Alcohol disrupts circadian rhythm in humans

October 9th, 2009 LONDON - Excessively low cost alcohol promotes harmful underage drinking, says a new study based on survey of 9,833 teens between the ages of 15 and 16 years. Mark Bellis worked with a team from Liverpool John Moores University and Trading Standards to survey the teens' alcohol consumption patterns, drink types consumed, drinking locations, methods of access and harms encountered.

September 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Just as you plug in your computers and smart phones to communicate, electric fish too communicate by quickly plugging special channels into their cells to generate electrical impulses. The fish generate electric fields to navigate, fight and attract mates in murky streams and rivers throughout Central and South America.

September 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Alexis Webb enters a small room painted dark green, turns off the lights and bends over a microscope over a black box to see a single nerve cell on a glass cover slip glowing dimly - indicating the isolated cell is busy keeping time. Researchers at Washington University in St.

September 2nd, 2009 WELLINGTON - A Christchurch school has said it is prepared to face criticism when it serves alcohol to under 18-year-olds at its school ball next week. Christ's College will host its annual school ball complete with three-course meal and a full bar.

September 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Chronic alcohol consumption can adversely affect body's biological clock's ability to synchronize daily activities to light, according to a new study on hamsters. It continues to affect the body's clock (circadian rhythm), even days after the drinking ends.

August 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study, conducted by researchers in the U.S., has shown that the circadian system is not the only pathway involved in determining alertness at night - red light, which does not stimulate the circadian system, is just as effective at increasing nighttime alertness as blue light, which does. Mariana Figueiro from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, and colleagues examined the effects of the different lighting conditions.

August 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The circadian rhythms or biological "clocks" in some insects can make them far more susceptible to pesticides at some times of the day instead of others, reveal researchers at Oregon State University. The scientists said that with further research, they can tap into this genetic characteristic, identify the times that a target insect is most vulnerable to a specific pesticide, and use that information to increase the effectiveness, reduce costs and decrease the amounts of pesticide necessary for insect control.

August 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers have discovered that the circadian rhythms or biological "clocks" in some insects can make them far more susceptible to pesticides at certain times of the day than other. With further research, it may be possible to tap into this genetic characteristic, identify the times that a target insect is most vulnerable to a specific pesticide, and use that information to boost the effectiveness of a pesticide.

August 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Two drunk Chinese men were left stranded on the road after they filled their car's tank with alcohol instead of petrol in Jinyang, Shanxi province.he two men were returning from a party last Saturday, when their car broke down on a highway. They had a bottleful of alcohol, which they emptied out in the petrol tank, reports the China Daily.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, scientists have suggested that the internal clock in plants can help make climate change scenarios and CO2 level figures more accurate. The study was done by an international team of researchers led by the University of Castilla-La-Mancha (UCLM) in Spain.

June 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Alcohol can get to a person's head in just six minutes after taking a drink, according to researchers in Heidelberg. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), the scientists have shown that only six minutes after consuming an amount of alcohol-equivalent to three glasses of beer or two glasses of wine, which leads to a blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.06 percent-can cause changes in the brain cells.

May 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Two studies conducted by scientists at Dartmouth Medical School have provided significant insights into why the 24-hour body clock does not change with temperature when metabolism is so affected. Circadian systems are biological oscillators that orchestrate activities through an elaborate network of interactive proteins and feedback loops.

May 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A moderate dose of alcohol increases a person's mind wandering, while at the same time reducing the likelihood of noticing that one's mind has wandered, according to a new study. The study offers the first evidence that alcohol disrupts an individual's ability to realize his or her mind has wandered, suggesting impairment of a psychological state called meta-consciousness.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Your usual nine to five office shift has a biological reason behind it, and now scientists have found that some genes in the body are switched on once every 12 or 8 hours, which in turn keeps us actively involved in the work, according to a new study. The findings by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies indicated that shorter cycles of the circadian rhythm are also biologically encoded.

March 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a study on mice, a team of scientists have found how the biological circadian clock mechanism in animals corresponds with processes that control aging and metabolism. The findings by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St.