Light Pollution as a New Risk Factor for Human Breast and Prostate Cancers

Humans are diurnal organisms whose biological clock and temporal organization depend on natural light/dark cycles. Changes in the photoperiod are a signal for seasonal acclimatization of physiological and immune systems as well as behavioral patterns. The invention of electrical light bulbs created...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Haim, Abraham. (Author), Portnov, Boris A. (Author)
Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
Format: Electronic
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands : Imprint: Springer, 2013.
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6220-6
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • PART 1: ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AND HUMAN TEMPORAL ORGANIZATION
  • Artificial light and its physicochemical properties (by Fabio Falchi)
  • Light and dark cycles as a basis of temporal organization
  • The biological clock and its entrainment by photoperiod
  • LAN exposure and its potential effects on daily rhythms and seasonal disruptions
  • Melatonin (MLT) hormone of darkness and a jack of all traits
  • PART II: LIGHT POLLUTION, ITS KNOWN HEALTH EFFECTS AND IMPACT ON ENERGY CONSERVATION
  • Introduction and spread of artificial illumination  a human history retrospective
  • Biological definition of light pollution
  • Light pollution as a general stressor
  • The effects of light pollution on animal rhythms and ecology
  • Light pollution and hormone-dependent cancers: summary of accumulated empirical evidence
  • PART III: LIGHT POLLUTION AND ITS POTENTIAL LINKS TO BREAST AND PROSTATE CANCERS
  • Geographic patterns of breast and prostate cancers (BC&PC) worldwide
  • Light pollution and its association with breast and prostate cancers (BC&PC) in population-level studies
  • Selected methodological issues of Light-at-Night (LAN)  Breast and Prostate Cancers (BC&PC) research
  • Dark-less world  what is next? (Conclusions and prospects for future research)
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • ADDITIONAL READING.