Quantitative sleep EEG and polysomnographic predictors of driving simulator performance in obstructive sleep apnea.

Objectives: To improve identification of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients at risk of driving impairment, this study explored predictors of driving performance impairment in untreated OSA patients using clinical PSG metrics, sleepiness questionnaires and quantitative EEG markers from routine sleep studies.

Methods: Seventy-six OSA patients completed sleepiness questionnaires and driving simulator tests in the evening of their diagnostic sleep study. All sleep EEGs were subjected to quantitative power spectral analysis.

Investigating the night-to-night variability of REM without atonia in Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder is frequently observed in Parkinson's disease and is characterized electrophysiologically by the absence of atonia during REM sleep. However, the night-to-night variability of REM sleep without atonia is yet to be determined in Parkinson's disease.

Methods: Using polysomnography, this study measured the variability of REM sleep without atonia across two consecutive nights, using the REM atonia index in 38 patients with Parkinson's disease.

Investigating rapid eye movement sleep without atonia in Parkinson's disease using the rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder screening questionnaire.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is frequently observed in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Accurate diagnosis is essential for managing this condition. Furthermore, the emergence of idiopathic RBD in later life can represent a premotor feature, heralding the development of PD.

REM sleep behaviour disorder - More than just a parasomnia.

Background: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterised by loss of the usual muscle atonia that occurs during REM sleep, allowing patients to act out their dreams.

Objective: This article aims to draw attention to RBD, allowing early recognition and treatment.

Summary: As RBD patients are at high risk of hurting themselves and their bed partners while acting out their dreams, improving safety within the bedroom environment and treatment with exogenous melatonin or clonazepam are recommended.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome after surgical correction of an aortic coarctation: a case report.

Introduction: We report a case of postural tachycardia syndrome occurring after the surgical correction of an aortic coarctation, and coexisting with upper airway resistance syndrome.

Case Presentation: A 29-year-old Caucasian man complained of extreme fatigue, daytime sleepiness, shortness of breath on exertion, light-headedness and general weakness on standing. These symptoms began shortly after the surgical correction of an aortic coarctation and became progressively more debilitating, impairing any daily activity.

[Leprosy, a neurologic disease].

Leprosy is a treatable chronic infectious disease, caused by Mycobacterium leprae, not highly transmittable that affects mainly the skin and peripheral nerves. Often neglected because it is rare in western countries, it may be encountered in patients coming back from endemic areas. Diagnostic criteria include underpigmented patches with loss of sensation, thickened peripheral nerves and acid-fast bacilli on skin smears or biopsy material.

Histamine H1 blocker hydroxyzine improves sleep in patients with cirrhosis and minimal hepatic encephalopathy: a randomized controlled pilot trial.

Objectives: Sleep difficulty is common in minimal hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and the mechanisms are not fully elucidated. Dysregulated histamine neurotransmission is associated with an altered circadian rhythmicity that is partially restored following central histamine H1 receptor blockade in cirrhotic animals. We studied the effects of the histamine H1 blocker hydroxyzine in sleep alterations in patients with cirrhosis in a double-blind, randomized controlled fashion.

Fulminant Lewy body disease.

The clinical distinction between Parkinson's disease (PD) with dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is challenged by most neuropathological studies showing nearly identical changes in both conditions. We report an unusual case of PD evolving into a rapidly progressive dementia leading to death within 3 months that showed nearly all clinical features of DLB. At autopsy, numerous Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites were found in several areas of the brainstem, the limbic system, and the neocortex, consistent with pure DLB.

Mortality after a first episode of status epilepticus in the United States and Europe.

Objective: In the last decade several studies have been published on incidence, etiology, and prognosis of status epilepticus (SE) with population-based data from the United States and Europe. The aim of this review is to summarize the available information on the epidemiology of SE and to outline the sources of the variability in reported mortality after SE.

Methods: Comparison of mortality studies in SE from the United States and Europe.

Hearing of a presence.

Here we describe a patient with epilepsy (secondary to left parieto-temporal brain damage) suffering from the paroxysmal unilateral experience of hearing a person in her near extrapersonal space. The paroxysmal auditory experience was associated with a deficit in spatial auditory perception and other paroxysmal disorders of somatognosia. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the paroxysmal hearing of a person nearby corresponds to an auditory disorder of somatognosia.