatory infradian synchronization by placebo or ACTH 1-17 of Musca autumnalis mortality on shifted lighting regimens

The face fly, Musca autumnalis, exposed to shifts of an LD16:8 lighting schedule at varying intervals, whether previously untreated or given placebo or ACTH 1-17 treatment, before the initiation of shifts, exhibits an infradian frequency response in mortality. At overall 50% mortality, a periodicity of approximately 4.5 days is found for flies exposed to placebo or ACTH 1-17 as a response to the shift interval. As compared to controls, the mortality of flies treated with placebo or ACTH 1-17 is delayed. Not all shift schedules are detrimental; some are actually beneficial.

Testing period for single cosinor: extent of human 24-h cardiovascular 'synchronization' on ordinary routine

A clinically healthy woman monitored her systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse for 26 days at approximately 10-min intervals, with interruptions. Data over subspans of varying length were analyzed by single cosinor. A method for testing a period assumed to characterize data analyzed by single cosinor was introduced and programmed to compute a 95% confidence interval for the circadian period. Statistically significant deviations from precisely 24 h were found. The likelihood of their occurrence was found to vary as a function of the length of the interval analyzed. Under ordinary conditions in health, the circadian period may vary around 24 h, indicating that strict frequency-synchronization with the environment need not occur on a short-term basis. Deviations from an average circadian period may be brought about in part by infradian components modulating the circadian rhythm and by day-to-day changes in waveform.

Chronobiology of human blood pressure in the light of static (room-restricted) automatic monitoring

Systematic 24-h automatic physiologic monitoring has obvious merits, even without rhythmometry. It can lead more readily to the recognition of odd-hour blood pressure elevation (e.g., of 'evening' or 'morning' hypertension). Such a condition can constitute an initial diagnosis or it may be found under treatment that may seem to be satisfactory if its effects are assessed only on the basis of a conventional check at a casual, possibly 'wrong' time. The mere inspection of a 24-h record, however, does not necessarily allow one to make objective quantitative global statements as to a change in pattern, e.g., after a given intervention. This paper illustrates how by rhythmometry, some of the uncertainties of a subjective interpretation of a record may be removed by practitioners of medicine, as well as basic scientists interested in mechanisms of blood pressure variability. This is possible since a large part of blood pressure variability can be accounted for by its circadian periodic behavior. We herein present a methodology for data collection and analysis that allows the objective quantification of blood pressure rhythm parameters in health and disease and the derivation of reference standards for such parameters. The chronobiologic approach thus makes it possible to define 'hypertension' objectively, and to distinguish between 'mesor-' and 'amplitude-hypertension', i.e., between an elevation in overall mean and one in the predictable extent of variability. Moreover, chronobiology has shown that mesor-hypertension may be preceded by an elevation in circadian amplitude only (amplitude-hypertension). Parameter tests readily allow the assessment, in relation to an objective reference standard, of these conditions, with a defined probability. Similarly, response to drug or non-drug therapy can be established and a given intervention optimized by timing treatment. Using chronobiologic tools in cardiovascular research provides new insights into possible mechanisms underlying mesor- and amplitude-hypertension. The teaching of the chronobiology of blood pressure and autorhythmometry in schools has been proven to be feasible and has been recommended as a step toward self-help for health care.

Pineal modulation of ACTH 1-17 effect upon murine corticosterone production

In tests of corticosterone production in vitro, aqueous pineal homogenate (APH) modulates the effect of a short-chain ACTH analogue, ACTH 1-17, added to adrenals from different circadian stages. Adrenal and pineal glands from female B6D2F1 mice, standardized on staggered LD 12:12 regimens, were obtained at the same clock-hour from each room, in order to cover 6 different circadian stages. Adrenals from each circadian stage were bisected and incubated with APH from the same circadian stage (isophasic incubation) or from one of the other 5 circadian stages (heterophasic incubation). ACTH 1-17 (0.05 IU) was added to each incubation medium. After 4 hours of incubation at 37 degrees C with 95% O2 and 5% CO2, the media were stored at -20 degrees C until corticosterone RIA were done. APH was found to have a statistically significant modulatory effect upon the stimulation by ACTH 1-17 of adrenal corticosterone production in vitro. This APH effect changed rhythmically as a function of circadian stage from amplification over no effect to attenuation, as a so-called feed-sideward.

Lighting cycle and social isolation affect development of elevated blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Around-the-clock blood pressure measurements repeated from the 2nd to 6th month of life in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) quantify circadian rhythmicity during the development of an elevated mean blood pressure. The rise in overall pressure is aggravated by social isolation in SHR maintained on a 12-hour white light/12-hour dim red light cycle, but not in SHR kept in continuous dim red light. The demonstration of this interaction is not possible with blood pressure measurements performed only at certain (convenient) times: failure to quantify the circadian rhythm in systolic blood pressure leads to conclusions which can vary with the circadian time at which measurements are made, even in comparisons at the same fixed clock-hour. Thus, in order to model and optimize multiple factors interacting in the genesis of overall mammalian pressure in SHR, rhythmometry is an indispensable tool as it is in other fields.

Plexo-serial linear-nonlinear rhythmometry of blood pressure, pulse and motor activity by a couple in their sixties

A Nippon-Colin (model BP-203X) instrument was used for longitudinal monitoring of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse, at 10-min or other intervals for 26 days and for a shorter span, by a healthy woman, 60 years of age, and her husband, 61 years of age, both following their usual routine in an academic setting and at home. Due to the quasi-portable nature of the instrument, it was possible on most mornings to bring it from the home by car to the laboratory at the University and to return it to the home on most evenings, for about 2 months. The sturdy instrument withstood transportation and functioned flawlessly for the spans investigated. While the lack of true portability is definitely a handicap of the instrument which precludes it from use in sports and during ambulation, the circumstance that measurements during certain excessive activities away from a given site are not feasible can lead to a more standardized assessment of the blood pressure profile in subjects who pursue sedentary occupations. The procedures of linear-nonlinear rhythmometry applied to the data from the woman covering 26-day spans each and her husband covering 3 days, partly at 10-min and 3-min intervals, respectively, reveal the feasibility of quantifying parameters of circadian rhythmicity rather consistently. Spans as short as 48-h, invariably for the case of systolic blood pressure and usually for the case of diastolic blood pressure, though with lesser consistency for heart rate, sufficed to assess the circadian rhythmic component of this couple in their sixties and may constitute an individualized reference standard for blood pressure monitoring by the elderly with a view of assessing blood pressure rhythm alteration before it may become pathogenetic.

Toward a chronopsy: Part III. Automatic monitoring of rectal, axillary and breast surface temperature and of wrist activity; effects of age and of ambulatory surgery followed by nosocomial infection

Data of core and breast surface temperature and motor activity collected automatically with ambulatory devices, reveal circadian rhythms of different prominence in these various potential chronobiologic markers. Chronobiologic serial sections further allow the study of any alterations of the circadian rhythm parameters following ambulatory surgery. An approach using miniaturized instrumentation and methods of time series analysis may signal the danger of postoperative complications and, if it prompts timely preventive measures, may increase the safety of ambulatory surgery in particular.

Changes with age characterize circadian rhythm in telemetered core temperature of stroke-prone rats

In a stroke-prone (SP) strain of laboratory rats, aging is associated with quantifiable changes of the circadian rhythm in body core temperature: (1) its timing becomes less tight, as revealed by a larger standard error of the acrophase (the peak in the 24-hour cosine function best approximating all data) and (2) the acrophase in old SPs occurs earlier than in young ones--quite apart from (3) a decrease in circadian amplitude reported earlier. These results gain particularly in interest in the context of the recent finding that a large (approximately 90 degrees) acrophase-advance is associated with bilateral lesions of the suprachiasmatic nuclei in inbred (non-SP) Fischer rats. These observations may be of interest to those developing models of aging functions in disorders with blood pressure elevation.

Familial and individualized longitudinal autorhythmometry for 5 to 12 years and human age effects

Statistically significant and biologically interesting changes (no decrease and even an increase) with age may characterize peak expiratory flow. This variable and others were investigated in the same persons by dense measurements for several years. A possible health benefit from the monitoring of personal health thus becomes apparent. The relative prominence of changes in body core temperature and 2-min estimation with circadian rhythms, as compared to those with aging is of basic interest. The population-based presumption that aging necessarily involves an increase in overall-systolic and diastolic blood pressure is here aligned with an unusually well documented exception to this view.

Time-varying effects in mice and rats of several synthetic ACTH preparations

Circadian stage-dependent effects characterize synthetic ACTH 1-17 preparation (HOE 433 = Synchrodyn 1-17), tested in mice and rats, with reference notably to corticosterone and aldosterone production in vitro and to the behavior of rhythms in these two corticoids as an aspect of the adrenal cortical pacemaker of the circadian system. The possibility to advance or delay the rhythm in serum corticosterone by ACTH 1-17 also is demonstrated, as is a differential behavior of the circadian rhythm in serum aldosterone. Differences in timing of circadian corticosterone and aldosterone responses also are described and await further scrutiny for ultradian and infradian (notably circannual) modulation.

Synthetic adrenocorticotropin for optimizing murine circadian chronotolerance for adriamycin

An attempt to pre-set the circadian rhythm in murine chronotolerance for adriamycin (ADR) given i.p. or i.v. with ACTH was performed in three studies. In CDF1 mice standardized in LD12:12, it was demonstrated that 1) the circadian rhythm in murine chronotolerance for ADR exhibits a different timing depending upon whether the intravenous or intraperitoneal route is used for the administration of this anticancer agent; 2) ACTH or saline pretreatment does not enhance optimal circadian-stage-qualified ADR tolerance, whatever its route of injection, with any of the circadian stages and schedules explored; 3) near-optimal tolerance can be achieved by a fixed 'best' interval (among those investigated) between ACTH and ADR, irrespective of circadian stage. Tolerance equivalent to optimal circadian-stage-qualified ADR tolerance results from the administration of ACTH 1-17 (HOE433 = Synchrodyn) 24 hours before ADR injection; 4) and acrophase advance of over 6 hours of the tolerance rhythm results from ACTH 1-17 administration at 6 HALO. The acrophase changes do not directly account for an optimal ADR tolerance at a fixed interval of 24 hours after ACTH 1-17. Thus, ACTH may be considered a potential relative chronizer of murine chronotolerance for ADR.

Circadian and circannual aspects of the complement cascade - new and old results, differing in specificity

Single cosinor analyses of several elements in the complement cascade suggest the occurrence of circadian rhythms in this immunochemical system. Some earlier results, obtained with less specific methods and reported as properdin, on reanalysis also reveal circadian and circannual rhythms in the aspects of immunology represented. The topic of the complement cascade as a whole is briefly reviewed in the content of modern knowledge.

Chronobiometry with pocket calculators and computer systems

Selected methods for the study of biologic time series are reviewed and their relative merits are discussed in the light of underlying assumptions. Their potential applications are exemplified in several fields of biology and medicine. The monitoring of environmental integrity, notably of pollution, is investigated. The need for specifying optimal sampling requirements is underlined. An individualized and time-qualified definition of health by the establishment of reference intervals is required for increasingly rational individualized program for the prevention and/or treatment of disease. With these reference intervals and rhythm characteristics available, one can better interpret with single samples or time series an increased risk of a certain disease or the inception of the disease. For all of these aims the monitoring of environmental and/or personal marker rhythms is essential--to obtain large data bases from which information can be more easily derived for monitoring personal health, to recognize risk as well as to diagnose disease early and to optimize treatment by timing according to rhythms.

Circadian placebo and ACTH effects on urinary cortisol in arthritics

The effect of placebo and ACTH-1-17 (Synchrodyn, Hoechst) upon urinary free cortisol was examined at 5 different circadian stages on 10 men with Steinbrocker Stage II-III rheumatoid arthritis. A mean cosinor analysis of urinary cortisol data from the subjects prior to treatment with either ACTH or placebo revealed a statistically highly-significant rhythm. A circadian variation in a response of urinary free cortisol to a placebo was also seen. Moreover, the response of the midline-estimating statistic of rhythm (rhythm-adjusted circadian average) of urinary free cortisol to ACTH-1-17 by patients with rheumatoid arthritis is circadian rhythmic. This reactivity rhythm is out of phase with the spontaneous rhythm in urinary cortisol acrophases-in the tests limited thus far to midsummer. The further assessment of the circadian component in the context of broader interactions by rhythms with other frequencies in various conditions in health and disease is warranted by the demonstration of rhythms here presented for men with rheumatoid arthritis.

Circadian Rhythm in Activity of Lympholytic Natural Killer Cells from Spleens of Fischer Rats

Three and one-half-week-old male inbred Fischer rats housed individually at 24 ± 1°C with Purina Chow and water ad libitum were randomly assigned to six different rhythmometry chambers, each lighted daily for 12 hr and darkened the following 12 hr. The timing of these regimens differed from one chamber to the next by 4 hr (i.e., one chamber was illuminated from 0600 to 1800, the next from 1000 to 2200, etc.). Thus, completely light-dark synchronized animals sampled from the six chambers at any given clock time were intended to represent, in relation to the onset of the daily light span, six different circadian stages, differing from each other by 4 hr. After 2-week standardization in the chambers, rectal temperature was measured and the animal killed, its spleen collected aseptically in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% fetal calf serum, and the activity of natural killer (N.K.) cells determined in a direct 51Cr release assay. Spleen cells of 6-week-old rats were effector cells and RL♀1 mouse lymphoma cells in tissue culture were target cells. Two experiments carried out, each on 3 successive days in November 1977 and February 1978, using subtotals of 24 rats at each lighting stage; i.e., a total of 144 rats for six intended circadian stages, revealed by cosinor analysis a circadian rhythm in N.K. cell activity and rectal temperature. The circadian recetal temperature acrophase may be a marker with similar timing of high murine N.K. cell activity. In the context of a budding chronoimmunology, these findings extend the scope of a spectrum of bioperiodic neuroendocrine influences on lymphoid activity and body resistance.

Toward a chronopsy: part II. A thermopsy revealing asymmetrical circadian variation in surface temperature of human female breasts and related studies

A thermorhythmometric analysis was carried out on data from a patient who underwent a prophylactic subcutaneous mastectomy, subsequently to a preoperative mammogram revealing clustered small calcifications in the left breast. The patient self-measured surface temperature of each breast, above and below the nipple, at intervals of 75 +/- 10 min for 59 h while awake. In one location of each breast, the recording thermistor-probe was insulated for 21.5 h while other probe locations remained uninsulated. The overall rhythm-adjusted average surface temperature and the extent of predictable circadian variation differed with statistical significance when the two breasts were compared. The left breast exhibited a higher rhythm-adjusted mean temperature and a lower extent of predictable circadian variation, as compared to the contralateral breast. The interbreast differences of surface temperature also demonstrated a statistically significant rhythm. A review on results of rhythmometry of breast temperature was also carried out. The thermorhythmometric findings here reported must not necessarily be regarded as indicative of cancer; they may be found in non-cancerous subjects and may or may not reflect early pathology. The objective of this publication is to suggest that non-invasive mammary thermorhythmometry may complement clinical histopathology. This subject may exemplify a new principle awaiting scrutiny with much more extensive sampling and much longer follow-up, namely that chronopathology including chronoprotopathology, alongside established diagnostic procedures, may provide an indication for prophylactic intervention.

Circadian variation in urinary melatonin in clinically healthy women in Japan and the United States of America

Urinary melatonin excretion is lower in East-Asian (Japanese) than in North-American (whites of mixed ethnic origin) women. Moreover, a statistically significant circadian rhythm is demonstrated by population-mean cosinor in the data pool from both groups of women. Furthermore, statistical significance characterizes interactions of effects from geographic differences (between ethnic groups) with temporal factors. Such spatio-temporal interactions await further scrutiny with a view inter alia of carcinogenesis as it is influenced by a spectrum of intermodulating rhythms.

Circadian and circatrigintan rhythms in pulse, oral temperature and blood pressure of a clinically healthy Japanese woman

The circadian and circatrigintan (menstrual) system of a healthy Japanese woman has been quantified by single cosinor analyses. The results obtained at only 2 frequencies are discussed against the background of prior chronobiologic information. The paper documents different acrophase relations of rhythms with different frequencies in the same variables and includes a sketch of the position of the single cosinor method as a tool in a methodologic armamentarium of broader interest in anthropology, medicine and more generally in biology.

Circadian susceptibility rhythm of the rat to alloxan

The susceptibility of rats to alloxan undergoes a circadin rhythm. The toxicity rhythm, presumably involving injury to liver, kidney and other sites, pancreatic beta-cells in particular, is demonstrated in pooled data from 370 mature inbred Fischer or Minnesota Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes kept in light from 06(00) to 18(00) alternating with darkness, some with free access to Purina laboratory chow with tap water at all times and some other rats subjected to one of three starvation schedules: 1) a 28-h fast before an intravenous alloxan injection; 2) a 28-h fast, except for a 4-h ad libitum feeding before injection; 3) a 28-h fast, except for a 4-h pre-injection tube-feeding of Nutrament (Mead and Johnson, Evansville, Indiana), 1.5 ml/100 g body weight. Survival time data on an additional 200 inbred Fischer rats reveal, next, that susceptibility to alloxan increases as the starvation span is lengthened from 24 to 84 h. The shortening in survival time indicative of this susceptibility increase is nonlinear; a circadian rhythmic change in susceptibility to alloxan is seen as a statistically significant wave-form indicative of the basic (persisting) rhythm, of applied interest as well to students of experimental diabetes.

Toward a chronopsy: part I. A chronobiologic case report and a thermopsy complementing the biopsy

A prophylactic bilateral subcutaneous mastectomy, following a preoperative mammogram revealed clustered small calcifications in the left breast. In order to investigate the merits of thermorphythmometry, the patient self-measured surface temperature of each breast, above and below the nipple, while awake. In the case here presented, bilateral subcutaneous mastectomy followed by extensive histologic scrutiny of both breasts revealed no indication of malignancy. Bilateral fibrocystic disease with calcification and lobular hyperplasia was found. As compared to the contralateral sites, the atypical epithelial proliferation was more abundant in the mammographically and thermorhythmometrically 'abnormal' area of the left breast.

[Circadian periodicity and stomach ulcer. An animal experiment model for the detection of rhythm factors in the genesis of civilization diseases]

Against the background of clinical experience attesting to the role of the circadian and circannual rhythm stage in gastric ulcerogenesis, animal experiments provide a model where by circadian stage and sex are both revealed as determinants of gastric ulcerogenesis. Experiments on the genetically mesor-hypertensive Okamoto rat demonstrate the critical interaction of multiple loads in ulcerogenesis, in keeping with a report by Glavin and Mikhail. While stimulation by single loads of a certain intensity--immobilization, food deprivation or cooling--did not regularly lead to the production of gastric ulcers, the combination of these same loads did so as a function of circadian state at the beginning of exposure time.