Can`t sleep? Blame it on the Moon!

Scientists have found evidence that human sleep patterns are timed to the phases of the Moon, and that people sleep 20 minutes less on average during a full Moon.

Many people complain about poor sleep around the full Moon and the study offers some of the first convincing scientific evidence to suggest that this really is true.

The findings add to evidence that humans - despite the comforts of our civilised world - still respond to the geophysical rhythms of the moon, driven by a circa-lunar clock.

"The lunar cycle seems to influence human sleep, even when one does not `see` the Moon and is not aware of the actual Moon phase," said Christian Cajochen of the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel.

In the new study, the researchers studied 33 volunteers in two age groups in the lab while they slept. Their brain patterns were monitored while sleeping, along with eye movements and hormone secretions.

The data show that around the full Moon, brain activity related to deep sleep dropped by 30 per cent. People also took five minutes longer to fall asleep, and they slept for twenty minutes less time overall.

Study participants felt as though their sleep was poorer when the Moon was full, and they showed diminished levels of melatonin, a hormone known to regulate sleep and wake cycles.

"This is the first reliable evidence that a lunar rhythm can modulate sleep structure in humans when measured under the highly controlled conditions of a circadian laboratory study protocol without time cues," the researchers said.

Cajochen said that this circalunar rhythm might be a relic from a past in which the Moon could have synchronised human behaviours for reproductive or other purposes, much as it does in other animals.

Today, the Moon`s hold over us is usually masked by the influence of electrical lighting and other aspects of modern life, researchers said.

They said it would be interesting to look more deeply into the anatomical location of the circalunar clock and its molecular and neuronal underpinnings. It could turn out that the Moon has power over other aspects of our behaviour as well, such as our cognitive performance and our moods.

The study was published in Current Biology.

Indian researchers have devised a method that can immensely reduce the detection time of sepsis, one of the most common problems in newborn in India, thus reducing usage antibiotics usage.

Researchers at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital`s department of haematology have devised the method which will bring down the sepsis detection timing from 24-72 hours to just two hours.

"Neonatal sepsis poses a major problem in India with septicemia and pneumonia accounting for 52 percent deaths in home-cared rural born neonates," said Manorama Bhargava, lead author of the study and haematology department chairperson.

"Early detection is challenging as clinical signs are subjective, and requires 1-3 days," she said.

The method is based on a study done on 92 infants and it was published in the International Journal of Hematology.

According to doctors, the new method will help in preventing extra usage of antibiotics and the diagnosis cost remains the same.

The Unicef has reportedly found that there are more than 30 million girls who are `at risk` of being subject to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) over the next decade.

FGM, a ritual cutting of girls` genitals is practised by some African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities in the belief it protects a woman`s virginity and more than 125 million girls and women alive today underwent this procedure which is now opposed by a majority of countries where it was practiced.

According to the report, Unicef survey found that support for FGM from both men and women has seen a decline and the organization wants action to end the practice completely.

Unicef deputy executive director Geeta Rao Gupta said that FGM `is a violation of a girl`s rights to health, well-being and self-determination and added that legislation is not enough to end the practice.

The study found that FGM remains almost universal in Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti and Egypt and there was little discernible decline in Chad, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Sudan or Yemen.

However, it was seen that most girls and women and a significant number of boys and men, opposed the practice.

Rao Gupta said that the challenge now is to let girls and women, boys and men speak out loudly and clearly and announce they want this harmful practice abandoned.

The report added that the consequences of FGM include severe bleeding, problems in urinating, infections, infertility and increased risk of newborn deaths in childbirth.

One third of people suffering from throat cancer are infected with a form of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a study has suggested.

More than 100 types of HPV are there and there are two HPV strains that are likelier to cause cancer - HPV-16 and HPV-18.

HPV-16 is believed to be responsible for about 60 percent of cervical cancers, 80 percent of cancers in the anus and 60 percent of oral cancers.

The new study observed HPV`s link with cancer of the back of the throat - oropharyngeal cancer .


In the study, the researchers looked at blood test results collected from people who took part in a huge prospective study into lifestyle and cancer, who were healthy at the beginning.

They compared blood test results of 135 people, who went on to develop throat cancer, and for 1,599 people free of cancer.

The University of Oxford team found 35 percent of those with throat cancer had the antibodies, compared with fewer than 1 percent of those who were cancer-free, the BBC reported.

The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

A new study revealed that a derivative of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a main ingredient of over-the-counter fish oil supplements, can soothe and prevent neuropathic pain caused by injuries to the sensory system.

The research, by Duke University, focused on a compound called neuroprotectin D1=protectin D1 (NPD1=PD1), a bioactive lipid produced by cells in response to external stimuli.

NPD1=PD1 is present in human white blood cells, and was first identified based on its ability to resolve abdominal and brain inflammation.

"These compounds are derived from omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, but are 1,000 times more potent than their precursors in reducing inflammation," Ru-Rong Ji, professor of anesthesiology and neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center and principal investigator of the study, said.

The team used laboratory mouse models of nerve injuries to simulate pain symptoms commonly associated with post-surgical nerve trauma.

They treated these animals with chemically-synthesized NPD1=PD1, either through local administration or injection, to investigate whether the lipid compound could relieve these symptoms.

Their findings revealed that NPD1=PD1 not only alleviated the pain, but also reduced nerve swelling following the injuries.

Its analgesic effect stems from the compound`s ability to inhibit the production of cytokines and chemokines, which are small signaling molecules that attract inflammatory macrophages to the nerve cells.

By preventing cytokine and chemokine production, the compound protected nerve cells from further damage. NPD1=PD1 also reduced neuron firing so the injured animals felt less pain.

Ji believes that the new discovery has clinical potential.

"Chronic pain resulting from major medical procedures such as amputation, chest and breast surgery is a serious problem," he said.

Current treatment options for neuropathic pain include gabapentin and various opioids, which may lead to addiction and destruction of the sensory nerves.

On the other hand, NPD1=PD1 can relieve neuropathic pain at very low doses and, more importantly, mice receiving the treatment did not show signs of physical dependence or enhanced tolerance toward the lipid compound.

The research is published online in the Annals of Neurology.