The aim of this study was to identify the relationship of QT dispersion on 12-lead electrocardiograms and left ventricular mass index on echocardiograms associated with the circadian rhythm of blood pressure (BP). Heart rate and BP were monitored every 30 min for 48 h in 62 patients with essential hypertension using an ambulatory BP monitoring device. The patients were divided into four groups ...

Background: Nocturnal enuresis is caused by a mismatch between nocturnal urine production and bladder capacity. Together with a presumed decreased arousability, this results in an inability to awaken in response to a full bladder. According to recent findings, a disrupted sleep might play a role in the pathophysiology of enuresis. Case: A 7-year-old boy was diagnosed with primary nocturnal enur...

INTRODUCTION Non-dipper and extreme dipper blood pressure (BP) profiles are associated with a worse cardiovascular prognosis. The relationship between nocturnal BP profile and hypertensive retinopathy (HR) is not fully established. AIM To assess the association between the prevalence and severity of HR and nocturnal BP. METHODS We prospectively studied hypertensive patients who underwent 24...

Epigenetic strategies control the orderly acquisition and maintenance of neuronal traits. A complex network of transcriptional repressors and co-repressors mediates gene specificity for these strategies. In this issue of Cell, a study by Ballas and coworkers (Ballas et al., 2005) provides insight into the early lineage commitment events during neurogenesis. This study demonstrates that regulati...

Daytime oral melatonin typically exerts soporific and thermoregulatory effects; however, it is not clear whether these effects reflect the normal physiological response to endogenous nocturnal melatonin production. We infused melatonin at doses that produced physiological and supraphysiological steady-state levels in 24 young adults during two daytime bed rest protocols. From 1000 to 1630, subj...

Although variation in the color of light in terrestrial diurnal and twilight environments has been well documented, relatively little work has examined the color of light in nocturnal habitats. Understanding the range and sources of variation in nocturnal light environments has important implications for nocturnal vision, particularly following recent discoveries of nocturnal color vision. In t...

Certain in vitro hemolytic systems involving human erythrocytes and human serum function more effectively if hemolysis is allowed to proceed in serum that has been slightly acidified, the optimal pH being approximately 6.5. Among such "pHdependent" hemolytic systems are the hemolysis of normal erythrocytes by sera containing high titer cold agglutinins (1); the hemolysis by normal human serum o...

Have you ever spied on a treefrog? These nocturnal creatures can be hard to observe, cloaking their lives in mystery. They hatch as legless swimmers but quickly transform into adults with camouflaged skin for daytime hiding and sticky toepads hunting tree branches by night. Yet even the most secretive, high-climbing treefrog cannot escape from pollution, new enemies, habitat loss. Scientists wa...