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Clocks & Sleep
Special Issues
Sleeping for Health: Mechanistic Insights
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Sleeping for Health: Mechanistic Insights

A special issue of Clocks & Sleep (ISSN 2624-5175). This special issue belongs to the section "Disorders".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2024) | Viewed by 4598

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Irina Zhdanova

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Preclinical Research and Development, BioChron LLC, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
Interests: neurobiology; sleep; circadian rhythms; adult neurogenesis; mathematical modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Nirinjini Naidoo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Interests: neurobiology; sleep; aging; proteostasis; neurodegeneration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In our upcoming Special Issue for the journal of Clocks & Sleep, 'Sleeping for Health: Mechanistic Insights', we plan to explore sleep–wake homeostasis, a universal phenomenon found in organisms ranging from C. elegans to whales. Insufficient sleep not only affects mood but also impairs cognitive and physical performance, posing a significant health risk, as shown by alarming statistics.

While we have made great strides in understanding the physiological basis of the sleep and wake states, a fundamental question remains: what is the true purpose of sleep–wake homeostasis? Without answering this, our understanding of sleep's impact on health remains limited to correlations.

A few key questions underlie this field: Why is sleep indispensable? What molecular, cellular, or systemic functions necessitate global state transitions? Does sleep benefit the entire organism or primarily the brain? Why do we experience two distinct sleep states, NREM and REM, with REM's unique simultaneous combination of sleep and wake features? Are NREM and REM simply ‘bedfellows’ competing for rest time or are they integral to the same process? All of these questions relate to understanding the mechanisms sustaining wakefulness and their role in driving sleep states.

For this Special Issue, we invite contributors to share new mechanistic insights that are supported by robust experimental evidence or mathematical models that align with prior data and offer testable predictions in the hopes of generating answers to the above-listed questions.

Dr. Irina Zhdanova
Dr. Nirinjini Naidoo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Clocks & Sleep is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sleep homeostasis
  • sleep architecture
  • molecular mechanisms
  • mathematical model

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 739 KiB  
Article
Temporal Considerations in Brain Metastases Radiation Therapy: The Intersection of Chronobiology and Patient Profiles
by Nicolas G. Nelson, Sara E. Burke, Louis Cappelli, Lauren E. Matlack, Alexandria P. Smith, Noelle Francois, Joseph F. Lombardo, Yash B. Shah, Kuang-Yi Wen, Ayesha A. Shafi and Nicole L. Simone
Clocks & Sleep 2024, 6(1), 200-210; https://doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep6010014 - 21 Mar 2024
Viewed by 902
Abstract
The circadian system, a vital temporal regulator influencing physiological processes, has implications for cancer development and treatment response. Our study assessed circadian timing’s impact on whole-brain radiotherapy outcomes in brain metastases for personalized cancer therapy insights. The aim of the study was to [...] Read more.
The circadian system, a vital temporal regulator influencing physiological processes, has implications for cancer development and treatment response. Our study assessed circadian timing’s impact on whole-brain radiotherapy outcomes in brain metastases for personalized cancer therapy insights. The aim of the study was to evaluate circadian influence on radiation treatment timing and its correlation with clinical outcomes and to identify patient populations benefiting from interventions synchronizing circadian rhythms, considering subgroup differences and potential disparities. An IRB-approved retrospective analysis of 237 patients undergoing whole-brain radiotherapy for brain metastases (2017–2021), receiving over 80% of treatments in the morning or afternoon, was performed. Survival analyses utilized Kaplan–Meier curves. This was a single-institution study involving patients receiving whole-brain radiotherapy. Demographic, disease, and socioeconomic parameters from electronic medical records were collected. Morning treatment (n = 158) showed a trend toward improved overall survival vs. afternoon (n = 79); the median survival was 158 vs. 79 days (p = 0.20, HR = 0.84, CI95% 0.84–0.91). Subgroup benefits for morning treatment in females (p = 0.04) and trends in controlled primary disease (p = 0.11) and breast cancer metastases (p = 0.08) were observed. Black patients exhibited diminished circadian influence. The present study emphasized chronobiological factors’ relevance in brain metastases radiation therapy. Morning treatment correlated with improved survival, particularly in specific subgroups. Potential circadian influence disparities were identified, laying a foundation for personalized cancer therapy and interventions synchronizing circadian rhythms for enhanced treatment efficacy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sleeping for Health: Mechanistic Insights)
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12 pages, 551 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Education Level on Individual Lifestyle Behaviors among Dietetics Students and Professionals
by Joanna Popiolek-Kalisz, Cansu Cakici, Karolina Szczygiel and Agata Przytula
Clocks & Sleep 2024, 6(1), 85-96; https://doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep6010007 - 10 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1474
Abstract
Lifestyle and habits are acquired in the family environment and then shaped by the potential influence of the environment and received education. In recent years, there has been growing interest in understanding the relationship between sleep and dietary behaviors in various health professionals, [...] Read more.
Lifestyle and habits are acquired in the family environment and then shaped by the potential influence of the environment and received education. In recent years, there has been growing interest in understanding the relationship between sleep and dietary behaviors in various health professionals, including medical and dietetics professionals and students, as well as their self-perceived knowledge and attitudes. Despite the importance of this topic, there is a lack of research on the assessment of individual behaviors in dietetics students and professionals. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of education level on individual behaviors regarding nutrition, sleep, and physical activity in dietetics students and professionals. 71 dietetics students and professionals were enrolled in this study. Their overall knowledge, sleep, and nutritional behavior were assessed with a validated Questionnaire of Eating Behaviors at the beginning of their dietetics university education and then prospectively after a year. It was also compared to dieticians who already graduated. The analysis showed that the educational level did not correlate with sleep length or the physical activity level. However, the educational level was correlated with dietary knowledge and properly self-assessed by the participants. Significant differences were observed in both the prospective and comparative analyses. The educational level and knowledge were not correlated with eating behaviors. The self-assessment of nutritional behaviors also did not correlate with the objective assessment. Sleep length did not correlate with BMI, but it was inversely correlated with overall and healthy diet scores and knowledge levels. On the other hand, physical activity levels were positively correlated with healthy diet scores. Dietary education results in better nutritional knowledge; however, it does not significantly impact individual nutritional behaviors among dietetics students and professionals. Moreover, the inverse relationship between sleep length and nutritional knowledge and behaviors, as well as the positive relationship between physical activity level and dietary behaviors, shows that nutritional aspects of lifestyle are probably prioritized among dietetic students and professionals, with an acknowledgment of the role of physical activity and a neglect of sleep hygiene importance. Dietetics students should be advised to use their theoretical knowledge not only to guide their patients but also to implement it in their own lives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sleeping for Health: Mechanistic Insights)
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13 pages, 252 KiB  
Article
Insomnia and Migraine: A Missed Call?
by Angelo Torrente, Lavinia Vassallo, Paolo Alonge, Laura Pilati, Andrea Gagliardo, Davide Ventimiglia, Antonino Lupica, Vincenzo Di Stefano, Cecilia Camarda and Filippo Brighina
Clocks & Sleep 2024, 6(1), 72-84; https://doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep6010006 - 05 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1697
Abstract
Migraine is one of the most prevalent and disabling neurological conditions, presenting episodes of throbbing headache that limit activities of daily living. Several factors may influence migraine frequency, such as lifestyle or alcohol consumption. Among the most recognised ones, sleep plays a biunivocal [...] Read more.
Migraine is one of the most prevalent and disabling neurological conditions, presenting episodes of throbbing headache that limit activities of daily living. Several factors may influence migraine frequency, such as lifestyle or alcohol consumption. Among the most recognised ones, sleep plays a biunivocal role, since poor sleep quality may worsen migraine frequency, and a high migraine frequency may affect sleep quality. In this paper, the authors evaluate the relationship between migraine and insomnia by exploring a cohort of patients affected by episodic or chronic migraine. To do so, a phone interview was performed, asking patients about their migraine frequency and mean pain intensity, in addition to the questions of the Insomnia Severity Index. The last one explores several symptoms impairing sleep that focus on insomnia. Patients complaining of insomnia showed an increased migraine frequency, and a weak but significant correlation was found between headache days per month and insomnia scores. Such results were particularly evident in patients affected by chronic migraine. Such results suggest how insomnia, in the presented data, seems to be associated with migraine frequency but not with pain intensity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sleeping for Health: Mechanistic Insights)
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