Chronic cough is associated with increased reporting of autonomic symptoms.

Background: Patients with some neuronal hypersensitivity syndromes experience increased autonomic symptoms. Chronic cough is thought to be a neuronal hypersensitivity disorder and, therefore, may be associated with increased autonomic symptoms.

Methods: 96 chronic cough subjects were recruited from the tertiary cough clinic based at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK; 76 healthy controls were also recruited.

Regional Cerebrovascular Responses to Hypercapnia and Hypoxia.

A limited number of studies using differing imaging approaches suggest that there are regional variation in the cerebrovascular response to hypercapnia and hypoxia. However there are limitations to these studies. In particular, it is not clear if existing studies of hypoxia have fully accounted for the confounding effects of the changes in arterial PCO2 on cerebral perfusion that, if uncontrolled, will accompany the hypoxic stimulus.

Hippocampal hypertrophy and sleep apnea: a role for the ischemic preconditioning?

The full impact of multisystem disease such as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) on regions of the central nervous system is debated, as the subsequent neurocognitive sequelae are unclear. Several preclinical studies suggest that its purported major culprits, intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation, can differentially affect adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Although the prospective biphasic nature of chronic intermittent hypoxia in animal models of OSA has been acknowledged, so far the evidence for increased 'compensatory' neurogenesis in humans is uncertain.

The effect of black tea and caffeine on regional cerebral blood flow measured with arterial spin labeling.

Black tea consumption has been shown to improve peripheral vascular function. Its effect on brain vasculature is unknown, though tea contains small amounts of caffeine, a psychoactive substance known to influence cerebral blood flow (CBF). We investigated the effects on CBF due to the intake of tea components in 20 healthy men in a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Changes in brain morphology in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a common disease that leads to daytime sleepiness and cognitive impairment. Attempts to investigate changes in brain morphology that may underlie these impairments have led to conflicting conclusions. This study was undertaken to aim to resolve this confusion, and determine whether OSA is associated with changes in brain morphology in a large group of patients with OSA, using improved voxel-based morphometry analysis, an automated unbiased method of detecting local changes in brain structure.