Validating the growth increment periodicity in the otoliths of three small progenetic gobies

We determined the efficacy of marking the otoliths of three small-sized progenetic gobies to validate their increment periodicity. These small gobies have high mortalities and rearing difficulties, making direct validation difficult. The otoliths were marked by immersing the fish in a bath of alizarin red S. The fishes were euthanatized and the number of increments in their otoliths laid down after the fluorescent mark were counted and compared with the number of elapsed days. The results validated the daily periodicity of Aphia minuta and Pseudaphya ferreri. The high mortality hindered the validation of Crystallogobius linearis.

Daily periodicity of labor in pregnant women in physiological and complicated pregnancy depending on the sex of the fetus

Objective: the study aimed to reveal the daily periodicity of labor, the nature of melatonin metabolism, and the outcome of childbirth in women with a physiological and complicated pregnancy, depending on the sex of the fetus.Materials and methods: to study the chronophysiological characteristics of birth outcomes depending on fetal sex, 1 980 birth histories and stories of newborns were analyzed. The neonates were born between January 1 and December 31, 2016, in a maternity ward of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “RostGMU” of the Ministry of Health of Russia. Melatonin production was identified by the level of urinary excretion of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (6-SM) (its main metabolite) examining the morning portion of the urine of women by the ELISA method (at 8 am 3 ml of urine were collected in Eppendorf tube).Results: it was revealed that fetal sex modulated the activity of the central regulatory mechanisms responsible for the daily period functional processes in the female body and the initiation of labor. The largest number of spontaneous births by male fetuses occurred in the early evening before midnight when daily illumination was decreased, while the birth of girls was observed more often in the period from midnight to early morning. At the same time, mothers of boys had lower production of melatonin compared to that of girls’ mothers.Conclusions. The peculiarities of labor and birth complications associated with the sex of the fetus were identified.

Sex differences in the daily rhythmicity of morphine consumption after major abdominal surgery

Objective: The sex of the patients has been shown to affect postoperative pain and morphine consumption; still a clear understanding able to explain the reasons behind this difference struggles to emerge. Our research aimed to investigate one specific aspect of the variability in morphine consumption between sexes. Previous studies have shown that circadian rhythm can influence opioid consumption. Furthermore, circadian rhythm is different between female and male. Our analysis investigated the presence of differences in daily rhythmicity of morphine consumption between males and females.Design: This is a secondary analysis of data collected during 2 years long multicenter clinical trial (NCT01233752).Settings: Clinical data were collected in two Italian hospitals: IRCCS Foundation Policlinico S. Matteo (Pavia) and San Gerardo Hospital (Monza).Patients: The authors recorded data about morphine consumption in 157 patients who underwent major abdominal surgery, who received morphine intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) as postoperative analgesia.Interventions: The authors analyzed the daily periodicity of effective boluses delivered by morphine IV-PCA with Poisson multilevel models, adjusted by the time of start for each pump. An effective bolus was defined as a correctly delivered bolus of 1 mg of morphine. The authors also evaluated the interactions among the time of the day and sex, age (</ ≥ 55 y), and body mass index (BMI; < /≥30 kg/m2).Main Outcome Measure(s): Differences in sex of morphine consumption rhythms over the 24 hours of the day.Results: Morphine consumption showed a statistically significant daily periodicity (p < 0.001) in our study population. Consumption was higher around 2 am (rate 0.4 mg/min·patient) and lower around 12 pm (rate 0.05 mg/min·patient). Global consumption was not associated with the pump start time, age, or sex. The daily periodicity of morphine consumption was different between males and females (p = 0.004), with males consuming more morphine during the night.Conclusions: Our analysis confirmed the presence of daily rhythm for morphine consumption in patients treated with IV-PCA morphine after major abdominal surgery. A difference in the daily periodicity was observed between sexes. No difference emerged in daily periodicity for the categories of age and BMI.

Búsqueda de alimento y marcación de trillo por larvas de Brassolis sophorae (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) en condiciones naturales

The daily periodicity of foraging and trail marking behaviour of Brassolis sophorae larvae was studied between August, 1991 and July, 1992 in a cocoa plantation in Bahia, Brazil. Larvae, originating from eight different nests, were observed continually during the dark phase for 20 consecutive days. They foraged for a single period of time each day, starting at 17:56 h, and for a meam duration of 90 min and 36 s. Larvae mark trails with threads of silk while moving from the nest to the foraging site and viceversa