Chronobiology Principles And Applications To Shifts In Schedules

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Hannover, Germany, July 13-25, 1979

High blood pressure (BP) (with fats and smoking) is one of the three roots of cardio-cerebro-renovascular disease affecting up to 25% of the adult population. Hence, high blood pressure should be recognized and treated, to reduce any complications and prolong life, as noted by Michael Weber of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Long Beach, California. He further emphasizes the need for monitoring before one starts the treatment of high blood pressure. Indeed, he refers to the results of the Australian study on mild hypertension with a large percentage of placebo responders and rightly suggests that many people are treated who should not be because of 'white-coat-associated high blood pressure'. He also points to the lack of standardization of techniques for data analysis and of methods of BP measurement. Ambulatory monitoring under usual condi tions without concomitant recording of events does not allow even a qualitative assessment of the impact of varying stimuli, in weber's opinion.

In three volumes, historian Jole Shackelford delineates the history of the study of biological rhythms—now widely known as chronobiology—from antiquity into the twentieth century. Perhaps the most well-known biological rhythm is the circadian rhythm, tied to the cycles of day and night and often referred to as the “body clock.” But there are many other biological rhythms, and although scientists and the natural philosophers who preceded them have long known about them, only in the past thirty years have a handful of pioneering scientists begun to study such rhythms in plants and animals seriously. Tracing the intellectual and institutional development of biological rhythm studies, Shackelford offers a meaningful, evidence-based account of a field that today holds great promise for applications in agriculture, health care, and public health. Volume 1 follows early biological observations and research, chiefly on plants; volume 2 turns to animal and human rhythms and the disciplinary contexts for chronobiological investigation; and volume 3 focuses primarily on twentieth-century researchers who modeled biological clocks and sought them out, including three molecular biologists whose work in determining clock mechanisms earned them a Nobel Prize in 2017.

This volume is the first bibliography to be published on the broad subject of cycles in humans and nature. The importance of cycles as a model for understanding the world is as old as the Bible and other ancient records of past civilizations. The modern investigation of diverse fields of study has resulted in the concept of cycles once again gaining center stage as an interdisciplinary model for reaching a better understanding of the nature of our universe. Major categories of cycles covered in this bibliography are: Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science, Biology, Botany, Geoscience, Medicine, Social Science, Zoology, and Interdisciplinary. Over 600 sources of information on thousands of cycles are carefully reviewed to enable the reader maximum access to the most substansive evidence for cycles in each field. A balance of general readings as well as more technical articles is maintained throughout the bibliography. An introduction provides an overview of the broad spectrum of information on cycles, indicating those areas of controversy as well as of agreement. The claims of cycles in social unrest, economics, and climatology are noted, as well as the more well-known cycles in biology, physiology, and medicine. The volume has an extensive table of contents to facilitate the location of many subcategories of cycles. An extensive index also enables the location of citations for specific researchers and for numerous subjects.

Annual Review of Chronopharmacology, Volume 2 presents a scholarly means of rapidly communicating findings and developments in chronopharmacology, which is considered a quickly emerging field. This text first discusses aspects and statistical procedures in chronobiology and chronopharmacology. This book then explains circadian and circannual changes in nephrotoxic effects of heavy metals and antibiotics; chronotoxicology and chronopharmacology with emphasis on carcinostatic agents; and chronopharmacology of cardiovascular medications. The chronopharmacology and chronotherapy of asthma are also tackled. This book concludes by explaining the chronopharmacology of antidepressant drugs and of the inflammatory process. This publication will be invaluable to those interested in the field of chronopharmacology.