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Keshet-Sitton, A., Or-Chen, K., Yitzhak, S., Tzabary, I., & Haim, A. (2016). Light and the City: Breast Cancer Risk Factors Differ Between Urban and Rural Women in Israel. Integr Cancer Ther, 16(2), 176–187.
Abstract: Women are exposed to indoor and outdoor artificial light at night (ALAN) in urban and rural environments. Excessive exposure to hazardous ALAN containing short wavelength light may suppress pineal melatonin production and lead to an increased breast cancer (BC) risk. Our objective was to address the differences in BC risks related to light exposure in urban and rural communities. We examined indoor and outdoor light habits of BC patients and controls that had lived in urban and rural areas in a 5-year period, 10 to 15 years before the time of the study. Individual data, night time sleeping habits and individual exposure to ALAN habits were collected using a questionnaire. A total of 252 women (110 BC patients and 142 controls) participated in this study. The sample was divided to subgroups according to dwelling area and disease status. Age matching was completed between all subgroups. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for urban and rural women separately, using binary logistic regression. OR results of urban population (92 BC patients and 72 control) revealed that BC risk increases with daily use of cellphone (OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.01-4.49, P < .05) and residence near strong ALAN sources (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 0.99-2.30, P < .06). Nevertheless, BC risk decreases if a woman was born in Israel (OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.21-0.93, P < .03), longer sleep duration (OR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.53-1.05, P < .1), and reading with bed light illumination before retiring to sleep (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.61-0.96, P < .02). Furthermore, in the rural population (18 BC patients and 66 control) BC risk increases with the number of years past since the last menstruation (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.03-1.22, P < .01). However, BC risk decreases with longer sleep duration (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.24-1.14, P < .1), reading with room light illumination before retiring to sleep (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.29-1.06, P < .07), and sleeping with closed shutters during the night (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.41-1.04, P < .08). These data support the idea that indoor and outdoor nighttime light exposures differ between urban and rural women. Therefore, we suggest that women can influence BC risk and incidence by applying protective personal lighting habits. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to strengthen the results.
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Xie, Y., & Weng, Q. (2016). Detecting urban-scale dynamics of electricity consumption at Chinese cities using time-series DMSP-OLS (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-Operational Linescan System) nighttime light imageries. Energy, 100, 177–189.
Abstract: A better understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern of energy consumption at the urban scale is significant in the interactions between economic activities and environment. This study assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of EC (electricity consumption) in UC (urban cores) and SR (suburban regions) in China from 2000 to 2012 by using remotely sensed NTL (nighttime light) imagery. Firstly, UC and SR were extracted using a threshold technique. Next, provincial level model was calibrated yearly by using Enhanced Vegetation Index and population-adjusted NTL data as independent variables. These models were then applied for pixel-based estimation to obtain time-series EC data sets. Finally, the spatiotemporal pattern of EC in both UC and SR were explored. The results indicated that the proportion of EC in urban areas rose from 50.6% to 71.32%, with a growing trend of spatial autocorrelation. Cities with high urban EC were either located in the coastal region or belonged to provincial capitals. These cities experienced a moderate to a rapid growth of EC in both UC and SR, while a slow growth was detected for the majority of western and northeastern cities. The findings suggested that EC in SR was more crucial for sustainable energy development in China.
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Warrant, E., & Dacke, M. (2016). Visual Navigation in Nocturnal Insects. Physiology (Bethesda), 31(3), 182–192.
Abstract: Despite their tiny eyes and brains, nocturnal insects have evolved a remarkable capacity to visually navigate at night. Whereas some use moonlight or the stars as celestial compass cues to maintain a straight-line course, others use visual landmarks to navigate to and from their nest. These impressive abilities rely on highly sensitive compound eyes and specialized visual processing strategies in the brain.
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Hall, A. S. (2016). Acute Artificial Light Diminishes Central Texas Anuran Calling Behavior. Amer. Midland Naturalist, 175(2), 183–193.
Abstract: Male anuran (frog and toad) advertisement calls associate with fitness and can respond to environmental cues such as rain and air temperature. Moonlight is thought to generally decrease call behaviors – perhaps as a response to increased perceived risk of predation – and this study sought to determine if artificial lighting produces a similar pattern. Using a handheld spotlight, light was experimentally introduced to natural anuran communities in ponds and streams. Custom call surveys where then used to measure anuran calls in paired unlit and lit conditions at six locations in central Texas. Among seven species heard, the number of frogs calling and call index declined in response to the acute light input. Local weather conditions could not explain differences between numbers of frogs calling between species, sites, survey order, or lighting order suggesting the main effect on number calling was light treatment. It appears acute artificial light alone can change calling behavior within several species in natural, mixed species assemblages.
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Nickla, D. L., & Totonelly, K. (2016). Brief light exposure at night disrupts the circadian rhythms in eye growth and choroidal thickness in chicks. Exp Eye Res, 146, 189–195.
Abstract: Changes in ocular growth that lead to myopia or hyperopia are associated with alterations in the circadian rhythms in eye growth, choroidal thickness and intraocular pressure in animal models of emmetropization. Recent studies have shown that light at night has deleterious effects on human health, acting via “circadian disruptions” of various diurnal rhythms, including changes in phase or amplitude. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of brief, 2-hour episodes of light in the middle of the night on the rhythms in axial length and choroidal thickness, and whether these alter eye growth and refractive error in the chick model of myopia. Starting at 2 weeks of age, birds received 2 hours of light between 12:00 am and 2:00 am for 7 days (n=12; total hours of light: 14 hrs). Age-matched controls had a continuous dark night (n=14; 14L/10D). Ocular dimensions were measured using high-frequency A-scan ultrasonography on the first day of the experiment, and again on day 7, at 6-hour intervals, starting at noon (12pm, 6pm, 12am, 6am, 12pm). Measurements during the night were done under a photographic safe-light. These data were used to determine rhythm parameters of phase and amplitude. 2 groups of birds, both experimental (light at night) and control, were measured with ultrasound at various intervals over the course of 4 weeks to determine growth rates. Refractive errors were measured in 6 experimental and 6 control birds at the end of 2 weeks. Eyes of birds in a normal L/D cycle showed sinusoidal 24-hour period diurnal rhythms in axial length and choroid thickness. Light in the middle of the night caused changes in both the rhythms in axial length and choroidal thickness, such that neither could be fit to a sine function having a period of 24 hours. Light caused an acute, transient stimulation in ocular growth rate in the subsequent 6-hour period (12 am to 6 am), that may be responsible for the increased growth rate seen 4 weeks later, and the more myopic refractive error. It also abolished the increase in choroidal thickness that normally occurs between 6 pm and 12 am. We conclude that light at night alters the rhythms in axial length and choroidal thickness in an animal model of eye growth, and that these circadian disruptions might lead to the development of ametropias. These results have implications for the use of light during the night in children.
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