Off the Clock: Disrupted Daily Rhythms Hinder Fertility in Mice

News | Health

Mice whose sleep patterns were altered had more difficulties conceiving and carrying pregnancies to term. The findings may have implications for women trying to conceive.

By Sarah Fecht ?| May 23, 2012?|

Image: Flickr/woodleywonderworks

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?My biological clock is ticking.? The phrase typically pops up in movies about middle-aged women who want to start a family before menopause makes it impossible. But a new study published May 23 in PLoS ONE indicates that another clock may also be important for females trying to conceive: the one that regulates our waking and sleeping cycles.?

A strong body of evidence links daily wake-sleep cycles to feminine reproductive cycles. When scientists remove a female mouse?s suprachiasmatic nucleus?the pacemaker in her brain that regulates daily circadian rhythms?her estrous cycle ceases, and she becomes infertile. In human females, working night shifts and frequently traveling across time zones has been associated with menstrual irregularities, reduced fertility and a greater number of negative pregnancy outcomes such as low birth weight, preterm birth and miscarriage.

But ?one of the issues with these epidemiological studies,? says Keith Summa, a medical and doctoral student at Northwestern University, ?is that there are other factors associated with shift work that may also be playing a role.? For example, women who work night shifts also tend to sleep less. ?Our study provides stronger evidence that reproductive problems are due to circadian disruption itself,? Summa says.

Summa and his colleagues divided a group of 48 inseminated female mice into three groups. Then they fiddled with the rodents? sleep patterns by changing the lighting conditions in the cages. The control mice experienced a normal light-dark cycle: 12 hours of ?daylight? and 12 hours of ?nighttime,? on a set schedule that never wavered.

The researchers shifted the light-dark cycles for the two less-fortunate groups of mice.? In one cage, the morning lights went on progressively later; mice began the experiment with a ?daytime? of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but then after five days, researchers shifted the light forward by six hours, so that daytime would last from noon to midnight instead. The five-day period allowed the mice to adjust to each new schedule before it shifted again.

In the third cage, mice received the reverse treatment: the lights were turned on progressively earlier. For these mice, if ?daytime? started at 6 a.m. during the first five-day period, it would begin at midnight during the next period, and so on.

The five-day shifts occurred over 25 days. By the end, 90 percent of the mice that were kept on a consistent light-dark schedule carried full-term pregnancies. In contrast, mice exposed to daylight that shifted forward had successful pregnancies 50 percent of the time, and the animals exposed to daylight that shifted backward had a success rate of only 22 percent.

?The degree to which it affected fertility was surprising,? says Tamara Varcoe, who studies circadian rhythms at the University of Adelaide in Australia and was not involved with the research. ?They show very profound effects just from doing a relatively minor intervention.? She and Summa agree that the next step is to determine exactly when and why the fertility losses occur.

?We didn?t see evidence of late loss of pregnancy, suggesting effects are occurring early on,? Summa notes. He suggested that maybe the circadian disruptions prevent embryos from implanting in the uterine wall.

Last year, Varcoe?s lab disrupted the circadian rhythms of pregnant rats, but didn?t observe fertility impacts. Importantly, Varcoe?s group began adjusting the light-dark cycle after the rats were confirmed pregnant, whereas Summa?s group began immediately after insemination. Varcoe agrees that the fertility losses that Summa observed may be due to embryo implantation problems.

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Dr. Karen Becker: 5 Pet Poisons Hiding in Your ... - My Cat Health Help

According to the folks at Pet Poison Helpline, they talk frequently to terrified pet owners whose dog or cat found an enticing ?treat? in a purse or backpack and gobbled it up.

A handbag or similar item lying open with contents exposed can prove an irresistible temptation to a confined, curious and perhaps slightly bored pet.

Top 5 Most Common Purse Items That Poison Pets

1. Human medications. About half the yearly calls to the Pet Poison Helpline are because someone?s pet ingested a medication found in a handbag, book bag, duffel bag, etc. Human pills come in bottles, and the sound of a rattling pill bottle is very similar to the noise some dog toys make.

Both over-the-counter and prescriptions drugs can be a problem. Very common OTC painkillers like Advil, Motrin and Tylenol, and human doses of prescription drugs for depression like Prozac and Effexor, can be toxic to pets.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Advil, Motrin and Aleve, can cause GI ulcers and kidney failure and are especially dangerous for kitties. Just one Tylenol (acetaminophen) can be fatal to cats, and larger amounts can cause liver failure in a dog.

Antidepressants are the No. 1 cause of calls to Pet Poison Helpline relating to prescription medication. Signs a pet has ingested one of these drugs include sedation, loss of coordination, agitation, trembling and seizures.

2. Asthma inhalers. If your dog bites into an asthma inhaler, it has the potential to result in acute, life-threatening poisoning. These inhalers contain highly-concentrated doses of drugs like albuterol (a beta-agonist) and fluticasone (a steroid). If a dog punctures an inhaler by biting or gnawing it, she can be exposed to a massive single dose of a powerful drug which can bring on vomiting, agitation, heart arrhythmia, collapse, and ultimately, death.

3. Artificially-sweetened gum and mints. Many ?sugarless? gums and mints contain xylitol, a sugar substitute highly toxic to dogs. Even a small amount of xylitol can result in a dangerous blood sugar crash in canines, and larger amounts can lead to liver failure.

Symptoms of xylitol poisoning include vomiting, weakness, collapse, shaking and seizures. In addition to gum, mints and other sugarless candy, xylitol is commonly found in chewable vitamins, certain prescription drugs, dental hygiene products, nicotine gum and baked goods.

4. Cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and other products containing nicotine. Did you know a small dog can die from ingesting just three cigarettes, depending on the brand? Chewing tobacco is also toxic to dogs and cats, and so are stop-smoking products like nicotine gum.

Signs of nicotine poisoning come on quickly and include elevated heart and respiratory rates, neurological symptoms, loss of bladder or bowel control, tremors, seizures, paralysis and death.

5. Hand sanitizer. Small bottles of hand sanitizer have become commonplace in purses, briefcases and backpacks. These products, which are used to kill germs, contain lots of alcohol. Alcohol (ethanol) is the germ-killing agent in these gels and liquids.

If your dog were to ingest a small bottle of hand sanitizer, it would be about the equivalent of a shot of hard liquor. This could cause a severe drop in your pet?s blood sugar, loss of coordination, loss of body temperature, nervous system depression, coma, and death.

An Ounce of Prevention

If your family is like most, chances are you can find an open handbag or other carryall bag within reach of your pet right now.

If so, you might want to designate a common surface in your home ? close to the front door ? as the ?bag drop-off area.? It should be high enough that its contents don?t draw your dog?s attention.

If you have a curious cat, then the requirement should be that all bags are zippered or snapped closed before leaving them in the ?bag drop-off area.?

Another option would be to create a ?bag-hanging area? by installing pegs, coat hooks or similar heavy-duty hangers close to the front door, and assigning one to each member of the family.

Dr. Karen Becker is a proactive and integrative wellness veterinarian. You can visit her site at: MercolaHealthyPets.com.

Her goal is to help you create wellness in order to prevent illness in the lives of your pets. This proactive approach seeks to save you and your pet from unnecessary stress and suffering by identifying and removing health obstacles even before disease occurs. Unfortunately, most veterinarians in the United States are trained to be reactive. They wait for symptoms to occur, and often treat those symptoms without addressing the root cause.

By reading Dr. Becker?s information, you?ll learn how to make impactful, consistent lifestyle choices to improve your pet?s quality of life.

For more by Dr. Karen Becker, click here.

For more on pet health, click here.

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Dr. Karen Becker: 5 Pet Poisons Hiding in Your Purse, Backpack or Work Bag

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Franciscan University Drops Entire Student Health Insurance Plan ...

via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post

Franciscan University of Steubenville, a Catholic institution in Ohio, has decided to drop its entire student health insurance plan as of the fall semester 2012 because of the new federal rule requiring contraception coverage under most employee and student health policies. While a number of religious colleges have filed lawsuits over the birth control requirement, Franciscan is the first to get rid of its student health plan.

?The Obama Administration has mandated that all health insurance plans must cover ?women?s health services? including contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing medications as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),? the school announced on its website. ?Up to this time, Franciscan University has specifically excluded these services and products from its student health insurance policy, and we will not participate in a plan that requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life.?

Therefore, the statement continued, the university will no longer offer student health insurance, require that all full-time undergrads have health insurance, or bill those students not covered under another plan for health insurance. The current plan expires on Aug. 15, 2012.

The announcement is somewhat misleading. Under the new rule, Franciscan University would not have to pay for any student?s contraception. The administration carved out an exemption for religious organizations, including Catholic schools, that would require the insurance company itself to pay for the insured?s birth control coverage ?directly and separately.? Nonprofit schools that don?t currently cover birth control can also qualify for a one-year transition period to comply with the new requirement.

Further, the birth control mandate does not include any ?abortion-causing medications.? Rather, it includes emergency contraception, which prevents pregnancy. But the U.S. Catholic bishops have frequently and publicly objected to the contraception coverage requirement based on the claim that it includes ?abortifacients.?

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Learn Arabic Online for Fastest and Easiest Learning

Arabic, an extremely popular language, is spoken by around 280 million people living in Middle East and North Africa region. Besides 280 million people, many other might be interested in learning Arabic language due to different reasons like travel, business, work, study, relationships, religion or just the challenge of learning a new language. Whatever might be the reason but the task of learning Arabic is quite daunting and it requires patience and perseverance with lot of time and dedication to attain mastery and proficiency in the language. The huge difference between the Arabic and English language make it much more difficult for the people to learn the language. Arabic's grammar and morphology is entirely different from what the people are usually used to and the verbal system of the language is also quite different, therefore making it extremely difficult to learn the Arabic language.

Studying Arabic in class-room setting seems to be completely outdated as most of the people do not have time to devote in the class room.

Attending classes on regular basis prove to be hectic and time consuming for many people. Thus, today people greatly prefer to learn Arabic online with the help of highly interactive and user-friendly software. The availability of wide range of software make it easy to learn Arabic from the comfort of the home as people can learn the language at their preferred time and location. The interactive software help people to learn, speak, write and even think in Arabic as the language is excellent taught with the help of words, images and sounds. The online Arabic classes greatly improves the speaking skill of the people as it monitors their pronunciation through speech recognition technology.

Complete online course is available for learning Arabic that teaches basic grammar, advance reading and writing activities along with English translation. With interactive audio course offered in the online Arabic classes help people to speak Arabic fluently. The voice comparison tool make it easier for the people to perfect their pronunciation and speak just like native people. The software games given at the online courses help people to enhance and build their Arabic vocabulary. The online accessibility of the Arabic classes make it simple and easier for the people to learn Arabic, as
they can learn Arabic anywhere and anytime by listening to the audio lessons on computer or MP3 player that can be easily carried to everywhere.

Learning Arabic online is quite popular not just because of the ease and convenience but also due to the style of teaching that make great sense. It is extremely easy to follow and adapt and its pretty fun learning Arabic in online classes. It highly convenient and portable to use and can be accessed from any computer and at one preferred time.

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Concrete Resurfacing Unique Solutions For The Next Home ...

Did you learn which definite resurfacing can be the answer to certain of your many challenging do-it-yourself projects? Resurfacing, that is a thin overlay task, is generally recognized due to its application about driveways, patios plus outdoor lifestyle spots, but which is simply the tip of the iceberg.

Custom colors plus textures is used to virtually any surface from ceilings to floors plus everything inside between. Just think of the possibilities for your many challenging projects?out dated floors plus counter covers, vintage kitchens plus restrooms, surfaces needing patching or fix work, damaged walls plus ceilings to mention a limited! Cosmetic repairs is incorporated into the design. The concrete-acrylic coatings are used straight over existing surfaces including plus not limited to the following:

v Existing Tile

v Linoleum

v Painted surfaces

v Old paneling

v Glass

v Concrete, older or new

v Drywall

Creative resurfacing delivers a practical method to love, all-natural hunting surfaces which are inside ways much better than true stone or tile. These pricey hunting surfaces are a fraction of the cost which you would pay for granite or tile.

These surfaces are durable, created to reject stains, mildew plus many chemicals, falling from sunlight UV plus are designed to remedy at nearly 8,000 P.S.I thats three occasions the rating of conventional cement.

The task is quick plus convenient, projects is done inside days quite days or months.

Flexibility inside using this method is virtually limitless from color, to shape plus feel applications ; each project is a 1 of kind work of art?over just breathtaking plus durable, resurfacing has solutions which are versatile. Any your shape applications is resurfaced or coloured any kind of time time so that youre not stuck with all the same search should you dont like to!

Concrete Resurfacing

Tags: concrete resurfacing, how to repair cracks in concrete

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Courtney Stodden Video: Purr-fectly Weird

You've heard of Hello Kitty? Prepare yourselves for Hello Courtney.

No, really, hold on tight, try to keep your lunch down and prepare yourselves.

Courtney Stodden has released her latest in a string of exceptionally odd, attention-grabbing videos. First, she complained about her feet. Then, she challenged fans to a dance-off.

She's also fondled some produce.

Now, the 17-year old is making like a cat, crawling around, purring, coughing up a hairball. It's weird, disturbing stuff. Watch below and pray along with us that Stodden does not have nine lives...

Courtney Stodden as a Cat

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2-Hour Therapy Cures Spider Phobia by Rewiring the Brain

News | Mind & Brain

Mere minutes of therapy quieted brain regions that process fear. Six months later, those areas remained less active than before therapy

By Jeanna Bryner and LiveScience ?| May 22, 2012?|

Can you imagine yourself holding this tarantula? Image: flickr/Zanthia

In this groundbreaking adventure into the worlds of psychopaths, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton argues that there is a fine line between a brilliant...

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Getting up close and personal with a furry tarantula is probably the very last thing someone with a spider phobia would opt for, but the encounter may be the ticket to busting the brain's resistance to arachnids.

A tried-and-true exposure therapy, this one lasting just hours, changed activity in the brain's fear regions just minutes after the session was complete, researchers found.

"Before treatment, some of these participants wouldn't walk on grass for fear of spiders or would stay out of their home or dorm room for days if they thought a spider was present," said lead study author Katherina Hauner, postdoctoral fellow in neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a statement.

After a single therapy session lasting up to three hours, "they were able to walk right up and touch or hold a tarantula. And they could still touch it after six months," Hauner said.

Spider phobia is a type of anxiety disorder called specific phobia, which also includes phobias of blood, needles, snakes, enclosed places and others. About 9.4 percent of the U.S. population has experienced a specific phobia at some point in their lifetime, Hauner said.

Hauner told LiveScience she hopes people who have specific phobias, particularly of spiders, will realize that successful treatments are out there, and that their phobias can take just hours to cure (though some cases can take a couple weeks to cure, she noted). "It's still not easy. It involves being motivated to overcome your fear."

Spider madness
Hauner and her colleagues examined 12 adults, nine women and three men with an average age of 22, who met diagnostic criteria for having a spider phobia; their arachnid fear was so great that, before therapy, they had trouble even looking at photos of spiders. And when they did get a glimpse, each phobic's brain showed increased activity in regions linked to fear response, including the amygdala, insula and cingulated cortex, in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.

When asked to touch a tarantula in a closed terrarium, participants were also too afraid to go no closer than an average of 10 feet away. [In Photos: Tarantulas Strut Their Stuff]

"They thought the tarantula might be capable of jumping out of the cage and on to them," Hauner said. "Some thought the tarantula was capable of planning something evil to purposefully hurt them."

In therapy, the participants learned about tarantulas in general and that their oversized fears of the creepy crawlies were just that. They were also guided through a multistep process that inched them closer to the enclosed tarantula until they could actually pick up and hold the spider. (At one point they touched the tarantula with a paintbrush, next while wearing a glove and eventually they pet it with their bare hands or held it.)

"I would teach them the tarantula is fragile and more interested in trying to hide herself," Hauner said.

Fearful brain changes
Minutes after therapy, participants were again shown spider photos, but this time, their fMRI scans showed less activity in the fear regions. This fear reduction persisted for six months after treatment, the researchers said.

At that six-month mark, participants were asked again to touch the terrarium-enclosed tarantula. "They walked right up to it and touched it," Hauner said. "It was amazing to see because I remembered how terrified they were initially and so much time had passed since the therapy." [What Scares You? (Infographic)]

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