Sunspot dynamics are reflected in human physiology and pathophysiology

Nanotechnology enabled radioprotectants to reduce space radiation-induced reactive oxidative species

Interest in space exploration has seen substantial growth following recent launch and operation of modern space technologies. In particular, the possibility of travel beyond low earth orbit is seeing sustained support. However, future deep space travel requires addressing health concerns for crews under continuous, longer-term exposure to adverse environmental conditions. Among these challenges, radiation-induced health issues are a major concern. Their potential to induce chronic illness is further potentiated by the microgravity environment. While investigations into the physiological effects of space radiation are still under investigation, studies on model ionizing radiation conditions, in earth and micro-gravity conditions, can provide needed insight into relevant processes. Substantial formation of high, sustained reactive oxygen species (ROS) evolution during radiation exposure is a clear threat to physiological health of space travelers, producing indirect damage to various cell structures and requiring therapeutic address. Radioprotection toward the skeletal system components is essential to astronaut health, due to the high radio-absorption cross-section of bone mineral and local hematopoiesis. Nanotechnology can potentially function as radioprotectant and radiomitigating agents toward ROS and direct radiation damage. Nanoparticle compositions such as gold, silver, platinum, carbon-based materials, silica, transition metal dichalcogenides, and ceria have all shown potential as viable radioprotectants to mitigate space radiation effects with nanoceria further showing the ability to protect genetic material from oxidative damage in several studies. As research into space radiation-induced health problems develops, this review intends to provide insights into the nanomaterial design to ameliorate pathological effects from ionizing radiation exposure. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Cells at the Nanoscale Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.

Infection, Celestial Influences, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: A New Paradigm

The etiology of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) still remains unclear. This situation would seem unprecedented for 21st-century medical science. This article explores scientific fields that have not been largely considered in investigating the etiology of SIDS so far. In this study, we examined previously ignored studies on heliobiology, celestial influences, and SIDS in the non-medical literature in an attempt to answer the following questions: is there a relationship between sunspot/solar activity and the occurrence of SIDS? Could there be alternative reasons for the decline in SIDS incidences in the 1990s that were originally attributed to the “Back-to-Sleep” campaign? We note that the decline coincided with the ~11-year cyclical diminution in sunspot numbers (SSNs). The SSN/SIDS relationship does not necessarily imply causality; however, it supports published data regarding sunspots, Schumann resonance, and geomagnetic effects. How solar energy could adversely influence a baby’s existence remains conjectural. Observations in this respect suggest pathways involving melatonin and/or infection/inflammation.

Cyclic stroke mortality variations follow sunspot patterns

Background: Mapping time-structures is a burgeoning scientific field enriching the (P4) medicine models. Local evidence in Mediterranean populations is underinvestigated. Methods: The Censused stroke-related death events (D) in the largest East-Mediterranean port (Piraeus), during (1985-1989), when local population had diet (low fat/sugar, proteins and vegetables/fruits daily, and pure olive oil almost exclusively) and genetic homogeneity-later interrupted by the immigration into Greece in 1990; and Sunspot numbers were indexed by Wolf numbers (Rz) (1944-2004), and evaluated using Fast Fourier Analysis and Singular Spectrum Analysis in MATLAB. Results: D were turned with fluctuations >35% in Rz. A non-anthropogenic 6.8 days cycle was recognized. Conclusions: This study may be taken into consideration in future public health planning and chronotherapy evaluations.

The Double-Aspect of Life

Life is based on two aspects: matter and a non-material, electrical component. In a dynamic system of reciprocal causality, matter and the so-called bioelectricity interact with one another, forming a functional unity. The aim of this essay is to summarize evidence for bioelectricity, for the sensitivity of biosystems to external physical factors and for the interactions of internal bioelectricity with internal biochemical structures. I propose non-material information of bioelectrical states to be just as inheritable from generation to generation as is the material genetic code.

Himalayan glaciers experienced significant mass loss during later phases of little ice age

To date, there is a gap in the data about the state and mass balance of glaciers in the climate-sensitive subtropical regions during the Little Ice Age (LIA). Here, based on an unprecedented tree-ring sampling coverage, we present the longest reconstructed mass balance record for the Western Himalayan glaciers, dating to 1615. Our results confirm that the later phase of LIA was substantially briefer and weaker in the Himalaya than in the Arctic and subarctic regions. Furthermore, analysis of the time-series of the mass-balance against other time-series shows clear evidence of the existence of (i) a significant glacial decay and a significantly weaker magnitude of glaciation during the latter half of the LIA; (ii) a weak regional mass balance dependence on either the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) taken in isolation, but a considerable combined influence of both of them during the LIA; and (iii) in addition to anthropogenic climate change, the strong effect from the increased yearly concurrence of extremely high TSI with El Niño over the past five decades, resulting in severe glacial mass loss. The generated mass balance time-series can serve as a source of reliable reconstructed data to the scientific community.

Time related variations in stem cell harvesting of umbilical cord blood

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) contains hematopoietic stem cells and multipotent mesenchymal cells useful for treatment in malignant/nonmalignant hematologic-immunologic diseases and regenerative medicine. Transplantation outcome is correlated with cord blood volume (CBV), number of total nucleated cells (TNC), CD34+ progenitor cells and colony forming units in UCB donations. Several studies have addressed the role of maternal/neonatal factors associated with the hematopoietic reconstruction potential of UCB, including: gestational age, maternal parity, newborn sex and birth weight, placental weight, labor duration and mode of delivery. Few data exist regarding as to how time influences UCB collection and banking patterns. We retrospectively analyzed 17.936 cord blood donations collected from 1999 to 2011 from Tuscany and Apulia Cord Blood Banks. Results from generalized multivariable linear mixed models showed that CBV, TNC and CD34+ cell were associated with known obstetric and neonatal parameters and showed rhythmic patterns in different time domains and frequency ranges. The present findings confirm that volume, total nucleated cells and stem cells of the UCB donations are hallmarked by rhythmic patterns in different time domains and frequency ranges and suggest that temporal rhythms in addition to known obstetric and neonatal parameters influence CBV, TNC and CD34+ cell content in UBC units.

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: relationship to solar activity in the United States, 1988-2010

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a common condition treated by neurosurgeons. The inherent variability in the incidence and presentation of ruptured cerebral aneurysms has been investigated in association with seasonality, circadian rhythm, lunar cycle, and climate factors. We aimed to identify an association between solar activity (solar flux and sunspots) and the incidence of aneurysmal SAH, all of which appear to behave in periodic fashions over long time periods. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) provided longitudinal, retrospective data on patients hospitalized with SAH in the United States, from 1988 to 2010, who underwent aneurysmal clipping or coiling. Solar activity and SAH incidence data were modeled with the cosinor methodology and a 10-year periodic cycle length. The NIS database contained 32,281 matching hospitalizations from 1988 to 2010. The acrophase (time point in the cycle of highest amplitude) for solar flux and for sunspots were coincident. The acrophase for aneurysmal SAH incidence was out of phase with solar activity determined by non-overlapping 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Aneurysmal SAH incidence peaks appear to be delayed behind solar activity peaks by 64 months (95% CI; 56-73 months) when using a modeled 10-year periodic cycle. Solar activity (solar flux and sunspots) appears to be associated with the incidence of aneurysmal SAH. As solar activity reaches a relative maximum, the incidence of aneurysmal SAH reaches a relative minimum. These observations may help identify future trends in aneurysmal SAH on a population basis.

Chronobiologically Interpreted Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Health and Disease

To detect vascular variability anomalies (VVAs), a blood pressure and heart rate profile around the clock for at least 7 days is a start. As a minimum, measurement every 60 or preferably 30 minutes for a week is needed, to be continued if abnormality is found, to assess the about 24-hour (circadian) variability that exists in all individuals. As a first dividend, one then also obtains a glimpse of 2 of the very many longer-than-circadian periodicities, the biological half-week and week. Certainly if we can have sensors and computer chips in our cars that continuously monitor the pressure over a tire's life, we should be able to do the same job for ourselves for diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. Healthcare today emphasizes wellness with recommendations for exercise and a proper diet, yet these evaluations may not be adequate. BP may be measured at a visit to the doctor or before an exercise session, along with measuring body weight and performing a physical exam. The seeds of disease are planted long before they are visible, and what appears to be normal from a conventional point of view may in fact actually be abnormal. Hidden alterations of physiological function, masked by the body's remarkable adaptive capabilities, may become visible through a new diagnostic and therapeutic realm-chronobiology-that reveals hitherto unseen abnormalities. The tools of chronobiology may yield additional dividends, such as the detection of physiological "loads" related to stress and stress relief and the undesirable effcts of space weather upon personal events such as sudden cardiac death, societal events like terrorism and war, and natural disasters. Chronobiologi cally interpreted automatic ambulatory BP and heart rate (HR) monitoring (C-ABPM) may detect the antecedents of these types of events. C-ABPM is of interest in preventive cardiology, since it reveals new diagnoses as vascular variability anomalies (VVAs) and renders previous conventional diagnoses more reliable, such as that of an elevated BP. These VVAs include MESOR (midline-estimating statistic of rhythm)-hypertension, an elevation of the MESOR, which is diagnosed, like all other VVAs, only after I or preferably several replications of 7-day around-the-clock BP monitoring with available, affordable, and unobtrusive instrumentation. The recommendation for continuous C-ABPM recognizes several principles that constitute inseparably intertwined contributors to severe cardio-, cerebro- and renovascular diease. C-ABPM gauges wear and tear of genetics, physical loads, and in particular mental stress placed upon individuals from "womb to tomb" by daily life, including weather in extraterrestrial space as well as that on earth, as a continuous surveillance paradigm preventing us from flying blind to a change from less than 5% to near 100% in the risk of a stroke within 6 years.

Search for seasonal rhythmicity of pineal melatonin production in rats under constant laboratory conditions: spectral chronobiological analysis, and relation to solar and geomagnetic variables

Earlier we reported that in a number of experiments pineal melatonin production in rats under constant laboratory conditions displayed seasonal rhythms but subsequently were not always able to confirm this. Since there was no indication under which conditions such rhythms may be present, we performed four consecutive identical experiments with untreated female Sprague-Dawley rats within the same animal room during 1997-2006. Nocturnal urine samples (19-23, 23-3, 3-7 h) were collected at monthly intervals over 494-658 d with 12 animals each in experiments I and II (1997-1999, 1999-2000), 30 animals in experiment III (2002-2004), and 15 in experiment IV (2005-2006). 6-Sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) was measured by ELISA. The excreted aMT6s at each time interval as well as total nocturnal aMT6s-excretion (19-7 h) was submitted to standard statistical analyses as well as to a spectral chronobiological analysis to determine the period lengths of the components involved which was followed by processing with the single cosinor method. Seasonal rhythm components (circannual period length: 360 ± 60 d) were detected in experiment III (2002-2004) for the overall nocturnal excretion as well as for two sub-intervals (23-3 and 3-7 h) and in one night interval of experiment II (23-3 h). Multiple components with mostly short period lengths of around 100 d and some long ones of 500-650 d were found in the other experiments. Systematic MESOR and amplitude variations were observed during the experiments, being highest in experiment II (19-7 h, also 23-3 h and 3-7 h) and lowest in experiments I and IV. These results illustrate that seasonal melatonin rhythms are not a general phenomenon in female laboratory rats indicating an involvement of unknown environmental cues. As an extension of our earlier hypothesis regarding a seasonal Zeitgeber function of the horizontal intensity H of the geomagnetic field showing circannual variations, we assume further modulation by the 11-yrs' sunspot cycle which leads to geomagnetic disturbances and could facilitate seasonal aMT6s rhythmicity during specific years.

Are stress responses to geomagnetic storms mediated by the cryptochrome compass system?

A controversial body of literature demonstrates associations of geomagnetic storms (GMS) with numerous cardiovascular, psychiatric and behavioural outcomes. Various melatonin hypotheses of GMS have suggested that temporal variation in the geomagnetic field (GMF) may be acting as an additional zeitgeber (a temporal synchronizer) for circadian rhythms, with GMS somehow interfering with the hypothesized system. The cryptochrome genes are known primarily as key components of the circadian pacemaker, ultimately involved in controlling the expression of the hormone melatonin. Cryptochrome is identified as a clear candidate for mediating the effect of GMS on humans, demonstrating the prior existence of several crucial pieces of evidence. A distinct scientific literature demonstrates the widespread use of geomagnetic information for navigation across a range of taxa. One mechanism of magnetoreception is thought to involve a light-dependent retinal molecular system mediated by cryptochrome, acting in a distinct functionality to its established role as a circadian oscillator. There is evidence suggesting that such a magnetosense--or at least the vestiges of it--may exist in humans. This paper argues that cryptochrome is not acting as secondary geomagnetic zeitgeber to influence melatonin synthesis. Instead, it is hypothesized that the cryptochrome compass system is mediating stress responses more broadly across the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (including alterations to circadian behaviour) in response to changes in the GMF. Two conceptual models are outlined for the existence of such responses--the first as a generalized migrational/dispersal strategy, the second as a stress response to unexpected signals to the magnetosense. It is therefore proposed that GMS lead to disorientation of hormonal systems in animals and humans, thus explaining the effects of GMS on human health and behaviour.

Decadal Cycles in the Human Cardiovascular System

Seven of the eight authors of this report each performed physiologic self-surveillance, some around the clock for decades. We here document the presence of long cycles (decadals, including circaundecennians) in the time structure of systolic (S) and diastolic (D) blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). Because of the non-stationary nature in time and space of these and other physiologic and environmental periodic components that, like the wind, can appear and disappear in a given or other geographic location at one or another time, they have been called "Aeolian". The nonlinear estimation of the uncertainties of the periods (τs) of two or more variables being compared has been used to determine whether these components are congruent or not, depending on whether their CIs (95% confidence intervals) overlap or not. Among others, congruence has been found for components with τs clustering around 10 years in us and around us. There is a selective assortment among individuals, variables and cycle characteristics (mean and circadian amplitude and acrophase). Apart from basic interest, like other nonphotic solar signatures such as transyears with periods slightly longer than one year or about 33-year Brückner-Egeson-Lockyer (BEL) cycles, about 10-year and longer cycles present in 7 of 7 self-monitoring individuals are of interest in the diagnosis of Vascular Variability Anomalies (VVAs), including MESOR-hypertension, and others. Some of the other VVAs, such as a circadian overswing, i.e., CHAT (Circadian Hyper-Aplitude-Tension), or an excessive pulse pressure, based on repeated 7-day around-the-clock records, can represent a risk of severe cardiovascular events, greater than that of a high BP. The differential diagnosis of physiologic cycles, infradians (components with a τ longer than 28 hours) as well as circadians awaits the collection of reference values for the infradian parameters of the cycles described herein. Just as in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats during the weeks after weaning CHAT precedes an elevation of the BP MESOR, a decadal overswing seems to precede the occurrence of high BP in two of the subjects here examined. Only around-the-clock monitoring in health for the collection of reference values will allow on their basis the differential diagnosis of the onsets of a circadian versus a circadecadal overswing in BP and the specification whether, and if so, when to initiate hypotensive non-drug or drug treatment.