Bright-light exposure during daytime sleeping affects nocturnal melatonin secretion after simulated night work.

The guidelines for night and shift workers recommend that after night work, they should sleep in a dark environment during the daytime. However, staying in a dark environment during the daytime reduces nocturnal melatonin secretion and delays its onset. Daytime bright-light exposure after night work is important for melatonin synthesis the subsequent night and for maintaining the circadian rhythms. However, it is not clear whether daytime sleeping after night work should be in a dim- or a bright-light environment for maintaining melatonin secretion. The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the effect of bright-light exposure during daytime sleeping on nocturnal melatonin secretion after simulated night work. Twelve healthy male subjects, aged 24.8 ± 4.6 (mean ± SD), participated in 3-day sessions under two experimental conditions, bright light or dim light, in a random order. On the first day, the subjects entered the experimental room at 16:00 and saliva samples were collected every hour between 18:00 and 00:00 under dim-light conditions. Between 00:00 and 08:00, they participated in tasks that simulated night work. At 10:00 the next morning, they slept for 6 hours under either a bright-light condition (>3000 lx) or a dim-light condition (<50 lx). In the evening, saliva samples were collected as on the first day. The saliva samples were analyzed for melatonin concentration. Activity and sleep times were recorded by a wrist device worn throughout the experiment. In the statistical analysis, the time courses of melatonin concentration were compared between the two conditions by three-way repeated measurements ANOVA (light condition, day and time of day). The change in dim light melatonin onset (ΔDLMO) between the first and second days, and daytime and nocturnal sleep parameters after the simulated night work were compared between the light conditions using paired t-tests. The ANOVA results indicated a significant interaction (light condition and3 day) (p = .006). Post hoc tests indicated that in the dim-light condition, the melatonin concentration was significantly lower on the second day than on the first day (p = .046); however, in the bright-light condition, there was no significant difference in the melatonin concentration between the days (p = .560). There was a significant difference in ΔDLMO between the conditions (p = .015): DLMO after sleeping was advanced by 11.1 ± 17.4 min under bright-light conditions but delayed for 7.2 ± 13.6 min after sleeping under dim-light conditions. No significant differences were found in any sleep parameter. Our study demonstrated that daytime sleeping under bright-light conditions after night work could not reduce late evening melatonin secretion until midnight or delay the phase of melatonin secretion without decreasing the quality of the daytime sleeping. Thus, these results suggested that, to enhance melatonin secretion and to maintain their conventional sleep-wake cycle, after night work, shift workers should sleep during the daytime under bright-light conditions rather than dim-light conditions.

The First Finding of Six Instars of Larvae in Heteroptera and the Negative Correlation between Precipitation and Number of Individuals Collected in Sea Skaters of Halobates (Heteroptera: Gerridae).

This study, conducted during a scientific cruise, MR15-04, aims, first, to examine species and larval/adult components of Halobates (Heteroptera: Gerridae) inhabiting the tropical Indian Ocean of 4°00' S-7°00' S, 101°00' E-103°00' E and, second, to examine the correlative relationship between precipitation just before collection and the number of sea skaters collected in November and December 2015. Near Sumatra (50 km south-west), larvae and adults of four species of Halobates (Halobates germanes White, 1883; Halobates micans Eschscholtz, 1822; Halobates princeps White, 1883; undescribed species: Halobates sp.) were collected. Adults of an undescribed species had about a 5 mm long body in a gourd-like shape. One male adult specimen of H. princeps was collected. Body length, body width, and head width was measured in all specimens of Halobates. Six larval stages were detected in all three species of sea skaters as the first finding for Heteropteran insects. There was a negative correlation between amount of precipitation for 19 h before collection and the number of Halobates individuals collected by the neuston net. Death or (positive or passive) sinking by sea skaters could be due to occasional rain fall on the sea surface.