Time to onset and duration of botulinum toxin efficacy in movement disorders.

Background: Botulinum toxin (BoNT) is a valuable treatment in movement disorders; however, time to onset and duration of efficacy may widely differ among patients. We aimed to clarify the impact of main demographic and clinical features on time to onset and duration of BoNT efficacy.

Methods: We analyzed time-to-onset and duration of BoNT efficacy in 186 consecutive patients treated with BoNT for blepharospasm, cervical dystonia, facial hemispasm, oromandibular dystonia, limb dystonia, and sialorrhea due to Parkinsonism.

Sleep on a high heat capacity mattress increases conductive body heat loss and slow wave sleep.

Environmental temperature can strongly affect sleep. The habitual sleep phase is usually located between evening decline and morning rise of the circadian rhythm of core body temperature (CBT). However, the thermophysiological mechanisms promoting or disturbing sleep are not yet fully understood.

A polysomnographic study in parkinsonian patients treated with intestinal levodopa infusion.

Sleep disorders are very common in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) and have a significant negative impact on the quality of life of patients. Questionnaire-based studies suggest that sleep quality might improve following levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) infusion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of LCIG infusion and subsequent oral medication changes on polysomnography (PSG) and sleep symptoms in advanced PD patients.

Obsessive-compulsive-spectrum symptoms in patients with focal dystonia, hemifacial spasm, and healthy subjects.

This study is aimed at investigating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in three groups of patients matched for age and gender; namely, focal dystonia (FD), hemifacial spasm (HFS), and healthy-control subjects (HC). All subjects were investigated with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-I, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Symptom Checklist-90, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, and the Structured Clinical Interview for Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Self-Report, Lifetime Version (SCI-OBS-SR-LT). The prevalence of OCD was significantly higher in both FD and HFS than in HC participants.

Sexual behaviors during sleep associated with polysomnographically confirmed parasomnia overlap disorder.

Parasomnia overlap disorder (POD) refers to a sleep disorder characterized by the association of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) with NREM sleep parasomnia in the same patient. Sexual behaviors during sleep (SBS) can include most wakeful sexual activities and are classified in the ICSD-2 as a variant of confusional arousals and sleepwalking, both NREM parasomnias. A case of SBS associated with sleepwalking and possible RBD has been previously described, but it was not confirmed by polysomnography (PSG).

Increased oral nitric oxide in obstructive sleep apnoea.

Background: Hypoxia and snoring-related mechanical trauma contribute to airway inflammation in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Increased exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), an airway inflammation marker, has been reported in OSA patients. We propose the measure of NO in the oral cavity (oNO) as marker of oropharyngeal inflammation in OSA.

Demyelination, inflammation, and neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis deep gray matter.

Gray matter (GM) lesions are recognized as important components of the pathology of multiple sclerosis (MS), and involvement of the deep gray matter (DGM) is suggested by magnetic resonance imaging. The aims of this study were to determine the frequency and distribution of lesions and characterize the inflammatory and neurodegenerative changes in DGM of MS patients. Histochemistry, immunohistochemistry, and morphometry were performed on whole coronal sections of 14 MS and 12 control (6 normal, 6 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients) brains.

Multicenter case-control study on restless legs syndrome in multiple sclerosis: the REMS study.

Study Objectives: To verify the existence of a symptomatic form of restless legs syndrome (RLS) secondary to multiple sclerosis (MS) and to identify possible associated risk factors.

Design: Prospective, multicenter, case-control epidemiologic survey.

Settings: Twenty sleep centers certified by the Italian Association of Sleep Medicine.