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Summary: Background/objective: This study aimed to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and school performance in high school students by controlling for relevant mediators such as sleep quality, sleep duration and socioeconomic status. Methods: Thirty-seven high school students (mean age: 18.16±0.44 years) attending the same school type, i.e. 'liceo scientifico' (science-based high school), were enrolled. Students' self-reported weight and height were used to calculate BMI. Participants wore an actigraph to objectively assess the quality and duration of sleep. School performance was assessed through the actual grade obtained at the final school-leaving exam, in which higher grades indicate higher performance. Results: BMI, get-up time, mean motor activity, wake after sleep onset and number of awakenings were negatively correlated with the grade, while sleep efficiency was positively correlated. When performing a multiple regression analysis, BMI proved the only significant (negative) predictor of grade. Conclusions: When controlling for sleep quality, sleep duration and socioeconomic status, a higher BMI is associated with a poorer school performance in high school students. Copyright

Aim The current study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties and analyze the convergent validity of the Italian version of the Mini Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ). In addition, it was aimed to put forward cut-off values to be used in screening protocols. Methods The MSQ was administered to 1830 participants (age range 18-87 years), of whom 1208 also completed the Sleep Disorder Questionnaire (age range 18-87 years). A subgroup of 187 (age range 18-71 years) participants was randomly chosen to test the test-retest reliability. A complete psychometric evaluation was performed on the MSQ. To study the validity of the tool, the Sleep Disorder Questionnaire was used as an external criterion to validate the MSQ. Using the Youden index, we calculated the cut-off values that performed best. Finally, we created receiver-operator curves to test the accuracy of each cut-off value identified. Results For the MSQ, Cronbach's alpha score was 0.77 while homogeneity was 0.26. Factorial analyses confirmed the presence of two dimensions: sleep (Cronbach's alpha 0.75; homogeneity 0.37) and wake (Cronbach's alpha 0.75; homogeneity 0.44). For each dimension, a cut-off value was identified (>16 and >14, respectively). Both cut-off values obtained an area under the curve higher than 0.80. Conclusions Psychometric evaluation of the MSQ was satisfactory. The cut-off values analyzed in the present study showed good performance. On the whole, the results of this study suggest that the MSQ can be a useful screening tool.

Lo scopo del presente lavoro è di proporre una versione italiana di un questionario per la valutazione della tipologia circadiana in adolescenza. In base ai risultati emersi in una precedente ricerca si è deciso di replicare i dati ottenuti con il MEQ-A e di valutare le possibili alternative di due nuovi strumenti: la versione ridotta del MEQ-A e la DTS-A. Hanno partecipato alla ricerca 3018 ragazzi di età compresa tra gli 11 e i 16 ani. 1393 ragazzi hanno compilato il MEQ-A, 876 il MEQr-A e 749 la DTS-A. Nel complesso i risultati hanno confermato come strumento più idoneo a misurare la tipologia circadiana in adolescenza il MEQ-A. Sarebbe auspicabile in un prossimo futuro una validazione con criteri esterni.

The present pilot study aimed to compare sleep estimation with a smartphone accelerometer to that of an actigraph accelerometer in healthy adults. Thirteen volunteers (four females; mean age 22.97 ± 3.44) simultaneously wore Actiwatch actigraphs and put the smartphone close to the pillow for at least four consecutive overnight recordings. On the whole, the agreement between the two devices was reasonably satisfactory for all sleep parameters considered (Total Sleep Time, Wake After Sleep Onset and Sleep Efficiency) but not for Sleep Onset Latency. To deeply understand the suitability of the smartphone in assessing sleep, future studies should necessarily use polysomnography.

Sleep deprivation (SD) is a common condition that affects many people in modern life. It can interfere with cognitive abilities, motor performance, emotions and mood. Numerous studies have shown that both total and partial SD lead to impaired alertness and cognitive functioning. While a body of work has focused on the effect subsequent to SD, cognitive performance efficiency during a night without sleep has been rarely assessed. We describe the results of 6-years recording data in our laboratory. In 12h sleep deprivation (1 night from 21:00. to 09:00) a large sample of young adults has been tested in several cognitive tasks ranging from simple to complex tasks. All findings lead to conclude that: a) during the night without sleep the cognitive system generally works in a right way, allowing subjects to perform the tasks and suggesting a specific pattern of SD adaptation depending on the specific cognitive tasks; b) there is a particular moment in the night, that is at 04:00, where cognitive performance is affected, suggesting a strict association with chronobiological rhythms instead of SD; c) the cognitive performance reaches lower efficiency levels at the end of a night without sleep. Finally, we discuss the results considering the impact of SD on the social life and in particular on the shift workers.

Sleep inertia (SI) refers to a complex psychophysiological phenomenon, observed after awakening, that can be described as the gradual recovery of waking-like status. The time course of cognitive performance dissipation in an everyday life condition is still unclear, especially in terms of the sleep stage at awakening (REM or NREM-stage 2) and the relative effects on performance. The present study aimed to investigate the SI dissipation in different memory performances upon spontaneous morning awakening after uninterrupted nighttime sleep. Eighteen young adults (7 females, mean age 24.9 ± 3.14 years) spent seven non-consecutive nights (one baseline, three REM awakenings and three St2 awakenings) in the laboratory under standard polysomnographic (PSG) control. Participants were tested after three REM awakenings and three St2 awakenings, and three times at 11:00 a.m. as a control condition. In each testing session, participants filled in the Global Vigor and Affect Scale and carried out one memory task (episodic, semantic, or procedural task). For each condition, participants were tested every 10 min within a time window of 80 min. In accordance with previous studies, SI affected subjective alertness throughout the entire time window assessed. Moreover, SI significantly affected performance speed but not accuracy in the semantic task. With reference to this task, the SI effect dissipated within 30 min of awakening from REM, and within 20 min of awakening from St2. No significant SI effect was observed on episodic or procedural memory tasks.

It is reported that sleep enhances prospective memory (PM), but it remains to be understood whether this influence is moderated by age, since sleep changes across the lifespan. To this end, we performed a retrospective study in a naturalistic setting in a large life span sample: 397 healthy participants (227 females) from middle childhood (nine years old) to late adulthood (70 years old). Participants were requested to perform a naturalistic activity-based PM task, namely, to remember to press the event-marker button of an actigraph when they went to bed (activity 1) and when they got out of bed (activity 2) after nocturnal sleep. The percentages of button presses were the measure of our activity-based PM task. For activities 1 and 2, we separately performed a moderation model with actigraphic sleep parameters (sleep efficiency, midpoint of sleep, and total sleep time) as predictors of PM performance with age as a moderator factor. With reference to activity 1, we observed a significant interaction between sleep efficiency and age, showing a decrease in PM performance with the increase in sleep efficiency in the low age group. Only age was a significant (negative) predictor of PM in activity 2, i.e., with increasing age, PM performance significantly decreased. The present study shows, in a large life span sample, that sleep does not seem to play a relevant predictive role of activity-based PM performance.

Sleep quality is an important clinical construct since it is increasingly common for people to complain about poor sleep quality and its impact on daytime functioning. Moreover, poor sleep quality can be an important symptom of many sleep and medical disorders. However, objective measures of sleep quality, such as polysomnography, are not readily available to most clinicians in their daily routine, and are expensive, time-consuming, and impractical for epidemiological and research studies., Several self-report questionnaires have, however, been developed. The present review aims to address their psychometric properties, construct validity, and factorial structure while presenting, comparing, and discussing the measurement properties of these sleep quality questionnaires. A systematic literature search, from 2008 to 2020, was performed using the electronic databases PubMed and Scopus, with predefined search terms. In total, 49 articles were analyzed from the 5734 articles found. The psychometric properties and factor structure of the following are reported: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Mini-Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ), Jenkins Sleep Scale (JSS), Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire (LSEQ), SLEEP-50 Questionnaire, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). As the most frequently used subjective measurement of sleep quality, the PSQI reported good internal reliability and validity; however, different factorial structures were found in a variety of samples, casting doubt on the usefulness of total score in detecting poor and good sleepers. The sleep disorder scales (AIS, ISI, MSQ, JSS, LSEQ and SLEEP-50) reported good psychometric properties; nevertheless, AIS and ISI reported a variety of factorial models whereas LSEQ and SLEEP-50 appeared to be less useful for epidemiological and research settings due to the length of the questionnaires and their scoring. The MSQ and JSS seemed to be inexpensive and easy to administer, complete, and score, but further validation studies are needed. Finally, the ESS had good internal consistency and construct validity, while the main challenges were in its factorial structure, known-group difference and estimation of reliable cut-offs. Overall, the self-report questionnaires assessing sleep quality from different perspectives have good psychometric properties, with high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as convergent/divergent validity with sleep, psychological, and socio-demographic variables. However, a clear definition of the factor model underlying the tools is recommended and reliable cut-off values should be indicated in order for clinicians to discriminate poor and good sleepers.

none 9 si The current study was conducted to provide normative data on actigraphic dichotomy index (I

The relationship between seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and subjective quality of sleep/wake cycle in adolescents was explored. The Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (SPAQ-CA) and Mini Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ) were administered to 345 adolescents living in the city of Cesena (Emilia-Romagna region, Italy) (299 females; age range: 14–18 years), to determine SAD and perceived quality of the sleep/wake cycle. The response rate was 92% for females and 90.2% for males. The MSQ includes two factors, sleep and wake, with lower scores corresponding to a lower quality of sleep and wake. The MSQ includes cut-off criteria to detect a good or bad sleep and wake quality. Adolescents with SAD (16±5.7) scored significantly lower than those not affected on wake factor (19.5±4.3), while no effect has been observed on sleep factor. SAD was the only one significant predictor of good/bad wake quality, while it did not reach significant level with reference to good/bad sleep quality. Present results are indications of a possible influence of SAD on wake quality and further studies are necessary to confirm them.

The main goal of the present study was to examine the effects of transition into and out of daylight saving time (DST) on the quality of the sleep/wake cycle, assessed through actigraphy. To this end, 14 healthy university students (mean age: 26.86 ± 3.25 yrs) wore an actigraph for 7 d before and 7 d after the transition out of and into DST on fall 2009 and spring 2010, respectively. The following parameters have been compared before and after the transition, separately for autumn and spring changes: bedtime (BT), get-up time (GUT), time in bed (TIB), sleep onset latency (SOL), fragmentation index (FI), sleep efficiency (SE), total sleep time (TST), wake after sleep onset (WASO), mean activity score (MAS), and number of wake bouts (WB). After the autumn transition, a significant advance of the GUT and a decrease of TIB and TST were observed. On the contrary, spring transition led to a delay of the GUT, an increase of TIB, TST, WASO, MAS, and WB, and a decrease of SE. The present results highlight a more strong deterioration of sleep/wake cycle quality after spring compared with autumn transition, confirming that human circadian system more easily adjusts to a phase delay (autumn change) than a phase advance (spring transition).

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between circadian preference and sensation seeking. To this aim 1041 university students (408 males and 633 females), ranging in age between 18 and 30 years, filled the reduced version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQr) and the Sensation Seeking Scale-Form V (SSS-V). Males scored higher than females in SSS-V total score and all subscales, except experience seeking (ES). As regards circadian preference, evening types scored higher than morning types in SSS-V total score and all subscales, except boredom susceptibility (BS) where they significantly differed only from intermediate types. On the whole our results highlight a significant relationship between circadian preference and sensation seeking.

The purpose of this study was to explore a possible season of birth effect on big five personality traits, taking into account also gender and circadian typology variables. A sample of 419 healthy young adults (249 females and 170 males) was administered the self-report version of the Big Five Observer (BFO) and the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) to determine, respectively, personality features and circadian preference. Participants were subdivided into four season groups, according to their birth date. No significant season of birth effect was observed as regards personality traits even if summer-born participants tended to score lower on the conscientiousness dimension. In regard to the conscientiousness domain, there was a significant interaction between gender and season of birth. Males presented greater conscientiousness variation with summer born participants scoring lower. On the basis of a multiple regression analysis, MEQ score proved to be a better predictor of conscientiousness than gender, age, and season of birth. The results provide no clear evidence for a season of birth effect on the big five personality traits. It is possible that circadian preference may modulate the season of birth effect on personality traits.

We explored the relationship between personality, based on the five-factor model, and circadian preference. To this end, 503 participants (280 females, 223 males) were administered the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and the self-report version of the Big Five Observer (BFO) to determine circadian preference and personality features, respectively. Morning types scored significantly higher than evening and intermediate types on the conscientiousness factor. Evening types were found to be more neurotic than morning types. With reference to the big five personality model, our data, together with those of all the previous studies, indicate that the conscientiousness domain is the one that best discriminates among the three circadian types. Results are discussed with reference to neurobiological models of personality.

none 6 no First Online: 29 October 2014 Purpose This study aimed at examining the effects of 2 weeks of dawn simulation on attentional performance in adolescents. Methods On the whole, 56 adolescents (24 females and 32 males) took part to the study, with a mean age of 17.68 ± 0.97 years (age ranging between 15 and 20 years). Each adolescent was requested to participate for 5 consecutive weeks and the research design included the baseline and two counterbalanced conditions, dawn simulator and control (no dawn simulator). Attentional performance of adolescents was measured through the attention network test (ANT) that allowed assessing the efficiency of three separable attentional networks, namely alerting, orienting and executive. Overall, participants performed the ANT three times (i.e., one time for each condition), while sleep quality, sleep duration and sleep timing were concurrently monitored by means of actigraphy and were treated as potential confounders. Results The only improvement of the attentional performance attributable to the use of dawn simulator was observed for the efficiency of alerting network (45.97 ± 32.76 ms) that significantly increased in comparison to the baseline (31.57 ± 26.97 ms) (p < 0.05). On the contrary, the sleep quality, sleep quantity and sleep timing did not significantly change. Conclusion These results show for the first time that, controlling for sleep quality, sleep duration and sleep timing, the use of dawn simulator across 2 weeks is able to determine an alerting effect in adolescents. Tonetti L.; Fabbri M.; Erbacci A.; Filardi M.; Martoni M.; Natale V. Tonetti L.; Fabbri M.; Erbacci A.; Filardi M.; Martoni M.; Natale V.

A positive sleep effect has been recently observed on prospective memory. In this retrospective study (N = 254, 30.64 ± 13.79 years, 55.10% of females), we investigated the relationship between sleep and prospective memory, comparing the performance of “good” and “bad” sleepers in a naturalistic prospective memory task (to remember to press the event-marker button of actigraphy at wake-up time). The “good” and “bad” sleepers were defined according to following sleep parameters: Sleep Onset Latency (SOL), Total Sleep Time (TST), Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO), Sleep Efficiency (SE), and Number of Awakenings (NA > 5). The results showed that the good sleepers performed the prospective memory task better than the bad sleepers. Specifically, the performance of prospective memory task at wake-up time was influenced by the quantity (TST) and the quality (WASO, SE%, and NA > 5) of the sleep.

none 6 no This study aimed to explore the relationship between sleep time preference of adolescents and their parents, considering gender separately. To this end, 912 adolescents (501 females) from 10 to 17 years were administered the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents and their parents filled in the Morningness– Eveningness Questionnaire. To assess sleep time preference, the ideal midpoint of sleep was computed. A mathematical function was developed in order to correct the evolution of the ideal midpoint of sleep over time. The actual values were adjusted on the basis of those provided by the function for a specific age and gender and then reclassified into a new ordinal variable, with five categories, according to the interval where difference between actual and predicted values lies. This variable is informative as to the degree and magnitude of the ideal midpoint of sleep dispersion regarding/compared to the average value for a certain age and sex, represented by estimated function. The correlations between actual values of the ideal midpoint of sleep of adolescents and actual values of their parents, separately for gender of both, were not significant. The “corrected” ideal midpoint of sleep of daughters resulted significantly correlated with those “corrected” of mothers and fathers; furthermore, these correlation values were significantly higher than those detected between daughters and unrelated parents, highlighting the fact that such a privileged relationship between daughters and both parents is not due to chance. none Tonetti L.; Fabbri M.; Martoni M.; Anderlucci L.; Filardi M.; Natale V. Tonetti L.; Fabbri M.; Martoni M.; Anderlucci L.; Filardi M.; Natale V.

none 7 si The present study aimed to explore the validity of a wireless dry headband technology for long-term home sleep monitoring, through a comparison with concurrent actigraphic recording. Nineteen healthy volunteers (nine females; age range: 22–63 years) slept in their home simultaneously using the wireless dry sensor system (WS) and Basic Mini-Motionlogger1 (MML) actigraph. In all we collected 204 valid actigraphic and wireless recordings. We focused on comparisons of these sleep measures: sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, total sleep time and sleep efficiency. WS overestimated sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset in comparison to MML, and underestimated total sleep time and sleep efficiency. On the basis of the present data, WS can be considered a reliable tool for the long-term home sleep monitoring. none Tonetti L.; Fábregas S.E.; Fabbri M.; Occhionero M.; Erbacci A.; Martoni M.; Natale V. Tonetti L.; Fábregas S.E.; Fabbri M.; Occhionero M.; Erbacci A.; Martoni M.; Natale V.

It is well established that temporal events are represented on a spatially oriented mental time line from left to right. Depending on the task characteristics, the spatial representation of time may be linked to different types of dimensions, including manual response codes and physical space codes. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether manual response and physical space codes are independent of each other or whether they interact when both types of information are involved in the task. The participants performed a temporal estimation task with two lateralized response buttons in four experiments. In the first experiment, the target stimuli were presented on the left side, at the center, or on the right side of the space, whereas the reference stimuli were always presented centrally. The reverse situation was presented in the second experiment. In the third experiment, both stimuli were presented in opposite spatial positions (e.g., left-right), whereas in the last experiment, both stimuli were presented in the same spatial position (e.g., left-left). In all experiments, perceptual and motor congruency effects were found, but no modulation of the congruency effects was found when both the perceptual and motor components were congruent. The results indicated that physical, spatial, and manual response codes are independent from each other for time-space associations, even when both codes are involved in the task. These results are discussed in terms of the "intermediate-coding" account.

The spatial-temporal association indicates that time is represented spatially along a left-to-right line. It is unclear whether the spatial-temporal association is mainly related to a perceptual or a motor component. In addition, the spatial-temporal association is not consistently found using a time reproduction task. Our rationale for this finding is that, classically, a non-lateralized button for performing the task has been used. Using two lateralized response buttons, the aim of the study was to find a spatial-temporal association in a time reproduction task. To account for the perceptual component, reference and target stimuli were presented in different spaces through four experiments. In all experiments, a Spatial-Temporal Association of Response Codes (STEARC) effect was found and this effect was not modulated by the spatial position of both reference and target stimuli. The results suggested that the spatial-temporal association was mainly derived from the spatial information provided by response buttons, reflecting a motor but not visuospatial influence.

The introduction of new mattresses with innovative technology has led to a significant improvement in objective sleep quality. We aimed to explore whether this improvement in sleep quality was merely due to the introduction of a new mattress regardless of the innovative level of its technological features. Twenty-eight healthy volunteers tested a standard technology mattress (traditional spring mattress) and a new technology mattress in expanded polyurethane and visco-elastic (Myform (R)). Sleep quality was assessed before and after introducing the new mattresses, objectively (through actigraphy) and subjectively (through the Mini Sleep Questionnaire). Myform (R) led to a significant improvement in actigraphic sleep parameters of sleep onset latency and sleep efficiency. Therefore it is not enough to introduce a new mattress with any technology in order to determine a significant objective sleep quality improvement; the innovative technological features of the mattress seem to be fundamental.

The aim of this study was to examine sex differences in sleep-time preference by age among Italian pre-adolescents, adolescents, and adults. The final sample consisted of 8,972 participants (5,367 females and 3,605 males) from 10 to 87 yrs of age. To assess preferred sleep habits, we considered the answers to the open-ended questions of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). In agreement with previous studies, we found that sleep-time preference started to shift toward eveningness from the age of 13 yrs. Females reached their peak in eveningness earlier (about 17 yrs of age) than males (about 21 yrs of age). Thereafter, the ideal sleep-time preference advanced in men and women with increasing age. Females presented a more significant advanced sleep phase than males only during the years when sexual hormones are typically active. Moreover, females reported a longer ideal sleep duration than males across all age groups examined, except in over 55 yrs one.

none 4 The main purposes of the present study were to evaluate: the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the General Decision-Making Style Inventory (GDMS); the relationship among decision-making styles, as proposed by GDMS, and thinking styles, assessed by Style of Learning and Thinking (SOLAT). The psychometric properties of GDMS were evaluated on a sample of 422 students, while 230 students also completed the Italian version of the SOLAT. The reliability of the GDMS scales (rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous) appeared to be satisfactory with good internal consistency. The pattern of inter-correlation between the different styles was in line with the results reported by the literature. Confirmatory and Exploratory factor analyses showed that the hypothesized 5-factor model provided an acceptable fit for the data. Furthermore, the patterns of relationship between the decision-making styles and the SOLAT scales provide concurrent validity of the GDMS. none Gambetti E.; Fabbri M.; Bensi L.; Tonetti L. Gambetti E.; Fabbri M.; Bensi L.; Tonetti L.

The present study aimed to compare two commercially available actigraphs, with a concurrent polysomnographic (PSG) recording. Twelve healthy volunteers (six women; age range 19–28 yrs) simultaneously wore the Basic Mini-Motionloggerw and Actiwatchw for seven overnight polysomnographic recordings. Comparisons of the following sleep measures were focused on: sleep onset latency (SOL), total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, and sleep efficiency. Both devices underestimated SOL in comparison to PSG, but they had similar performance compared to PSG for the other sleep measures. A limit of the study is that the results can be only generalized to healthy young subjects.

Background: Most of the earlier studies on mood seasonality were conducted in adults and there are few available data on children and adolescents. In two cross sectional surveys, we examined the role of age and gender on seasonal sensitivity in subjects aged 10 to 25 years. Methods: In survey one, the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (SPAQ-CA) was administered to 1709 subjects (845 females and 864 males) from 10 to 17 years. In survey two, the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) was administered to 1867 subjects (1061 females and 806 males) from 18 to 25 years. Results: Only in survey one was a significant positive correlation found between age and Global Seasonality Score (GSS) (r=.29; p

The purpose of the present study aims to investigate the relationship between circadian typology and learning–thinking styles conceptualised as a preference toward information processing typical of the right vs. the left cerebral hemisphere. A sample of 1254 undergraduates (380 boys and 874 girls; mean age = 21.86 ± 2.37,) was administered the reduced version of the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (r-MEQ), which detects three chronotypes (morning-, intermediate- or evening-types), and the Style Of Learning And Thinking (SOLAT) questionnaire, conceived as a tool to measure the tendency toward the right-, integrated-, and left thinking. A two-way ANOVA on SOLAT scores with circadian typology and gender, as between-subjects factor, and age as covariant, showed that morning-types scored higher in the left-thinking scale than intermediate- and evening-types, and that evening-types obtained significant higher scores for right-thinking style than intermediate- and morning-types. This circadian typology effect was also confirmed by multiple regression.

Background/objectives This study aimed to examine the variations of circadian activity rhythm of children according to objective body mass index (BMI) values, using a novel statistical framework (ie, Functional Linear Modeling, FLM), separately for school- and weekend days. Methods A total of 107 participants (60 females; mean age: 10.25 ± 0.48 years) wore an actigraph for seven days during a regular school-week. While valid actigraphic data during school days were available for each of these children, this number decreased to 53 (31 females; mean age: 10.28 ± 0.51 years) during weekend days. Results Examining the school days, significantly higher motor activity in participants with higher BMI was observed from around 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., with a peak about 5:00 a.m. On the contrary, applying the FLM to the weekend days actigraphic data, no significantly different variation of circadian activity rhythm was observed, according to BMI. Conclusions In this specific sample of children, during school days, higher BMI is associated with higher activity level in a specific time window in the second half of nocturnal sleep. The lack of significant findings during weekend days could be explained because of higher variability of get-up time and/or the reduced sample size. Future longitudinal studies could explore if the higher motor activity in that specific time window qualifies as a predictive marker of the development of overweight and obesity. If so, early preventive strategies directed towards those at higher risk could be effectively implemented.

This study aimed to provide evidence of the validity of the Perceived Physical Ability Scale for Children against an external-objective criterion of the 24 h motor activity pattern assessed through actigraphy. A total of 107 children (60 females, mean age 10.25 ± 0.48) were originally enrolled. Children wore the actigraph model Actiwatch AW64 (Cambridge Neurotechnology Ltd., Fenstanton, UK) for seven days, 24 h per day, around the non-dominant wrist. At the beginning of the actigraphic recording, participants filled in the Perceived Physical Ability Scale for Children. Functional Linear Modeling was used to examine variation in the 24 h motor activity pattern according to the total score in the Perceived Physical Ability Scale for Children. Higher physical self-efficacy was significantly related to greater levels of motor activity in the afternoon. Overall, this pattern of results supports the validity of the Perceived Physical Ability Scale for Children against the external-objective criterion of the 24 h motor pattern. The Perceived Physical Ability Scale for Children could represent a promising endpoint for studies assessing the effectiveness of physical activity promotion interventions.

Highlights • We examined the optimal length of actigraphic recording in patients with narcolepsy type 1. • No differences were detected between the mean values of 7-day and 14-day analyzed sets for the different sleep parameters. • One week of actigraphic recording in patients with narcolepsy type 1 appears to be sufficient., Objective The aim of the present study was to assess the optimal length of actigraphic recordings in patients with narcolepsy type 1. Methods A secondary analysis was carried out with the previously collected data in eleven patients with narcolepsy type 1. Ten of the 11 patients were medicated at the time of actigraphic recording. Each patient originally wore an Actiwatch AW64 actigraph for at least 28 consecutive days. Overall, the patients were analyzed for 308 nights. Results No significant differences were observed between the mean values of the 7-day and 14-day analyzed sets for the parameters sleep efficiency, fragmentation index, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, and total sleep time. Conclusions Our data suggest that 7 days of actigraphic recording could be sufficient for these patients. Significance Our results for the optimal length of actigraphic recording could be useful for both physicians and patients.

Animal Welfare Attitudes (AWA) are defined as human attitudes towards the welfare of animals in different dimensions and settings. Demographic factors, such as age and gender are associated with AWA. The aim of this study was to assess gender differences among university students in a large convenience sample from twenty-two nations in AWA. A total of 7914 people participated in the study (5155 women, 2711 men, 48 diverse). Participants completed a questionnaire that collected demographic data, typical diet and responses to the Composite Respect for Animals Scale Short version (CRAS-S). In addition, we used a measure of gender empowerment from the Human Development Report. The largest variance in AWA was explained by diet, followed by country and gender. In terms of diet, 6385 participants reported to be omnivores, 296 as pescatarian, 637 ate a vegetarian diet and 434 were vegans (n = 162 without answer). Diet was related with CRAS-S scores, people with a vegan diet scored higher in AWA than omnivores. Women scored significantly higher on AWA than men. Furthermore, gender differences in AWA increased as gender inequality decreased.

Background: Persons living with HIV (PLWH) frequently report sleep complaints, but objective measurements are still lacking regarding sleep continuity, total sleep time per 24 h, and the links with both prospective memory performance and HIV infection parameters. Methods: PLWH (n = 96) and control (n = 96) groups (balanced for gender and age) were monitored by 24h-actigraphy for at least seven consecutive days. The prospective memory performance was assessed through a naturalistic, activity-based task performed twice a day on the actigraph. Results: PLWH had greater sleep latency and worse sleep continuity (higher fragmentation index) for night-time sleep and longest daytime nap (mean duration of the longest nap). Comparable results were reported for the prospective memory task, better performance scores were associated with several sleep parameters in controls but not in PLWH. Finally, within the PLWH group, being a long sleeper per 24 h (total sleep time &gt, 8 h including more and long daytime naps) was associated with a greater severity of the disease (lower CD4 nadir and more frequent history of AIDS-defining events). Conclusions: These findings indicate that PLWH have more fragmented sleep and that the severity of HIV infection is associated with increased sleep duration.