Franz Halberg — Page 5

PubMedDate not supplied

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.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Age-dependent association of exposure to television screen with children's urinary melatonin excretion?

OBJECTIVES: Changes in magnetic field are associated with a decrease in nocturnal urinary melatonin excretion. Television screens emit low and very low frequency electromagnetic waves (radiofrequencies and light) and exposure to them may be associated with a decrease in 24-hour melatonin in children's urine. Design and setting. An observational study in schools of Cavriglia, Italy, determined melatonin in 24-hour urines from 42 boys and 32 girls 6 to 13 years of age after one week of watching TV and after another week of abstaining from watching TV. RESULTS AND MAIN FINDINGS: In a gender- and age-dependent fashion, exposure to a television screen was associated with lower urinary melatonin concentrations, affecting particularly younger children at a pubertal stage when important changes in melatonin's time structure occur. CONCLUSION: Additional work should test further relations to growth, maturation and development, focusing on any adverse effect from exposure to a television screen also on obesity from a neuro-hormonal viewpoint, quite apart from any decreased activity and/or other lifestyle alterations associated with watching TV.

Adolescent↗