Plants popularly used for loosing weight purposes in Porto Alegre, South Brazil.

In this study, 14 herbalists (herb sellers) were interviewed about popular use of plants with weight loss purpose in Porto Alegre, a South Brazil city. For all identified species, scientific data were reviewed aiming to establish a correlation between popular use and biological properties. Seventy-eight samples were reported as having weigh loss properties.

The characteristics of five patients with obstructive sleep apnea whose apnea-hypopnea index deteriorated after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty.

The objective of this retrospective, consecutive, case series design study was to determine the number of unselected patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who deteriorated after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP). Sixteen of 27 patients at the Sleep Clinic at Veterans Affairs Medical Center who underwent UPPP for OSA and who completed both a pre- and postpolysomnogram were studied. After comparing the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) before and after UPPP, three groups of patients were identified: deteriorators, unchanged, and improvers.

Individual differences in arousal and accessibility to information in memory.

The authors conducted 9 experiments to test the hypothesis (S. Schwartz, 1975) that arousal influences the accessibility of information stored in memory. They investigated the relationship between arousal levels (as indexed by personality types) and the type of stimuli or cues presented during study or test.

Sleep apnea impairs the arousal response to airway occlusion.

We hypothesized that the increased arousal threshold to upper airway occlusion exhibited by patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is in part secondary to the disease process itself. To test this hypothesis, we studied the effects of withdrawal of three nights of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on arousal in six male patients with severe OSA who were using nasal CPAP on a long-term basis. During the control week, patients slept with nasal CPAP at home and on the first of 2 nights in the sleep laboratory (night C1, CPAP; night C2, no CPAP).

Rapid eye movement sleep periodic leg movements in patients with spinal cord injury.

We describe three spinal cord injury cases exhibiting periodic leg movements (PLMs) in both rapid eye movement (REM) and nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. The difference in the average periodicity in REM and NREM sleep was modest, but was generally shorter in REM than in NREM sleep. However, the variability associated with the PLMs was nearly three to six times smaller in REM than in NREM sleep, suggesting that the periodicity of the PLMs in REM sleep was more precise than in NREM sleep.

Effects of abstinence from smoking on sleep and daytime sleepiness.

This study examined the effect of smoking abstinence on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and mood in 18 subjects (10 men and 8 women) aged 35 to 49 years who had smoked at least 20 cigarettes per day for more than 2 years. Subjects were studied on two consecutive weeks following an adaptation night. During week 1 (study nights 1, 2, and 3), the subjects smoked as usual.

Parent-infant cosleeping: the appropriate context for the study of infant sleep and implications for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) research.

Nearly all laboratory research on human infant sleep assumes that solitary sleeping is the normal and desirable environment. Yet solitary sleeping in infancy is a very recent custom limited to Western industrialized societies, and most of the world's people still practice parent-infant cosleeping. A hypothesis is presented that cosleeping provides a sensory-rich environment which is the more appropriate environment in which to study normal infant sleep.

Preliminary longitudinal assessment of sleep in the elderly.

This is a preliminary report of a longitudinal assessment of sleep architectural changes over time and rate of progression of sleep apnea (SA) and sleep-related periodic leg movements (PLMs) in the elderly. Multiple night polysomnograms were performed in 11 community resident seniors (8 women and 3 men, aged 60-72 years) and repeated 3 years (34-38 months) later. Subjects were selected who exhibited at most mild SA or PLMs at initial testing.

Morbidity cut-offs for sleep apnea and periodic leg movements in predicting subjective complaints in seniors.

Despite its widespread use, the validity of the 5/h morbidity cut-off for the Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) or the Movement Index (MI) in determining presence of sleep apnea (SA) or sleep-related periodic leg movements (PLMs), respectively, has not been determined for any aged population. One hundred community resident seniors 60 years of age or older underwent three consecutive nights of polysomnography and also completed conventional measures of subjective sleep-wake complaints (written sleep questionnaire, sleep log, sleep interview) and mood disturbances (Zung Self-Rating Depression and Anxiety Scales, Profile of Mood States, Beck Depression Inventory). Based on the 5/h cut-off, 34% had SA and 58% had PLMs.

Night-to-night variability in sleep apnea and sleep-related periodic leg movements in the elderly.

The amount of night-to-night variability in sleep apnea (SA) and sleep-related periodic leg movements (PLMs) is largely unknown but, despite this, clinical decisions are based on single-night studies in many clinical sleep laboratories. We examined variability in SA and PLMs over three nights in 46 community-resident seniors. No evidence was found for either a first-night effect or a directional trend across nights in either the Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) or the Movement Index (MI), despite a prominent first-night effect on pattern of sleep.

Sleep apnea and sleep-related periodic leg movements in community resident seniors.

The elderly have a high incidence of sleep complaints. A high incidence of sleep apnea (SA) and sleep-related periodic leg movements (PLMs) is also suspected. The relationship between the incidence and severity of SA and PLMs and sleep complaints has not, however, been determined in terms of symptomatology and physiologic abnormality.