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Chronotypes
A chronotype is the behavioral manifestation of underlying circadian rhythm's myriad of physical processes. A person's chronotype is the propensity for the individual to sleep at a particular time during a 24-hour period. ''Eveningness'' (delayed sleep period; most active and alert in the evening) and ''morningness'' (advanced sleep period; most active and alert in the morning) are the two extremes with most individuals having some flexibility in the timing of their sleep period. However, across development there are changes in the propensity of the sleep period with pre-pubescent children preferring an advanced sleep period, adolescents preferring a delayed sleep period and many elderly preferring an advanced sleep period. The causes and regulation of chronotypes, including developmental change, individual propensity for a specific chronotype, and flexible versus fixed chronotypes have yet to be determined. However, research is beginning to shed light on these questions, such as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lark (person)
A lark, early bird, morning person, or (in Scandinavian countries) an A-person, is a person who usually gets up early in the morning and goes to bed early in the evening. The term relates to the birds known as larks, which are known to sing before dawn. Human "larks" may sleep from around 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (or earlier), and tend to feel most energetic just after they get up in the morning. They are thus well-suited for working the day shift. The opposite of the lark is the owl, often awake at night. A person called a ''night owl'' is someone who usually stays up late and may feel most awake in the evening and at night. Researchers have traditionally used the terms morningness and ''eveningness'' to describe these two chronotypes. Charting chronotypes Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist in Munich, has mapped the circadian rhythms of more than 200,000 people. Biological processes, including sleep-wake patterns, that display an oscillation of about 24 hours are called circadian rhyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Owl (person)
A night owl, evening person or simply owl, is a person who tends to stay up until late at night, or to the very early hours of the morning. Night owls who are involuntarily unable to fall asleep for several hours after a normal time may have delayed sleep phase disorder. The opposite of a night owl is an early bird – a lark as opposed to an owl – which is someone who tends to begin sleeping at a time that is considered early and also wakes early. Researchers traditionally use the terms ''morningness'' and eveningness for the two chronotypes or diurnality and nocturnality in animal behavior. In several countries, especially in Scandinavia, early birds are called ''A-people'' and a night owl is called a B-person. History While staying up after dark was considered a negative trait, this changed in 17th and 18th century Europe (and subsequently spread beyond) due to the development and implementation of artificial lighting: more domestic lights, added street lighting, and adap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morningness–eveningness Questionnaire
The morningness–eveningness questionnaire (MEQ) is a self-assessment questionnaire developed by researchers James A. Horne and Olov Östberg in 1976. Its main purpose is to measure whether a person's circadian rhythm (biological clock) produces peak alertness in the morning, in the evening, or in between. The original study showed that the subjective time of peak alertness correlates with the time of Thermoregulation#Variations due to circadian rhythms, peak body temperature; morning types (Lark (person), early birds) have an earlier temperature peak than evening types (Night owl (person), night owls), with intermediate types having temperature peaks between the morning and evening chronotype groups. The MEQ is widely used in psychological and medical research and has been professionally cited more than 4,000 times. MEQ questions The standard MEQ consists of 19 multiple-choice questions, each having four or five response options. Some example questions are: Responses to the q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genome-wide Association Studies
In genomics, a genome-wide association study (GWA study, or GWAS), also known as whole genome association study (WGA study, or WGAS), is an observational study of a genome-wide set of genetic variants in different individuals to see if any variant is associated with a trait. GWA studies typically focus on associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and traits like major human diseases, but can equally be applied to any other genetic variants and any other organisms. When applied to human data, GWA studies compare the DNA of participants having varying phenotypes for a particular trait or disease. These participants may be people with a disease (cases) and similar people without the disease (controls), or they may be people with different phenotypes for a particular trait, for example blood pressure. This approach is known as phenotype-first, in which the participants are classified first by their clinical manifestation(s), as opposed to genotype-first. Each per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melatonin
Melatonin is a natural product found in plants and animals. It is primarily known in animals as a hormone released by the pineal gland in the brain at night, and has long been associated with control of the sleep–wake cycle. In vertebrates, melatonin is involved in synchronizing circadian rhythms, including sleep–wake timing and blood pressure regulation, and in control of seasonal rhythmicity including reproduction, fattening, moulting and hibernation. Many of its effects are through activation of the melatonin receptors, while others are due to its role as an antioxidant. In plants, it functions to defend against oxidative stress. It is also present in various foods. Melatonin was discovered in 1958. In addition to its role as a natural hormone, melatonin is used as a dietary supplement and medication in the treatment of sleep disorders such as insomnia and circadian rhythm sleep disorders; for information on melatonin as a supplement and medication, see the melatoni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of South Carolina Salkehatchie
The University of South Carolina Salkehatchie (USC Salkehatchie) is a public college with campuses in Allendale and Walterboro, South Carolina. It is one of four regional University of South Carolina System campuses which make up Palmetto College. USC Salkehatchie is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as part of the flagship campus ( University of South Carolina Columbia). More than 1100 students attend at one of its two sites. History The citizens of Allendale, Bamberg, and Hampton counties led an effort in 1964 to establish a center of higher education for their region of South Carolina. The proposal was warmly received by the General Assembly, and the Western Carolina Higher Education Commission was created to investigate the possibility of a college for the region. House Speaker Solomon Blatt pleaded with the University of South Carolina to build two-year colleges across the state so as to prevent any possible expansion by Clemson. As a re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walterboro, South Carolina
Walterboro is a city in Colleton County, South Carolina, United States. The city's population was 5,398 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Colleton County. Walterboro is located west of Charleston and is located near the ACE Basin region in the South Carolina Lowcountry. It is known as ''"The Front Porch of the Lowcountry"''. History Walterboro (original spelling: "''Walterborough''") was founded in 1783, as a summer retreat for local planters looking to escape their malaria-ridden, Lowcountry plantations. The original settlement was located on a hilly area, covered with pine and hickory trees and named "''Hickory Valley''". Two of the earliest settlers were brothers, Paul and Jacob Walter. The brothers were prosperous, plantation owners, in nearby Jacksonboro. Paul's small daughter Mary, was taken ill with malaria; a common disease amongst the families who had plantations in the marshy areas of the Lowcountry, due to the grounds suitability for rice production. To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grit (personality Trait)
In psychology, grit is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual's perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state (a powerful motivation to achieve an objective). This perseverance of effort promotes the overcoming of obstacles or challenges that lie on the path to accomplishment and serves as a driving force in achievement realization. Distinct but commonly associated concepts within the field of psychology include "perseverance", " hardiness", " resilience", "ambition", "need for achievement" and "conscientiousness". These constructs can be conceptualized as individual differences related to the accomplishment of work rather than talent or ability. This distinction was brought into focus in 1907 when William James challenged the field to further investigate how certain individuals are capable of accessing richer trait reservoirs enabling them to accomplish more than the average person, but the construct dates back at lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circadian Rhythm
A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. It can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., Endogeny (biology), endogenous) and responds to the environment (Entrainment (chronobiology), entrained by the environment). These 24-hour rhythms are driven by a circadian clock, and they have been widely observed in animals, plants, fungi and cyanobacteria. The term ''circadian'' comes from the Latin ''wikt:circa#Latin, circa'', meaning "approximately", and ''dies'', meaning "day". Processes with 24-hour cycles are more generally called diurnal rhythms; diurnal rhythms should not be called circadian rhythms unless they can be confirmed as endogenous, and not environmental. Although circadian rhythms are endogenous, they are adjusted to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers (German for "time givers"), which include light, temperature and redox cy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photoreceptor Cell
A photoreceptor cell is a specialized type of neuroepithelial cell found in the retina that is capable of visual phototransduction. The great biological importance of photoreceptors is that they convert light (visible electromagnetic radiation) into signals that can stimulate biological processes. To be more specific, photoreceptor proteins in the cell absorb photons, triggering a change in the cell's membrane potential. There are currently three known types of photoreceptor cells in mammalian eyes: rods, cones, and intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. The two classic photoreceptor cells are rods and cones, each contributing information used by the visual system to form an image of the environment, sight. Rods primarily mediate scotopic vision (dim conditions) whereas cones primarily mediate to photopic vision (bright conditions), but the processes in each that supports phototransduction is similar. A third class of mammalian photoreceptor cell was discovered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chronobiology
Chronobiology is a field of biology that examines timing processes, including periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms, such as their adaptation to solar- and lunar-related rhythms. These cycles are known as biological rhythms. Chronobiology comes from the ancient Greek χρόνος (''chrónos'', meaning "time"), and biology, which pertains to the study, or science, of life. The related terms ''chronomics'' and ''chronome'' have been used in some cases to describe either the molecular mechanisms involved in chronobiological phenomena or the more quantitative aspects of chronobiology, particularly where comparison of cycles between organisms is required. Chronobiological studies include but are not limited to comparative anatomy, physiology, genetics, molecular biology and behavior of organisms related to their biological rhythms. Other aspects include epigenetics, development, reproduction, ecology and evolution. The subject Chronobiology studies variations of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RGS16
Regulator of G-protein signaling 16 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''RGS16'' gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the 'regulator of G protein signaling' family. It inhibits signal transduction by increasing the GTPase activity of G protein alpha subunits. It also may play a role in regulating the kinetics of signaling in the phototransduction cascade. Interactions RGS16 has been shown to interact with GNAQ and GNAI3 Guanine nucleotide-binding protein G(k) subunit alpha is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''GNAI3'' gene. Interactions GNAI3 has been shown to interact with: * RGS10 * RGS12, * RGS14, * RGS16, * RGS18, * RGS19, * RGS5, * RIC8A, .... References Further reading * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{PDB Gallery, geneid=6004 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
