Biomedical subjects

Vincenzo Natale

Publications and source records attributed to Vincenzo Natale.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Mood seasonality: a cross-sectional study of subjects aged between 10 and 25 years.

BACKGROUND: Most of the earlier studies on mood seasonality were conducted in adults and there are few available data on children and adolescents. In two cross sectional surveys, we examined the role of age and gender on seasonal sensitivity in subjects aged 10 to 25 years. METHODS: In survey one, the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (SPAQ-CA) was administered to 1709 subjects (845 females and 864 males) from 10 to 17 years. In survey two, the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) was administered to 1867 subjects (1061 females and 806 males) from 18 to 25 years. RESULTS: Only in survey one was a significant positive correlation found between age and Global Seasonality Score (GSS) (r=.29; p<.00001). Significant gender differences were found at age 14 years and above in survey one, and at all ages in survey two. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the hypothesis that seasonal sensitivity is higher in female subjects.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Postural control after a night without sleep.

The present study analysed the efficiency of postural control after 12 h of nocturnal forced wakefulness using Romberg's test comprising 1 min of recording with eyes-open and 1 min of recording with eyes-closed, with a 1 min break between the two sessions. Our aim was to see if the decreased postural control efficiency after a sleepless night was unspecific (in both eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions) or selective (in only one of the conditions). A total of 55 students spent a whole night awake at our laboratory and were tested at 22:00 and 08:00 h. In general, the results showed that postural sway increased, performing the recording from eyes-open to eyes-closed condition. The statokinesigram length (SL or efficiency of the postural system) increased after the sleepless night, while in eyes-open condition, the length in function of surface (LFS or accuracy of postural control) and Romberg's index (or contribution of vision to maintain posture) significantly decreased. This could indicate that after a night without sleep, there is a slower elaboration of visual inputs in the postural control process. On the basis of these results, the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance were considered from a neuropsychological point of view.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Sleep Beliefs Scale (SBS) and circadian typology.

The aim of this work was to present the Sleep Beliefs Scale (SBS), a 20-item reviewed version of the Sleep Hygiene Awareness by Lacks and Rotert. We also examined for the first time the influence of circadian typology in sleep beliefs. Voluntary and unpaid psychology students participated in the study (n = 510; 182 men and 328 women), from Italy and Spain, aged between 18 and 33 (22.80 +/- 4.14 years). The mean score of SBS was 13.05 (SD = 3.46; range 2-20) in the total sample, with a distribution positive skewness to high score (correct beliefs) (Z = 1.82; P = 0.003). The internal consistency was good (Cronbach's alpha = 0.714) and factor analysis extracted three factors labelled 'Sleep-incompatible behaviours' (eight items), 'Sleep-wake cycle behaviours' (seven items) and 'Thoughts and attitudes to sleep' (five items). Circadian typology influences the total score and that of the three factors, as well the majority of the items that compose the SBS. The morning-type showed the best scores, the evening-type the worst, and the neither-type the medium scores. Moreover, in the men sample, the differences between circadian typology groups were higher than in the women sample. The SBS showed good psychometric properties; however, further studies in other countries, with clinical and non-student samples, and more aged subjects are needed so as to validate this psychometric instrument. The circadian typology is an individual difference that presented significant relationships with the sleep beliefs, the possibility of the evening-type being a risk factor for a worse sleep hygiene, and the maintenance of sleep problems such as insomnia may all be investigated in depth in future research.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Are seasonality of mood and eveningness closely associated?

It has been suggested that being an "evening type" might enhance susceptibility to non-seasonal and seasonal affective disorders (SAD). In a survey and a prospective study, we examine the relationship between mood seasonality and circadian typology. In the survey study, the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) were administered to 1715 university students from Spain and Italy. In the prospective study, 18 subjects, selected from the Italian sample, self-assessed their mood monthly for over a year. A slight but significant negative correlation between the MEQ score and the Global Seasonality Score was found in the survey study, with a significantly higher incidence of evening versus morning types among the students with seasonal depression. These results were not replicated when the Spanish sample was analysed separately. In the prospective study, evening types did not present a higher annual range of mood variations than morning types. Caution should be exercised in ascribing eveningness as a risk factor in SAD since other underestimated factors, including social-cultural conditions, might be involved in the pathogenesis of mood seasonality.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Relationship between preterm birth and circadian typology in adolescence.

A possible relationship between preterm birth and circadian typology was investigated in two pilot survey studies involving 13-year-old teen-agers. Two different questionnaires were used: the Junior Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) (administered to 55 preterm and 210 fullterm subjects) and the Junior Composite Scale (CS) (administered to 40 preterm and 318 fullterm subjects). In both surveys, preterm groups presented significantly higher total scores, indicating a higher propensity to morningness. Indeed in the preterm samples no evening types were found. The results are discussed in relation to recent models of circadian regulation of the sleep-wake cycle.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Transcultural properties of the composite scale of morningness: the relevance of the "morning affect" factor.

Morningness scales have been translated into several languages, but a lack of normative data and methodological differences make cross-cultural comparisons difficult. This study examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) in samples from five countries: France (n = 627), Italy (n = 702), Spain (n = 391), Thailand (n = 503), and Australia (n = 654). Strong national differences are identified. A quadratic relationship between age and CSM total score was apparent in the Australian data with a downward trend after age 35 yrs. There was no age effect in any sample in the range from 18 to 29 yrs. Factor analysis identified a three-factor solution in all groups for both men and women. Tucker's congruence coefficients indicate that: (1) this solution is highly congruent between sexes in each culture, and (2) a morning affect factor is highly congruent between cultures. These results indicate there are national differences in factorial structure and that cut-off scores used to categorize participants as morning- and evening-types should be established for different cultural and age groups.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Single and Sequential REM sleep episodes in humans: a phylogenetic left-over?

The occurrence of REM sleep in the rat appears to be under the control of either sleep related processes and homeostatic regulation of physiological variables. With respect to this, it has been observed that in this species REM sleep may occur in the form of two types of episodes, Single and Sequential episodes, which are supposed to play a different functional role. Since it is possible to distinguish Single and Sequential REM sleep episodes also in human beings, the aim of this pilot study was to asses whether a sleep deprivation may differently affect these two types of REM episodes. The sleep deprivation was induced in young human subjects by a progressive restriction of sleep within the same night period. Seventy-two PSG tracing belonging to six subjects have been analyzed. The results show that sleep deprivation does not significantly affect the relative occurrence of Single and Sequential REM sleep episodes, suggesting that in human beings these two types of REM episodes might not have a different functional role.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Effects of raloxifene on mood, sleep, libido and cognitive function in postmenopausal healthy women: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of raloxifene (60 mg) on psychological functions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 49 women were enrolled in a 3-month case-control study. Psychological testing was performed at baseline and at the end of 3 months of treatment. On both occasion measurements were repeated twice at 1 week apart. Scores were averaged. RESULTS: Raloxifene appeared to adversely affect the performance in the letter search test hence to worsen attention (t19 = 3.55, P = 0.002) but it reduced wakening episodes compared with baseline (t19 = 3.33, P = 0.005). Memory improved compared with baseline both in the raloxifene group (t19 = 2.99, P = 0.008) and in the controls (t19 = 4.64, P = 0.003). No significant differences were found in mood, well-being and indices of sexual activity. CONCLUSION: Raloxifene does not appear to adversely affect psychological function such libido, mood and memory. It may worsen attention but it reduces wakening episodes so it may thus improve sleep.

Affect↗

PubMed2003

Continuity of the processing of declarative knowledge during human sleep: evidence from interrelated contents of mental sleep experiences.

The positive influence of sleep on memory may partly depend on the processing which transforms items of declarative knowledge into contents of mental sleep experience (MSE). This view implies that the consolidation level should be more enhanced for those items which have been repeatedly processed and transformed into identical or very similar (so-called interrelated) contents of distinct MSEs in the same night. We examined here the occurrence of interrelated contents in the MSEs reported after an awakening provoked in stage 2 at sleep onset and the spontaneous awakening in the morning. Interrelated contents resulted much more frequently than the chance occurrence of contents with the same semantic features, regardless of the sleep stage in which morning awakening occurred. The accessibility of given items for transformation into MSE contents over the night makes it plausible that they are reprocessed, and thus further consolidated, during various stages and cycles of sleep.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Effects of circadian typology on sleep-wake behavior of air traffic controllers.

The effects of circadian typology on sleep-wake behavior in shiftworkers were investigated using wrist actigraph in 18 air traffic controllers (ATC), nine morning types and nine evening types, working in a backward 1-1-1 super rapid rotation shift schedule. The ATC wore a wrist actigraph continuously over 6 days (3 days on duty and 3 days off duty). Evening types presented more flexible sleep habits and slept significantly less than morning types. Regardless of circadian typology, the morning shift tended to reduce the amount of sleep whereas night shift produced a decrease in daily activity.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Circadian motor asymmetries in humans.

Previous research studies indicate that motor activity during sleep is lateralized to the non-dominant hand. We put forward the hypothesis that the relative superiority of the non-dominant hand movements during night could arise from a different circadian phase relationship between the two hemispheres, independently of the sleep condition. The present study evaluated whether actigraphic data are consistent with such hypothesis. A total of 58 right-handed university students wore actigraphs (AMI 32K) on both left and right wrist for 3 consecutive days. Mesor and acrophase were computed using cosinor analysis. Moreover, factorial analysis of variances were carried out on side (left versus right) and time of day. The results indicated that the left hand circadian rhythm had a significant phase delay in comparison to the right hand one. The mean activity of the left hand was significantly higher than that of the right hand from 20:00 until 04:00 h. The results are suggestive of a different circadian activation between the two hemispheres and are discussed in relation to models of circadian regulation of sleep/wake cycle.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Gender differences in morningness-eveningness preference.

Morningness-eveningness preference (morning-, intermediate-, evening-type) or circadian typology is the individual difference that most clearly explains the variations in the rhythmic expression of biological or behavioral patterns. The aim of this study was to analyze gender difference in morningness-eveningness preference using the Horne and Ostberg questionnaire in the largest university student population selected so far (N = 2135), with an age range 18-30 yr. Morningness-eveningness questionnaire (MEQ) score distribution closely correlated to the normal curve (range 17-78, mean = 48.25; SD = 10.11), with 338 (15.84%) morning-types, 1273 (59.62%) intermediate-types, and 524 (24.54%) evening-types. The men and women differed significantly in their mean scores (p < 0.0001) and distribution per circadian typology (p < 0.00001), with the men presenting a more pronounced eveningness preference. Three factors were identified by factor analysis: time of greatest efficiency (I), sleep time/sleep phase (II), awakening time/sleep inertia (III). The MEQ items sensitive to gender differences were essentially those included in factor I and factor II. The results are discussed in relation to recent models of circadian regulation of the sleep-wake cycle.

Circadian Rhythm↗