Change in Caffeine Consumption after Pandemic (CCAP-Study) among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study from Italy
Di Martino G, Di Giovanni P, Vaccaro F, Cedrone F, Trebbi E, Tognaccini L, Romano F and Staniscia T
Change in Caffeine Consumption after Pandemic (CCAP-Study) among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study from Italy
Di Martino G, Di Giovanni P, Vaccaro F, Cedrone F, Trebbi E, Tognaccini L, Romano F and Staniscia T
(1) Background: The lockdown, imposed to limit the pandemic evolution, impacted the social habits and lifestyle of inhabitants also from many countries other than Italy. Caffeine consumption could be a useful option to improve mood, as the lockdown strongly affected mental health, particularly increasing anxiety and sleep disorders. (2) Methods: It was a cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the change in caffeine consumption after the pandemic period in a sample of Italian University students. It investigated coffee and products containing caffeine consumption, the anxiety level by State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and sleep quality with the Insomnia Severity Index (ISS). (3) Results: A total of 404 participants were enrolled in the study. During the lockdown period, 23% of subjects consumed more coffee compared to the pre-pandemic period. Daily coffee consumption also changed after the lockdown period compared to the pre-pandemic period, with 36.1% of subjects that increased their consumption. Comparing other caffeine-based products, energizing supplement consumption showed a greater increase after the lockdown period than energy drinks. Regarding anxiety, subjects who reported increased coffee consumption reported higher STAI scores and ISS. (4) Conclusions: About a quarter of university students increased their consumption of caffeine-based products after the pandemic, reporting higher levels of anxiety and poor sleep quality.
Effectiveness of Partially Hydrolyzed Guar Gum on Cognitive Function and Sleep Efficiency in Healthy Elderly Subjects in a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, and Parallel-Group Study
Abe A, Kapoor MP, Morishima S, Ozeki M, Sato N, Takara T and Naito Y
Effectiveness of Partially Hydrolyzed Guar Gum on Cognitive Function and Sleep Efficiency in Healthy Elderly Subjects in a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, and Parallel-Group Study
Abe A, Kapoor MP, Morishima S, Ozeki M, Sato N, Takara T and Naito Y
The consumption of functional foods in a daily diet is a promising approach for the maintenance of cognitive health. The present study examines the effects of water-soluble prebiotic dietary-fiber, partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG), on cognitive function and mental health in healthy elderly individuals. Participants consumed either 5 g/day of PHGG or a placebo daily for 12 weeks in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and parallel-group study. An assessment of cognitive functions, sleep quality, and subjective mood evaluations was performed at baseline and after 8 and 12 weeks of either PHGG or placebo intake. The visual memory scores in cognitive function tests and sleepiness on rising scores related to sleep quality were significantly improved in the PHGG group compared to the placebo group. No significant differences were observed in mood parameters between the groups. Vigor-activity scores were significantly improved, while the scores for Confusion-Bewilderment decreased significantly in the PHGG group when compared to the baseline. In summary, supplementation with PHGG was effective in improving cognitive functions, particularly visual memory, as well as enhancing sleep quality and vitality in healthy elderly individuals (UMIN000049070).
Healthier Dietary Patterns Are Associated with Better Sleep Quality among Shanghai Suburban Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study
Huang L, Jiang Y, Sun Z, Wu Y, Yao C, Yang L, Tang M, Wang W, Lei N, He G, Chen B, Huang Y and Zhao G
Healthier Dietary Patterns Are Associated with Better Sleep Quality among Shanghai Suburban Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study
Huang L, Jiang Y, Sun Z, Wu Y, Yao C, Yang L, Tang M, Wang W, Lei N, He G, Chen B, Huang Y and Zhao G
More is to be explored between dietary patterns and sleep quality in the Chinese adult population.
Association of Visual-Based Signals with Electroencephalography Patterns in Enhancing the Drowsiness Detection in Drivers with Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Minhas R, Peker NY, Hakkoz MA, Arbatli S, Celik Y, Erdem CE, Semiz B and Peker Y
Association of Visual-Based Signals with Electroencephalography Patterns in Enhancing the Drowsiness Detection in Drivers with Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Minhas R, Peker NY, Hakkoz MA, Arbatli S, Celik Y, Erdem CE, Semiz B and Peker Y
Individuals with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) face increased accident risks due to excessive daytime sleepiness. PERCLOS, a recognized drowsiness detection method, encounters challenges from image quality, eyewear interference, and lighting variations, impacting its performance, and requiring validation through physiological signals. We propose visual-based scoring using adaptive thresholding for eye aspect ratio with OpenCV for face detection and Dlib for eye detection from video recordings. This technique identified 453 drowsiness (PERCLOS ≥ 0.3 || CLOSDUR ≥ 2 s) and 474 wakefulness episodes (PERCLOS < 0.3 and CLOSDUR < 2 s) among fifty OSA drivers in a 50 min driving simulation while wearing six-channel EEG electrodes. Applying discrete wavelet transform, we derived ten EEG features, correlated them with visual-based episodes using various criteria, and assessed the sensitivity of brain regions and individual EEG channels. Among these features, theta-alpha-ratio exhibited robust mapping (94.7%) with visual-based scoring, followed by delta-alpha-ratio (87.2%) and delta-theta-ratio (86.7%). Frontal area (86.4%) and channel F4 (75.4%) aligned most episodes with theta-alpha-ratio, while frontal, and occipital regions, particularly channels F4 and O2, displayed superior alignment across multiple features. Adding frontal or occipital channels could correlate all episodes with EEG patterns, reducing hardware needs. Our work could potentially enhance real-time drowsiness detection reliability and assess fitness to drive in OSA drivers.
Personalized Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Wellbeing and Empathy in Healthcare Professionals
Nan J, Herbert MS, Purpura S, Henneken AN, Ramanathan D and Mishra J
Personalized Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Wellbeing and Empathy in Healthcare Professionals
Nan J, Herbert MS, Purpura S, Henneken AN, Ramanathan D and Mishra J
Healthcare professionals are known to suffer from workplace stress and burnout, which can negatively affect their empathy for patients and quality of care. While existing research has identified factors associated with wellbeing and empathy in healthcare professionals, these efforts are typically focused on the group level, ignoring potentially important individual differences and implications for individualized intervention approaches. In the current study, we implemented N-of-1 personalized machine learning (PML) to predict wellbeing and empathy in healthcare professionals at the individual level, leveraging ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) and smartwatch wearable data. A total of 47 mood and lifestyle feature variables (relating to sleep, diet, exercise, and social connections) were collected daily for up to three months followed by applying eight supervised machine learning (ML) models in a PML pipeline to predict wellbeing and empathy separately. Predictive insight into the model architecture was obtained using Shapley statistics for each of the best-fit personalized models, ranking the importance of each feature for each participant. The best-fit model and top features varied across participants, with anxious mood (13/19) and depressed mood (10/19) being the top predictors in most models. Social connection was a top predictor for wellbeing in 9/12 participants but not for empathy models (1/7). Additionally, empathy and wellbeing were the top predictors of each other in 64% of cases. These findings highlight shared and individual features of wellbeing and empathy in healthcare professionals and suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing modifiable factors to improve wellbeing and empathy will likely be suboptimal. In the future, such personalized models may serve as actionable insights for healthcare professionals that lead to increased wellness and quality of patient care.
Caffeine and Sleep in Preventing Post-spinal Headache: Which One is More Effective?
Yayla A, Karaman Özlü Z and Uymaz Aras G
Caffeine and Sleep in Preventing Post-spinal Headache: Which One is More Effective?
Yayla A, Karaman Özlü Z and Uymaz Aras G
The study aimed to determine the effects of caffeine consumption and sleep on post-spinal headache after spinal anesthesia.
Noradrenaline enhances Na-K ATPase subunit expression by HuR-induced mRNA stabilization and their transportation to the cell surface through PLC and PKC mediated pathway: Implications with REMS-loss associated disorders
Kaur M, Mehta R, Muthuswami R and Mallick BN
Noradrenaline enhances Na-K ATPase subunit expression by HuR-induced mRNA stabilization and their transportation to the cell surface through PLC and PKC mediated pathway: Implications with REMS-loss associated disorders
Kaur M, Mehta R, Muthuswami R and Mallick BN
Rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) maintains brain excitability at least by regulating Na-K ATPase activity. Although REMS deprivation (REMSD)-associated elevated noradrenaline (NA) increases Na-K ATPase protein expression, its mRNA transcription did not increase. We hypothesized and confirmed both in vivo as well as in vitro that elevated mRNA stability explains the apparent puzzle. The mRNA stability was measured in control and REMSD rat brain with or without in vivo treatment with α-adrenoceptor (AR) antagonist, prazosin (PRZ). Upon REMSD, Na-K ATPase α1-, and α2-mRNA stability increased significantly, which was prevented by PRZ. To decipher the molecular mechanism of action, we estimated NA-induced Na-K ATPase mRNA stability in Neuro-2a cells under controlled conditions and by transcription blockage using Actinomycin D (Act-D). NA increased Na-K ATPase mRNA stability, which was prevented by PRZ and propranolol (PRP, β-AR antagonist). The knockdown assay confirmed that the increased mRNA stabilization was induced by elevated cytoplasmic abundance of Human antigen R (HuR) and involving (Phospholipase C) PLC-mediated activation of Protein Kinase C (PKC). Additionally, using cell-impermeable Enz-link sulfo NHS-SS-Biotin, we observed that NA increased Na-K ATPase α1-subunits on the Neuro-2a cell surface. We conclude that REMSD-associated elevated NA, acting on α1- and β-AR, increases nucleocytoplasmic translocation of HuR and increases Na-K ATPase mRNA stability, resulting in increased Na-K ATPase protein expression. The latter then gets translocated to the neuronal membrane surface involving both PKC and (Protein Kinase A) PKA-mediated pathways. These findings may be exploited for the amelioration of REMSD-associated chronic disorders and symptoms.
Interindividual differences in mindfulness are linked to sleep-EEG characteristics
Wunderlin M, Studler M, Gianotti LRR, Züst MA and Knoch D
Interindividual differences in mindfulness are linked to sleep-EEG characteristics
Wunderlin M, Studler M, Gianotti LRR, Züst MA and Knoch D
Mindfulness describes the ability to focus on the presence, including one's thoughts and feelings. Trait mindfulness - a person's inherent tendency to be mindful - has been connected to increased subjective sleep quality, but evidence from objective EEG-based sleep measures is lacking. Here, we investigate whether objective EEG-based sleep parameters explain interindividual differences in trait mindfulness.
Perivascular space diffusivity and brain microstructural measures are associated with circadian time and sleep quality
Brendstrup-Brix K, Ulv Larsen SM, Lee HH and Knudsen GM
Perivascular space diffusivity and brain microstructural measures are associated with circadian time and sleep quality
Brendstrup-Brix K, Ulv Larsen SM, Lee HH and Knudsen GM
The glymphatic system is centred around brain cerebrospinal fluid flow and is enhanced during sleep, and the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis proposes that sleep acts on brain microstructure by selective synaptic downscaling. While so far primarily studied in animals, we here examine in humans if brain diffusivity and microstructure is related to time of day, sleep quality and cognitive performance. We use diffusion weighted images from 916 young healthy individuals, aged between 22 and 37 years, collected as part of the Human Connectome Project to assess diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space index, white matter fractional anisotropy, intra-neurite volume fraction and extra-neurite mean diffusivity. Next, we examine if these measures are associated with circadian time of acquisition, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (high scores correspond to low sleep quality) and age-adjusted cognitive function total composite score. Consistent with expectations, we find that diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space index and orbitofrontal grey matter extra-neurite mean diffusivity are negatively and white matter fractional anisotropy positively correlated with circadian time. Further, we find that grey matter intra-neurite volume fraction correlates positively with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and that this correlation is driven by sleep duration. Finally, we find positive correlations between grey matter intra-neurite volume fraction and cognitive function total composite score, as well as negative interaction effects between cognitive function total composite score and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index on grey matter intra-neurite volume fraction. Our findings propose that perivascular flow is under circadian control and that sleep downregulates the intra-neurite volume in healthy adults with positive impact on cognitive function.
Comparative Analysis of the Sedative and Hypnotic Effects among Various Parts of Hu and Their Chemical Analysis
Li B, Yang Y, Song Z and Tang Z
Comparative Analysis of the Sedative and Hypnotic Effects among Various Parts of Hu and Their Chemical Analysis
Li B, Yang Y, Song Z and Tang Z
Hu (ZS), as a "medicinal and food-homologous" plant, has been used for a long history. The study was to assess the sedative and hypnotic effects among various parts of ZS. The model, diazepam (DZP), ZS kernel (ZSS), ZS flesh (ZSF), and ZS husk (ZSKS) group occurred subsequent to the successful establishment of the para-chlorophenylalanine induced insomnia model via intraperitoneal injection. The latency and duration of sleep in mice in each group were recorded. The substance basis of various parts of ZS was analyzed by the UPLC-QTOF-MS technique. The results showed that relative to the model group, DZP, ZSS, ZSF, and ZSKS groups demonstrated shortened sleep latency ( < 0.05) and extended sleep duration ( < 0.01). The GABA, 5-HT, and BDNF levels were significantly upregulated in the brain tissues of the mice in the DZP, ZSF, and ZSS groups ( < 0.01). However, the improvement in ZSKS was non-significant. Additionally, the mRNA and protein expression levels of 5-HT1AR, GABAARα1, and BDNF in mice in the DZP, ZSS, and ZSF groups were significantly enhanced ( < 0.01). However, the improvement in the ZSKS group was insignificant ( < 0.05). The examination of the substance composition across different parts revealed that the shared chemical basis contributing to the sedative and hypnotic potency of different parts of ZS may involve the presence of compounds such as () magnoflorine, () betulinic acid, () ceanothic acid, and () alphitolic acid. It provides a basis for further elucidation of the substance basis responsible for the functional and medicinal effects of ZS.
